I MET OZYMANDIAS , IN THE SECRETARIAT

 

1. I MET OZYMANDIAS, IN THE SECRETARIAT

Ozymandias. The mighty emperor. Seeker of everlasting greatness who caused a colossal statue of himself to be made ensure for him eternal fame. Shelley in ‘Ozymandias’, refers to the impermanence of power by pointing to the decayed remains of that enormous statue, two vast, trunkless legs and a shattered visage, that lie neglected on a desert path, vaingloriously telling the passerby, with the ‘sneer of cold command’: “I am Ozymandias, King of Kings. ”

Yesterday I met Ozymandias. In the Secretariat. Wearing disheveled clothes and holding an old diary in his armpit, he was standing in a corner. ‘Wasn’t he a minister once?’ I asked my friend. I invited him to my room, talked pleasantries, served him tea. He had come to enquire about some small matter. I called the officials concerned and gave him the information that he had sought. He thanked me profusely, in all humility, and left the room.

Why it is necessary to show courtesy to such people, my friend who was in my room, asked me. When he was in power had he shown any courtesy to anyone? Hadn’t he shoved around a youngster who came to submit a petition? Then there was that hush-hush incident of his slapping a guard and getting slapped back by the guard; and the furore over flinging a file at the face of a woman official at a conference. The friend was reeling off his charge sheet against the former minister. Another officer who joined the discussion chose to react philosophically. Some people lose their sight when in power. They become sort of Dhritharashtra. What happens when the ruler who has to see all, turns blind?

My friend continued in unmitigated anger. This happens when the cur and the clown come to occupy the golden throne. But it all depends on the quality of those who sit there, I intervened to say. There are some ministers who are always courteous in their behaviour. They are well aware of their limitations. They show respect for others. There is decency and dignity in their dealings with their subordinates. There are others who are veritable embodiments of arrogance. They will berate anyone they come across. Assert on things they are totally ignorant about. Throw to the winds all rules and regulations. Will claim that if they commit wrong doing it is because they have a right to do so and will insist on compliance by others. When a new governmentassumes officethe employees often make their assessment within a week. Such and such a personis good. What a good minister is he! About the others they say: ‘What sort of a minister is he? Pity we have to bear this cross. ’ Both the groups have power in their hands. The difference is in the way that power is used. What distinguishes this behaviour is the quality of the clown lessons they learn from the time they started to crawl as a child in the cow-dung smeared floor of the hut or in the central courtyard of their mansion. Yes. As you sow, so will you reap.

Who is a good ruler? Solomon was a good ruler. He never dismissed anyone or anything as insignificant. Once when he was riding along with his retinue, he came across a long line of ants hastening towards their hole. Though aware that they would be trampled under the hooves of the horses, they continued to go in a line, one after the other. No ant tried to trample another in a bid to save itself. Solomon learned a lesson about selflessness from these tiny ants. Indeed, for a ruler no one is insignificant.

Dilipan of our puranas pleads to the lion that jumped over his cow to spare the cow under his care and eat on him instead.

Those occupying the golden throne should realize one thing. Do not ignore or insult those who made them sit on it. There are many things that do not submit to authority. Or ask emperor Ptolemy. He once asked mathematician Euclid: What is the easiest way to learn geometry ?

Euclid replied: ‘There is no royal road to geometry. ’

Rulers should approach knowledge with humility. They should not try to eclipse knowledge with their arrogance. Is haughtiness a twin of power? If you think so it is because you see many a haughty and arrogant ruler around you. Remember the values that one learns from childhood. If those values do not lose their sheen, power will not be corrupted by arrogance. You need not go far to seek examples. Remember LalBahadurShastri who was wedded to simplicity. In his house one would always have found an atmosphere of welcome and warmth.

Why blame ministers? Their number is considerably small. What about the conceit and the contemptuousness vaunted by the bureaucracy whose number is much more. There are many officers who believe that the touchstone of efficiency is the ability to make people say, as is said in Ramayana with reference to Thadaka, that because of fear of her ‘no one was willing to take the straight path’. If anyone going to the village office, police station or registration office feels that he is like Abhimanyu trapped in Padmavyooha, the responsibility squarely rests with the master class attitude of the officials The general public cannot be blamed if they harbour the view that to get things done in a government office some people needed to be met, and met in a particular way.

There is a monstress in Greek mythology. Medusa. Know what the hero Perseus did when he went to defeat her? He just held aloft a mirror in front of her face. And Medusa fell down dead seeing in the mirror the monstrosity of her own face. Bureaucracy is like Medusa. But no one tries to hold a mirror up to it. Times, however, have changed. No one should forget that. If they do not improve themselves, the time may come when the people come forward to show them the way out. When I met Ozymandias in the Secretariat I remembered the spider in a poem. The spider believed that the world was under its feet. But its devious net collapses when a strong gust blows its way. Seeing this the poet says:

I then remembered each of the empires

That man gave shape to in the vastness of time.

Shakespeare must have seen our government offices. That is why he wrote : ‘the hell is empty; all the devils are here. ’

Power is psychotropic. It is an intoxicant, hallucinant. It causes giddiness, the feet may falter and one may fall down.

Ozymandias has a message for us.