You land at Madras airport and deciding that you are just a tourist and have nothing much to smuggle, you walk through the customs "green" channel. The official looks at you, makes some inner calculation and decides to open your bag and throw every thing out of it. Finding nothing there, he notices the camera on your neck. He wants you to pay duty on the camera. Several thousand rupees. "Or you can get away with 1000," he says. You look around for some one to complain to. The official from the counter over comes in and advises you to pay up. Muttering under your breath, you pay them the thousand they want. If you had known or if either official had explained, you could have simply had the camera noted on your passport and checked out when you left the country. The official had counted on your not knowing.
And so it is with everything. Since everything is tightly regulated by the government (trains, visas, telephones) you will bribe every local official from coast to shining coast. It is estimated that upto 70% of the cost of services in the country is taken up by bribes. You will pay bribes for everything, oiling the substantial "black" economy till it comes time to leave and you make your way onto the Singapore Airlines flight with relief. No more bribes to pay. Singapore, by the way, just a three hours' hop across the Bay of Bengal is the ninth least corrupt country in the world.
