The fledgling Aam Admi Party (AAP) recently contested and won the Delhi Assembly Elections. This success has catapulted them to national fame and there is an enthusiastic response to this win in from of thousands and thousands of people queuing up to join AAP. Many of the new members are quite well to do corporate bosses. Bala of Infosys and Capt. Gopinath of erstwhile Deccan Airlines are one of the most prominent corporate honchos to have joined AAP. This has led to new debate on who is Aam (common) vs Khas (special). I want to share my piece of mind on this raging debate.
AAM ADMI – Being common can be synonym to being a part of the crowd. It is a mind-set which gets manifested in one’s behaviour. If you stand in the queue while buying a railway ticket, you are common. If you work hard and face the competition for getting admission into an Institute, you are common. If you drive on the road and stop at the red signal, you are common. In short those who feel that they are a part of the crowd and thus follow the rules and the systems set up for efficient functioning of the system are common. They can assumed to be people who are honest, simple and hardworking and want to achieve things by following the rules of the system. To cite a personal example, whenever I go for lunch at our Institutes canteen, I join the queue. Though I know that the students in the queue probably won’t object to my jumping the queue, I never do so. I AM AAM ADMI.
KHAS ADMI – Being Khas is being privileged. A large number of people have come to believe and act in a manner that they are privileged. They won’t be a part of the queue. They know someone at the ticket counter and go inside the booking room to get their tickets. They don’t want to work hard to get admission in a prestigious institute because they believe that they can buy their way into it and hard work is for commoners. They don’t stop at the red signal but just whiz away in their red beacon car. In short they don’t want to follow the rules and the system and consider themselves above the system. They always try and manipulate the system. They thrive on connections and nexus. This behaviour can get manifested in small scale like expecting a better grade in college because of one’s connections and pedigree, and large scale like asking for and getting bribe in Millions because of ones’ ministerial position.
What’s the Harm? – We have seen in the above comparison that being AAM begets hard work, sincerity, honesty, efficiency, fairness and equity in society. Whereas being KHAS begets lethargy, unscrupulousness, dishonesty, inefficiency and inequity in society. Being AAM helps the society grow, prosper and be happy.
LET US ALL VOW TO BE AAM!
Vivek Chaturvedi
IFIM B School