It is clear that society values a life less in India than in the US today. This shows up in myriad ways. Try sorting out the detritus of life after a death. Whether it is getting a death certificate, getting back personal belongings from the police, sorting out bank accounts or anything else that needs attention from an institution to sort out the impact of a death, you find yourself in long lines. Officials, big and small, don't really pay any attention unless there is some kind of "influence" used. Let me relate a few anecdotes.
I decided to try and collect my dad's watch and blood soaked clothes and was directed to an police station in Cuffe Parade. I waited for hours and then was told that the "evidence" could not be handed over to me. 300 people were blown up and they wanted my dad's watch as evidence. I wasn't sure why but it appeared that the people in the police station didn't know either. They just didn't feel like they had the option of sorting it out and failing that, they just sat on the issue. I finally contacted a neighbor who was an Assistant Commissioner of Police. I then went there in a chauffered driven car instead of walking up off the street. They gave me what I needed right away.
The same thing happened when I tried to get a death certificate. I went and stood in line for hours for multiple days. Finally, someone knew someone who knew someone and the death certificate was expedited.
My dad had money in a bank account. We had to wait in line for hours for many days before we could collect the money.
None of this was ever due to a malicious desire to collect a bribe even though I am sure that happens often enough. Its just that the Indian system doesn't operate with a few inviolate rules. It has a LOT of rules, all of which can be bent.
In the midst of all this, we had an interesting experience. All of sudden, in the first few weeks, a guy showed up at our apartment. He was a humble officer in the Maharashtra government. He stood at the door and asked a few questions. Then wrote down stuff and asked a few more questions and then finally said that the "ex-gratia" payement from the government of some amount (1 Lakh? 2 Lakhs? - I don't remember now) would be delivered by him in a few days. Then after a few days, he came by with the draft and dropped it off. He wouldn't even accept a snack and tea. This honest, simple man was on a mission to hand out these large sums of money after properly verifying the validity of the claim of each victim's family. So, the maharashtra government's compensation for my dad being blown up in Mumbai reached us without us lifting a finger but getting the death certificate took a lot of work. Go figure.
In contrast, when I went to the US embassy to get a visa, the guy at the door heard the first two sentences of my story and asked me to give him the passport. I expected to at least have an interview etc but that didn't happen. He told me to return at 2 PM and when I showed up a minute late, I found they were paging me and had set my passport aside because they knew that I had other problems on my hand. Similarly, my school gave me all kinds of exceptions that helped me earn my degree sooner. My professors helped me take my missed exams late as an exception. And so on.
I hate to draw this comparison between the US and India but the fact is that there are more people in India and one needs to try harder to get served. There is no special consideration just because you have had a family member killed by a terrorist. You can see this all over already in the current attacks. Whether it is the CM of Kerala abusing Sandeep Unnikrishnan's father in the national press, NDTV showing a dead body on cable TV or the cable TV reporters harassing medical personnel who are dealing with dead bodies. It doesn't matter. There is little consideration for rules, privacy or propriety. Take care of yourself and do what you need to do.
Monday, December 1, 2008
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