RULES! Meant to be broken?

It was "Navratra sthapana"the first day of Navratri, and my mum had dragged me to a temple. After finishing with all the rituals out there, I slipped out and sat on the stairs of the temple for a while, as that was the only place free from the oceanic crowds, the temple trust had made a "path", guided by chains, to organize the crowds. Luckily for me, the temple stairs were left vacant due to all these "precautions to maintain discipline". I waited as my mum finished with the rest of her Pooja. I had begun to feel uncomfortable in the suffocating crowds surrounding me, when my gaze fell on a little cute kid, he couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years of age, the fact that pulled my attention towards him was the argument going on between him and his father. His father had apparently sneaked up and managed to get in the line, in its final stage, the kid however adamantly stood where they were actually supposed to be, which was a long distance from where his dad now stood, almost nearing the temple doorstep. The line had a curve to fit in more people and so the father and son were standing very near to each other however the father was ahead of him in terms of the people standing in the line. The father, a smart looking guy, first gestured, and when it didn't yield anything told, rather ordered his kid to come to him, the kid refused the "offer", and replied in a smart voice which made him look very cute, "Daddy! This is where we're supposed to stand, please don't break the rules!". I was amused at this reaction of the kid. My lips curved into a smile, which the father noticed, and suddenly got conscious. He quickly gestured his son to come to him, threatening of "dire consequences" ("I won't give you any pocket money when you grow up!", "I won't get you that computer game you wanted to buy", "I won't let you join Facebook",  "I won't take you to the Ice-cream parlour today"). Until now the kid, who stood firm as a rock, suddenly began to rust his iron will, especially the restriction from joining Facebook, and the fact won't get Ice-cream that night convinced him to join his father. The onlookers, were equally amused as me, tried to hide their smiles by chanting the Goddesses' name louder, however their twisted lips and frequently visible teeth suggested pretty evidently that they were enjoying the situation, an Old woman standing behind the kid, pulled his cheek and offered him a candy, the kid, still looking serious held a hand towards the woman and replied,"It was my duty to follow the rules, unfortunately I couldn't, but the next time, I certainly will." His father smiled in embarrassment, and said with a forced attempt to look proud,"Hehehehe! Baccha hai!"


I was amazed by the little kid's determination to follow the rules, and equally annoyed by his father's persistent attempt to force him to break them. Though the kid finally yielded to the demands, he reminded me of a quote I had read in 10th standard, by Jean Jacques Rousseau, "L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers." (Translation: Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains), though many of these "chains", the rules for men are "necessary for the proper functioning of the society", the problem starts when we need to follow those rules. I've heard many of my friends and relatives, some even occupying important positions in the society, boasting about how they broke the rules. The conclusion here was- "Rules are meant to be broken." Whenever you see any rule, make sure you do just the opposite, that make you look much more "cool", and who the hell doesn't want to be cool? Especially when in school ! It all starts from breaking simple rules like plucking flowers from a garden, to trespassing others' lands, from bunking classes in school to bunking the whole college and turning up only for exams. When we're young, our world is restricted to schools, later the boundaries increase to colleges and then comes life. In schools, the rules are small in magnitude and so are their consequences, but as face the world head on, we realise that the rules grow, and so do their consequences. If today, you didn't mind bunking a class, tomorrow you may not mind taking a hefty bribe, the relation, though very little, exists.
A few weeks back the whole nation was swept of its feet by a puny looking old man with an iron-will, the Gandhian, the non-violent Anna Hazare! Every Indian, capable of some intellect, supported him in his mission to pass the Jan-Lokpal bill. Many netizens praised his endeavour on Facebook, and other such sites. Countless "Anti-corruption" and "support Anna Hazare" groups were formed all over the net. People, it seemed were united after all, a good thing for the national unity, not so good for the nation after all. We all know that bribes are still taken in Anna's own country, his state, maybe even in his own village. Countless Indians supported the Jan- Lokpal bill, but how do you know if a government official/politician, joined Anna in his rally one day, and took a bribe the very next day, maybe the next minute? There's no statistical data to prove my idea, but I reckon that after reading this line, many of the seen or unknown faces must have formed in your mind's eye, of the people who might have done this injustice to their own conscience. Today, even after the Jan-Lokpal bill has passed, we aren't sure if much will change, after all this bill is again among the many infinite "rules" in our lives!
Rules need not necessarily be the official ones, there are certain unofficial rules too, which we name courtesy, or decency, but the matter of fact is that those are still rules, meant to be broken? I don't know, you are the better judge!