08-4-20
I wrote and discarded a version today.
On review it was coming out as very tame. We need to be more expressive then be
diplomats right now. So here we go
The heading of the days post will remind
you of famous Hindi movie villain Ajit. Yes, he of those legendary Mona &
Robert dialogues. The most famous attributed (more of why I use this word in this
post) to his movies is liquid Oxygen. The one where he commands his flunkies to
consign a person to a liquid oxygen chamber. He reasons that oxygen will not
let the guy die, while liquid will not let him live. One would ask how is this
even relevant to current Lock down & Covid pandemic? Well the connection is
straight forward if one applies it to some wisdom and decision we have been
hearing for last few days. Let’s take few of them (and if find this engaging as
our ocean churners are, we will make it regular part of the post)
1. All test should be free: How is this
even possible in a country where small testing labs account for largest
coverage of country? Yes, I know none of them can do the test (only bigger one’s
have been authorized), but a in depth review will show that the major chains
depend on these smaller guys to collect, service in critical areas. Now what
about the bigger guys, can they afford to do test free? How, at one stroke the
entire incentive alignment has been given a burial, and both Govt & people
are left holding the can. So yes, test should be free but then no one will do
it. One can breath oxygen only when it is natural form, not when it is artificially
converted into liquid form. Now we have to wait for this to untangle, and how delicate
it would be for authorities to do it as any thing they do and say can come back
to haunt them for being anti poor.
2. Money is needed only for food: Remove
buying of food from the men’s responsibility and he needs nothing. Maybe yes in
extreme cases (rarest of rare types fit for hanging after 100 appeals), but I
am sure that visualization would help one see that this is not the normal thing to do. If here the Govt money
is liquid oxygen then a person other needs are natural requirements. Are poor
people animals that all they need is food?
3. One personal anecdote of similar type I remember
was narrated by a colleague of mine.
Giving the year when it happened may reveal
identity of person, hence keeping this anonymous. On a bright sunny Saturday morning, I was on waiting
at airport for my commute back to Mumbai from city X. Here I bumped into my colleague
whose home town was X. Anything out of normal catches eyes of most IT
professionals, so it went here also. Here is near verbatim conversation
Me: @#&* flying out on a weekend,
leaving your family behind? So, what are you hiding? Or you still believe that
numbers can be met by flying on weekends?
He: NO re, long story will explain in
flight.
The frustration and dejection were
written large on his face.
So here is what he told in the flight,
He was flying to Mumbai to meet all his
cousins (around 20 of them) who also were also all flying into Mumbai over the weekend.
They were gathering to sign off on a document to relinquish their claim over
property they all have been bequeathed by an Uncle. The Uncle was a simpleton
and lived with the family of one of the cousins, who had died few years back.
BTW uncle never got married and was known to be a near perfect specimen of
idealism at it best.
The
cousins window & kids supported uncle right up to his death. They lived in
the property uncle left behind. Now this uncle was always advised, that he
should leave his entire property and wealth to widow & her kids, but he was
made of sterner stuff. He drew up a will according to which the property was to
be inherited by all 20 cousins plus the window. He wanted to be fair to
everyone and meet his maker with clear conscience of not favoring anyone.
Barring stray one like my colleague, all
these folks live out of India and make a good living. With this will in force all
the cousins for last few years were trying to relinquish their share so that
the lady and her kid own the property. Nightmare for most of them to travel on
weekends to Mumbai and then wait in the week for court/paper work to happen.
Sheer logistics and wasteful expenditure for all of them is mind boggling.
Well similar simple decisions,
expressions and viewpoints are being made today, for all these decisions our
kids will spend a life time resolving and paying for them.
To be clear this is not against the
socialist, communist. radicals, liberals, conservatives, statist or capitalist.
This is for all obsessed folks amongst all of us, who are not willing
to look beyond their salvation. We don’t need enemies once we have these folks
taking decisions for us. We continue to pump liquid oxygen into society whereas,
all folks asked was for natural oxygen.
Returning to the serious stuff about
Ajit’s dialogue please note that this one was not part of any of his film. Here
is a dependable reference link for everyone to review. https://www.thinkpragati.com/housefull-home/housefull/2075/put-liquid-oxygen/
I may be wrong here, so please do
provide feedback.
This is an important point you are raising, Chetan. First, I am quite impressed by the cousins in your story who are making huge, personal efforts to ensure that the land is given to the widow. I am sure we can all think of plenty of folks who, once the land was in their name, would have shrugged their shoulders, made sympathetic noises and done nothing. For the country, too, only those who speak with their actions--of whatever ideological variety--have any real claim to moral superiority and we should ask for evidence of what have they given up in support of whatever ideology they wish to shout about. I am sure there are plenty of 'real heroes' in India who are putting the profit motive second to community spirit. The issue is to organise them in time and recognise them publicly across party allegiances so that more people are encouraged to do the same. Just saw in the news today that senior executives and board members of major UK banks are giving up their 2020 bonuses. This follows football stars and pop stars who have donated big chunks. Businesses like the NEC and the Excel arena are allowing emergency hospital facilities to be created on their land without charge and most of it is due to public pressure and recognition. Businesses only thrive because of the communities they serve and it is not too much to ask that in times of real emergencies they help out as much as they possibly can, even at some cost to themselves.
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