Is There Any Purpose?

It’s very difficult to start. Anything. This comes from Newton’s first law. You want to be in the same state. Change, though inevitable, is not something that comes naturally. So you would assume that it is no different with, lets assume, writing an article. But you see, my problem is a little different. I do want to leave my inertia and want to write an article on a topic. The issue is that it is the topic itself which stares in my face and asks: “Why am I writing this article?” Interesting, you would say. There could be several answers – fame, money, self-education and so on. But this article concerns itself with raising a question and in my opinion, a very fundamentals one. The accepted trend in today’s literature is that if you raise some questions, you also try to answer them. I make no such claim for the simple reason that I feel myself totally incapable of even starting to think of an answer. Moreover, I want you to think without any biases. Coming back to the original question: “what is it that stops me from writing this article?” The answer is that I do not have or do not see any purpose in writing this article just as I do not see any purpose in anything that is going on in this world!

Cynical. Yes and it is much more that you can call me. Stop reading now. You don’t need to spend your time reading this kind of a trash, do you? But may I suggest something. Go and look yourself in a mirror and ask “What is it that you are doing in this world?” “Why are we doing what we are doing?” Most of us, after some deliberations, will think of one reason or the other why we are leading your lives the way you are doing now. Some of us would say to ourselves something like this:
1) I am leading my life because I have a family to support. I am taking care of my family.
2) I want to achieve something in my life and be well-known.
3) I want to contribute to the growth of mankind in my own humble way.
It seems that on an individual level, each one among us does seem to have some purpose. It is definitely a little easier to define purpose of existence at the individual level. But ask yourself one more time: “Does this whole scheme of things in your life make sense to you?” We go through so much pain and happiness. What is the point in all that? What do we get out of all that? Some would say, we learn new lessons about our lives. What lessons…and why? Normally speaking, we learn something so that we can apply the learnings later. Yes, during the course of our lives, we get some experience and we make use of them in the later course of life.

But what happens when we die? As an individual, we cease to exist. In my opinion, it is not as difficult as it has been made to be. Look around. Locate an object, say today's newspaper. It has a life. What happens to it once its life is over? It is thrown out, given away as scrap. Or the paper is put to some other use. Eventually, it gets burnt or gets decomposed, going back to the nature from where it originated. Is there any reason why nature should mete any different treatment to us? What happens to a piece of wood or an ant is exactly what will happen to us after we cease to exist. This is critical to understand because only when we get this straight can we start to think about the purpose of our lives or probably the pitiable lack of it. So, lets just pursue our happiness and make our miserable lives a little better while we are here. We all are just passing time. So we may as well pass it on our own terms.

Afterthought:
What is it that Buddha or Christ or Mohammad or Vivekananda came to know during their deliberations and meditations? Did they come to know anything at all?

Humble Rice and the Mighty Oil

Lets start with the humble Rice. Being the staple food of a large part of India, it was indeed a matter of great concern for the government when Rice prices went up in the world markets. So, to stop domestic prices to go up, Indian government curbed exports of all Rice varieties, except of the high priced Basmati, which has a negligible market in India. Seems to be a perfect step, a logical one. There is only a small problem - India also is home to the largest farming community in the world, with the maximum number of farmers engaged in subsistence level farming. Majority of these farmers are rice producers, thus a rising rice prices in the world markets is nothing but a great boon for them. They have a god-given (or man-created) opportunity to sell their produce at higher prices, realise higher profits and get due returns on their investment (physical and financial). Unfortunately, before they could raise their glasses and say toast to higher prices, the all mighty pro-poor (and allegedly pro-farmer) government steps in ban exports. After all, how can the stupid illiterate farmers become the beneficiaries of the market forces? No, no, market forces are only for the high and mighty, the educated middle class, the companies (public and private), the planning commission economists but not for the wretched farmers. They must be kept dependent on the alms of the central government via policies like loan waivers, once in 20 years. This is the surest way our government can think of to get farmers' votes! To top it all, our PM will sent postcards to lakhs of farmers, reminding them of his kindness (to waive off their loan). He should also write in the postcard, how he and his government denied the rightful market governed prices to the farmers for their produce. Its a pity how even the lobbies, which consider themselves pro-farmer, dont raise any hue & cry over this blatantly unfair act of the so called pro-farmer government. If the government was afraid that rising rice prices would affect the poor (landless labourers), it always had the option to buy the rice and supply them to the poor through its public distribution system at the subsidised rates (which it anyway does now). Who were the real gainers of this act? It is the middle class, you and me, who have been spared the burden of rising rice prices at the cost of the farmers. The media speaks for the middle class today and the middle class trounces on the rights of the poors (including farmers) with contempt. We have a new caste system, with only 2 castes - the educated with a voice (access to media & information) and the voiceless. And people in the first category happily screw the people in the second, without knowing and without remorse.

