Extracting advantage by speaking good English

Democracy Sans Politics - by Aspirant By Aspirant S. from Critique of The Lives Blatant partiality of all kinds: It may take the form of a bias in favour of

• those who are in one’s own power-circle,
• those who are financially well-off,
• those who have been in some high position outside and come here for their retired life,
• those of the same language,
• and those who are aggressive and liable to be a nuisance.
• Surprising, but true, just being able to speak good English sometimes helps.

People in the powerful ones' own circle always find it easier to get what they want even if it is a luxury, while those outside it may not get even their justified needs fulfilled… Some of the current aspiring busy­-bodies are given more and more power in spite of their unscrupulous activities because they are the utility men for the authorities. Their enthusiasm towards work obviously lies in their seeking to enlarge their power base... 

Perhaps the whole issue of Peter's book has come about to highlight the declining values here which many of us have been gradually getting accustomed to and even beginning to accept slothfully, avoiding the inconvenience and work that it would take to at least express to the Trustees our aspirations for better administrative policies from them. 

In Delhi politics, where you're from is all that matters - Sunetra Choudhury | Saturday, June 16, 2012

‘Where are you from?’ is usually the first question they ask when they are sizing you up. People’s surnames are usually a giveaway but with mine, they don’t know whether I’m from Haryana or Howrah or somewhere else altogether. And so they pry, some of the more earthy ones even ask our caste, and it took me a while to figure out just why.

When I’d tell them I was from Delhi, they didn’t really know what that meant. They thought, and rightly so, that no one can be originally from Delhi, it’s just this dog-eat-dog place where people came for work, out of necessity. For them, the capital city was all about wily bureaucrats, power brokers and fat cats who weren’t to be trusted. And when they looked for people they could really talk to, journalists who could be trusted, who’d present their perspective, it had to be people who knew where they came from — who’d get their private jokes, who’d understand the sentiments of their people. If they weren’t from the same village, they’d at least have to speak the same language.

And that’s when I looked around and saw the various regional packs that were at work in Parliament. You had the Thakur and the Bihar gang, which extends not just to politicians but also to powerful bureaucrats. You have the South Indian journalists, with the Mallu lobby being especially useful, but none of these can come close at this moment to the much-hyped importance of the Bengali brigade.