Chetan Bhagat

I just finished 3 of Chetan Bhagat’s fictions back to back in a bit more than 4 days. The Three Mistakes, Five Point Someone and 2 States, in that order. I hope the numerological elements in the titles do not suggest the order in which the novels are to be read. It is not that anything motivated me to engross to them, but yes, once started it was intoxicating beyond the will. I had heard much about the writing skills and more of the author’s intellectual background of being alumni of IIT-D and IIMA, but that was not enough of a provocation for the reader in me. It was a delayed flight and to join the show off reader’s club of the fellow co passengers, “The Three Mistakes” made a dig at my wallet. I must admit the price tag of the book also played a role in making the choice. But the initial choice paved way for the others. Only the wheeler stall at the next railway station didn’t have a copy of the One Night @ the Call Center, which has escaped my reading till now.

I started with the Three Mistakes, graduated with the Five Points Someone and settled with the 2 States with an inquisitiveness of finding the events of the Night @ the Call Center. The characters portrayed in the books were so dramatic and yet so real. I cannot help but to believe that they were derived out of the author’s own experience or at least have been carved out of through his witness and observation of people and events. And if one decides to contradict me fully, I have no choice but to admire his alma-matter to extract such an enormous amount of creativity and imagination. Well, to clear doubts, my admirations have no conditions as such and they are just beyond any medium of expression.

I do not know if it is a universal fact that I liked the books because I could associate myself in a way that what I could not achieve and what I aspire of at this stage of my life. Between these “have not”s and “have”s; somewhere there were the desires which could not be fulfilled. These could be as weird as visiting Australia to promote a cricketer or having vodka and grass with Pink Floyd in the background on a dark roof top or venturing into Prof Cherian’s room for the paper or proposing girl friend amidst her job interview. There are situations which may have actually happened but may be in different background. I along with two of my class mates were once caught stealing window panes from our school building for our project work. The school guard chased us, got hold to one of us, locked him and called the Principal. I am too scared even now to describe the subsequent events. Therefore I could actually feel the trauma that Ryan, Hari and Alok went through after being captured and locked in Prof Cherian’s room. Getting numb at interviews is another striking similarity between me and Hari.

I am deliberately leaving any comments on the intimacies of Govind, Hari and Krish had with Vidya, Neha Cherian and Ananya Swaminathan respectively for obvious reasons. As it is evident from the prologue and epilogue of the “2 States”, this fiction is inspired by his own family and experiences. I won’t put my money on Vidya and Neha, but Ananya was surely inspired by Anusha. I must admire the patience of Anusha to let Chetan off in a single piece till now even after taking so much of liberty and all the mockery he had made of her paternal origination. The Punjabis too wouldn’t have been much amused.

I would not comment if the “Three Idiots” did judgment to “Five Point Someone” or not but few similarities and dissimilarities were very catchy. What I feel while the book allows you to form an image in your own way while a movie superimposes a pre-empt image. I have not seen Hello yet and precisely for that reason do not plan it as it may distort the picture I have made after reading the fiction. I also wonder if the ‘longest day’ in “Five Point Someone” had so many actual events in reality. And if that was it and had I been Alok, I would not require the jump off the cloud 9 (thankfully the 3 Idiots made it to the 3rd floor), but my arteries and vessels would have done it easier for me.

I found in symphony with the characters in a big way. IIT was always a dream for me which eventually was not accomplished. Hostel life always fascinated me but it eloped out of me. IIM was a desire which remained unfulfilled even in the dreams. The affairs (if I can call them so) evaporated even before it reached the heartbreaking stages. Nevertheless, I made it to a PSU Bank and at this stage being paid sufficiently to feed me and my family nutritiously. The experience of Chetan’s banking jobs so well contributed in “2 Stages” that again sometimes I wondered if it was his autobiography. I could relate many aspects with real myself or my hidden desires and thus found the book extremely interesting. The toppings were the simplicity of language and the interesting way the entire thing has been served. The ingredients were perfectly measured except that some dough of salt and spices remained somewhere here and there. This made it all the more attractive.