The case of oil is also similar to the case of rice. The highly subsidised oil is, for the most part, benefitting the middle class India - people with 2 and 4 wheelers, office goers and the companies. The average consumption of fuel in rural India sucks when compared to the urban India. Rural India needs kerosene for the most part (for lighting and cooking) and a little bit of diesel (for water pumps running during agricultural seasons). The urban India needs Petrol & cooking gas every single day. Diesel is used mostly for goods transportation. So, it is clear whose interest the government is serving by stopping the petrol and cooking gas prices from rising. The irony is that it is being done in the name of the poor. Which poor? Is there any good pro-poor reason why the subsidies from Petrol & cooking gas should not be taken away? In fact, a large part of subsidies on diesel should also be done away with (the part which goes for private transportation).

I may seem anti-middle class - I am not. Like the 30% Indians, my family also belong to this group. All I want to point out is that the money going to subsidise the fuel and the rice, can very well be used to build new roads and better infrastructure. A small fraction of our oil subsidy can support many new educational institutions. Access to world commodity markets can make farming profitable and less risky, thus avoiding the need for half baked measures like loan waivers (which are dangerous for the rural banking system and thus for the farmers themselves in the end). What I fail to understand is that these measures are coming from someone as learned as our PM. Surely, he can not say "our farmers deserve our support" and then, bar them from getting better prices for their produce. That would be hypocracy - Mr. PM, you are too good and respectful to go to such lows.

Children of a lesser Country

I am a voracious reader, of whatever is available on internet, which for the most part is trash. But it serves a very good purpose - it stops my mind from endlessly thinking about stupid questions like the purpose of life, about the universe's boundary and beyound etc etc. The sheer availability of so many articles on the net, on incredibly diverse topics sometimes make me think that writing, creative or factual, must be easy. Not surprisingly, I have been proven wrong yet again with no motivation or energy to write a post for the last 2 months or so.

One of the reason why this post is coming almost 2 months after my last post is the fact that I was born in a country which is still considered by most of the developed world as a third world. It is very simple to explain the seemingly innocuous connection. It starts with my marriage. Married to a beautiful girl of my choice, I was eagerly looking forward to those post-marital skirmishes which take one's relationship to the next higher level. I was all prepared, having read all the sane and insane advices online on how to tackle post-marriage blues and convert them into green. There was only one slight glitch - I am in Germany and my wife needed a visa to join me. No problem, we went to the visa office, with all necessary and unnecessary papers and were happily greeted by a helpful staff who informed us that it would take around 2 to 3 months for my wife to get the visa.

Hmmm! 3 months! OK, no problem. It just gives me 3 more months to prepare for the post-marital pillow fights. May be I missed on some rules and tricks. A revision always helps. So why not take this time in my stride and be 100% prepared. Looking at the positive side of things, we consoled ourselves and went back to our browsers to read even more about how to make our married lives successful. The problem was that all the tips and tricks started with the advice - "Spend more time together". And here we were separated by more than 8000 KMs, waiting for the 3 months to pass by.

