(update – needed a bit of cleaning up for ‘coherence’ – done now !)

India – Seeking Coherence

16th September 2007

For those like the fool attempting to control the storm, every new day throws up a fresh set of reasons to lose hope in this nation of people we are born into. There are too many joyous proclamations of our impending greatness, and far too many peddlers of the dream of a new resurgence, for these to hold any real significance. Yet there are also moments of belief – few and fleeting – so heartening, that one wishes to record them, to piece together a truer picture of our future. And hopefully illuminate paths for those like oneself, drawn into the gloom of despair and bewilderment at a nation going wrong. Writing this is thus, imperative.

GLOBALIZATION’S TERROR

What is undeniable today is that it is globalization that is changing us. Now that we have had more than a fifteen years of integrating with the world economy, there is some sense of how the nation is able to deal with the same. A persistent fear of the ‘free’ market within India has been the danger of perpetuating deep structural inequalities that exist in Indian society. The medieval caste system in India is living proof of how cultural and mental mindsets are deeply affected by reinforced societal tradition – in this case, of imbibing in various designated groups, particular ways of life, designating all groups with a ‘place’ with respect to all others. And this structure is hierarchical, and restrictive. Centuries of conditioned mindsets, belief, and self-image are not erased simply by words: “You are Free”. The ‘free’ economy is not entering into a society of ‘free’ individuals, but one with rigid social constructs.

The Western tradition is consistently about a responsible, yet dominant position of man over nature. By separating himself from his surrounding, Western man has been engaged in ‘harnessing’, ‘conquering’ the natural world, by conscious will and a rational understanding of the physical world. And herein lie the fears of Marxists and their like.
After a fifty year interval in a four hundred year period of being dominated, saying “India is Free” is not enough. Globalization is merely a perpetuation of powers that exist, and India will have a lot to lose, and little to gain from it.

This is not very true. And one primary reason of why we need not fear too much this time, is because of our politics.

Democratic politics has worked for us in a perverse, yet effective way. Our politics is almost always motivated by gain, self-interest and characterized by a lack of ideology. It therefore sees a brazen shifting of sides, groupings, affiliations and every interest colludes, conspires and undermines the other in a tumultuous ever-changing heap. It is a game of opportunities, and every one who has set foot into any of the nation’s cities knows its rules. For every politician trying to grab land for a developer, there are three others enticing those affected into groups, with promises of securing their benefit, and in the swinging of sides and bargains, the tides of power keep shifting. There is no absolute power, and none is unchanging. It is a symptom of most of India, as democracy makes deeper roots, the more fuzzy do issues of power become.

In the end, everyone who has learned to be a bastard learns to get his interests secured. And that is the tragedy of our change. It is the cocky, gutkha chewing youth, with a cell phone, open shirt, coloured vest, and white sports shoes who gets the best for himself – not his gentle father, so entwined with the land that the roots of the trees seem to show in his veins, and his step indistinguishable from the light stepping of animals through the land. The only aspect that distinguishes the two is ironically, a formal education. So as our cities spread, as they communicate to the land, we have increasing outcrops of white shirted smart Ali’s who are very difficult to be taken for a ride, but who would love to try doing that to whomever they please.

So yes, we will survive this ‘onslaught’. But sadly, we can never hope of being a great nation. Great nations may only be mythic, but all nations that have aspired for, and touched the flame of greatness at moments in history have always had mythic goals. No goal of a people that have transformed has been anything less than magnificent in its scope. We cannot be content with scraping together a few dollars by sweeping the corners of a materially magnificent West. Where must our targets lie? How do we be? We need to set our charts right, fly against the wind, learn and also invent, do and also think – to move as a slow powerful wave that does not go out for lack of fuel, does not stop at one place, never loses rhythm, that never destroys in haste, but which carries huge ideas, commitments and practices to newer shores; one that accepts at will, but does not lose a sense of itself, erodes what it must, slowly but surely, with a few moments of rage, but always at peace – a nation to sway the world, and when needed, sweep it off its feet.

TRUE VALUE ENTERPRISE

The current spurt of wealth in this country is the inevitability of contact with materially prosperous economies. There is a reason why beggars congregate to railway platforms in big cities. Out of the sheer magnitude of wealth passing around, even a fraction falling into his bowl far outweighs a days laboured begging at the village chowk. And with the mighty US of A trembling at the industrious China, the leaking tap leaks some more in India’s favour, as we go into raptures of regaining our place in the world.

Let us suffer from no delusion. The textile mill boom of the 1860s brought similar hope to Indian industry. Besides offering cheap labour and minor geographical advantage, there was no real value that was being created then. And while situational advantages are transient, real value advantages stay. What Japan offered the world by mastering the age of Production was what few other nations could achieve. This is what India needs to aim at. There is no real value being brought by sending our intelligent young engineers to maintain computer networks around the world. There are other countries that will do the same soon enough – cost and locational advantages will even out. What is of importance is to ask the question ‘What real value are we creating?’ Ask this at a national level, and work at the answers.

