Suyash's Corner!: I refused to Bribe. I by Gireesh Sharma.

Book: I refused to Bribe - A stand against corruption.
Author: Gireesh Sharma.
Publication House: General Press.
Category:Fiction.
Rating: 4

Story-in-Short:

The protagonist Jitesh is an honest banker who refuses to sanction a business loan to an industrialist, Satish, whose factory is running at a loss. When Satish offers a bribe to Jitesh, the latter abuses the industrialist and threatens to call the police. Undeterred by all this, Satish approaches Arora who is Jitesh senior officer and offers him a share in his business. Arora puts pressure on Jitesh to ignore certain norms and stipulations and approve the loan, but Jitesh succumbs neither to greed nor pressure. Arora and Satish turn hostile towards Jitesh.

A few days later at the bank, Jitesh helps an unknown customer, who claims to be illiterate, to fill his withdrawal form. The customer is later identified as a conman who fraudulently withdraws money from someone account. His arch rival Arora manipulates facts and Jitesh is named in the chargesheet. Jitesh is suspended from his job and faces a judicial inquiry that lasts for 14 long and painful years.

During the long ordeal, Jitesh is flooded with offers to bribe his way out of the matter and this includes vigilance officers, bank officials, CID officers, court clerks and even the judge. Arora connives with businessmen and amasses huge wealth through underhand means. Arora ignores his family and takes to the wrong path in personal life also. What has destiny in store for him is he able to escape from the clutches of justice.

In my view:

Disgusting it is that always an honest man has to face hurdles in life while a dishonest man gets away with everything. This is no more a secret that corruption is rooted in our system but then who gives a damn to it? Many, instead of getting inspired by our great leaders; choose of walk on the path of corrupt people. And this creates a problem, a major problem. There’s not a single place today which is free from corruption. Earlier government sectors were known for corrupt people but now there is an open corruption even in the private sector. But, being the citizens of India isn’t it our duty to eradicate this social evil from our land?

I just finished reading I Refused to Bribe and it has seriously won my heart. Consisting foreword written by Dr Kumar Vishwas this book gets a very inspiring story, at such a time when corruption is present in our atmosphere.

Pannu a teenager bribes an agent and gets his driving licence ready without any hazards. He proudly announces this thing to his uncle and aunty. Feeling bad for what their nephew did, Pannu’s uncle aunty narrate a story of a honest clerk and his journey. This story that begins in 2012 takes us back to mid 90’s

Jitesh, the protagonist of the story hails from a poor family. Following the principles laid down by revolutionary leaders, Jitesh is strictly against bribe and corruption. After having completed his matriculate exams, Jitesh is married of to a girl from a well-to-do family. Despite knowing that his job of a postman earns him Rs. 30 per month, Jitesh’s father borrows heavy amount from the moneylender for Jitesh’s marriage.

Jitesh’s mother wants her son to be an officer and hence motivates him to appear for exams. He luckily gets selected at the State Bank of India. His friend and a fellow colleague sends a person Satish to him for a loan. Considering Satish’s business losses and previous borrowings, Jitesh denies approval of loan.

Widely known for his honesty among his colleagues and bank officials, Jitesh is arrested one day. His name appears in a fraud case, even when Jitesh does nothing. He gets suspended and a departmental inquiry is initiated against him. During this phase, Jitesh gets offers for bribing and clearing his name. But instead he determinedly chooses to walk on the path of honesty. But the way Jitesh gets himself out of this mess, that too avoiding dishonesty at any stage, is what you need to find out from the book.

The book seriously forwards an inspiring story which I consider is the need of the hour. The story revolves around the early post-independence period. It gives an insight about those days and beliefs of people; rituals that they used to follow, the police’ style of functioning, etc. It reminds me of a quote that a building constructed on the bricks of corruption has to fall sometime or the other.

Over-all: The cover page of the book showcases a man standing alone. Perhaps it portrays Jitesh – the man with high morals. The cover page, in a sense, is not that attractive but then I would call it a suitable one. The title of the book is good enough. Commenting on the narration style of the author, I would say it is brilliant. With every finishing page, the story developed a desire in me to know further happenings. The dialogues and plots in the story are comprehensible enough.

However, the characters and their names tend to create a sort of confusion. And yes there are a few grammatical errors in the book. But then the story possesses strength to overpower the grammatical errors. Hence, this 317 pages book will surely give you a nice read.

Recommending this book to my readers, I would rate it with 4/5. Congratulations to the author and hope he comes up with more such interesting books.