The year of all things Indian

The year of all things Indian

FOR the last Sunday of the year, let's find something to be cheerful about. And, surprise of surprises, it is not as difficult a task as it was last year. That, in itself, is good news.

To start with, there were no horrors like last year's Gujarat. Narendra Modi has not had a change of heart (or perhaps more accurately, he hasn't suddenly acquired one). So what really happened? Early this year writing the lead article in The Hindu Magazine (Sunday, January 5), I had characterised 2002 as the Year of Violence: "The violence was of three kinds: the Violence of the Terrorist, the Violence of the Criminal and the Violence of the Common Man." The last kind, especially when it is State sponsored as Gujarat was, fuels the first kind, which is why I had said, "It's a prediction I hate to make, but 2003 will see even more terrorist violence than at present, with more men, women and children becoming innocent victims of the jehadi quest for `justice' and `martyrdom'." I am happy that I was wrong. I am even happier that when terrorists did strike, as they did in the twin blasts in Mumbai at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar, the public outrage was contained, and we had no Violence of the Common Man. Which, in turn would have spawned the Violence of the Terrorist, which in turn would have provoked the Violence of the Common Man, which in turn ... . So, again, the question: why did this happen? Perhaps the answer lies in the campaign launched by Narendra Modi, with full-page advertisments in the press, and trips and presentations abroad, reminding everyone that Gujarat could be, as it once was, a destination for funds, rather than for corpses. You could call this great Narendra Modi transformation the victory of Pragmatism over Idealogy.

Perhaps it was this new found mantra of Pragmatism over Idealogy which saw our Prime Minister abandoning his habitual Hamlet pose and taking decisive action against Dilip Singh Judeo, the minister who made an unexpected cinematic debut. And who, on camera, enunciated the Indian politician's first commandment, "Money is God." What a contrast to the Government's take on the Tehelka tapes, where the official reaction was to shoot the messenger. (George Fernandes is Defence Minister again, action has neither been taken against any corrupt army official nor an enquiry held on defence purchases. Tehelka, of course, was forced to close down).

Possibly this new found pragmatism had to do with the realisation that, hey, there IS a world out there! And that this world actually thinks we are smart! The process by which international perceptions about a country changes is a long, slow one, and who knows when this particular movement started. It could have begun in Silicon Valley, it could have begun in schools and colleges across America where Indian students consistently did better than everyone else, it could have begun in Britain where more and more Indian industrialists and entrepreneurs joined the rich list ... . Or, perhaps, the process was simultaneous, with all these different paths converging to the same conclusion. And who cares about the beginning when the end is so very pleasurable? What is definite is that this process began outside India, and that the NRI proved over and over again the old dictum that Indians do well everywhere, as long as everywhere does not include India. This process has seen more NRIs break corporate glass ceilings around the world to head international corporations, banks, financial institutions and engineering companies.

Our dominance of the IT industry continues, of course. As it happens, we dominate it less now that China has pushed its own IT programme ahead with the single-mindedness only it can muster. But the world doesn't yet see it that way: it's Indians who are brilliant at maths, it's Indians who are good at computing, it's Indians who are wizards at IT. We can live with that.

Not everyone is as happy at the BPO phenomenon. Call centres, people sneer, need no brains. And the jokes begin to proliferate like the British one which goes: Lady calling help line, "What do I do, my dishwasher is not working." Indian call centre operator, "Madam, sack him and hire another one." But, to me, call centres are more than just a new kind of "native coolie", taking up work which no one in the West wants to do. That's because these units, selling products which range from credit cards to mobile phones to housing loans, answering queries regarding sophisticated consumer durables, exotic travel destinations and complex financial matters, are all opening up worlds hitherto seen only second hand, and not too long ago, seen not at all. They enable young men and women of humble backgrounds and ordinary education, of small-town vision and limited ambition, suddenly being able to take a leap into a hitherto alien world. In this quick jump from the backwaters onto a world community of shared materialism perhaps lies a world where the Pravin Togadias and the Shahi Imams will no longer matter.

And, finally, there is hope for the future from a quite unexpected quarter. The world crackdown after 9/11 on unaccounted funds parked in international banking centres has forced Indian money back into India. This, some say, is one reason why the economy is suddenly looking up and why the stock exchanges are booming. And since a huge proportion of these stashed away funds belong to politicians, we might begin to see the introduction of reforms of every kind to facilitate the quick growth of the economy. This would be the ultimate victory of Pragmatism over Ideology.