The loudspeakers in the school seem particularly loud today. Offering a 100x force multiplier to the guest speaker who’s asking children if they want to make their parents proud. And if so, chant: “Hare Krishna!”

“LOUDER!” he screeches.

I was wondering why the school keeps giving a platform to this one kind and not others. And whatever it does, why does it have to raise the volume so high?

Then I realized: it must have been someone specific who invited this speaker, right? One person who tweaked the volume knob.

We keep doing this - attributing actions to institutions. The school. The municipality. The government.

But institutions don’t turn knobs. People do.

not-govt-some-specific-individuals-did-this
Like "BDA" did not raze these houses. Specific individuals did.
Full story here in Deccan Herald


Identify that one person with their hands on the volume-control knob and start there. Let these people name names - not orders from “higher up”. I don’t want to hear about “higher up.” Tell me who. Names. Follow the chain as far and wide it goes.

And then have a discussion. Was the action deliberate? What was the logic? Was it right, wrong?

Of course, finding those specific persons takes forever. You’d have to dig through layers. And usually the boots on the ground are just following orders anyway. So the deeper you dig, the higher up you go.

Normal pedestrian folks like you and me do not have this much time and energy to spend on such sleuthing. We have bills to pay.

So we reach out to those with “contacts” - if we even decide to pursue it. And those with contacts don’t have time for sleuthing either. They go straight to the top. Or as high as they can reach. If they bother acting on our behalf at all.

Which is efficient, I guess. The trail would’ve led somewhere there in the vicinity anyway.

But I still wonder if it would tickle my pedestrian heart to see the names. All of them - from the person who invited the speaker, to the guy who turned the knob.

Same for the ones who destroyed someone’s home. Or have left the 3 km stretch of a wide road nearby all dug up for last 6 months (doesn’t really narrow it down in Bengaluru, now does it?)

So I could judge them. Maybe hire someone to cast bad juju on them, even if I can’t do much else.

Better than chalking it all up to “the government” with a cold sigh. Which is about as impotent as chalking it up to fate.