The Splendid Veils

The thought of being with you, the thought of being with anyone and the comforting delusion of the surroundings vanishing into nothing more than a thick cloud of haze. And the fear of this very haze engulfing us and lifting us high above everything else, to the point where our feet struggle to find ground and bury themselves in. The calmness that comes after, the loneliness that comes after and the painful reminders of a distant past; I don't like them all.

The fleeting glance, the teasing yet almost annoying denial; almost. Just when I'm on the verge of tripping into the abyss, you hold me; hold me and try to pull me toward you so gently that I'm more afraid of dragging you along instead. These games we play incessantly, yet we never dare ask who is being played in this affair. For it is not each other but one's own self. This much is clear, brutally so. 

Then why the futile assurances, why the hopeless rationalizations and why the constant anguish that stems from it after an almost amiable standstill; somehow more akin to deception. We all are victims of the splendid veils we so painstakingly construct and which, not surprisingly, are merely a naive adaptation to hide and protect our deepest feelings. I have walls around me and so do you. And so does every single one of the person who tells you otherwise. 

The more I try to pull myself away and the less difficult you make it to do so, I am drawn helplessly into this vortex, realising we are not very different, you and I. 

Bribes Modified to Incentives!

In India, ask any motorist what is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of traffic rules and traffic police and the obvious answer is bribery! Not that the malpractice is not rampant in any other 'official work' but in the case of traffic rules it is so common that no one even raises an eyebrow anymore.

The cops standing the whole day at the lights don't get a fat paycheck at the end of the month and so resort to the easiest way of a little 'extra money'. For the violators it is a much easier way out - 100 bucks to the cop versus a legal fine of 300-500 bucks; few have the courage to do the right thing.

Of course, on top of this, let's be practical - I have seen (and I'm sure many others have too) two wheelers zoom off 5-6 secs before the light turns green even with a cop at the signal!

Why can't the penalty system for small traffic violations be 'incentive based'? What if, the cops were legally allowed to keep the entire amount of fine to themselves as an incentive? What I'm saying is this - if the cop catches a violator, he fines him the legally set amount, gives a receipt and that penalty is marked in the log under his name. At the end of the month along with his salary he gets his total incentive. In this scheme, the violator cannot bribe his way out by paying a smaller amount because the cop no longer has a motive to accept the bribe in the first place! This scheme can work only if the entire penalty amount is set as the 'incentive' - if, say for example, only half the amount is set as incentive (to go directly to the cop) and half goes to the department (where all the fines go in the current method of penalty) then the whole system fails again - the violator can offer to pay, for example, 0.75 of the set legal fine directly to the cop and the cop would also be tempted to accept it because now he would get 0.75 of the set fine instead of 0.50. Win-win for both; big time loss for the system!

Of course, this can only be implemented for minor traffic violations were generally the officer in charge has the final say, ie there is nothing to challenge his decision; if he says you jumped the signal, you jumped the signal. Then again, isn't it the case even now? In essence, implementing an 'incentive based penalty' is not going to cause any misuse of power, at least not any different than in the existing system! And needless to say, such class of violations is what forms the majority of traffic violations in cities, big and small.

Finally, will the system work? I think if people realise that there's no getting around paying the heafty fine, they won't dare to violate the rules any more. And yes, the cops would love it - they will be on their toes more than ever to catch violators - because it pays to do their job more effectively, literally!

Honestly, I'm not sure why this has not been propsed before and if it has been then what problems / pitholes are involved.