My School Days

The school days are often nostalgic and one gets cherishing memories in remembering those days. After my class 10th, I was admitted to a school where it had a cosmopolitan population but largely dominated by an defence society [children of serving defence personal who carried the essence of army culture]. Due to paucity of space, large number of students and proximity of the school authorities with the brass of the local defense, we had our classes in military tents. Obviously the environment underneath was either that of a war zone or a relief camp, and needless to say we enjoyed both the forms. The transition was often self driven and was of frequent nature.

Another feature of the tent school was its disproportionate population of girls to boys. At a class of about 40 boys, we had only 8 girl students. This proportion, if publicized, would surely put Haryana to shame. So getting into a teenage affair happened to be a bloody event. The Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest" was having its best demonstration. However there were a few fence sitters (since no chance existed for them, including me) who had solace in watching the events rolling by. We worked part time for a treat of dosa, alu bonda etc. The work included drafting love letters, serving couriers, making proxy calls in their absence, serving notes of the bunked classes etc. etc. However, each of these came with a premium and we were enjoying the days. However there were few happenings which still tickle our memories and we are still confused to how to react to them. Few of such "forgettable" incidents (read accidents)are depicted below.

I was once charged by a girl classmate for reading her (read love) letter written to her bosom, who in turn happened to be my good friend. She asked me, "why do you read my letters written to ****** ?". I coolly replied, " how can I reply your letters without reading them?" It was a bolt from the blue for her. I convinced her that I only translated his feelings into language and there was no motive behind it and also I was least interested in their affairs. After gaining her senses, and much to her amusement she appreciated me for my language, which incidentally, my English teacher never did.

Eating out was a matter of luxury those days. Our grubbing recreation was at the most getting all our lunch boxes together and have cuisines which represented all parts the country. Our tiffins had a uniform content in form of chapatti and subzi with their regional variances, most of the time. The pampered girls, on the other hand, more often than not, brought exclusive items like chow mien, sandwiches, burgers etc., and they never forgot to relish it in front of our eyes. Our tongue dipped with saliva peeped out while they they enjoyed the taste and tease. Tired of such torture, one day a brave man got out of his shell. During the labs he got onto the lunch boxes of the fairies and had gala lunch. He was kind enough to put the chapatti and subzi in their emptied boxes so that the girls don't starve. Soon the incident started happening frequently and the girls grudged on their moms for abruptly switching over to the most ordinary form of food. However the greed inspired to form a bigger gang who munched the delicacies and got addicted to that. Soon the greed turned malicious. The replenishing then stopped and the girls starved but could guess the culprits. Now they started cautiously guarding their edible possession till they were emptied. The boys became ferocious. The greed and addiction made them more and more innovative. Once such innovation one day paved way for delicious treat again. After satisfying the taste buds, a sense of revenge creeped in. The tiffins were then filled up with dissected toads from the laboratory. The urge of revenge was so strong that the group rejected all objections. The class waited for the reactions and we could hear our heart beats. When the girls opened it, they were so scared that they threw the boxes away. This evoked a mixed reaction of anger, hate, sorrow and above all disbelief among the girls. They never expected the boys to be so mean. They looked upon with scary eyes filled with tears. The news spread like fire and within no time we the boys of the class turned into villains. Matter soon reached to our Principal and he summoned all of us to find the culprit(s). The principal planned to summon our parents and a letter in this regard was sent. That turned ourselves to instant pale. We were shocked and our face reflected the agony. At this juncture the enemy came to our rescue. Smelling our difficulties they immediately withdrew their complaint and marked the incident as their internal mix up. They gladly accepted the scoldings. All of us were drenched with shame, but they made things easy. Hota hai chalta hai.... they smiled and the foes became friends. The latter days showed our class jealously friendly and united. Now the girls also sometimes bunked the classes and went for a movie or outing. And like the ending of a hindi movie "they lived happily ever after"......

