When hubris takes over human quality

The humiliation an invigilator at a Higher Secondary Certificate examination hall in Bhandaria was forced to go through is most outrageous, to say the least. Two government officials-one the boss of the upazila and another a magistrate there-had no qualm about subjecting the teacher, also an assistant professor who like the two officials also overcame the hurdle of public service commission to gain his berth in the education cadre, to such humiliation. What offence did the teacher commit? His offence was that he did not recognise the magistrate who entered the hall where the teacher was on duty as an invigilator.
Look at the audacity of the government official in question. Reportedly, he entered the exam hall while talking on his cell phone. The invigilator had every right to ask who he was and charge him for doing what he had done-violation of the code of conduct by using the cell phone in an examination hall. Reports have it that the invigilator merely asked him about his identity. This was enough to infuriate the magistrate. How dared he that the 'lowly' invigilator had the temerity to ask him such an 'outlandish' question. It was a crime not to recognise the man who wielded power to punish anyone of the teacher's standing.
He took the teacher to the college office room where in presence of the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), the offender was made to go through the humiliating ordeal. He was told to kneel down before the magistrate and ask for forgiveness. How he was intimidated is not known but until or unless he capitulated to the instruction and beseeched pardon by touching the shoes of the man with magisterial power, he was not spared. Fortunately, someone (was it a journalist?) had the presence of mind to capture the picture of the humiliation and local correspondents of a few national Bangla newspapers posted it along with the report. The news made quite a stir but not enough to shake the conscience of the fraternity of the administration service. Or else, it would have taken serious exception to the 'imperial act' by the duo, members of the administrative cadre.
Nor was there any redeeming feature in the whole demeaning episode. Only the teachers' associations continued to press for some action against the two powerful officials who were responsible for the highhanded treatment of the teacher but also brought the administrative service to disrepute. Then the High Court had to intervene in the matter. To bring sanity, the HC ordered an inquiry into the deplorable incident and do justice to the aggrieved.
This was warranted because individual becomes taller than institutions in this country. Public servants here are emboldened with an exaggerated sense of importance of themselves that they consider everyone else a pigmy, a creature of no substance which can be trampled at will, forgetful of the fact they are servants of the people. Actually they -if not all, at least the majority of them - behave like the lords of all that they survey. Hubris of the high-placed afflicts society in myriad ways. This however is not a syndrome limited to the government functionaries alone; it runs in the blood of the Bangalees.
Have you heard the heated conversation of men in the street, rickshaw-pullers or the likes of them? " Do you know who I am?", is the punch line that reverberates in the air of this tiny land. As if everyone is an imperial figure who must be shown reverence in all humility in a self-effacing manner. This lordly attitude is what gets into the heads of those who get some power in their hands. But power is corrupting not just in the financial sense of the term but in a sense where a person loses his or her human quality. Thus man diminishes from within and society also fails to be caring enough. Not a good prospect when shorn of dignity man becomes a beast.