Good rains, soaring sensex, real estate boom, electricity in all homes, supply system of drinking water; Modi’s rule is auspicious and his one-liners, fantastic. The farmer is happy and the middle-class man is making lots of money.
The entire show about secularism and liberalism is good for nothing. They, at the most, decorate drawing room talks, text books and Barkha Dutt’s gibberish. When you are worried about where your next meal is going to come from, you, more likely than not, would not care about ‘merchants of death’ claims of the have-nots or the controversy surrounding ‘the two rupee coin’.
Liberalism is only an indulgence of the rich. If you ask my servant maid something similar, odds are she will give you a more venomous answer. Hey! And so is morality. And spirituality!
Don’t fight the vegetable vendor for a deserving extra onion or for that stem of spinach, he has kids half the size of yours; with their ribs showing vis-a -vis, the rotund-ness of your kids. And then, ‘corruption’ is imperative because everybody else is doing it.
The farmer grows the vegetable in sweltering heat, hardly managing a single meal a day! He shouldn’t be convicted for selling to the village businessman, 0.8 kg instead of 1. The village businessman travels everyday in those dilapidated buses, whose jerks can play havoc with what-ever intestines, add to it, the whole day that he has to spend in the infernal monda-market. Our vegetable vendor, washed out with hackneyed bargaining practices of the market, then commutes through the horrid traffic that is compulsively sickening even to the Ford-Icon driver. It is THIS vendor that you looked derogatorily at, arguing over deserving 3 stems of fenugreek instead of 2!
For these people, feeding their kids is more important than indulging in the rich man’s luxury of ethics/morals. And it is actually rational. You don’t need an Economic Times to tell you this.
They talk of morality and equanimity and their other scary equivalents. These are guys that make your evenings interesting, they sleep in controllable-AC rooms and move in cars that make even the Ambani boy’s green-eyed.
Morality is in not condemning these vegetable vendor type-s, in not cribbing for a 10 rupees e-top card, in not shooing off mendicants..
Tip the waiter in the restaurant, benevolently. Pay the office boy like it is his birth right. Don’t call it ‘bribe’ and make the society ‘corrupt’. Show your xenophobic protectionism here.
It is not the people or the system that is making the society corrupt. It is the moral police that is!
21 comments:
Splendidly written! A little opinionated though. But the language is lucid, flow, as good as Dell's Supply Chain in 2004; and the thoughts are well-documented.
A good write-up should reveal one's personality they say.
All your posts reflect your highly exuberant and enterprising personality. Am mighty chuffed reading your blog.
A radical take... I read an article on Coasean bargaining which says corruption is nothing but merely paying extra for a faster and better service and links it up to Adam Smith's welfare of individual translating to welfare of the nation.. You surely will give these economists and social thinkers a run for their money with your well articulated theory :D
A very thought provoking read. I agree with you that a have-not is not worried about 'maut -ka-saudagar' stuff but is worried et-al about his next meal. But watch out for the messiahs of these hapless people. They usually hijack their cause and concerns and move about in FORD-IKONS.Also it is akin to not grudging a poor's fleecing the others on an incremental way.So long it remains that way the society has no problem ,but the danger starts only if it deteriorates further. All said it is an interesting view-point, lucidly written. Keep it UP.DEAR MISHTI.
Communism!! Any takers?
Tipping d watchman wd 20rupee notes or talking 2 aayas sweetly doesnt make u gr8. 1st learn to treat humans as humans, n not like dogs.its like v all dont evn exist in ur world.
even worse, ur stupid fan club makes u believe u r GODDESS n not human..learn some humanity 1st.then preach on morality.
Hail Goddess!
Gr8 post. v'v been waiting 4 one for sooooooooooo many days. u r so kind, thats y u r called Goddess.
Its gr8 tht u managed time sumhw to take part in spruha,thnk u
@collegemate
Goddess is busy achieving things othrwse she is involved in social activities like spruha also.if u'v been observing Goddess 4 4yrs u shud kno dis.
Ur Goddess does spruha nt coz shes kind, she knos u ppl r suckers of n e thing she does, u will all cling on 2 tht cause too, she wants 2 add 2 her fame, thts all.
Its a publicity stunt n nothing mor than tht.
Did she evr go tht village? All she does is blabber sum bogus speeches in closed rooms of d college.
Evn u ppl kno she doesnt gv a damn bout u ppl,y do u evn hail her!
A mind ticks all day, without a second's break. It has to be thinking about something very complex, all the time. Something we wouldn't dream of thinking, even in the most complex of situations. And then it burdens other's minds.
