Hello!
I am Amit and this is my story - or at least part of it.
I am a property developer - to the world, but actually I am a scammer and, a highly accomplished psychologist. I know how people think and I am a good judge of their price. In all ages, people had their price and today the price has gone down. The values had vanished long ago, now the prices are falling too.
When I advertise my wares, I sell dreams - not big ones, but small dreams, which appear big to these people. A very large number of them are pining for dreams, which appear far away. Give them a small portion of it and they are trapped. Even when I dont give them the rest, they will crib about it, but that is all. No one has the guts, the risk taking ability or the time to take me on.
If by chance some of them do get together, it is easy to break it up by buying off a tiny bit from the group.
Let me tell you a story. I sold a dream to a large number of people to provide them residential flats with amenities like high quality security and maintenance, clubs, gyms, sports facilities, greenery, walking areas, pools.....you name it.
I did deliver some of these units initially - just to attract more of these fools. Then, I carried out a small test. I sold off the ground level guest parking spaces which were actually part of the undivided common areas, prohibited from sale. The buyers were happy - do not really know why because there were enough units in the authorized basement parking.
How could I sell these off when they were not allowed to be sold? Easy! You just needed to assess and pay the price of the registrar and the development authority. Some cash here, a flat there, a holiday, a watch, a cellphone.....So everyone was happy. No hue and cry, not even a whimper.
Next, I completed a few flats and gave possession to some people. I also took the money for registering the flats, but did not get it registered. I had also defaulted on the payments to be made to the Area Development Authority for the land on which I was doing the construction.
Why did they allow me to continue? As I said, the price was paid. Each notice for payment was delayed, no follow up was done when i did not respond, hearings were delayed or deferred..... After all, those in positions of power also were part of the same society and therefore had similar dreams which needed to be realized.
When the Authority was under pressure to realize the outstanding amounts, they invoked what as per them was the last resort - they stopped registering the flats which had been sold! Just as I had planned! I had the money of the buyers, I did not need to spend the same on the registration charges - an all round win for me.
In fact, I had the Authority direct me to stop further construction, which was great! The only losers were the people who had paid for buying these flats. They had taken loans, they had paid from their savings, they had to continue paying their rents and EMIs, and had no idea if they would get their flats, ever. So what?
I had their money, I had nothing to pay off immediately, I could start other projects and continue the scam, and nobody was willing to act so that they could hurt me - after all I was fulfilling their dreams. great times!
I then embarked on assuring my income to meed my day to day expenses. Those who stayed in the flats had to pay in advance for the electricity that the complex consumed as well as for carrying out maintenance activities and security services.
They had to pay in advance, but I certainly did not. In fact I could delay all this a fair bit so that I only paid in part when things came to a head.A great way to meet running expenses for my family - both the principal amount and the interest or returns on the principal as a tidy sum. Some would call it thievery - but that is ok, you cannot live by what people call you. To each his own I say!
I had taken this to a level that was so big that I could now say no to all the demands that the residents asked me to meet. I could say no without doubt, fear or shame. I had left them no option - or so they thought!
After all making all those in position of power look the other way is no mean feat. One has to be aware of what each wants. money, of course! but that is not all. It is surprising to see the amount of depravity that some of these government officials can have.
After all, not many understand the nature and character of the Government - and I am not just referring to the ministers and their secretariats but also to the large hydra like government machinery - the local bodies, the MPs the MLAs, the Corporators, the Govenment employees in the Authority, the District Magistrate, the Police, the various other bodies and finally the judiciary and the quasi judicial bodies like the regulators.
Each has its own price - money, proximity, little favours, cars, holidays, medical and school admissions, household appliances, mobiles, sometimes revenge...... I deal with all of these, no discrimination for me.
I understand that there are so many factors that will not allow these people to come together against me - ego, personality clashes, self doubt, indifference and sometimes a little favour here, a little cash there. If all else fails, there is always fear of personal safety - perceived or otherwise for the residents.
For those in authority the reasons are a little different. Usually the tendency to be indifferent, a contempt for the middle class (to which they also belong), the tendency to ingratiate those that they perceive as being “big people”, cash or equivalent, sometimes a hint of blackmail ...... all work together to keep me safe.
And lets now talk about the victims. The people who hope and pray for help and justice - my clients. The people who buy my houses, the people who are directly or indirectly employed by me, the people who enter into contracts. They are willing to suffer lack of services, unpaid wages, unfulfilled contractual payments with nothing more than a whimper. When they make feeble attempts to rally around - all I have to do is either bribe a select few to break up the consolidation or remind them of the loss that they may be facing in unpaid dues. The administration, police and judiciary play their part well to help me reinforce this perception. After all they have been frustrating these people for ages. The leaders, when approached, are masters of this game - they have played it far longer than i have.
I have to be careful though - not to push them over the edge. I have to just give enough leeway to keep the hope alive but not enough to push them for drastic action - which has the capability to destroy all that we have built. As long as these people have hope that their so called protectors - the politicians, the judges, the administration- will help them, we are safe. If we push just a little bit harder - our whole super structure will come crumbling down.
This carefully built up perception is fragile - it needs careful handling History has taught us this. The balance is critical and if disturbed it has the potential to destroy all of us.
Lets hope this ignorance of their strength sustains forever.
All that is required is a set of basic questions to be asked loudly and repeatedly so that it can no longer be ignored. The questions are - are you doing your job fairly and diligently? Why should you continue to enjoy our support? Why should you not be punished for corruption or indifference? Why should you not pay for years of corruption or indifference?
Fortunately for me, there is no one around yet who has asked these loudly enough or repeatedly enough.
This is not my story. It is a story of two nations which exist in the same land. One is a nation of oppressors and the other is a nation of the oppressed. The members of these two groups are individually interchangeable. A member of the oppressed group in one situation can be a member of the other in a different situation.
Hence the act has to be questioned, not the person. If the act is questioned and the perpetrator is punished irrespective of who it is - I become obsolete.
I, therefore, pray all the time that this does not happen, but I fear that it may!
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