Hope and Dust

If anyone has experienced summer in Delhi, one would be struck by the raw heat which causes the skin to burn and sizzle. On some days small sandstorms blow through the city. The sand and dust sting as the wind blows. The dust settles everywhere. The dust and heat are an effective combination to make one wary of the city and yet despite the machinations of inhospitable weather, Delhi has for over a thousand here served as the center of power for the entire region.

“Dilli Chalo” or “Let us go to Delhi” was the marching cry of Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army as they wanted to lay their claim to power. More than 60 years post the historic event, in April and May of 2009, the same sentiments of controlling the center have spread all over the Indian countryside as the nation prepares for a national election.

This election is special because it comes at a time of a great and awkward hope. It is a time of confusion, complexity and contradiction in the world’s largest democracy.

The world is experiencing an unprecedented global recession. India does not stand unaffected. Many young professionals, part of the recently empowered youth all over the country have lost their jobs as the profit margins of companies have reduced. Many believe that in the long run this is a good thing for the country as sudden economic success had harbored arrogance and greed amongst some of the young, many of whom would have been considered unqualified to be street sweepers 10 years ago. Let them learn about saving and humility, say these pundits.

It has come to the fore that conservative, frugal economics and social services are economic drivers as the news media flashes news about how “the Americans lack of ability to save has destroyed their economy.” Not a corner is turned without someone pointing fingers at the US mortgage and banking crisis. Yet many of those pointing fingers cannot successfully explain what a mortgage is.

Captains of industry who blamed the Indian government for not de-regularizing the economy fast enough now can’t thank the government enough. India appears to be withstanding the maelstrom of economic crashes better than most countries and it is apparent that the world has noticed.

Tata launches the Nano, the car to launch a thousand cars, projected to be a world beater and industry definer. Cellphones abound everywhere as farmers plan to receive their weather projections by SMS. Airports are sprouting like mushrooms in many major cities.

Within this framework, India’s poverty is also terrible. In a strange set of events, after the media attention Slumdog Millionaire, an essentially British film gets, national debates emerge about whether this is the right image of India to portray to the world. Apparently having devastating poverty in a large percentage of the country is a non issue but its portrayal is. Reality bites and perhaps it is time for India’s marginalized millions to hire a corporate PR agency to give a sweeter spin on the suffering of so many.

Reality shows on television have become the rage, aping the distressing media trend in the US. Saas-bahus have gone out of vogue and Balika Vadhus are in. Soap operas centered on girl-children abound. Indian television has been found selling hope in the form of little girls while a man in Mumbai has been found raping his teenage daughter for 9 years based on the advice of a tantric-Godman. What is the reality of India?

The two great Indian pastimes of cricket and movies seem to be thriving. Indians now perceive themselves as Oscar worthy…(A R Rahman ki Jai Ho) and also appear to have a world beating cricket team in the one sport they take seriously.

Sectarian and caste politics have reared their ugly head. Leaders spreading essentially unconstitutional messages are being elected in what at one time were essentially single party strongholds. While their speeches and vote bases are violently unconstitutional, they seem to have no problems fitting into the constitutionally defined and protected, parliament and role of Prime Minister. Mayawati anyone?

Others, scions of dynastic political leaders, spew segregationist venom and hate in front of crowds of people, cause riots and find the time to blink and claim innocence.

The political allies of the last election have separated and new alliances have been forged. It is almost certain that whichever group of parties is at the center… it will be a group… not an individual party, supported by vastly different sections and groups of society. And yet as parties squabble and horse-trade, one thing is certain, India’s voting pattern is not clear. Nobody is completely certain what the people will decide. Democracy, messy and slow as it is, thrives in a billion voices, different, sometimes segregated and confused but hopeful.

Hope is like dust. It swirls around you and you can feel it sting and scratch in the wind. You cannot discern or catch it until the wind dies and the dust settles. It is currently swirling powerfully and magically around India’s citizens who are watching and waiting, as the juggernaut of India’s elections slowly grinds its way towards Delhi.