That was Decemeber 07. And this is May 08. 5 months have passed. In between, there have been countless calls and runs to the consulates (both in India and Germany) from our side, with one standard answer - Your visa is under process and we will inform you once it is done. Can you please give any possible timeframe by which it would be processed? - No, sorry we cannot. You will be informed once it is processed. Hopeless and helpless, I went to the foreigner's office in Germany again with one of my colleagues who speaks fluent German (Yeah, people in the foreigner's office speak only German). I was cheekily informed that 5 months is not a large time and that I must be more patient. Sometimes, it takes 1 year to get visa for your spouse.

Dejected, I contacted my other Indian friends, living in Germany who had got married recently. I found 4 such cases. Of them, one waited for as long as 5 months before his wife could get visa. One was lucky to get after 3 months. 2 more were waiting like me, with one enduring more than 6 months of wait by now and still waiting. With nothing much to do but wait, I put my energy into the legalities and procedures of Germany to get your spouse here. It turns out that the basic problem why I must wait for so long is not because I have a criminal history (which I dont) but because long back in time, I was born in country whose legal documents are not even considered worth the paper they are written on by Germany and most mainland European nations. Thus, it turns out that even though I submitted a marriage certificate duly signed by the marriage registrar (an IAS or higher rank officer), such proof of marriage is considered of no use here because apparently India is still the land of dirty snake charmers and mystic sadhus with no idea of the suave and subtle Western democratic and ethical values. Being the illiterate cavemen (& women) that we still are, how can any certificate produced by us be taken at its face value. No, every document must be verified by independent agencies (which ironically are again Indian only) at our expense.

Hence, we were asked to submit a hefty amount of money, which was to go for hiring an Indian agency to do our marriage verification. Apparently, the word of this private agency carries more weight in the eyes of the German consulate than the word of a marriage registrar and the related Indian Judicial & Executive establishment supporting him/her. Having done that, we are waiting for the esteemed agency to submit its report and we do hope that they recognise our marriage held in front of hundreds of people, duly registered in an Indian court of law.

Its not that people of all nationalities have to go through this rigmarole. No, only the people of the so-called third world countries. Apparently all this hype and hoopla about India being the IT backoffice of the world, about being in the world's next superpower league is yet to reach the foreigner's offices in the mainlan European countries. They still think we are poor refugees, knocking at their doors to leave our wretched lives in India for the promise of a better life. In such conditions, I have no doubt about the veracity of articles talking about reverse brain-drain to India. And I mutter to myself - 'all in good time my dear'.

This article is written specifically for the knowledge of married Indians contemplating to come to Germany or any mainland European country for a brief career stint. Be warned that getting a work permit may not be a problem but getting a dependent visa for your spouse may become a huge problem. Most of the counsellates would tell you that it would take around 3 months for your wife to get visa and join you. Truth, in most cases, is otherwise. 5 months and still waiting is my experience and of a lot of other people. In any case, think hard if its worth to be separate from your spouse for 3 to 5 months. Best is if you are already married, get your work permit and your spouse visa processed simultaneously and NEVER COME TILL BOTH OF YOU HAVE VISA. For others who are already here and are planning to get married in India, explain this waiting-clause situation very clearly to your wife and in-laws. Oh, and one more thing, bringing your wife on a short term visa (for 3 months) is not possible if you have already applied for a long term dependent visa in Germany. So if you are going to stay here for a while, long term dependent visa is the only option with a waiting period of 5 months. And it sucks!!!

