Is there anything that can be done in our country without money being paid? Parents of a two-month-old baby who applied for a passport for their child when they refused to pay a bribe to the police, were told after a two-week delay that their child's passport application had been sent for a criminal investigation.

A two-month-old? A criminal investigation? Every loop in the book is used like this intentional delay by government officials to make money.

And tragically, nothing is done about it! Nothing!

Last week, a housing society case was being heard by a Joint Registrar of Societies in Mumbai. The Jt-Registrar not only yelled at the opponent at the first hearing but told him he had no locus standi to file the case. The next week after rumours were heard that money had been offered, I went with the party to the office.

What a change!

The same man was now brutally harsh to the other party, who was then told by their lawyer that a bribe was needed to get justice.

"Pay the bribe quickly," said the lady lawyer, "If you think you will get justice by going higher up, the price only increases as more hands need to be greased!"

It's not grease anymore; it's the very fuel our bureaucrats and politicians use to run our country.

And today, corruption has been legalised.

All political parties promise money and freebies in exchange for votes. Maharashtra went one step further and swung the elections in favour of one party by depositing money into women's bank accounts before the elections.

I envisage a day when, before reaching a voting booth, the voter will pass an auction booth, where each political party will bid for his vote, and from where he will proceed to vote with a huge stash of cash in his pocket.

Why not? We might as well do it openly because, in our country, there's no shame in corruption.

I saw it so clearly in the dramatic change in the housing society official.

Most lawyers, I found, are just brokers, and what is sought by the client is not how good an arguer he or she is but how good a fixer they are.

"I didn't much care for our lawyer!" I told the group, who took me along.
"She's a great broker!" I was told, as she came and mentioned the price to us.

How do we save our country? By starting with ourselves: The politicians and lawyers just represent what we are.

Make our 'yes' and 'no' relevant once again!

Last month, a principal of a minority school in Mumbai refused to pay a writer an agreed sum because the poor man had not put it in writing.

Not a politician. Not a government official, but a school principal!

Change, because it is we who have made corruption a way of life...!