I have never been able to understand why politicians feel the need to inaugurate public infrastructure. What do they get out of it except for photographs that make them look like clowns? Sure, we are all aware of their ridiculous need for attention and self-importance that is so critical to everything they do, but it still doesn’t explain why the rest of us stand for it when it is always to our detriment. This occurred to me a few days ago while reading about a train line that was finally thrown open to the public after railway officials waited months to find a minister to cut a ribbon.

It wasn’t the first time either. A simple Google search on inaugurations in our country throws up multiple examples of how roads, bridges, trains and other important buildings have been withheld from us. It happened because bureaucrats couldn’t find it within themselves to get on with business unless some minister was free to throw something open. In March, this paper reported on the Uran railway line in Navi Mumbai, which received approval from the Commissioner of Railway Safety to run passenger trains through five new stations. The project had already been delayed by a staggering 18 years, but commuters were still not allowed because a formal inauguration by politicians couldn’t be arranged.