Death of a City

My association with Mumbai has been only for 2 years. Yet, during those 2 years, I felt more at home away from home, than any other place in India. A few years back, I was in New York for just 2 days and surprisingly, I had the same feeling there of being at home. I was completely at ease, on its roads, in Central Park and on the subway.
Now, Mumbai is definitely not New York in so many respects, yet till very recently, its character had more in Common with New York than with New Delhi. Mumbai & New York, both are cities which speak the language of money. This, above all, has resulted in making them the financial nerve centres of their respective countries, despite being given a step-brotherly treatments with respect to their peers like New Delhi & Washington DC, both of which speak the language of politics. It is this preference of money over politics that has attracted so many migrants into these two cities, to earn a livelihood with respect, and in turn, add to the economy of these two cities. Unfortunately, it seems the dream city in India has started having nightmares now.

The whole controversy of migrants in Mumbai can be summed up as follows - A parochial politician, disowned by the parent party, raises regional issues to endear himself to a section of society, directly competing for the vote base of its parent party Shiv Sena. His goons go on threatening, maiming and killing migrants (and a local) in Mumbai, Thane & Nashik. Thousands of workers from these cities have no option but to forfeit their rights of livelihood and and are forced to return home. And nothing happen to the all mighty Raj Thakrey, despite there being a possibility of slapping several criminal cases against him for national disintegration. Not to forget, people like him are routinely termed as nationalists. What a shame!

The state government, run by a so-called national party, plays spectator, interested in seeing how the game plays out. Our learned PM considers it below his dignity to come to these hapless workers. The all-motherly, pro-poor Sonia Gandhi doesnt consider the issue important enough to show solidarity to the poor workers. No speeches, no tough actions, nothing. It seems that the gag order was not passed against Raj Thakrey but against Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.

Our main opposition party and its national leaders are too busy endearing themselves to the Indian middle class and their shining India. That the shining India is made possible by these voiceless workers is fact, they seem comfortably oblivious to. Mr Advani does issue a statement condemning these attacks, but afterwards there is absolutely no activity from BJP to instill confidence among the workers. In fact, their poll partner Shiv Sena feels so threatened by the hijacking of their agenda by MNS that they start taking the chauvinism to another level by targeting Mumbai airport (and blackening the "Mumbai airport welcomes you" sign!).

The truth is in a democracy like India, there is absolutely no voice for the workers engaged in the unorganized sector. And in case you didnt know, such workers form more than 90% of the total working labour class. Less than 10% come under the organized sector and thus protected by the several unions. This might explain why the messiah of the poor like Sitaram Yechury, Somnath Chatterjee, Gurudas Dasgupta etc had absolutely nothing to say on the lot of migrant workers. Hats off to our pro-worker communist parties.

A small lunatic, but vicious fringe terrorises lives of people in the most accomodating city of India but nothing happens except a gag order. Thats real justice! And our President & Chief Justice argue over the cause of increasing public restlessness and public tendency to take the law into their own hands. I thought only justice was supposed to be blind. It seems our judges and Presidents blind too.

Tasleema Nasreen wrote articles expressing her misery & helplessness in getting an Indian visa. A lot of public intellectuals supported her. I have all the respect for her and am happy that she was granted the necessary visa. But she should know that in India, even Indians dont have right to live in their own country at their place of choice any longer. What to talk of a foreigner! India unfortunately does not seem like a country which was once a haven for the persecuted like the Jews and the Parsis.

In the end, my question to all those who support MNS & Shiv Sena is, where does it all stop? First, you classify us as Hindus & Muslims, them Maharashtrians and others. Pretty soon, you will have to go to the Panchayat level within Maharashtra and then at family level. And then, there will be nothing left to divide. This is the nemesis of the kind of hate politics the nationalist parties like BJP, Shiv Sena, MNS tend to follow. I am always surprised at the fact why even the educated people among us fail to see this simple truth. The fact that these parties follow such principles is sad enough, the fact that parties like Congress do not do any thing about the impending death of a city like Mumbai, and thus leave the parties like SP & RJD to further their regional agenda, is even sadder. Does Congress even remember that its greatest leader, the Mahatma, put up a fight in South Africa, against a similar experience of discrimination & injustice, to which the migrant labourers are subjected to today?