In an article in the Times of India Mr. Ronojoy Sen makes the point that Inidans have no regard for the law and will break the law if they can get away with it. He says that Americans and Europeans always stop at traffic lights, even in the middle of the night but Indians will jump red lights if there is no policeman around. He feels that we are somehow primed to be irresponsible and only respond to the 'danda' as during the emergency during Indira Gandhi's time. I do not know who Mr. Sen is but his article gives me the feeling that he is part of the ruling mafia, either a politician or a bureaucrat, who feels that the masters are entitled to pass laws, however stupid, and the people had better obey. There are two main reasons why Indians drive badly. The first reason is that no one knows the rules because everyone pays bribes to get a licence. And who is responsible for issuing driving licences? Why, the police of course. Even the police do not know traffic rules which is obvious if you see any accident on the roads. The second reason why Indians flout the law is because they have a deep contempt for authority and a deep rooted anger at the corruption in every branch of government. They see politicians, kleptocrats and rich people getting away with murder and rape everyday and do not see why they have to obey any law passed by this scum. Indians feel, with justification, that either everyone has to be answerable or no one at all. This is also the reason why we have armed insurrection in 160 of about 600 districts in the country. Unfortunately voting for another party is of no use because every party is equally crooked. There is a saying in Bengali, ' s*** smells the same from every side.' Crude but oh so true.