Someone recounted this anecdote recently. They(Indian) were in a European country and there were thigh-level stoppers that blocked people from entering the train platforms(much like the ones we see at our metro stations), but no cops or security around. They asked their European friend what happens when people just jumped over the stoppers instead of swiping the metro-card for payment. The European was taken aback. They couldn't comprehend why anyone would even thing like that. They were clearly unacquainted with the Indian frame of thought!
In India, you are naive not to think of loop-holes in the 'system'. Sometimes, it's the thrill of skirting around the rules, like what mischievous children feel when they do something without their parents knowing. But at other times, it's just the only realistically possible way of getting something done in the bureaucratic mess that is our government. 'Smart' is the word used around here to describe someone who knows how to 'get things done', without getting struck down by rules and procedures. This 'skill' is glorified so much that you're a hero if you have it and a loser if you follow the rules instead. Even kids are taught how to treat rules as hurdles that they need to learn to jump over. In India, this is the way!
But is it a logical way, especially when you think about the long-term?
Here's a short story to shed more light ...
There is a walking path near where I live, as wide as a road that a car go on. It runs along a river and is unpaved. It was actually just a path meant for bulldozers to be able to do their work of building banks along the river so that it could protect the neighboring areas in the event of another flood (the first being in 2015). It had become a great place to go for a walk in the mornings and evenings for everyone in the neighborhood. People were walking, jogging and cycling there peacefully for sometime, till some 'smart' motorcycle guys got the idea of using it as a shortcut to get somewhere. And the icing on the satirical cake was how they drove at speed, alarming the walkers and joggers. A peaceful setting which stood out from our normal hellish roads, had become corrupted by zipping and zooming motorized two-wheelers.
Now, before cars start using it too, the government has stopped these motorists by placing a gate at the entrance of the path. It has a rotating gate for walkers and joggers, and also has a security-person cubicle near the gate. You might think, 'Ah, problem solved!'; end of story. But, hold on a second and think about the expenses made. The cost of the gate, the labor of installing it, the cost of the cubicle and the salary to be paid to the security person. Who's paying for it?
Let's recap that. A peaceful walking path now needs a gate and security because of some 'smart' guys who tried to use it as a shortcut. If you think a bit further, this is not an isolated story. This is a pattern. For example, think of how many extra minutes a person loses in a US airport just for enhanced security checking after 9/11. Now, multiply that by the millions of people traveling every year. Think of the cost of the equipment and security personnel. All of it wasted because of 12 terrorists who 'outsmarted' - very important word, airport security!
More thought can unearth the fact that we are practically losing a surprising amount of time, money and brain-space, just to deal with the rules and regulations that have been put there to stop 'smart' people. The more loop-holes 'smart' people find, the more the government has to spend on closing them. The more rules 'smart' people flout, the more checks and restrictions the government has to bring. At the end of the day, a lay person, who is not 'smart' and doesn't flout laws, has to go through more checks, restrictions, rules, regulations, approvals, attestations, 'no-objections' and validations to get, even the basic things in life, 'done'; all the while paying taxes for the enforcement of these very same restrictions, rules, regulations, approvals, attestations, 'no-objections' and validations. Such is the way!
So, "be smart, child"...
