It had happened in past and occurred again recently. I watched them unfold the mystery, sitting in the comfort of my home with “It happened in India-A biography of Kishor Biyani” in my hand. Didn’t you get it??….I was watching the proceedings of Lok Sabha, the sacred sanctorum of Indian Democracy, during recently concluded “Confidence Motion” discussion brought by honorable Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh. I have a habit of keeping a book or newspaper in hand while watching TV to utilize my time during ad breaks and this time I had “It happened in India”. Luckily there were not many breaks during lok sabha proceedings and I didn’t get much time to indulge in the book or else I would have been torn between the ideals and risks of a man who changed the face of Indian retail and the activities of our elected MPs who stooped to the nadir.
The pre-voting days were mysterious and every hour brought a new ‘BREAKING NEWS’. If Devegowdas, Ajit Singhs and Shibu Sorens were undecided (or better call if waiting for the best deal), ruling alliance was nervous and opposition hurried sensing its time has come. That was the follow up stage for the real battle and all those aaya rams, gaya rams and new found paltu rams made it the most awaited event of the year. First day of the session was a normal one with PM bringing in the confidence motion, leader of opposition starting the debate and others following him. I missed the old days and speakers like Atal jee, Sushma Sawaraj, Pramod Mahajan, Rajesh Pilot and many others who were not there in the lok sabha this time. Speeches lacked the spark and oratory skills but second day was different. If Chidambaram attacked left and NDA, Lalu brought in humorous freshness and Rahul Gandhi opened his heart but it was the other thing that caught the attention “Cash on the centre table”. Opposition bought cash which they said was paid to them to change their vote. The whole parliament went into its toes and speaker hurriedly asked the camera to stop the live telecast of the proceedings. TV Screen went black and I started reading the book.
Kishor Biyani, don’t you know him? He is the man behind pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar and Central retail chains. A small time business man who made it big only on the shoulders of determination and rare but very small business ideas. He didn’t hire big advertisement agencies and consultancy firms but observed Indian consumer‘s habits, emulated small nukhsaas that our mom and daadi had and localised each store according to the regional preferences. He gives the credit of his success to India and adeptly called his auto biography “It happened in India”
Proceedings were back on TV screen and what I was watching shocked me to the core. MPs were purchased for their votes, some voted against their own party’s whip and some ran away before the vote and abstained themselves. I asked myself,” Had it not happened in past?” Yes…it had happened. What is the reason behind it?.........hmmm…many…….maybe money……..greed……..society………no no……..it’s the lack of moral values. Leave alone MPs…it’s all of us……we have lost the moral values. It the naked race for money, money & money, even if it means losing one’s own conscience.
I gazed on those blank walls of the room and thought, “My life is the same…..living each day, I didn’t do anything substantial….maybe won’t do anything significant in future as well. But so had been many generations, so am I and so would be coming generations. We are the arm chair critic who comments on all but does nothing. I looked back on the TV screen….results were announced and Ruling Coalition had won it. I saw them celebrating while I cried for the loss of human values, though I was happy that nuclear deal will now pass through and maybe ten years from now, India would be a better place. But the loss of values is eminent. The values got eroded with time. It had been a gradual journey. Every individual have lost a part of values that he inherited from their preceding generation and it is the unlucky MPs whose loss is on display and we as individual are lucky to keep it under wrap. “Ohhh..leave these thoughts” I said and envisaged my son doing the same 30 years from now. Nothing will change but for some like Kishor Biyani. I was back to “It happened in India”.
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