The first thrust area is obviously Information Technology. It privileges no one, and is the most democratic of all technologies we have seen so far, in that it values knowledge over goods. We can master the Information Age only if we value innovation, research, new thinking, independent development, and imbibe a fearless pursuit of new ideas, new processes, and new technologies.

The second is an Agro-Based Industry. As a primarily agrarian nation, we have centuries-old traditions of working with the land. There can be no excuses gfor developing a professional, sound, reliable and well developed agro-based industry that again assigns value to efficiency but also creates new value in products that are healthy, varied and constantly undergoing development.

The third is Clean Energy. This would most likely need to assume a form of diversified, decentralized, smaller products and projects with emphasis on sustainability, adaptability and innovation. This area is yet untapped, and offers huge potential in domestic and international markets for enterprises that are truly modern, and having real value.

EMBEDDED CULTURE

Sport and art are two precise barometers of the moral and cultural development of a nation. Indian cricket must then be our most embarrassing expose – a mascot for everything that is wrong with our inner selves. Bereft of self-belief, playing not to win but as actors on a stage to entertain, a karmic acceptance of their inferiority, and absolute inner instability and lack of courage are what we root for every time we throw ourselves behind our blue boys. There are few mass phenomena that we may be heartened to speak of as an assertion of a new developing culture.
Somewhere deep and quiet though, is a silent amassing of strength. The popularity and spread of yoga must be seen as one of the most important cultural phenomena of modern urban India. An inner strength and spiritual understanding of the world is one of our greatest strengths, and using the medium of yoga in its modern form to penetrate deep into our spiritual self while clarifying and not confusing our material existence is truly a revolutionary moment.

This should then act as the much needed shot in the arm for those advocating an interpretation of traditional systems of instruction into current curricula. Keeping this out of standard curricula for fear of missing out on modernity is like the West shunning technology or rational thought, for fear of missing out of spirituality in their schools. Traditions are meant to be built upon, not kept aside or forgotten. They are the invisible mountains that we stand on each day, from where we begin our journeys, and where we must leave behind our newer learnings for future generations. An education that builds inner strength is the only guarantee of a truly ‘free’ people that may act independently, not swept by the tides of external forces, or content – waiting for the dribbling of the tap to quench their thirsts.

LEADERS, OTHERS, AND ME

An important observation in the world of business is that employers that treat their employees with dignity are the ones who are able to charge a higher premium for work executed by them. Bestowing dignity is a cumulative, unending process that reaps rich dividends. For various reasons, we have wreaked havoc on our living spaces – especially our cities, with de-humanised standards of living for a vast majority of us. This is only counterproductive to ourselves. To allow ourselves to accept standards of living, working and interacting that lower standards of dignity for ourselves, or of others is counterproductive. Societies with dignity accorded to every individual is automatically seen and responded to as a developed society. The dignity of all forms of labour that has been fought for and achieved in the West is one of its greatest achievements. It does not take much for us to start expecting a dignity of conduct and living for others and for ourselves.
Most of India has grown used to accepting a certain societal position accorded to them, and with that, an acceptance, though grudging, of the ‘higher’ powers – of richer classes, the powerful, leaders. Often in this acceptance lies a submission to the lack of dignity to oneself, and the lack of individual importance as a human being. The vast inequalities that exist are only a result of our acceptance of the inevitability of a top-down human society, where a few are leaders, and the rest mere followers. This is what capitalism can exploit and accentuate. Only when certain rights are made inalienable and strictly enforceable, when certain standards of living are strictly benchmarked, when a collective will that accepts the dignity of every human being arises, can true freedom and opportunity exist in this nation. A nation with a passive state is as good as having no state at all. For a top down system is a inevitability, and a truly developed state would not hold great pride in its unequal social system. At the cornerstone of our endeavours, we need to build, support, nurture and cherish a state such as that , to become a nation that is developed not partially, but completely. Not for a few, but for all. Not just developed materially, but intellectually, spiritually, culturally and socially. This is the India we need to believe in.

We are a people easily led. A ridiculous film like Three Idiots can get families trooping off to the theatres (and walking out believing they experienced good cinema), drawn by a reasonably well orchestrated media strategy. Little wonder then that we play into the hands of cartels such as these and pay good money for little more than well dressed lobbies, fawning staff, and jarring sound. Nothing justifies paying dollar prices for movies in Indian cities, and it is good time we woke up to it.

Though the real reason for the continued run of multiplexes is probably that they help maintain the upper middle classes in their little bubbles of plenty, without being nudged around by the riff-raff.

Which again goes to prove the point.

