Bikaner, Wednesday 20 February 2013
I've often wondered what middle-class people in India make of life here. How do they cope with the sight of poverty all around them, and the corrupt systems they have to contend with?
I've had a few insights into this question over the past few weeks.
When I set off from Delhi to head to Jaipur to start my volunteering two weeks ago, I was put in a taxi that I was to share with another bloke making the same journey. It would be a four-hour journey, and I had my Hindi book at the ready, thinking I'd use this time to study up. But, as I mentioned in a previous post, I ended up having a really great conversation with this random stranger. His name was Ajay. He was 40, and was married with two kids. He was probably a fairly typical middle-class Indian. We began talking about Indian society, and it was clear right away that he was someone who thought a lot about the issues his country is facing.
He had spent many years working in Delhi, for an American company, the epitomy of the Indian rat race. He worked long hours, chased targets, and took the money as compensation for the fact he'd no time with his family. His children, he said, learnt their morals from the TV rather than from him. So finally he decided to opt out. He moved to Jaipur with his family, banned his kids from watching TV, and began working freelance - work which brought him to Delhi once a week or so, but left him much more time for a home life. This, of course, isn't unique to Delhi. It's the same thing in London or any big city.
I asked him whether he felt optimistic about India's future - after all, they say a growing middle class is the first step on the road to development. But he had the opposite view, and he told me a few stories to illustrate his point.
In December, a student was gang raped on a bus in Delhi and later died. Such was the brutality of it that it made headlines around the world and the aftermath is still dominating the newspapers here now. You can Google the details, but if I say that they stabbed her with a steel rod and pulled out her intestines you'll get the picture. Ajay said this case told a story about modern-day India. I can't verify all that he said, but below is how he explained it to me.
Firstly, the bus shouldn't have been on the road. It had failed safety checks several times, but due to the odd bribe was still on the road. So, the general day-to-day corruption here played its part.
Secondly, nobody on the bus did anything to help the woman. Not the driver, not the conductor, not the passengers. It's not unique to India, but it does say something about human nature.
Thirdly, when the bus finally stopped, the woman was set down on the roadside. She was still alive, but imagine the agony she must have been in. The police showed up, but instead of immediately getting her to hospital, they stood and argued among themselves for more than half an hour, apparently, about which station should deal with it. None of them wanted to help because they knew that a bad outcome would look bad for their station. So, you can forget about getting help from those whose job it is to help you. These are educated people, so you can also forget about education making the difference.
Fourthly, at the hospital, it was hours later before she was finally put on a ventilator. In the end, she died. Here again, the most highly educated of people again let her down.
Lastly, despite the barbarity of what happened to her, it took a former Bollywood actress who is now a member of parliament to cry in parliament and demand time to discuss it there. It was only then that her colleagues grudgingly took notice. So you can forget about India's politicians seeking to make their society a place where such things don't happen.
Ajay felt that an educated middle class will not lead to India's development, because that's the last thing on their mind. Instead, as they commit themselves to mortgages and a particular way of life, they then have to fight to maintain it. With those pressures, there's no room for helping others.
I was talking to one of the people who works for the camel safari company I used for a desert trek here on Monday. He said that the people who are worst affected by difficult economic times are the middle class. The rich are rich, so they can always maintain their lifestyle. The poor are poor, so when you're living in a slum or on the street already, how can it get any worse? Meanwhile, the middle class's fortunes are less assured. The steps on the ladder are a bit slippery. You've got a house, a mortgage, a family. If you hit harder times, you end up in debt to maintain what you've got.
Ajay was very frustrated with what he viewed as the lack of law and order in India. He once ordered some food from a stand, without asking the price first. After he ate, he went to pay, and they demanded some ridiculous amount. He refused, and they threatened him. He went to a nearby police officer and explained what was happening.
'Who?' the officer asked. Ajay pointed to the stand and said, 'Him'.
'Who?' the officer repeated. 'Him!' Ajay again said.
'I don't see anybody.'
Ajay wasn't willing to let it rest. He had a friend in the army, who happened to be stationed down the street. He called him and the soldier came. The police officer changed his tune.
'Why didn't you say?' he asked, when the soldier intervened.
That's how it works, Ajay said. Probably the stall-holder was giving the police officer a cut.
He once decided to take a bus instead of a tuk-tuk, to save himself a few rupees. Standing on the crowded bus, he realised his wallet had been taken. The culprit was standing beside him, and showed him a knife. Ajay, again not one to let it go, went over to the conductor.
'Did you see what just happened? They took my wallet,' he explained.
'How much was in your wallet?' he asked Ajay, who replied that there was about 7000 rupees (around 75 pounds). The conductor told him it wasn't worth his health. A simple mathematical calculation - nothing to do with right or wrong.
At the moment, I'm just processing what I'm seeing and hearing about India while I'm here. I don't think you can really come to any conclusions about a country in a few months anyway, but when this trip's over it's going to be interesting to reflect on it all. I'm not sure I agree with Ajay's view, though, that an expanding middle class won't help improve the national psyche. I think it just takes a few generations. In the UK, for example, as I think I've said before, our economic growth came over time and other institutions had time to develop, too, such as law and order. India's growth has been much more rapid. The rich and middle class, with their malls and expensive shops, still have a developing country around them. Perhaps there's an element of 'new money', too - like in Ireland, when the Celtic Tiger arrived, everyone overstretched themselves, lived beyond their means. Maybe over time if the middle class become more secure and stable they will demand that the other institutions come into line, too.
