Life in Delhi: Episode 5 (Arbitrary Observations)

There is no logic to this post. And the conclusions and views might be extremely foolish and absurd.....but I had nothing to do in those 35 mins...and I just kept observing people.

Sitting in the office of Chief Engineer (West) Projects, at the Delhi Jal Board's Varunalaya Head Office in Jhandewaalan, New Delhi, waiting for my turn to meet him and tell the purpose of my RTI, I was asked to explain the reason of my presence by a not-so-pleasantly speaking geezer. I showed him the letter send by DJB, asking me to deposit the amount required for getting the necessary documents printed. He bluntly told me to get out of there, as CE (W) does not sit there. His office is in Phase 2, but not in this building. I ignored him, and looked at the ceiling. I knew the letter had the right address, against his repeated assertions about the letter being wrong. After a few minutes he stormed out, swearing to send someone to set me 'right'. Nobody came though.

It was hot, my wrist watch showed a temperature of 42 degree centigrade. The office was cooled by two old ceiling fans. There were two more coolers, one working and the other one on leave. Two relic-like Remington typewriters and decayed old decaying furniture. Almirahs with doors that refuse to close, a wall clock with broken glass, two incessantly flickering tube lights, and 2 heavy sofas (my ass comfortably resting on one of them). An HP printer was the only symbol of IT age. The tiled floor was not too clean, and there was a calendar with Hanuman's picture and a shirdi Sai Baba portrait on an adjacent wall. The presence of a Hindu god always needs a secular justification. The entire ambiance made me feel that the office machines, furniture share some similarities with the staff. Equally old, archaic, stubborn, obstinate and refusing to go away.

The fashion was still the same 70s shirts, pants, fake belts, fake leather shoes, oiled hair, pot bellies, etc etc. Disgruntled middle aged employees, all bought on heavy dose of Nehruvian idealism, swadeshi slogans, bogus socialist dreams and economic theories, in an era of mai-baap sarkar.

Soon after Independence, the generation which had achieved freedom, was clearly devoted to the task of nation building. It had dreams for the new nation; it had seen the colonisation and the struggle. It was influenced by, and gave birth to Idealism. An idealism, which deeply influenced the nation builder’s dreams. Economy to Foreign Policy, this Idealism was everywhere. Non-Violence, Non-Alignment, Peace, Harmony, Self-Reliance, Social and Economic Justice were the buzzwords. The next generation born in late 40s to late 50s was bought on heavy dose of this idealism, and what did they see when they were of our age?

The generation born in early 90s or late 80s i.e. 1985, has seen the IT revolution, globalization, the buzz of 'India and China as next superpowers', economic resurgence, economic liberalization, nuclear bombs, record food grain yields, 20 yrs without a drought etc. What did these guys see when they were of our age? They would have opened their eyes in last years of Nehru or early Indira era (12 year old between 1962-1970, if born between 1950-1958). They would have remembered shocking defeat at the hands of Chinese, faltering economy, first big drought, ship-to-mouth existence and stories of American PL-480, failing industrial sector, foreign exchange rationing or actually rationing of almost everything in life from cars to food grains to milk. They would have seen Pakistan victory and emergence of Bangladesh, and a period when government was at ‘commanding heights of economy’, and almost all the jobs were available only with government. Private sector investment was almost non-existent (as it was subject to tax rates of up to 97%, heavy regulation, licenses, inspectors, export restrictions, etc). Their idealism and its dreams would have met such a cheerful life. Average ‘Hindu’ rate of growth was 3%, and if you subtract the population growth of close to 2 %, national income grew by an impressive 1% in the youth of this ‘idealistic’ generation.

Whatever little was available (government jobs, consumer products) they would have secured it with great difficulty, and often with the help of ‘contacts’ or bribes. So, it is not without a reason that they cling to these ‘difficultly’ secured jobs and value bribes and contacts so much. In their age, they, having secured good jobs, income and being a class apart from the hoi polloi of the nation would have felt as heroes. The aam aadmi would have looked up to this sarkari aadmi. A snob moving around with a swagger and huge inflated ego.

Something similar happened to the middle generation (1965-1985), they were bought up in a period of despair, economic gloom, political instability, factionalism, and failures…they became hopeless. Some of them escaped out of this gloom to find their destinies somewhere else, and contributed later to the economic boom of 90s.

So when the government is constituted by such people, you should not expect them to carry an attitude that they should serve the populace. They will continue to feel that they are the higher race in this land and will treat others with contempt. They cannot be expected to run an accountable government, unless forced to do so.

The real change in governance will come when the majority of the employees joining the government will be from the generation born after 1983. They would have seen the fire of mandal and mandir, the tragedy of Rajiv’s assassination, the ambitions of economic reforms, anxious acceptance of globalisation, the mobile and Internet revolution, nuclear tests, ITs rise, industrial resurgence, stock market booms, kargil war, etc. They would have seen an India increasingly asserting itself on the international stage (though still referred to as soft state, an attribute gifted to us by the previous generation), and opportunities available like never before to break the class and caste barriers.

When a large number of people from this generation will join the government services, people who are much more positive about life, and have seen success and opportunities galore, only then we will see a natural improvement in governance. If we take the age of a fresh government employee as 25, then this natural change can only come after 2020, when majority of this generation will enter 30s or early 40s. By that time they would be occupying the lower and middle level hierarchies, the one which matter, as they are the ones who finally deliver the governance to junta.

Regarding the old guard, now, towards the end of their careers they face a generation which has entirely different set of perceptions and priorities. This will give rise to conflict at every level, which is very evident all around us. I need not elaborate on this. The first generation was bought up in idealism and turned to cynicism. The middle generation (1970s to 1985) was bought up in cynicism and they became hopeless and the nation drowned in despair. Now, I cannot think of a proper word to encapsulate our generation, but if we succeed, and India indeed becomes a economic giant once again, with a stable society (we were never a world military power) we would have undone 3 centuries of colonial exploitation in less than a century. But what if we also fail ….due to some unexpected factor?