Apropos Jitender Bhargava's article "Bureaucrats and the write stuff" (September 20), the common people have always, for the right reasons, patronised the writings by people from a world that is mysterious or full of wonders. Similar writings from the world of celebrities have also caused a sensation. The question is: to what extent do the descriptions in these pages honestly depict the "truth"?
The truth behind the curtain is always a matter of profound interest to readers like us. We have always wanted to know the truth behind the Bofors scam, the Emergency, Maruti, Air India, coal block allocations, the 2G spectrum scam and so on.
The truth is always non-negotiable, bitter, difficult to digest and does not make our lives more enjoyable. Truth died long ago and that is the reason we search for it in writings, cinemas, dramas, seminars and conferences. It is a ghost of the past, and "ghost stories" have always remained a hot-selling commodity from our childhood.
One positive thing about all these revelations is that politicians and bureaucrats will not repeat the same unethical and dishonest acts. But the flip side to this is that they will invent more ways to do unethical things and some honest bureaucrats will take the responsibility of exposing the truth in the future.
Ashok Chakrabarty Kolkata
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