I've often wondered what middle-class people in India make of life here. How do they cope with the sight of poverty all around them, and the corrupt systems they have to contend with?
I've had a few insights into this question over the past few weeks.
When I set off from Delhi to head to Jaipur to start my volunteering two weeks ago, I was put in a taxi that I was to share with another bloke making the same journey. It would be a four-hour journey, and I had my Hindi book at the ready, thinking I'd use this time to study up. But, as I mentioned in a previous post, I ended up having a really great conversation with this random stranger. His name was Ajay. He was 40, and was married with two kids. He was probably a fairly typical middle-class Indian. We began talking about Indian society, and it was clear right away that he was someone who thought a lot about the issues his country is facing.
He had spent many years working in Delhi, for an American company, the epitomy of the Indian rat race. He worked long hours, chased targets, and took the money as compensation for the fact he'd no time with his family. His children, he said, learnt their morals from the TV rather than from him. So finally he decided to opt out. He moved to Jaipur with his family, banned his kids from watching TV, and began working freelance - work which brought him to Delhi once a week or so, but left him much more time for a home life. This, of course, isn't unique to Delhi. It's the same thing in London or any big city.
I asked him whether he felt optimistic about India's future - after all, they say a growing middle class is the first step on the road to development. But he had the opposite view, and he told me a few stories to illustrate his point.
In December, a student was gang raped on a bus in Delhi and later died. Such was the brutality of it that it made headlines around the world and the aftermath is still dominating the newspapers here now. You can Google the details, but if I say that they stabbed her with a steel rod and pulled out her intestines you'll get the picture. Ajay said this case told a story about modern-day India. I can't verify all that he said, but below is how he explained it to me.
Firstly, the bus shouldn't have been on the road. It had failed safety checks several times, but due to the odd bribe was still on the road. So, the general day-to-day corruption here played its part.
Secondly, nobody on the bus did anything to help the woman. Not the driver, not the conductor, not the passengers. It's not unique to India, but it does say something about human nature.
Thirdly, when the bus finally stopped, the woman was set down on the roadside. She was still alive, but imagine the agony she must have been in. The police showed up, but instead of immediately getting her to hospital, they stood and argued among themselves for more than half an hour, apparently, about which station should deal with it. None of them wanted to help because they knew that a bad outcome would look bad for their station. So, you can forget about getting help from those whose job it is to help you. These are educated people, so you can also forget about education making the difference.
Fourthly, at the hospital, it was hours later before she was finally put on a ventilator. In the end, she died. Here again, the most highly educated of people again let her down.
Lastly, despite the barbarity of what happened to her, it took a former Bollywood actress who is now a member of parliament to cry in parliament and demand time to discuss it there. It was only then that her colleagues grudgingly took notice. So you can forget about India's politicians seeking to make their society a place where such things don't happen.
Ajay felt that an educated middle class will not lead to India's development, because that's the last thing on their mind. Instead, as they commit themselves to mortgages and a particular way of life, they then have to fight to maintain it. With those pressures, there's no room for helping others.
I was talking to one of the people who works for the camel safari company I used for a desert trek here on Monday. He said that the people who are worst affected by difficult economic times are the middle class. The rich are rich, so they can always maintain their lifestyle. The poor are poor, so when you're living in a slum or on the street already, how can it get any worse? Meanwhile, the middle class's fortunes are less assured. The steps on the ladder are a bit slippery. You've got a house, a mortgage, a family. If you hit harder times, you end up in debt to maintain what you've got.
Ajay was very frustrated with what he viewed as the lack of law and order in India. He once ordered some food from a stand, without asking the price first. After he ate, he went to pay, and they demanded some ridiculous amount. He refused, and they threatened him. He went to a nearby police officer and explained what was happening.
'Who?' the officer asked. Ajay pointed to the stand and said, 'Him'.
'Who?' the officer repeated. 'Him!' Ajay again said.
'I don't see anybody.'
Ajay wasn't willing to let it rest. He had a friend in the army, who happened to be stationed down the street. He called him and the soldier came. The police officer changed his tune.
'Why didn't you say?' he asked, when the soldier intervened.
That's how it works, Ajay said. Probably the stall-holder was giving the police officer a cut.
He once decided to take a bus instead of a tuk-tuk, to save himself a few rupees. Standing on the crowded bus, he realised his wallet had been taken. The culprit was standing beside him, and showed him a knife. Ajay, again not one to let it go, went over to the conductor.
'Did you see what just happened? They took my wallet,' he explained.
'How much was in your wallet?' he asked Ajay, who replied that there was about 7000 rupees (around 75 pounds). The conductor told him it wasn't worth his health. A simple mathematical calculation - nothing to do with right or wrong.
At the moment, I'm just processing what I'm seeing and hearing about India while I'm here. I don't think you can really come to any conclusions about a country in a few months anyway, but when this trip's over it's going to be interesting to reflect on it all. I'm not sure I agree with Ajay's view, though, that an expanding middle class won't help improve the national psyche. I think it just takes a few generations. In the UK, for example, as I think I've said before, our economic growth came over time and other institutions had time to develop, too, such as law and order. India's growth has been much more rapid. The rich and middle class, with their malls and expensive shops, still have a developing country around them. Perhaps there's an element of 'new money', too - like in Ireland, when the Celtic Tiger arrived, everyone overstretched themselves, lived beyond their means. Maybe over time if the middle class become more secure and stable they will demand that the other institutions come into line, too.
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