DURING the British colonial era, Indian Civil Services (ICS) exams were introduced to select distinguished ‘gentlemen’ who would help govern British India. It transformed into the Central Superior Services (CSS) after the partition. The issue is that these officers have taken the middle word, ‘superior’, far too literally and seriously.

The officers’ behaviour is plagued by the past sinful ‘superiority’ of the ‘superior white man’ in British India. It is rather absurd how allergic these officers have become to any vehicle below an 1800cc engine, which costs approximately millions of rupees that are paid from taxpayers’ money.

Their social media posts, including corny videos with Bollywood music in the background, are irritating. I wonder why civil servants need servants to open the doors of their vehicles so that their ‘highnesses’ may step down onto the land of poverty-ridden Pakistan.

It would be better if we could provide them with servants who would do their work in the fields, because the salary of those servants would be less than the cost of refuelling their monstrous vehicles. Bureaucrats are surely living the cherished taxpayer-funded American dream.

Ahmed Sheheryar
Lahore

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2024