Corruption Watch

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Whether India is one of the most corrupt states is a matter of value judgement, but there is little doubt that the ordinary Ashok or Aftab is up against a formidable and callous bureaucracy. There must be an ombudsman office in each major metropolis as well as in each district who reports only to the Vigilance Commisioner in Delhi who in turn should report only to the Supreme court or some such independent body.





From the Pioneer, Sunday, November 9.2003 (url will change)

Kargil Heights of honesty



Vineet Khare/Devyani Ghosh/ Kargil Heights (Delhi)





A bulk of the audience at the inaugural show of the Om Puri-Revathy starrer Dhoop was inconsolable. But one man, and a petite lady, sat stoicly at the back, with no sign of emotion. They were Prof S K Nayyar and his late son Anuj's 'fiancee' Timmie. Dhoop is the true story of Mr Nayyar's struggle against a corrupt system to get a sanctioned petrol pump started in the memory of his son, martyred at a young 24.  

Martyr Anuj Nayyar's father Prof Satish Kumar Nayyar at Kargil Heights, a petrol pump in his son's memory. The urn next to the hoarding is his family's oldest possession - Vijay Kumar/Pioneer











Acknowledging his epic battle which took him over three years of insults, insinuations and humiliations from corrupt officials to get the petrol pump started. Sunday Pioneer visited the brave son's braver father at the gas station 'Kargil Heights' the next day.







He clarified in the very beginning: "My wife can not talk to you because I committed the mistake of taking her to the movie and all her wounds opened up. She was rushed to hospital midway from the show with chest pains. She is fine now."







He also stood like a wall between the photographer and the unique 'fiancee' who decided to live as Anuj's widow and who "after Anuj she is a major worry for me."







Watching the film, he admitted, was a difficult proposition despite the fact that he had presided over every nuance of the script. "I was transported to July 7, 1999, when I got the news of my son's martyrdom. I punched my right knuckle so hard on the wall that it broke. I refused to get it bandaged. My son took four bullets and still fought valiantly. So, I'll bear this pain?" he recalls, looking at Anuj's photograph hanging on one side of the petrol pump.







After the show, "when I reached home, I kept silent. We were reliving the trauma.







Anuj was everywhere. I had told him, I would always be with him but he fought his last war alone. He always said his 'poppin can do anything,' but I failed him," he mumbles.







In Om Puri, who plays the determined father, Prof Nayyar sees a reflection of self. "He is similar to me in many ways - stubborn, compassionate and practical. Nana Patekar was the other choice, but we felt he was loud and stereotyped. But Revathy walks, behaves and talks just like my wife," he says. He is happy that the movie has retained 80 per cent of his real story though he smiles and says that his son couldn't sing for a lark, "not even in the bathroom" and was more of a firebrand than the Sanjay Suri's portrayal.







Kargil Heights, at Kondli in Vasundhara Enclave, is indeed a martyr's shrine. Its proceeds go to funding scholarships of needy students. On the left, there are two large brass urns. "It came with my grandmother as dahej. They guard the property. I haven't put any photograph of Anuj outside as I wouldn't like my son to bear the brunt of nature. The grand wall that the husband-wife had painted with over 60 names of slain Jat Regiment jawans has since fallen. But Anuj's memory lives on at the pump from the day it was inaugurated by its first customer. "Twelve people work here. He treats us like his son," says Ajay Kumar, a worker.







As for the professor, he is full of memories. "We once went to the Khadakvasla NDA Academy. There, we saw a huge board where the names of gallantry award winners were listed. I asked him why there were no 'Nayyars' in the list. Anuj assured me that 'it will be there one day, dad.' Now, he figures on that list," he recalls looking at Capt Nayyar's two-in-one and transistor - which he had taken to Kargil - and is now kept as a memento at the pump.







For now, Prof Nayyar who teaches International Business at DU, is organising a show for the students and faculty. He plans to write a book on Anuj. But all his efforts to live through his son's memories come to a naught when he meets the accusing eye of his silent wife Meena. "She still calls me a murderer and says that my instigation, led to her son's death."







Meanwhile, Timmie, Capt Anuj's fiancee, has refused to get married. Yes, she has a tattoo on her arm saying 'I am Anuj's property.' "She considers herself his widow. Like him, she is stubborn." Timmie runs an interior design company but makes it a point to be at Kargil Heights every weekend.







Coming to the struggle for honesty that led to meaningful Dhoop, the professor says: "It could depict just 30 per cent of what I went through. Police officers, bureaucrats, Army bosses - all were much more brusque than shown in the movie. When the SHO asked me to prove I am Anuj's father, I approached the Prime Minster. I told him 'you are celebrating Vijay Diwas because of my son who gave up his life in Kargil. We may have won the battle there, but I am still fighting my Kargil with the bureaucracy'." Prof Nayyar was assured of a memorial near the National Stadium by Defence Minister George Fernandes. "If I don't get a response from him soon, I will build a memorial here at the pump." Nayyar did not give a penny to the corrupt as a tribute to his son. He was threatened by a goonda and sniggered at by babus. He managed to reform the criminal Lala who gave up goonery to work at the gas station. But the system is yet to go a long way.







And what does he do every July 7, the day his son died. "I decorate the pump with marigolds and below Anuj's photograph, I write: "'This is how I remember you son,'" he says. And the tears finally roll out.







GROSS CORRUPTION INDEX







* India ranks 83rd out of 133 countries on the global corruption index, scores 2.8 on 10 in transparency.







* Estimated amount paid as bribes by Indians every year for using 10 public utility services: Rs 26,728 crore, ie, 1.5pc of GDP, according to a TI/ORG-Marg survey in 2002. Health, Power most corrupt sectors. Telecom, Rlys rank 9 & 10