"In all institutions from which the cold wind of open criticism is excluded, an innocent corruption begins to grow like a mushroom

-- for example, in senates and learned societies." Thus said Friedrich Nietzsche when talking about corruption. And listen to what Mahatma Gandhi said, "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed."

Well, had the Mahatma visited Bangladesh in recent times he would have seen to his amazement that this loan-ridden poor country can provide more than enough to a lot of people's greed. With his antecedents, he would have wondered aloud how it could be possible to become a millionaire overnight. In bewilderment he would have involuntarily uttered, "Hai Rama!"

Metaphor aside, the crude reality is infuriating and yet sad. Like a terrible plague corruption, both individual and institutional, is spreading across the country and weakening the foundation pillars of our society. The horrendous revelations on a daily basis are taking a severe toll on our mental health and forcing us to think anew whether we are worthy of the admiration of the world -- admiration for a nation that earned its freedom through an armed war of liberation; admiration for giving blood to protect its language; admiration for the rich literary and cultural heritage we possess; admiration for allowing our women folks to educate themselves and earn a living; admiration for taking measures to contain the onslaught of various life-threatening diseases, and reducing maternal and child mortality and morbidity and so on.

But the collective achievements of the hard working people over the decades are now faced with threats of obliteration and defilement by a section of people who have been undertaking massive conning operations through the decades to reach the helm of power only to fulfill their evil agenda. These people have no antecedents whatsoever to be where they have been, and their acts and activities only accentuate the greed they have within.

Imagine a small time clearing and forwarding agent, deft in getting things in and out the backdoor, somehow landing on the seat of a state minister holding a powerful portfolio. No wonder all his hair would "stand up" in disbelief, and he would try to swallow 20 crore Taka to protect a murderer. His antecedents say that he would indulge himself in all sorts of corruption under the sky to go to where he could never imagine going in his wildest dreams.

When you live close to the bedroom of power, and if you have plenty of greed and no amount of qualm, no wonder you would grab an abandoned house in Gulshan or cut a 10 million dollar deal quite casually after a family dinner. You want what your family never had. It is again the matter of antecedents.

When you leave your ancestral thatched house in remote Bariakanda and land yourself in Baridhara, no wonder you would go crazy and want to own all the houses and flats you see there. You would also want to own the most expensive cars in the world. You cannot part with the corrugated iron sheets and saris and blankets meant for the poor people of your area. It is also a matter of antecedents.

And the "Jungle King," Osman Gani, has proved once again what nondescript antecedents can do to our forest resources. It can level a pristine forest in a couple of years and destroy all the flora and fauna therein, along with the rare varieties of animals and birds.

This Gani chap comes from a remote village where even today one has to walk two miles to reach his house. Understandably, he never lived in a decent house or had a decent urban life, therefore, once in power he decided to destroy everything under his jurisdiction to gain what he never had. But in doing so, he little realised that one day his greed would spell doom for him and his two innocent children. We reserve our comments about his wife.

The daily overdose of stories of men and women having insatiable greed in their system, like some pathological disorder, are leaving a bad taste in the mouths of all. Many columnists have said it many times and in many ways, but it needs to be said again: How much money does a man need? How low can a man stoop to fulfill his gut(ter) level greed? Where would he stop, unless stopped?

Greed seems to be endemic in the political parties and in some sections of government offices, and the alarming news is that it is becoming more and more pervasive. Even two decade ago, corruption was not so manifestly rampant, open and extensive. Colleagues avoided being seen with a known corrupt person. A corrupt person avoided being seen in social functions.

But things have taken a turn for the worse. Corrupt people flaunt openly their ill-gotten wealth. They team up with local political powers to protect their wealth, and earn more through misuse of power.

Perhaps, psychologists and social psychologists should undertake research work to fathom the minds of these people and reveal what turns them into such money-hungry monsters. Their antecedents are worth looking into.

Shahnoor Wahid is a Senior Assistant Editor of The Daily Star.