Have we all gone blind?

Or is it only our young people whose eyes are still open?

As students pour onto the streets in protest, we should begin asking what they are seeing that we have chosen to ignore.

Since 2014, India has witnessed more than 150 examination paper leaks. Behind every leaked paper is not merely an administrative failure but a young life shaken to its core. Imagine burning the midnight oil for months, sacrificing sleep, entertainment and friendships, only to discover that somebody else bought tomorrow’s question paper yesterday.

What does that tell us?

It tells us that corruption is no longer hiding in dark corners. It is standing in the middle of the street, waving cheerfully while we pretend not to notice.

But the examination hall is only one room in a much larger building called corruption.

Imagine voters standing in the blazing sun for hours, travelling long distances to cast their vote, only to find out later that the representative they elected was persuaded through pressure, inducement or political bargaining to join the ruling side.

Imagine honest journalists returning from weeks of investigation getting to know that their reports will never see the light of day because their editor or publisher fears the consequences of jail.

Imagine the poor and hungry knowing fully well, that their suffering will never be reflected honestly in reports, statistics or official claims.

Are we blind to this rampant corruption, or do we have cataracts in our eyes?

The frightening thing about cataracts is that they do not arrive overnight. Vision fades gradually. At first everything appears only slightly blurred. Then the blur becomes normal. Eventually we convince ourselves that what we are seeing is perfectly clear.

Perhaps that is what has happened to many of us.

We have become distracted by endless talks over religion, temples, slogans, personalities and political theatre, while this terrible corruption has quietly grown stronger behind the curtain.

The students protesting today have been the first to recognise what many adults have accepted as inevitable.

History has shown repeatedly that every great movement begins with a handful of people refusing to accept what everyone else has normalised.

We have normalised corruption!

These protests are not the end of the story. They are the first crack in the wall.

Time to remove your blindfolds of prejudice, personality worship and endless distraction, or one day future generations will ask why you remained silent when the warning signs were so obvious.

The tragedy is not that corruption exists.

The greater tragedy is when decent people like you and me get accustomed to it.

So, before you accuse our young of rebellion, perhaps we should thank them for reminding us to open our eyes.

Otherwise, history may simply record that we the older generation did not just lose our eyesight. We refused to remove our cataract…!

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