Rang De Basanti was a fortuitous flash of inspiration for the ‘new’ media. The story of a youth like ‘us’, who rise up in anger against something old and wrong. And achieve a hero status. That was a story that could easily take hold of millions of young minds. The idea-starved media took a shot at it. And hit pay dirt gold. They fell over themselves in making the reservations a national issue. And ‘we’ played into it by braving water cannons and lighting candles and walking with long strides and fierce eyes. Till we realised that they had turned away. Looking past when we most needed the strength and sense of power they subtly offered us. As moved on to other things.

How many of these ‘this-has-changed-India’ moments have we had. The booming Sensex? We saw it all over. A new, confident, resurgent India. Karan Johar neatly twitching with pride with Richard Gere fawning him over with his brand of India eulogising and China bashing.

More recently they say that we have had enough of terrorism, and that enough was enough, and it looked like they were again fighting for us. Fat chance. Mumbais gun weilders are long past dead. As we realise that the media was sometimes fighting among us , and mostly over us. There are numerous other examples. Many are city specific. A frenzy that helps them comfortably get seated in the psyche of a people. And stay on there with yearly subscriptions making us feel like we cannot do without them. BalThackeray, now Rama Sene, pink chaddis and all. Reminds me of a senior of mine. Who encouraged conflict only because it allowed him to retain the reigns of power. All over again it happens. Pink chaddis won’t last long. Tomorrow they will be SO yesterday’s news.

The men and women who toiled and tilled this land. Who spoke out; fought, died, conquered. This is not our victory. It is theirs. We think there may be no need to fight anymore. No cause to lose our lives in. And yes, we are gracious in our privileges, cautious and mindful in our luxury – we give little and hope for the better of all.

That is Obama’s country. As a brilliant counter to W who exhorted his citizenry to shop after a crisis, O exhorted his to toil through one. Here’s a man who rounds the smooth edges. Who says – all can be Free, and Gay. Obama stands up for the promise of his father, and our fathers – and never for a moment may we think it is ours alone to claim.

We stand in the shadows of those before us. And may only hope to do as well.

We ARE a people easily led. Our history is evidence enough. We may relish the thought of biting the hand that feeds us, but deep within, we cling to our Gods, our Communities, our Parents, and anything that offers us some collective and overarching direction. The role of the media in such a society cannot be understated. The problem however is that our media is you and me – and as easily led by the nose as any other ordinary Indian mortal.

Determined powers have enough means at their disposal to lead these packs down paths of their choosing. Did the Pakistan Army fuel the war talk in the Indian media? Was it so easy to do? And why did the media rush off like crazed dogs in heat after the poor bitch of Satyam after ‘investors’ in the West started making angry noises?

There are many voices of regret today in the way Satyam went down. A sort of pity that they didn’t see this coming when they were tearing after the company with the sounds from the West ringing in their heads. Raju does not deserve to be condoned. This is not about choosing a one evil over an another. The point is that the media had gone after Satyam not because it took such bad decisions or was mismanaged, but because many powerful people in the West acted agitated seemed to believe that the decisions taken were terrible.

Was there any stopping to question sanely what was really happening? Never mind. Too late now. Own of our biggest prides has gone down, and we can only nibble at our fingers and hope for someone to show us the way again.

Yes Satyam should have been hauled over the coals. But the viciousness of the media was startling. This was a clearly being hugely spun by powers from all over, and instead of giving a group that we had much more knowledge and understanding of a little room, we tore them to bits. Then watched in disbelief as it crumbled.

One can only watch and wait for the next big media screw ups. See a scrap tossed at them and watch them go. Slowly we destroy ourselves, while TRPs rise.

With an incident of this magnitude, widely described as one that would ‘change India forever’ , what is this great inner force that pits us terribly against each other, that relentlessly churns this mass of people around in a sickening cesspool? Why is the story of the Indian frogs in a well so accurate and so damning?

Like most big problems, the answers are mostly within, hidden deeply in our selves and not so much a creation of external forces. The fundamental reason, that causes me to desperately claw out at a fellow Indian who’s views, ideas, attitudes, principles, personality, image, affiliations may be contradictory, or challenging to me is because I identify so strongly with that other person. It is like having a part of my own self that I see acting unlike what I know myself to be. Of going against my very grain – an errant mental strain that is trying to be something else – higher, different, opposite – to what i am. And the frustration I feel at this charade, this complete disregard for my own ‘true’ self is something that causes me to lash out with such violence. It is a violence against myself – of an inability to reconcile parts of myself that refuse to obey me.

We would not get into impassioned debates and absolutely personal arguments and attacks of the kind we are so used to, with a person whom we do not identify with. Our oneness is the biggest cause for our divisiveness. And time and again, history shows this that there is no shortage of willing opportunists that would exploit this to their own benefit. The squabbling meanwhile, continues.

