Reasoning with ghosts

The dream

Balwinder walked into the office of industrial approvals. There were two queues in front of him, one long queue and one shorter. As was the practice of any middle-class aspirant citizen of the state, he stood in the long line. Privileged ones only get in with shorter lines, his experience as always been that no. of smiling Gandhis required is inversely proportional to the size of the line he was standing. Two minutes of wait, he finds out that was not the case here. The longer line was for the guys who had recommendations and were ready to pay a bribe. He also understood soon these guys open industries only in papers, for the circulation of darker Gandhis(if you get my drift). 

Balwinder could never believe his luck when the shorter line finished so quickly. The officer asked Balwinder to pay a 900 rupees for the application. Once paid, he handed him the application and directions required to complete the registration process. Things were going good, thought Balwinder. That was when his friend reality arrived in the form of Surender. Surender was one behind Balwinder in line, but he has been there a few time before, and he knew the length and depth of stupidity that were rules. He introduced himself to a happy looking Balwinder. They had a conversation that changes everything.

The Discovery

"What industry were you planning to start?" asked Surender.

"It is confidential, I have not yet got my patents", replied Balwinder.

"Something new then. It means you will never get approval."

"What do you mean?"

"Unless of course, you are ready to bend.."

"What language.. are you speaking?"

"Bend over backwards to pay the money the officer requests."

"I cannot sell my soul. I have worked hard to achieve this dream, I cannot put it in jeopardy with a bribe."

"Soul, life, hard work are words you should leave at the door of a government office. Here only one thing sells and it does not sell cheap."

Balwinder tried to ignore the negativity of Surender as he started to read through his application. He was filling it up and felt good where he found a separate section which said inventors section. He was the inventor and the owner. Surender was watching every move of Balwinder. He entered when Balwinder opened the last page.

"Have you seen how many approvals you need", asked Surender.

Balwinder was looking through the page and trying to check. But, there were no row numbers next to each item. Balwinder started counting.

"1,2,3,...., 15, 16, 17." 

A total of 17 approvals. OMG thought Balwinder but does not want to sound panicky to Surender.

"We are going to start a big industry the government can expect us to follow few rules", said Balwinder.

Surender laughed at the gullibility of Balwinder and said, "There are few more government in its infinite wisdom wants you to fulfil. For some reason, they are not there in the document."

Balwinder was trying to see any note saying something about them. But could not find them

"Don't try to search for them. You are not going to find them listed in the document."

Balwinder was still trying to ignore Surender. But it was becoming hard for him

"The third document listed in this document needs you to fulfil and get five more approvals. The fifth one needs eight approvals, sixth one four approvals. In total, you need anywhere between 99 to 106 approvals."

Balwinder had a face Surender recognised immediately. 

"Don't worry, we all started at 0. You see that man (pointing to someone) he reached 86 till now. Another two and a half years he will get his license. That guy (pointing to another one) he crossed 75 yesterday. We all had a party for the same."

Balwinder slowly asked, "Is there no other way?"

"Only another way is money. Seeing you are one of us, you might have to sell everything you have to get there. After that, the only thing that you will have is a license but no money to start the industry."

Balwinder was not ready to let go of his dream. But he also doesn't have any money. He thought going away from Surender was going to bring back his confidence on his idea and future. 

"I am not going to get disappointed with your negativity. My innovation is path-breaking I will run behind every officer. If not in a day they should listen to me in 10 days. I can wait and get it done. I will find a way to succeed.", said Balwinder.

Surender knew everyone starts that way. He was not trying to kill the hope he was only trying to get Balwinder ready for a long drawn out fight he has before him. 

"Let me introduce you to a few people. You are going to meet them frequently here. Good to know them and learn their stories. That will help you in some way.", said Surender

"Hi, Amit meet Balwinder. Balwinder, this is Amit.", Surender introduced Amit to Balwinder. 

"Balwinder is going to get his NOC for land tomorrow. Can you help him with tips?"

"Tips is the only way", said Amit. Both Surender and Amit joined in a laugh. 

"My land is barren. The industry is not going to have any pollution. What will be tough to get approval", said Balwinder.

