After
34 months, in Sep 2012, to be precise, the Monkey landed up of all places, at the
same venue in the same hick town, which was now suffering enhanced delusions of
being a Metro.
The Monkey fell silent
on seeing the Welcome sign scream “Emerging Kerala” followed by a tag “Global Connect”.The expression “Mixed Feelings” would definitely be an
understatement.
Sheer
shock value can at times enforce pregnant silence; like if you go through an
arranged marriage and in those first, private, intimate and precious moments, find
out your partner is a shemale...You might not be able to get your mind or hands
around it...At least till the shock wears off... After which you do what you
have to do... later justify and/or feel answerable for your actions for the
rest of your life.
The
Monkey’s flashback included visions offered by the magic of mushrooms, high speed
travel, gut wrenching bouts of throwing up caused both by spurious hooch and a
boat ride with strangers. The original point of departure from reality then had
been a formal setting to woo investors into the State. The voice of Bruce Willis
asking himself “How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?” forced its
way into The Monkey. Memories Die Hard.
Like
all pregnancies the silence had to end. At first the Monkey sighed. For the last
34 months he had been through back breaking routine to make ends meet. He had
paid his bills, taxes, rent and somehow managed to prolong his existence.
Staring at the Welcome sign once again he did what any self respecting monkey
would do. He burst out laughing!! Dear Investors he muttered. This is the ROI
you have been waiting for- Return of Ineptitude. He walked straight into the
watering hole. Forget the backache it is time to invoke Bacchus.
Some follow the beaten Path, some the Golden Path but the Monkey followed the Shining Path and in FEB 2013 the Monkey hit up on a belated resolution for the new year. Listen,
don’t talk. Contemplate on what you know and understand. Figure out some
solution if possible. Whenever possible get totally plastered by night. Get
back to bed and stay there for a day. In short splurge in silence. The Monkey
smiled. Let the Games begin.
In
a recent read of the book "India's Tryst with Destiny: Debunking Myths that
Undermine Progress and Addressing New Challenges", Jagdish Bhagwati, professor of economics at Columbia University
co-authored
with Arvind
Panagariya,
a professor of Indian economics at Columbia University argue that growth can reduce poverty
and that slow economic growth will hurt social development.
In popular discourse, Kerala is the
ultimate Exhibit A in human development indicators, and this is said to be the
result of state spending on social sectors like education and health. Bhagwati
and Panagariya junk this myth. Neither is Kerala’s social performance
state-led, nor is it lacking in entrepreneurial spirit; what it had at the dawn
of independence was a higher educational and health base.
“Contrary to common claims, Kerala
has been a rapidly growing state in the post-independence era, which is the
reason it ranks fourth among the larger states, according to per-capita gross
state domestic product and first according to per capita expenditure.” The
stats clearly show that it isn’t the government spending that is developing
Kerala, but private spending.
The co-authors, in fact, assert that
Kerala “suffers from the highest level of inequality among the larger states.
So growth, and not redistribution, largely explains low levels of poverty.”
Poverty is falling not because of the state, but because private individuals –
no doubt fed by remittances from the diaspora – are spending big on investment
in education and health. “In education”, say the authors, “at 53 percent, rural
Kerala has by far the highest proportion of students between ages 7 and 16 in
private schools. The nearest rival, rural Haryana, has 40 percent of these
students in private schools.”
Bhagwati and Panagariya also debunk
the belief that Kerala, God’s own country, lacks in entrepreneurial spirit. In
fact, the earliest Arab traders had closer links to Kerala than elsewhere. They
point out that Kerala, even now, has more of its citizens – one in three
households – living abroad.
The short point: “They (Kerala) have
had a long history of commercialisation and globalisation via trade and that
the resulting prosperity is a key explanation of the high social indicators
they inherited at independence.”
Bhagwati and Panagariya also claim
that growth can come from the globalisation – which could be through trade,
entrepreneurship, migration, or foreign investment, and the actual route taken
depends on the specific circumstances of a state.
The larger point they seek to make
is this: that most of what we assume to be the result of state intervention in
social progress is less the result of policy and more the result of growth.
Enough of the Authors and the Book.
The Monkey needed to contemplate. Back to the Shrine of Bacchus. How is truth
different in a coffee table book and a Graffitti? Kerala got its high grades in
Human Developments Indexes primarily through sacrifices made by generations.
Every one aspired and worked towards the better life for their off springs.
That is how we got here.
Through the mist of Alcoholic haze some
heart warming story that appeared in a Newspaper dripped into the Monkey’s
Brain.
“George and his team are
busy finding them angel investors, mentors and all other supporting
paraphernalia required to start an enterprise. “We got our first cheque (at
MobMe) of Rs 80 lakh when we were still in college from an NRI, our angel
investor. He later told us: ‘I didn’t understand a word of what you said, but I
saw my youth in your guys and wanted you to do well,” George says, his eyes
shining, as he embarks on a challenging journey to clone his own success.”
The Monkey felt the
goose pimples at the thought of Angel Investors in God’s own Country!
Later as the Monkey was
getting rid of the soda at the Gents, he overheard what clearly was an exchange
between two high ranking Government Babu’s. They were discussing the dire need
to erect a new system of Governance that would speed up the trickledown effect
through the economic pyramid. They felt infusion of Professionalism, design and
funding for the model for erection, initially temporary, should go a long way
in developing a Prototype that will solve all governance issues.
The Monkey remembered
his belated
resolution for the New Year. Listen, don’t talk.
But think he did!
The Monkey smiled and said this to himself:
Relax, these Babu’s are the next stage of evolution just above the cauliflower.
Nothing will ever come out of this senior
level brainstorming in the loo.
Remember, the World’s oldest Profession
started by demolishing temporary Erections!!