Even we are now professionally apart, the bond is strong till now and it reflects in our reunion (very rare however)

Indian Economy & Rural Finance

Indian Economy of late, especially after the reforms has been growing rapidly by exploiting the potential inherent in it. The growth has not been retarded even under the negative influence of non-stable western, developed and big economies. When the major players are witnessing downfall of different quantum, Indian economy is marching with robust and steady growth. The forex and gold reserves are on a all time high and the per capita income showing steady upward trend. This however does not allow us to be complacent. Rural economy has some integrated advantages and thus has to be nurtured carefully to beneficially extract the advantages. The circulation/cycle of resources are pretty fast/smaller in rural economy and thus a given quantum of resources can serve a greater mass than in other forms of economies. Moreover these are also comparatively more stable as they are generally not affected by artificial reasons. Rural economy consists of a natural demand supply (non-artificial) curve and in normal circumstances they are bound to grow. These economies have a past history of sustainable growth in spite of extreme circumstances. One must remember that this economy has a legacy of surviving and growing profitably amidst highest lending rates ever. (the private lenders used rates as high as 3600 % p.a.). No other economy in the world has survived such high cost debts. This speaks volumes of potential available in our agrarian based rural economy.

Rural economy has extreme paucity of resources and thus is highly dependable on rural finance. While the government to boost up rural economy, has made statutory provisions for rural financing, but statutory provisions alone cannot fulfill the aim. Micro financing is the lifeline for such types of economy and thus has to be implemented at the smallest ground root level. Unfortunately at this phase, micro financing has again taken a back seat in the Indian Economy and we are sailing on the waves of imported turbulence. These waves while throwing high ups have also the potential to throng down if we miss our steps. So, if we can use this turbulence for resource mobilisation for the rural economy, it is certainly going to pay us rich dividends. With slashing stock markets and decreasing interest income, rural financing could be a lucrative avenue for investors, FIIs but in absence of any patronage from the Government, in terms of providing security to the investors, the avenue remains unpopulated till now. The potential investors, if adequately popularised, will look into it with gleaming eyes but will ensure that their resources does not run into rough weather. This could be a successful strategy as two acclaimed economists are in helm of affairs in form of Prime Minister and Finance Minister of the country.

While the Government is looking work towards long term solutions as an individual we should also contribute, may be in smaller quantum. We can always clone the efforts of Md. Yunus, who have revolutionized the rural financing in Bangladesh (Dr. Yunus was awarded with a Nobel Prize for Peace in recognition for his exemplary works in the field of rural financing in Bangladesh). The socio economic condition of Bangladesh are more similar than diverse in our country, specially in eastern and southern parts and therefore, implementation of methodology as suggested by Dr. Yunus can surely reap rich benefits. The other parts can implement it by editing it as per the regional requirements. The basic essence is to self-finance or to create resource from own resources. As already been mentioned above, the cycle of rural resource is extremely small and thus, it can self finance its projects. This requires small but cohesive coordination in a particular socio economic homogeneous group. Apart from the government and the individuals, the NGOs play an important and vital role in implementing them. The coordination needs to be cohesive and thus socio economic grouping is an essential ingredient for such coordinating groups. The NGOs by virtue of their approach have certainly more penetrations and they enjoy social proximity with the rural population. The communication is hassle free and thus can serve the cause with better efficiency. However, vis-à-vis social development, there is also a need for an individuals' economic and self-growth. The outflow of income in form of expenditure should be controlled with enhanced inflow of income; otherwise there will be no tangible growth of the individual, the society and the country. The evils of population, illiteracy, pollution, corruption should also be included in the curriculum of the governance. The rural population should inculcate the habit of saving a part of their income to sail them off at difficult times.

Thus, while the Government on its part has to ensure generation of adequate employment opportunity and income for the rural population, we cannot shrug off our social obligation to contribute for the same. With a little effort, we can not only save our centuries old time tested economy but can bring smiles in the faces of our fellow country men and hand over a better and secured future to our posterity. The result is highly effort elastic but requires honesty and integrity in the approach. Seeing an individual, a society and the country growing through its own efforts is certainly a celebration for the eyes and a solace to the heart. Let's work together and achieve the ultimate.

Hum honge kamayab; hum honge kamayab; hum honge kamyab ek din..
o o man mein biswas; poora hai biswas; hum honge kamayab ek din.........

[We shall overcome; we shall overcome; we shall overcome ...one day..
o o deep in our hearts; we do believe; we shall overcome one day....]