Shantharam, of taking showers and creating jobs: Whats the economic lesson

I am currently reading Shantaram, the highly acclaimed literary masterpiece written by a man who has undergone almost every experience in life. But whats really stuck me about the book are its brilliant one liners. They are made by people who wander in wilderness for eternity, but their conversations would make any philosopher proud. Here are some of the gems

"If fate doesn't make you laugh, you just havent got the joke"

"The difference between news and gossip is, news tells you what people did while gossip tell you how much they enjoyed doing it"

But this post is about a particular sequence in the book which i thought was a brilliant economic lesson.

Shantaram on landing in India checks into a hotel. Its summer in Mumbai, so he takes 3-4 showers a day. But one day he watches people taking water 6 stairs up maually to fill the tank so that guests in the hotel can take those showers. Shantaram feels guilty about it and says to his guide that from that day on he wont take any shower in the hotel. The guide asks him instead to take more showers, because thats what will keep those people employed.

I think this sequence demonstrates the contrasting philosophies that free market and other non free market ideologies like socialism & communism,apply in handling economic puzzles. Non free market ideologies will shed tears and ask the tourist in the hotel to stop taking showers which would throw those poor people out of job. While free markets will encourage the tourists to take more showers and hence creating more jobs.

Ultimately in the long run for poverty aleviation shedding tears will acheive nothing, infact create more trouble. In the long run its not shedding tears but feeding mouths that matter

My current consumption

I was unhappy for a couple of months. I felt an unfillable void in my lifestyle and couldn't figure out what, till yesterday. I had given up my favorite hobby,reading. Somehow i haven't been reading much lately and it was killing me. So went out this weekend and bought a couple of books, one of which i have started reading. The void is filling up.

Search

I dont get it, i just dont. Its a thing with people of my generation i think or is it people like me? . 7 months into my new job i am already cribbing. It was different during my father's generation wasn't it, call it loyality or maturity to handle boredom, they worked for 35-40 years in a single organization, doing the same thing over and over again.

What drove them? Ha the key word "The Drive"

Whats my drive?

Money- Necessary for a decent life, but i wont kill myself to get more of it- Ruled out

Achieving Coporate excellence- You must be kidding, i pull myself everyday to work- Ruled out

Family- My dad is a self made man he doesn't need my help, mom is taken care too that way. I am single not married and even if i do get married,i wont go out of the way to make my kids or wife happy. Atleast i defnetly wont leave a legacy or an empire behind- Ruled out


So there, whats my drive?

Hmm,that someday i will find what i love to do and my search of it.

So the search for a passion is on.

Nuke deal is inked, we are growing at 8% , Mittal bids for Arcelor hurrah.... how my euphoria died down

This was suprisingly a laid back week. A friend visited me on wednesday so took a day off, then got the weekend off too. So got to catch up with the Bush Visit , the nuke deal and all that on TV. NDTV's discussion was extremely good,putting in varied views both from US and India. The impression i got was that this is the new India. A young, rocking india which the world has started to recognize and give its merit. I am generally a cynic,but after the discussions and the euphoria i felt good about our nation. Finally after years of floundered potential are we reaching there, to become a global superpower? With those thoughts i dozed off..

Alas first thing in the morning the euphoria came crashing down. I had to wait for an auto for 15 minutes and it took me 45 minutes to travel 2 kilometers. I am in the commercial capital of India not some rural heartland, but it takes me 45 minutes of treachorous road and traffic to cover a mere 2 kilometers. The 8% growth beleive me is a great thing, thing that you and me should be proud of. Because it has come despite these treachorous inadequacies. Inadequacy of infrastructure, labour market reforms, power, water and what not. Imagine the growth we will reach if we are provided with all this.

So what India needs to become a superpower, is not big government but big governance. Whereever we go in this country there is a lack of governence which is stopping us from reaching the 10-12% growth we ar capable of. Forget the left, right and center of our political space, things should be brought down to simplicity of governance. Unless that happens all this will remain just that.. rhetoric

Black Noise Project

In this wonderful intiative- A blogathon on street harassment, Annie writes a powerful post read it here

Rang de Basanthi, the second half why i liked it and all that

I am a huge movie buff, not only movies but also theater. The idea of writing a screenplay and transforming it to the screen just fascinates me. Its a different kind of art, an art that needs team work. All other arts (except to an extent music)be it painting, novel writing etc is extremely personal.

I liked Rang de Basanthi. Its an extremely well made movie. A lot of people did not identify with the second half, because either it was too unreal or too dramatic. I think the movie would not have been so good if it didnt take that unreal path. The whole build up of the movie was by drawing up a parallel between the revolutionaries and today's young india. The movie constantly reminded us that the slavery to english is as bad as slavery to corruption. So any undramatic climax or even a mellowed down climax would have killed the movie.

And apart from the context within the movie itself, i think we have become a passive nation. Except the recent jessica lal case , the outrage for injustice in out country is very muted. A little murmur here and a little murmur there is all that we get. I think it was an attempt of the makers in their own way to tell us to become more active, to become more involved, to get into ourselves a sense of anger.
More rang de basanthi's in bollywood please, its a step in the right direction