Thursday, January 26, 2006
Have or Have Not's , Is it an Economic boom or poorman's Doom
India's economy is growing at the rate of 7.8%. Soon it will be the third largest economy in the world. And as an Indian i feel proud of it. It means a lot of opportunities, employment, standard of living, toyotas, lamboorganies. Rescently when i went back to India, i was amazed at the development work which had taken place, specially the number of flyovers in new delhi and residential colonies in chandigarh. Whao... india is finally coming up, we are going to be at the top, among the best, see me using the word "We", as soon as its something positive i becomes a part of India. All the time, i was thinking was of my selfish intersets. How can i make the best use of this opportunity. Where can i make my investments. Even some of my non indian mates were asking me about what sort of investments we can make. What a BOOM......
It just take two weeks in India and few open eyes to realise the discrepencies in the new captial society which we are creating. Where is this economic boom taking us. We got sensex roughly around 10,000 unheard of figures, our foreign reserves at all time high, whaoo... and we have ten time more children on street begging then just a few years back, e.g. try in chandigarh the intersection between sector 15 and 16 or in sector 17 and you dont need special lenses to see that. Ask them about the boom and tell them the sensex, or tell your driver, your kaamwali about the boom, and then think about it. All you are telling them is that its becoming impossible for them even to think about having their own place to live, they will be eating just once a day(yeah we came to two times in 90's) coz of rising prices and yeah forget education coz we will require more child cleaners on the red light to clean the toyotas so why worry about education.
I am not a leftist and i have no idead about commonists and what all though i know they are part of the coalition of indian government, but i am really getting scared of the socity which we are creating. I dont believe in utopia, but at the same time it's just the have having more and more and poor have nots having only few extra nots added to them. What is the significence of boom, if it is making us more selfish , self centered, greedy humans with eyes shut, who ignores the child cleaning the car in the red light, and dont even wana contemplate that we might be the reason for it. I have been always poor in finance but this should be quiet straigtforward, a real boom is when we make life easy for the masses, when there is an even distribution of rupiyaaa(bluffmaster stuff).
There is a park at my house's back in chandigarh where i have spent endless hours playing carefree. I want my kids to do the same. I want your kids to do the same. To play carelessly. I also as a result of boom we have 100 new crorepatis every day. I also know we have 100 times more lootings, kidnapping etc now. and i also know we will are the one to be blamed for.Because all we saw was the boom, not the doom
It just take two weeks in India and few open eyes to realise the discrepencies in the new captial society which we are creating. Where is this economic boom taking us. We got sensex roughly around 10,000 unheard of figures, our foreign reserves at all time high, whaoo... and we have ten time more children on street begging then just a few years back, e.g. try in chandigarh the intersection between sector 15 and 16 or in sector 17 and you dont need special lenses to see that. Ask them about the boom and tell them the sensex, or tell your driver, your kaamwali about the boom, and then think about it. All you are telling them is that its becoming impossible for them even to think about having their own place to live, they will be eating just once a day(yeah we came to two times in 90's) coz of rising prices and yeah forget education coz we will require more child cleaners on the red light to clean the toyotas so why worry about education.
I am not a leftist and i have no idead about commonists and what all though i know they are part of the coalition of indian government, but i am really getting scared of the socity which we are creating. I dont believe in utopia, but at the same time it's just the have having more and more and poor have nots having only few extra nots added to them. What is the significence of boom, if it is making us more selfish , self centered, greedy humans with eyes shut, who ignores the child cleaning the car in the red light, and dont even wana contemplate that we might be the reason for it. I have been always poor in finance but this should be quiet straigtforward, a real boom is when we make life easy for the masses, when there is an even distribution of rupiyaaa(bluffmaster stuff).
There is a park at my house's back in chandigarh where i have spent endless hours playing carefree. I want my kids to do the same. I want your kids to do the same. To play carelessly. I also as a result of boom we have 100 new crorepatis every day. I also know we have 100 times more lootings, kidnapping etc now. and i also know we will are the one to be blamed for.Because all we saw was the boom, not the doom
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
why the mirrors are black and Indira gandhi airport
it's been some years though i left india, but still the memory is very fresh. I was in again, but this time it was different, I knew i was not coming back, atleast not for some time, may be never. My whole family was there to drop me. never could understand even till now, why they got the black glasses at the Indira Gandhi Airport in new Delhi, perhaps it's part of the western propogand so that we should never know whats on the other side of those glasses. Once inside the airport you can still see outside, but outside you are always building up expectations, waiting for your chance to be inside. Its about keeping the illusion. Anyhow, one last look, a hug and a bug push and motivating (insulting) remarks from the policeman, and i was in again. I always cried, i left earlier, even if it was for two day, but this time there were no tears. My mind was blocked, numb, no feelings. I just can't explain, my heart was beating, i can hear it for the first time but somehow i don't want to listen to it. I can still see my mum standing behind the black mirrors and i knew she is going to stand there till the plane is going to take off. My brother for the first time looked confused to me coz he couldn't understand why bhai wants to leave india and also why the mirrors are black. My dad was relaxed, just showing a brave face so that he can make his contribution to globalisation and also coz he had flown quiet a few time and he did understand why the mirrors were black. As i did my clearance and everything, i just made a final wave hoping that my parents will get a signal behind the blackened mirrors. I think that was the time, i realise how much just one last look from the family matters to me. I wish authorities can understand, blackening the mirrors is not solving anything, specfically not in terms of security. They should build transparency and they will have better luck.
