Sometimes I surprise myself with the amount of jugaad I keep doing to get things done… the other day I resorted to it yet again… I had to get one Power of Attorney executed urgently and so consulted one of my friends as to how to go about it… a very simple and straight solution, that I should contact her lawyer friend who would get it stamped, notarized and would charge JUST Rs 500 as service charges… I was kind of overwhelmed that this would save me trouble of doing all this on my own…

But then I thought, what the heck… why am I taking such shortcuts? I have enough time on hand and enough energy to do some running around… what I had forgotten was that time and energy aren’t enough to get such sarkari things done… what is required is jugaad, and over a period, have absorbed that art also now… ventured out to do my work on my own and the exercise started with finding a parking for my car… checked in atleast 4-5 parking areas but tough luck… so requested the attendants to keep car keys and take as much money they want… they didn’t heed my request as there was supposedly strict patrolling due to VIP visit that day… having realized that there was no way the attendants would oblige, I directly approached the traffic cop standing nearby, got into a polite conversation with him on the reason for heavy patrolling, sympathized with his stress levels during VIP visits and requested him to give me a parking somewhere (sounding as helpless as I could!!)… to my surprise, he blew his whistle to call one of the parking attendants and directed him to take my car keys and look after ‘madams car’… :):)

Then it was time to test my patience at the bank counter for franking of document.. as usual, there had to be some mistake in the document which was promptly pointed out at the counter and with it a straight refusal to stamp.. my failing memory supported me this one time and I remembered that one of my mom’s close friend worked in the same bank and branch… got mom to call her and summon her down to where I was and help sort out the matter… she got a chance to show her seniority and the authority that comes with it, and she blasted with all the force at the clerk who had refused to stamp my document… my work was done in less than three minutes from then… thanking Aunty profusely, I moved on to next stopover, the civil court for notary… as luck would have it, it was lunch time and I was told to wait for atleast an hour before any advocate could take note of my request… spent first 10 min staring at the high ceilings, and large corridors, lost into nothingness… bored of the nothingness, I started a conversation with the peon there in local dialect of Marathi… an investment of 5 minutes of my time talking to him about his native and how things were back at his hometown, got him onto his feet and take me down from the backside exit to the parking lot… on the way he told me that I will have to pay INR 200 to the notary but job will be done… I agreed knowing well that he had a ‘cut’ in that ridiculous charge he quoted… we approached a small van behind the parking lot, dark tinted windows were rolled down cautiously, my papers were taken in, an empty hand popped out for money, money was placed on that hand like a dakshina, came out another hand with a notarized and signed document that I had wanted…

Walked back to my car wondering if 200 was too much to pay for saving an hour long wait… as I approached my car, the attendant waived at me and asked me to wait where I was… he got the car to me, handed the keys and on being asked how much to pay him, he said ‘Rs 20 madam’… my eyes widened in shock while asking him how come JUST 20 when he would have normally charged anywhere between 60-80? To which he replied smilingly ‘aapki gaadi bade saheb ne rakhvayi thi madam’.. I smiled back and drove past him… amazed at how these small small jugaads save our time and efforts and sometimes some money too (compare 500rs service charge of the lawyer with 220rs that I spent!!!)… but more importantly, this very jugaad exposed me to the dark bylanes and darker shades of life where the power and position held by an individual is mightier than sword… where the weaker (or made to look weaker) sections manage their existence through some harmless exploitation of law… where words like shame and disgrace are tucked deep into ones soul, in an attempt to subsist… where smiles and sympathies still continue to be valued emotions…

Have not been able to decide if engaging the lawyer to do my work would have been right (whether their effort is worth or not) or following all rules and instructions myself would have been right (howmuchever time and effort it would have taken)… or resorting to tactics that I did was right… on one hand it feels unpleasant to be encouraging and in a way be associated with these dark shadows… but on the other hand feels good to have contributed in a miniscule way to brighten up the darker shades…