Its when I had just completed my PG & was about to leave the town to join for my new job in a different city.. The time gap between the announcement of result & my departure dat was very short. I had to collect all my documents which included my no-dues certificate & the migration certificate from the university before leaving..  Hence I had been running around from pillar to post to get things moving.

Such is the fate of the administrative system, that the person who was incharge of handing me the migration certificate (Mr.X) had himself not recieved the copy of our result even after the announcement of result. Seeing my plight, he himself made an extra effort to procure the file containing the result that was stuck somewhere between various tables through which it was supposed to pass.With unadulterated humanity, he prepared the certificate & got it signed from the Registrar of the university as well so that I could get my other documents done in the meanwhile.

Viz-a-viz I remember another babu (Mr.Y) in the same section who had pasted the notice on his office desk that the application for the no-dues-certificate along with all other required documents needed to be given three days in advance. Since I was short of time, I narrated him my problem & he offered to prepare the certificate if some chai-pani was arranged for him.. Pressed for the time, I had to give him what he asked for & he got my certificate done as well...

I remember both Mr.X for his humility & concern as well as the tactful Mr.Y who encashed upon my majboori & made profit out of it.. I am sure most of us would have met similar kinds of people at some or other time in our lives..

When I collected my Migration certificate, I was feeling so grateful to Mr. X for his help that I wanted to reward him.. but then, a thought stopped me.. the kind of reward I could offer at that time was only monetory, If I had offered him that, a thought would have definitely come to his mind that the extra effort he did was worth reward.. In other words, somewhere I was scared that he too might also start expecting monetory returns for his efforts in future & I would be responsible for inculcating him into this habit..

Looking at it from another perspective now, seeing his peers make monetory benefits by encashing upon others limitations, I wonder if Mr.X still is as honest & helpful as he was then.. the only consolence is that  I was not responsible for bribing him then..

Yet whenever I meet the likes of Mr.Y, who happen to exist in quite a majority these days, I am left wondering how could I have rewarded Mr.X(which he so well deserved) without it being considered as bribe..?

 A few more questions remain unanswered:

- in this fast moving world when people want to get things done, don't they resort to such pleading stories so as to encash upon the humane nature of the person across the desk? It has happened with me that people have tried to take advantage on emotional grounds & get their things done.

- Others freely offer the bribe, because for them everything has a price. so how far can a person restrain himself & not give in to making easy money and that too lots of it..

For my peers there's nothing wrong about it as long as you are getting your things done & not gettings caught as well.. not doing so, on the other hand is likely to increase your troubles. And then if you can afford it & get away then why not? after all everyone feels that he is in an underpaid job & if you are getting things done faster ther's no harm.. Time is money.. yes you should learn to negotiate well