An imposing equestrian statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, three-and-a-half feet taller than New York’s Statue of Liberty, will be erected a kilometre off Marine Drive between Marine Lines and Charni Road stations.

A high-powered committee chaired by chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Monday decided to shift the proposed statue from its earlier site near the Gateway of India. The meeting was attended by key officials from various departments, including the army, navy and VSNL. The navy and the Mumbai Port Trust had opposed the earlier site.

The statue will stand 309 feet at its highest point, including a pedestal of 153 feet.
A museum of historical literature and artefacts showcasing the era of the Maratha warrior will also come up at the base of the statue, besides an amphitheatre. A sound-and-light show on the Maratha warrior will be the highlight of the visits to the landmark.
The entire project, which is expected to cost Rs200 crore, will be completed in two years.

After naval officers approved of the site, Deshmukh told officials from the general administration and public works departments that the monument should be of international standards.

“The site should establish its international significance with a half-hour sound-and-light show revolving around the life of Shivaji in Marathi, Hindi, and English,” he said.
The chief minister later visited the site with his deputy RR Patil, chief secretary Johny Joseph and key officials from the Maritime Board, PWD and GAD.

A source from the PWD said the statue would be 1.7km away from Malabar Hill, 1.5km from Girgaum, and 1.8km from Nariman Point. The source said VSNL was initially apprehensive because its high-voltage undersea cables are in the vicinity. But the government assured the company that a minimum distance of 250m from the cables would be ensured.

The monument will come up on 7.5 acres, or 30,000 sq metres, and will have no approach road. Tourists will be taken to the spot in a ferry from a floating jetty at Nariman Point.

Officials said the statue would be cast in bronze and tenders would be invited once the government got all required permissions and conducted a detailed study of rock and soil.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1168149

Do we need this monument? Any ideas on why it should be built? Or why not?

This blog was meant to point a finger at India – at ourselves. It is increasingly pointing fingers elsewhere. Of course we live in a world that is connected, but the impact of the connections are being overstated. Maybe one should stop reading daily news. Like I mentioned earlier. Let our reality not be built by the frenzied drumbeats of Spin, but the soft, mixed, everyday sounds of Truth.

The soon to disappear Polar Ice Cap?

How about the War on Terrorism?

Or the Rise of Asia and a rebalancing of World Powers?

All so last year (or month, or week). One of our fallacies is believing that we have a complete picture of the world, that is within our control, and that we need to set right. It is not from the nature of capitalism, or in the scheming nature of the establishment or the dominant powers that crises are created, fretted over for a while, apparently dealt with, only exacerbating other smaller conditions, often taken advantage of to perpetrate agendas that otherwise might not have been possible to be accepted, and then swiftly forgotten at the appearance of a new crisis. It is ingrained in a world view shared by most of us.

What seems to be changing however, is our fascination with, and almost breathless hunting down of what may be called a crisis. Something that challenges the core of our very existence and threatens ‘life as we would like it to be’ (And strangely seems to give us some sense of purpose). Life is never going to be what we want it to be. There is a world unfathomable, and much larger than our comprehension out there that is too complex to be fully held within political agendas, economic charts, or forms of organisation created by the human mind. Our failure is in believing we have mastered it all, and that we can now train the world along in the direction WE choose. Often the first faltering is at just the word WE.

The real crises will creep on us when we are not looking. The attack on America was a real crisis that no one saw coming, or going. But the created crisis of the War on Terrorism and the Clash of Civilizations took up more legroom. The current economic crisis is not the end of the economy, or capitalism, or the World Order as we know it. It is surely going to be around for a while, but my guess is it will soon move into that part of our consciousness where the Polar Bears on their melting ice cap now reside.

These all ARE real issues, and need real solutions and effort. But we need to be more sparing with our definition of crises. A real crisis would be not knowing where ones next meal is to come from, and how your children may be fed or sheltered. And as the gaily smiling faces around our most deprived regions tell us, they are handling that crisis quite well. Surely we could atleast try as much.

What REALLY runs an economy ? What is the future focus for a REAL economy ?

For countries like India, the answer is simple. It needs to ramp up its standard of living, base upwards, and concentrate on policies that enable mass growth of fundamental sectors – food (agriculture, processing and distribution), infrastructure (irrigation, roads, railway), education (basic through to advanced), and housing.

For developed Europe, it is about pushing the edge on technology and research, to elevate production to the next level of greener, more advanced alternatives. A niche market, versus the mass market of economies like India.

It is when we come to America and China that things get complicated. America runs its economy on a system of consumption without value. The mass-produced Ford over Europe’s custom-made Ferrari. And the provider of that consumption can no longer in today’s globalized world be America herself. America’s deadly sin is helping nimble hands in China shove its consumption – systemically built into the American psyche – down its throat, and its capital out of it wallet.

America has no Plan B. Yet. It may not take too many bubbles before it completely implodes.