"I was to start an industry which gives a cheap alternative to plastic bags. There is no equipment. We were going to recycle and reuse our solid waste. Do you know why the officer rejected the approval?"

Balwinder was waiting for Amit to tell what.

"He wrote my application. The applicant has not produced the important papers required for approval. Taking into consideration the location of the village, the property could be farmland. Needs further study till then approval is not granted. " 

Balwinder thought the justification could be something crazy. It looked genuine. So he asked, "What was wrong in that?"

"The place I showed was an old paper factory. The factory closed a few years ago."

"Let us hear the rest of the stories also," said Surender.

"Are you seeing the uncle sleeping in that corner? He did not get approval because of his age. Not because he was old, he was too young to apply, was written in the document. Obviously, It was a typo. But uncle was asked to wait three more years to apply by the revision committee. He applied to a new revision committee, which will convene today to check his request after waiting for two and a half years."

"Do you know what was his mistake?", asked Surender. Balwinder had nothing to add and waited for Surender to tell him. Surender wanted to say. 

"The old man taught all his MBA students how to start a business. How to succeed in this world? He made all his students believe there was a great future for them to grab, and all they needed is one great idea." 

Instead, he said, "He had hope. Hoped to get some recognition for his greatness."

That young man (pointing to someone), Surender started speaking. 

"He was asked to prove he was the only son. No one should come and claim to the property later point of time. Looks very justifiable on paper. He got all proofs before his birth. It was relatively easy for him considering his father was in NDA after 17 and was in military till he got married. After he was born, the mother and father passed away. Simple for a common man. But it was not. The father died two days after his mother. So they want him to get a document to prove that nothing happened during that time. Now his father had no sexual relations when his mother was dead and taken to her funeral. After coming back from the funeral, his father died love for his wife and grief of losing her."

The reality

Balwinder sat down and started to understand what was going on. He could not believe any of what Surender had to say. He though Surender was one of those brokers who make deals for the officers. He was scaring him to agree to a passable amount of bribe. That was when he noticed Surender talking to someone. 

"Hi Atma, how are you doing?", asked Surender. There was no one Balwinder could see responding. But Surender was continuing to speak.

"Thanks for asking. I too am fine. It will only be a year more before I get my approvals. What did the officer say to you this time?"

Balwinder was attentively looking to where Surender's eyes were fixed in the direction Surender was speaking. He could not see anyone yet. He checked Surender for any Bluetooth in-ear, there was none.

"The time has come for you to rest in peace. Give the officer the money somehow and get it done."

Balwinder could see Surender nodding as if hearing to someone. 

"Yeah, I can see the problem. Let me know if I can do anything. Bye, bye."

Surender turned to Balwinder and saw a crazy expression in him. He realized what happened, it was Atma. He was about to say something but restrained himself. 

Balwinder got up and started his journey out. Before leaving, he turned to Surender and said, "I knew there was something not adding up with you. Now it is clear you are a crazy person. I am not going to pay any bribe, and I am not going to get scared by your stories. I will get my industry, and I will succeed." 

The sleeping man in the corner came to Surender and asked what happened. 

"I had a conversation with Atma. He saw that.", said Surender.

"Why have you not explained to him that?", asked the man.

"He just started today his journey. It is not going to take him time to learn you have to come here even after you are dead. And being dead inside, we could have conversations with ghosts trying to get their work done in government offices." said Surender.

Business of Dead

All the ghosts were having their afternoon meeting. Post-meeting it was sleeping time for good 9-10 hours before starting duty at midnight. The meeting was to identify which areas are assigned to which ghosts. You know, the fear of people is what feeds them. If you are late to meetings, they get places like universities where 40-year-old students study or government office quarters. Atma was late for the meeting. One of the ghosts concerned asked why Atma was late. He told he was trying to get a death certificate. Atma had insurance in his name. To get the money out, his wife needs a death certificate. When alive, he promised his wife that he was do all the paperwork to get the money. If he does not keep his promise, his wife will kill him. 

"But you are already dead," said the other ghost after hearing the story from Atma. 

"If you knew my wife, you will be scared too, she could kill me even in the afterlife", said Atma.