Sujavna1:17b

Giri at 1730hrs on 19^th June 2011

Hello. Hope the week that went by was one that provided you with a lot of positive experiences and that you are having a great and relaxing weekend.

I have to admit, though, that while the past week was a good one for me, Friday brought me news that made me seethe with anger and really unsettled me. For those of you not tracking local Indian news, I refer to the treasure trove of Rs. 12 crores (approximately US$3million) plus 98 kgs of gold (valued over Rs. 20 crores) and another 307 kgs of silver (valued over Rs. 2 crores) unearthed from the private chambers of the recently-deceased spiritual leader Satya Sai Baba. What angers me is not the actual value, but the fact that leading public figures such as the ex-President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (and a leading businessman from Chennai), an ex-Chief Justice of India (and an active Chairperson for many of the Government of India’s Law Commissions of Enquiry), retired judges of the Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka High Courts, have, while participating (as members of the organisation’s Trust)in the assessment of the treasure trove, have studiously remains silent as to why the Trust has been encouraging the private hoarding of such large treasure troves inside the private chambers of the “godman”. Or why there is no explanation as to what fiduciary responsibilities the Trust really had when the “godman” was alive and how it went in discharging these responsibilities. In a properly governed organisation, such large wealth should have been invested in legal instruments and an audit trail should have been regularly made available to the income tax authorities.

This brings me to my thought of the week, which results from the acts of omissions of our lawmakers and law-protectors – are we Indians pre-disposed to endemic corruption because we are not culturally-inclined to question any form of moral, spiritual, religious, business or political authority?

With my weekend, thus perturbed, I am looking forward to a better week ahead – a week that will bring forth many ,many instances of human kindness, intelligence and sharing of goodwill. So until next Sunday......