Locked up Abroad

It's too early, I really should still be in bed.  Last night we attended a "come as a drink" themed party.  The party was fun, lots of really cool interesting people and though I have been crazy tired lately, we stayed longer than we planned and that means the party was rocking.  I don't remember what time it was when we were first told that the cops were outside and that we needed to go inside, turn off the music for fifteen minutes and then the party could resume.  We all did just that and then a short while later, same thing happened, we were told cops outside, keep it down, blah blah blah, and then I think it happened one more time.  Here is where it gets interesting, a conversation ensued regarding what was "actually going on".  The cops merely wanted an incentive, a bribe, whatever, apparently the rule of thumb is you give them let's say $500 rupees, they come back an hour later, you increase it  little more and so on. Or you can give them a bigger sum, (I think the amount of $3000 rupees was mentioned) up front and you won' be bothered again the rest of the evening. Now let me preface this by saying I had a bit to drink and I really am not sure about the amounts that we were discussing, I'm hoping the numbers I'm stating are fairly accurate. Anyway, some of you might think that's outrageous or how dare they or some other kind of it's a matter of principal kind of thing, but a very smart girl put things into perspective. I think she said that cops make about $5000 rupees a month....that's roughly $100 USD.....so in the grand scheme of things is it really that much to just pay them off and let's all just have a lovely evening? You can argue both sides, it's corrupt, it's wrong, it's a matter of principal, but there's the other side of the coin in which these cops have thankless jobs, and they get paid nothing.  If you keep paying them bribes how do you expect the corruption to end, if you don't pay them is it really worth getting bent out of shape and having your party closed down for that amount of money? You might also think, but that's not fair, what if you can't afford it...and to that I am told, they wouldn't try to shake down those who couldn't afford it.  I kept joking that I  didn't want to end up as next week's episode of "Locked up Abroad".  I was joking but I was serious too. We are in a different country we are still learning the rules, like them or not there are ways that things are handled here.  And it's different and you simply cannot judge everything and compare it to how things are in your home bases. Bribes, incentives, whatever. There is corruption everywhere, not just here in India  .The difference is that is an expected part of everyday life.  It is so systematic and built into the society that you have to deal with incentives in every aspect of life here.  To get an internet connection can take a month, but if you flash a few hundred rupees, they will be at your house within the hour.   It is more in your face here, and very much out in the open. Baksheesh I think it is called.  So, was anything paid to the cops last night? If so how much? I honestly don't know. Like I said, not in a hurry to be on "Locked up abroad" so we headed home shortly after the third "the cops are outside" warning. At the time we left though, our hosts and their friends had everything under control and I felt that we were in a safe environment the whole evening.  I did see that the party lasted till about six a.m., so whatever measures were taken the party was never closed down and you won't be seeing any of our friends on my favorite show. I remain open and interested in life here.  It definitely is interesting.

Till next time:)

Cynthia