Times Computing :: Editorial Column “As I Like IT” :: Valentine de Souza :: May 19, 1999

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Keep ye the law—be swift in all obedience—
Clear the land of evil, drive the road and bridge the ford.
Make ye sure each to his own
That he reap where he hath sown;

                  — Rudyard Kipling’s A Song of the English

By and large, we Indians are a country of spineless pantywaists. We stand by helpless—petrified, even—as loot and plunder ravages unabated all around us.

  • The politicians and bureaucrats steal from under our very noses, blatantly and without even a sliver of guilt or remorse. We shrug our shoulders and meekly bend over for additional punishment.
  • Companies dish out poor-quality goods and services, overcharge, and generally operate in the most appallingly unethical manner. We barely manage a whimper occasionally; most otherwise we suffer in sickly silence.
  • Hoodlums and hooligans throw their weight around and bulldoze through public life. We slither out of the line of fire or turn the other way; we don’t want to get involved.

Behavioural scholars and others of self-proclaimed erudition have a term for this seeming equanimity of the Indian psyche. “Tolerance” they call it. Actually, “lily-livered gutlessness” is what it really is.

Often times, it’s the very nature of the system that operates in this country that prevents the ordinary citizen from obtaining any kind of redressal for an injustice or discrimination suffered. And then there’s that famous Indian escape clause called “destiny.” To my mind, it’s just another convenient explanation for the aforementioned gutlessness. In such a situation, it’s no wonder that accountability remains a non-existent word in the dictionary of Indian officialdom.

Don’t know ’bout you, but I feel very much like doing a Howard Beale (from the 1976 movie classic “Network”) and screaming, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

But there’s hope. Goes by the moniker ‘Internet’. As Indian websites begin to sprout all over the place and the number of connections spirals, people are quickly cottoning on to the fact that there is a way to let off steam, there is a way to expose the dirty rotten scoundrels that abound in this country.

A neat effort in this direction is the website complaintbook.com, conceived by Anil Shah and Shantanu Biswas of Calcutta. You put up your complaint, it’s there on the Web for all to see. And the website promises to actually follow-up with the relevant authority or specific entity to get your complaint redressed. Whether the follow-up takes place or not, the fact that misdemeanours of the errant company or individual are plastered on the Web should be reason enough for the culprits to improve (or suffer the consequences of a poor image).

There have been several precedents to this in the West. Just two instances should serve to demonstrate the power of the Web as a tool in enhancing accountability: The website which exposes service inadequacies of the US airline United—it’s www.untied.com and it’s a major embarrassment for the airline, who now cannot sweep their screw-ups under the carpet. Another potent weapon is that used by seasoned travellers—putting up reports of service received at hotels, restaurants and other agencies while on tour; the good is recommended, the bad uncovered and exposed so that the unwary are not gypped. Guilty service-providers get a Webful of egg on their face and will sure as hell suffocate with the odour if they don’t work to wipe it off by mending their ways.

So, the next time you’re subjected to an atrocity, there’s no need to flaunt tolerance, or cite destiny, or give in meekly. For starters, go lodge your complaint on the Web. Stand up and be counted, at least in cyberspace. Who knows, soon you might actually be able to stand up for your rights in the real world too. And that’s when India will begin to get back on track to its former state of glory.

Valentine de Souza
Editorial Advisor

 

[Val Souza]