We need corruption

"So, Baba Amte and his fast friends did it!"

"Baba Amte is dead."

"What! Wait, what did he break his fast with? When did this happen?"

"2008. This one was Anna Hazare you moron."

"Oh, right. When I first read the headlines, I thought Anna was..."

"Some Russian chick?"

"Whatever. But in the end the activists didn't get exactly what they were bargaining for."

"Some of their demands were fallacious anyway. You can't fight corruption at the cost of governance. Probably they started at an extreme point to reach a reasonable middle ground after negotiations."

"So venality ends here?"

"I don't know dude. Can we really do without corruption? We all indulge in it. It's not just the politicians or bureaucrats you know. We only hate it when we see someone else making more money than us through unscrupulous means."

"You can't argue against the fact that corruption is a menace."

"There was a time when it was a problem for most of us. But over the years, a lot of people have learnt to adjust, to live with it, to exploit it. Now if the system changes again, it would be an inconvenience."

"A necessary inconvenience."

"In the end it all comes down to acceptability. The lines between good and bad, right and wrong can blur over a period of time."

"Obviously many are prepared to change."

"You mean the hits on Facebook and Twitter? Well, don't forget the glamour quotient. That's what drew the students, the intellectuals and the celebs; because it's cool to be associated with something like this. Many of these so called activists had their own agenda, and a lot of them have some sort of political affiliation."

"So people who participated in the independence movement were more aware? Did they have an inherent goodness?"

"Circumstances matter a lot. If you and I were around in those times, probably we would have contributed too. And let's not forget that many people who participated in the freedom struggle did indulge in corruption later in their lives."

"Why do you have to demonise everyone?"

"I am not saying this was bad. I am just saying there's no such thing as a selfless act. Occasionally a person does end up helping others while fulfilling his own interests."