Austerity is a brave move…

This blogger congratulates the Government for initiating austerity measures, clearly these are symbolic but sends the right message to people. This blogger though would prefer concrete measures and laws (for instance SUVs should be taxed so heavy that it becomes impossible, better would be not to allow these vehicles….no it doesn’t threaten freedom of expression it does threaten my future!!). Market media is going overboard to scuttle these and dismiss it as theatrics as it goes against the norms of their sponsors. Capitalism survives on consumption and by definition austerity contradicts. In this context anything that justifies unmitigated profligacy or greed is desirable. The steps on austerity therefore need be seen in its intent and not impact, it is about connecting to majority of Indians.

This blogger understands propriety than austerity, these however are quite personal choices (but a public servant will have to follow rules on expenditure). As individuals evolve they realize value of things and therefore will opt for choices that are subtle. Understanding the context of life in its entirety takes time. One’s place in universe, nature and society I guess comes with empathy and deep sense of connection with life and living. The insignificance and significance of oneself thus falls into place. Then crudeness, ostentation, vulgar will not find space thus there will be no need for austerity even propriety is natural. That is how progress need be defined. This blogger strongly holds the view that the need for religion was to direct individuals to these ends in the barbaric world when these were conceptualized.

The world though is less barbaric place now. The society has evolved collectively (essentially with the effort of few wise people), with importance being given to democratic principles, propriety is codified into laws therefore imposed, you do wrong you will be arrested. So although there is a general understanding on dealing within the human society the barbaric past has found its vent particularly in things that doesn’t fall within the law. We have directed our barbarism to our surrounding, thus we exploited the nature with impunity as we have done to the weak and infirm in the past. Wisdom of communities co-existing with nature will assert respect, sustainable and subtle dealing- that is propriety that is experience. There is a need for stricter laws to codify these, the imbalance is leading to catastrophe. The need for holistic understanding of development is very much needed. The individual freedom defined by profligate lifestyle shouldn’t be at the cost of livelihood of majority.

It is in this context this blogger would like to question the human centric path of material prosperity. Western understanding seems to be based on how to control nature (possibly because of harsh and extreme climatic conditions they faced, as also the religion followed in these societies that gave primacy to humans) and this is adopted as model of development, quite successful in the initial phase but as the model is based on exploitation the balance has started to tip in recent times (we live in a system and not unending stretch). It is also not a coincidence that the impropriety of this understanding of development is also reflected in the impropriety of the behavior, arrogance of economists (and marketers of exploitative products, words like aggressive is not of context) is not misplaced. The word sacrifice seems to be a taboo word these days, I feel sorry for millions of people who sacrificed their life and living not only in India but across the word for a just society (to take an example from Indian context: Bhagat Singh sacrificing his life at such an young age was probably the dumbest person!. He should have used his brains and maybe become an arms dealer!!). In a profit driven society these are non productive activities. The reason why we see increasing crudeness around is because these are projected as part of premium behavior to succeed.

The juvenile premises market creates has further dumb down the world around us. In a world increasingly influenced by visual medium advertisements seems to be a major factor of market functioning (influencing consumers, brand building and so on), significant factor in the billion dollar consumer product sector. This sector has a definite impact on economy, millions of people watch these. Even otherwise matured people tend to behave appallingly and seem to get away with it, it is being accepted as normal. The other day I saw venerable singer Mr. Yesudas recommending a brand of gold to viewers!!. This blogger doesn’t understand how gold can be branded, infact all the consumer product from soap to cream to cola differ from each of its competitor brand maybe about 5% or less, the basic ingredients remains the same and then they hyperbole it to ridiculous level, the absurdity is incredible. Mr. Yesudas (like many other small timers) has used his popularity to make some easy money. That in civilized world is cheating but market has created a system wherein even cheating is smart move to capitalize. The impropriety amazes me. So what should we do with celebrities whom we admire but are unscrupulous?. I guess we need to ignore them.

There is also attempt to make things subjective and in market driven world these necessarily introduce crudeness, in society with huge disparities these are done to work out for richer section to gain themselves, subjective doesn’t need any competence since there is no parameter. Thus it helps elite section to justify themselves, so what we have is some bunch of mediocre people and vulgar display. In juvenile surroundings of market these are celebrated.

On senior leaders traveling like common people: well that is how a representative of people need be and in a country like India these signals send right message, but we don’t live in ideal world and matter of security is a serious concern. A senior Minister representing the country also needs to follow protocol and yes most people understand this and little expense on these matters is understandable. I came across a report on Rahul Gandhi traveling in train, the same report talks of him using these mode of transport quite frequently but then market media had to bury the austerity drive so gave coverage with all the cynicism it could muster (slaves in media are doing everything to please master). That reminds many years back I traveled from Trivandrum to ernakulam there was a Minister in the compartment (AK Anthony is an unassuming politician), with increasing say of money in election process people like him are dwindling, the reason why austerity by public servant has become symbolic.

There were also reports of stone throwing on the train on which Rahul Gandhi was traveling, clearly a mischief. But this also bring into focus a very important aspect of what common people have to go through (apart from many other things), since it was ac compartment not much damage was done. But stone throwing on train is not very uncommon. It happens in one in ten times, and I have seen that many times. The worst was many years ago when the stone hit the little girls finger and she howled for many hours. Few months back as I was coming from Jodhpur a fellow who slept all day along had to get down in Mumbai- it is a midnight stop, he opened the door to look out and a granite stone hit right on the lips of the unfortunate fellow, he lost part of his lips and teeth, his face was disfigured (incredibly the old woman co passenger said he was lucky otherwise he could have lost his eye!). In the morning I tried to report the matter to the station master in one of the stop, he told me to report the matter to railway police in the train, I tired couldn’t locate him, gave up. Wonder what railways can do about these things but yes this blogger does take precautions, standing at the door and open window is a big no at night particularly when the big city is in the vicinity, big city means slums and that means lots of frustrated people. Wonder what kind of people throw stones randomly at train, do they know how much pain it causes that too to a person who is not even remotely known to the perpetrator. It is heinous thing to do.