I was a primary school teacher in a little known village called Huliyaar near Tiptur, Karnataka. It was the days when Mahatma Gandhi was still fresh in the minds of people; maybe, I think a decade after we had gained freedom.
At that time, I was full of energy and ideals, having taken part in the freedom movement, and having the dreams of ‘Rama Rajya’ still alive in my heart. It was also a time when teachers were actually respected and revered, also a time when teachers strived to earn that respect and reverence of students by their quality of teaching.
The school at Huliyaar was a dilapidated building which would leak when it rained. It was also very small for the number of students, as students from near-by villages and hamlets also came to this school.
It was decided then that we would form a committee which would work towards raising funds so that we could build a new building for the school. Committees in those days actually did do some useful work. So a committee was formed, comprising several teachers at the Taluk level and a few teachers from our school including me. I, being full of energy, and being known for my integrity and willingness to work hard for the sake of students, was made the secretary.
From then on, for a year or so, ideals and energy driving our hearts, we worked towards gathering the money. We requested rich landlords to fund our project, and grant land. We staged dramas in villages and gathered the money we earned there. It was hard work, and when it was done, we had a sum of about 1.5lakh Rupees and the land for building the new building.
You see, what me and my hard working team didn’t realize is that there were people even then who were morally corrupt, and were no less than the modern corrupt officials and politicians. Immediately after the funds were raised, members of the committee voted to make one Mr. Ramamurthy as the secretary, explaining that I was needed in ‘other’ useful activities now. Most of us who had worked hard to garner that money were simply put in useless posts of no consequence. The money which we had broken our backs to earn was swindled out right in front of our eyes, and how! The students of the school were put to work, to construct the building, and the smart committee showed labor costs in the account books. They swindled money to such an extent that before the roof of the building was up, the funds were exhausted. It was an open secret then that they had swindled and looted the funds. The committee members promptly got themselves transferred to other schools, and the new people folks who came to our school had no idea what to do about the half–done building.
You see, I was a fool then. I should have realized then that I should never have done anything for those unworthy idiots. But I felt for the students. I funded the rest of the building with an insurance policy of mine that had matured. The committee promised they would return the money. Their promise ended at the opening ceremony of the school, where they presented me a bouquet of flowers.
What a legacy of corruption those corrupt acts have created! Today, it is everywhere. Even the parliament. What can we do? Go to court? If it takes 10-20 years to prove a murderer as a murderer, I don’t know how long it will take to prove such corrupt acts. You see, most people are rotten. As long as their morality and ideals are wrong, no court, no law, no policy is going to work. Rama Rajya is best forgotten, I guess. Sometimes I think people who fought so hard for this country don't deserve to see this. But then such is life… Earlier it was the British. Now it is Money and Power. Maybe some are just meant to be slaves, some are meant to fight and die, some are meant to fight, live and die.
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