Strategies, plans, analysis, introspection, this mind is dangerous to the body, it eats away all that is being consumed and what remains is a thin, scarily determined, overly brilliant, little girl, Srilakshmi!
What is 'Goddess' doing now-a-days? Gearing up for the biggest celebration? Jan 8th, huh?
My personal experience. I once too a rickshaw from Kanpur central. There is a standard tariff mentioned i.e Rs9. When I finally reached my destination, I gave the man 10 re note and demanded the for my 1 buck. I did so coz I had seen many higly educated ppl who earn big bucks do it. I demanded not coz I cared for my 1 buck but I probably wanted to show off my fine-grain perfection. No I was not the winner. The man replied saying if I lose 1 buck it doesn't make much difference to me and while if he makes 1 buck it makes a difference to his life.
He gave my 1 buck back and I turned numb at how my education defeated common sense. That was one big lesson I learned. Well I didn't returned the 1 re to him saying," I am sorry . I was wrong". My education only taught me how to be leader by following dumb rules like "stay selfish", "struggle for existence and survival of the fittest". I felt, we get the best education if only we experience the wooes of the struggling poor and then learn to behave. I am pretty sure that even IITs/IIMs can't educate us with such values. Common sensical straight forward human values.
I think I have changed a lot. I have many times given away extra bucks to rickshaw pullers without being asked and I have many times pressed on my dad with arguements whenever he tries to save bucks on less privilaged people. My good dad learned it too and this time from me. I also learned to laugh at those educated ppl who show off their perfectionist skills before the poor, the ones who succumb easily to their rational principles just coz they are poor.
Your post makes sense! Wonderful!
-Rahul
Now thats quite a range of comments matching the range of your ideas and pensmanship of your blog.
These comments are priceless gems. Dont delete them.One day wen u're old and read these u'l enjoy the nostalgic high it'l give you.
The post was (honestly) quite dense for me.If i understood correctly do u wanna say 'jaane do' to the vegetable vendor,'cos his life is miserable any way? If thats wat u meant,then i feel there is no justification for corruption at any level.
If a person cheats in front of you, u cant let it happen- no matter their social status and whether they really need it or not.Fear of reprisal from the few remaining moral scepters keeps the present affairs from deteriorating further.The rot cant be contained at any level- the entire system gets affected-eventually. Possible workable solutions r stricter rules and even stricter enforcement. For that u need those within the system,the ones in ford jaguars,to make changes (read policies). Ditto for spirituality. Can a juvenile be exempted? No.He needs a guru- (one who travels in jets) to be shown the rite way.If ur problem is with the guru's riches -Knowledge sells-U,a future consultant,shud know better.
i lost track of wat i wrote midway.hope this is wat i meant to write.
Hehehe...Mishti
By being tolerant toward the vegetable vendor and tipping off the office boy, you are, in fact, preventing their becoming 'gunslingers'.
And deterioration? Ha ha..We have reached the abyss. We can only look up from here.
Rules are for the happy (developed) society, the honest society.
Your stricter rules will only breed more distress in a quasi-happy/corrupt society like ours.
Rules,laws breed terrorists?i disagree.On contrary economic empowerment is made possible,if given a chance.Most of trouble is regional,casteist,ethnic.Rules and education will bring uniformity-ending biased treatment.Anyway small change(as in 'chillera') will not help.And it cant percolate deep,for systematic change.Democracy alone is powerful enough for upheaval.Bureaucracy and mixed economy(leaning towards liberal ways) are the steel frame which have sustained us this long.Infact its such a potent legacy that has worked wonders when appropriate change-agents have come afore.Luk at IT,Banking-finance.Realty,retail getting there.Anyway charity is for govt(Nregs,mid-day meals).Change needs youth like u to be optimistic and willing.Get into IAS,politics and make changes.Or get into IIMs and influence the direction.Empower urself and then the countrymen.You give the poor a fish u feed him for a day.Teach him fishing and you feed him for life.Are you willing to take the jump?
Well Written. You seem to have inherited a lucid stream of thought and expression.[:)]
Nice to see a meaningful blog.
Goddess!
Happpppppppy Birthday.
U wer luking like a Goddess 2day!
Many happy returns of the day Goddess. We love you.
Yppah Yadhtrib- twist and hv a blast.
:">
Happy birthday!
Devil's Advocate: YSR 1
Devil's Advocate: YSR 2
Devil's Advocate: YSR 3
Post a Comment