Changing Costumes of a King We overcame kings and established our own government in the name of democracy. Has anything changed substantially, however? It seems we just replaced the crown with a bandi coat. I pay all sorts of taxes every day, like all other normal citizens. On top of that, my government extracts large sums from me occasionally in the name of fines for offences that no one is aware of. Yesterday I paid INR 500 as fine + 4.05 as credit card charge. The offence hasn’t been made clear to me in spite of my complaint and enquiries. This is the second time the MoRTH [Ministry of Road Transport and Highways] extracts the same sum as fine for an offence which no one knows anything about. The first time it happened I went personally to my Regional Transport Office [RTO] and demanded evidence for my offence. They said they never provide any evidence. “The computerised system consisting of a network of surveillance cameras detects offences,” I was told. “What about the vide...
They were born under my care, tiny throbs of life, eyes still shut to the world. They grew up under my constant care. I changed their bed and the sheets regularly making sure they were always warm and comfortable. When one of them didn’t open her eyes after a fortnight of her birth, I rang up my cousin who is a vet and got the appropriate prescription that gave her the light of day in just two days. I watched each one of them stumble through their first steps. Today they were adopted. I personally took them to their new home, a tiny house of a family that belongs to the class that India calls BPL [Below Poverty Line]. I didn’t know them at all until I stopped my car a little away from their small house, at the nearest spot my car could possibly reach. They lived in another village altogether, some 15 km from mine. Sometimes 15 km can make a world of difference. A man who looked as old as me had come to my house in the late afternoon. “I’d like to adopt your kittens,” he said. He...