A somewhat reluctant entrant to the Revenue Department /Service , having once already given up the idea to join as Excise and Taxation Inspector even after receiving the appointment letter and also not to appear for the interview after qualifying the written examination of Income Tax Inspector, it dawned upon me that perhaps all government departments having public dealing had one misgiving or the other . There are good and bad elements everywhere and one can prove one self to be a class apart much against the common perception. On joining Government service, I heard many a joke bandied about Patwaris, the backbone of Revenue Department. This class of revenue officials has over the ages, earned some notoriety, for accepting bribe.
On this analogy , an official of some other department once shared an anecdote with me albeit with a touch of humour.
A villager approached a Patwari for some land related work and as per the prevailing practice, gave him a ten rupee note.The Patwari put it inside his headgear-a turban which most of the people used to wear at that time.
Next day another person came and gave the Patwari a twenty rupee note for the similar work and the Patwari put the note inside his headgear. The genesis of bribe is the tendency of the people to gain advantage over the others so this tendency was at work here also.
After some days when the first party came to the Patwari to enquire and remind about his work, the Patwari found himself caught in a fix. Not looking at the person, he kept foraging into his papers and documents. When the person did not budge and insisted on his work being done, the Patwari, enraged and touched to the quick raised his hand and touching the side where he had put twenty rupee note had this to say , " Main Ki karaan, itthe dooni aag lagi hoyi e !"
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