There was a king. One day he told his Prime Minister that he was very proud of his praja (people) and could depend on them in any situation. PM did not agree with him and advised the king not to blindly depend on the people. People have their own priorities which may be different from those of the king in case of many people. As the saying goes that proof of the pudding is in its eating, the king should test the commitment of the people. King agreed. He issued an order that in the night every citzen will put one litre milk in the pond situated outside the city. Next morning he, along with PM, went to inspect the pond. He was shocked to see that pond was filled with water. There was no milk in it.

This is a familiar story I read in my childhood about the king and the people. Today I was reminded of it when I received it in my mail from Will and Guy. For the purpose of the story, we can put people in four groups named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

The king had issued an order. It was meant to be obeyed by Everybody. From king's point of view it was an important job to be done. Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn't do it.

King got angry about it because it was Everybody's job but Nobody did it. The order ended up with no compliance and Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

We find such or similar siuations in our everyday life but we do not notice many of them as they are not important for us. We see our importance, our priority. We do not even think of others' importance and others' priority. PM was right when he said that people have their own prioities. What he did not say was that king had his own priorities which may not match with those of the people.

In today's India, priorities of Govt and people are not same. Rather there is an overall conflict between Govt and people. The people and their representatives (who call themselves VIP or VVIP) do not see eye to eye on majority of issues India is facing today. This conflict is increasing. The synthetic leadership has failed. There are no real leaders. The pond is there. The order is there. But Everybody, including the king and his VIP team, is thinking that Anybody could pour milk in the pond, and that Somebody will do it. But Nobody is doing it.