Of those that were evident and those that weren’t!

To begin, let me share context. This piece is set in early November 2016, in India, formerly a British colony, which gained independence in 1947. 69 years later, Modern India flaunts a changed landscape:

Population - second largest in the world circa 1.3 Billion

Area - 7^th largest in the world i.e. 3.28 million sq. km.

GDP - 9^th largest in the world 2,073 Bn USD (growth rate of nearly 5%)

It is evident that despite number of people, India is not producing at par, is also constrained by area, implying it is a developing country, which is in its building phase. Urbanization and infrastructural development has been limited to 9 to 10 top tier cities with Mumbai and Delhi leading the march. Mumbai is home to 21 million and Delhi hosts 25 million Indians. On a given day, Mumbai and Delhi witness a parade of countless heads, moving at differential speeds depending on the mode of transportation deployed, hustling and jostling away to reach ‘a’ destination. India is the largest democracy in the world, since China isn’t! India is comprised of 29 States and 7 Union Territories. Governance is two tiered, i.e. a Central Government that runs national Policy, Planning and Budget and State Governments who do the same but for their States. Indians vote twice – once for Central Government and then for State Government. Dichotomy of the process is that, the party in power at Centre does not enjoy power in even 50% of the States. So there is a perpetual disagreement in the Centre v/s State political scape that nurtures and emboldens inefficiencies in execution of most projects, even those that are acutely critical and important to growth of the nation. Inefficiency can be understood in easy terms as higher time and money spent for less output or work. So someone, somewhere benefits from a higher payout and lower expected delivery. When such is the reward, people and businesses don’t mind sharing some of the spoils. And when there are those spoils to be enjoyed, power is not easy to relinquish. What is at stake is national development and progress, which could not be less important in the scheme of things, isn’t it? Groups and parties are willing to give an arm and a leg to seize power and maintain power. Mind you the end objective here is and always has been in my opinion the quest for wealth accumulation. Needless to say in a land where density of population is high and corruption has created quite a parallel economy, quality of life can’t be the best. Over the span of 69 years and continued hardship, people have more or less adjusted to being asked to accommodate all the time. Standing up for one’s rights has been rebuked into unconditional subservience. In these days of political consternation, not only at home, but globally……..

The Prime Minister has banned currency notes of INR500 and INR1000, with immediate effect! Media outcry - Centre delivers tremendous blow to black money and the reprehensible parallel economy. Entire nation stands by the PMO in this bold decision. Celebrities, cricketers, page3 folk and others of repute cried hoarse, their support for the PM’s decision. Almost sounded like they were privy to the highly classified decision almost like epiphany. Question was, while the PM announced GOI’s decision to call of 500 and 1000 denomination currency notes, all currency notes contain this line, “I promise to pay the bearer of this currency note…..” signed RBI Governor (RBI is Reserve Bank of India, who decides national fiscal policies and manages matters of financial governance at national level).  Did the RBI Governor just say, “Guess what guys, I was joking……LOL, gotcha!”????? Radio stations dished out fake interviews with cheap impersonations of those that are less endowed economically. They happily chirp, “My money is safe”, and “A little inconvenience shall go a long way in building the nation”, with the consummate ease of trained orators…..uncanny resemblance to RJs! As fake as silicon implants, these pieces of inappropriate creativity, reek of propaganda and also have a sting in the tail. The articulations openly mock the intellect of radio audience! In any case, in the first three days after the announcement, banks and ATMs saw endless serpentine queues, wary people, lined up to either withdraw cash or secure replacement of banned currency notes. Understandable, as even the GOI machinery with their planned offensive against black money or parallel economy would need couple of days to replace the banned currency denominations with new ones. What was strange though was the fact that even after a week and a few days more, the situation didn’t improve.  Without getting into details of the chaos that followed in everyday life of commoners, let me share with you couple of interesting observations during this turbulent period of time.

a) Sacrifice and Patriotism: Great nations instill an innate sense of patriotism and countrymen would willingly sacrifice, for national cause……Look at our soldiers – they face hardship all year round and never complain; A small sacrifice will go a long way; Your sacrifice will usher in the ‘new India’ for your children and grandchildren; Why crib so much – the queues are getting shorter by the hour; The war on black money can’t be won without plebeian sacrifice – brace up

b) Social order and civic sense: A society attains greatness when there’s mutual respect and egalitarian values…..This ATM is out of cash and the next ATM is 4 blocks to the west – better hurry; Hello Sir, any luck with the machine?      

c) Love thy neighbor: Healthy relationship with neighbors is the cornerstone of a progressive society…..Katyal sahib can you help me get new currency notes with the help of your labour; Mr. Sharma I have a meeting with the bank manager today – why don’t you give me your cheque – I shall encash it

c) Respect women: A society that doesn’t respect women is regressive and destined to fail and one that does is bound to progress…….Bhaisaab (brother) please allow ladies in queue to form a separate line – they needn’t go through this madness; Hello Sir can you mark my place for a minute I need to step aside for a moment to tend to my home – Sure madam will do

d) Social media and NRIs: You can take an Indian out of India but you can’t take India out of an Indian…….numerous/countless impressions and opinion are exchanged over social media today by NRIs expressing their take on the PM’s decision.

e) Friends forever: You can’t choose your father or your Manager, choose your friends wisely…… Arup if you’re in dire straits and there’s no solution in sight let me know I’ll courier you some; Arup, I can arrange for help from Mumbai in case you’re totally stuck – please let me know.

f) Know your turf: Ignorance is no bliss…….Despite their tenuous opposition to the decision or belligerent show of solidarity for the move, nobody of eminence was ever seen queuing up outside banks/ATMs – barring once when Rahul Gandhi queued up to access an ATM. Its all part of the circus we call politics! Showtime baby.

To me personally this episode has rendered learning and takeaways for a lifetime. I believe everybody, would have their own take on the sequence of events. We all hope and pray, this move called “demonetization”, leaves an indelible mark on the black money trail. Despite the politics and leverage on offer, for India’s power crazed politicians, the nation almost unanimously looks forward to a positive impact, one that creates opportunity for governance, to bolster India from number 9 to number 2 in terms of global GDP rankings. India boasts of “manpower” advantage – add to that improved capital…..there will be no looking back.