Keeping up with the Tombas, Chaobis !

By Ranjan Yumnam *

This is one of the weeks in which I have been pretty lazy, going through an emotional tsunami, getting awfully distracted and hit by the writer's block. I have been trying to write a wonderful piece to lift my spirits up, the jewel of MY TURN, but time flies away pondering about it and I am writing this at the eleventh hour when the desk editor at the TSE would remind me ominously about my obligation, any moment. Pardon me for the shallowness of this article and chew it like a bubble gum.

The idea was: I was trying to study the difference in the standard of living of the Manipuris, the amenities they have access to and their general level of happiness today with what people in the Mediaeval Age had in, say, a country like England. But I felt Industrial Revolution in the 18th century would be a more logical time-frame, since that period is easily identifiable and much more recent, which is also well documented by historians and economists alike. This project was supposed to be detailed and empirical; but I ditched the idea altogether. Something profound hit my mind; the futility of it all struck me like a lightening wisdom: when we don't even get three hours of power daily, where is the comparison and the need for it?

Well, for starters, not only electricity, the public infrastructure and the amenities like street lighting, roads, mass transportation, parks and food four hundred years ago in England were qualitatively much better than what we, the wretched Manipuris, are enjoying (or lacking) today. Can you believe that we live in a time warp with living conditions worse than that existed in the times of Cholera outbreak in 1847 in Russia? I don't know about you; I am ashamed to live like a primitive man in this 21st century.

RICH-POOR GAP

Yet, in this same place, there is a yawning chasm between the rich and poor. The affluent live like they are truly living in the 21st century with all the gadgetry and comforts of a modern American, while the poor scratches the surface of what looks like an Aladdin's lamp—all turning out to be chimeras ultimately— dejected time and again with no opportunities of redeem. The ugly truth is: the rich don't worry at all with the decadence and the general poverty around them because they live inside their gated mansions, oblivious to the screams of loss and deprivations of the ordinary Money-pooris.

The fat cats have the perfect house, the trophy wife, beautifully coiffed, the gleaming cars, world-class education for their children, air-travel, mind boggling bank balance—and often multi-crore contracts to support this expensive lifestyle. Since they have everything of their own, they are often reluctant to support public projects that would be beneficial for all. Yet, the poor also have something in abundance: their ever-lasting hope of a miracle, which rarely ever comes true.

Some economists justify this baffling inequality with a convoluted travesty of a concept called "marginal-productivity theory." In layman words, rich are rich because they are more productive and contribute more to the society than the poor dimwits. This is a joke if you associate this theory with the fact that how stinking rich are the illiterate contractors and suppliers in Manipur and for that matter those of their ilk in every unequal societies. Are they really the most productive and valuable people of our society, the money-minting humanoids that are responsible for all the sub-standard roads, crumbling public buildings and loss to State's exchequer? This is a food for thought.

If we had been fair and conscientious, the most valuable people who contribute the most to us and the future generation are the teachers. If the rewards are even remotely linked to the actual producers of welfare of the society, teachers should be the richest and they should be the most respectable class. We are failing on that and giving all our accolades to the wrong guys, who have come to monopolise both power and financial resources and insulate every cranny and hole of their ossified fort.

LIVING BEYOND MEANS

The ostentatious lifestyle of the rich distorts the expectations and hopes of the poor in a very hurtful manner to the latter. Joseph Stiglitz, economist and Nobel laureate, brings to light a very interesting thought on the "trickle–down effect," the mantra of conventional market economy. Trickle down-effect, the idea that money from the rich or the benefits of a robust economic growth trickles down to the common men, is not true all the time. He might have said this in a different context, but this is strikingly relevant in the dynamics of socio-economic realities of Manipur.

If you think about it, money in Manipur doesn't stay in Manipur for long. It inevitably spirits out of Manipur's borders for many reasons such as in paying fees for the children studying in, say, Delhi University, shopping ultra-expensive goodies in supermalls in Bangalore, for air-travel, for paying mobile phone bills, etc. Almost everything we buy—whether a service or a good—doesn't belong to anyone in Manipur or is controlled by the MNCs, and therefore all our money ends up in the pockets of the alien corporates. It never really trickles to us. No illusions here.

Mr Stiglitz also rightly points out that it is not the trickle-down effect that is in play but the 'trickle-down behaviourism' which grips the people in its thrall and because of which the poor tries to imitate the lifestyle of the moneyed class, most often with credit card (and borrowed cash). How true! The craze with which the people of Manipur invested their hard-earned and borrowed money into Ponzi schemes like Visarev reveals our repressed aspirations and is symptomatic of the trickle-down behaviourism.

People are not blind to the good life of the rich and they want the best for themselves and their kids and would do anything to acquire them. When they fail, they seethe with anger, envy, take to crimes, loot and extort. To stop this alarming trend that is going out of control, there should be a fair mechanism of redistribution of wealth by which it means that the system that lets too much concentration of wealth in few hands should be curbed and reformed.

The best way to do this is by expanding and enriching opportunities for the unemployed in a fair manner. Depriving opportunities to people in an atmosphere of extreme inequality is a sure cocktail for what happens in Egypt, Libya and Bahrain.

Income inequality may be somewhat condoned in a developed world where the median standard of living is high and deprivation is not so pronounced, but it is clearly unpardonable in a backward State like ours where the 1% lives like princes and the 99% are leading a life of distress. While others in advanced States are striving for attainment of a perfect life and happiness, we are still grappling with questions of survival and mere existence. This is not perfect; this a fake life.

Luckily, happiness is not the exclusive preserve of the rich because money cannot buy love or happiness. So celebrate; take out your empty wallet to see your loved one hidden in its fold. And remember, the formula for happiness is free, which is: nurture your relationships with dear and near ones, do what you are passionate about with a purpose and exercise (though not for losing weight!). I have two ingredients of it alright, and am now working on the third. What about you? Have a happy Sunday!



(Views expressed are personal and do not represent official position)

Ranjan Yumnam

* Ranjan Yumnam, presently an MCS probationer, is a frequent contributor to e-pao.net. He can be contacted at ranjanyumnam(at)gmail(dot)com. This article was posted on April 30, 2011.