India, June 27 -- Three days ago, news broke of an Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on the residence of an Additional Excise Commissioner.

Almost at the same time, a bureaucrat's wife on her Instagram page posted her pics carrying a designer handbag that probably cost half of her husband's annual salary.

For a fleeting moment, I was envious and muttered, "I wish I were a bureaucrat or at least married one."

My wife, sitting beside me, didn't miss a beat. "Maybe, I should have married one." She said with a sigh. Ouch!

Just as my pride was dipping, she added, "But then, I would have to be shameless."

That, in one sentence, captured the tragedy of modern India. Corruption no longer hides in shame. It flaunts itself with no sense of sha...