Economics: Swami Recession-ananda’s Unsolicited Economic Advice

Times are tough. The current morning temperature in Vancouver, Canada is – 3 degrees centigrade. Taking the wind chill factor into consideration, it feels like – 9 degrees centigrade. My new-found friend, a local black squirrel, who shows up at my apartment balcony every morning looking for a food bail-out (like many of us these days), did not stop by today. It is too cold for him this morning, I guess. It is also too cold for me to go running in the local park.

So I thought I would put on my economist hat and give my blog readers unsolicited economic advice. President Obama launched his US $ 800 billion stimulus package with great fanfare day before yesterday. Why am I focusing on the US economy and not India? Because whatever people may say about China (and to a lesser extent India), the US is still the heavy hitter of the world’s economic system. Over the last six years, as the US prospered, China enjoyed 11% annual GDP growth. India had 9% economic growth. The economic fate of the whole world depends on how quickly the US economy recovers. When America prospers, the world prospers. Make no mistake about it.

If Obama's stimulus package does indeed stimulate large-scale public works in the US, it will stimulate demand, put money in the pockets of consumers, and hopefully stimulate demand in other industries. This is classical Keynesian economic theory at work.

If this happens, the US (and consequently the rest of the world) will be pulled out of the recession. If it doesn’t, things are going to get a lot scarier than they are currently.

Large-scale government spending has worked before, most notably during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New Deal” helped pull the world out of a recession. Of course, the Second World War also played a big role in reviving the world economy, but I am not advocating a Third World War.

So how do we get out of the current economic mess? Swami Recession-ananda(me) has some unsolicited advice to give. Everybody else is weighing in with their opinions, so why should I be left behind? So here goes:

1. American banks are just not lending, even to creditworthy customers. Short-term interest rates are close to zero. As far as monetary policy is concerned, there is nothing further that the US Federal Reserve can do. Fed Chief Ben Bernanke has used up all the bullets in his arsenal. So how does Obama ensure that the flow of credit, the lifeblood of commerce, is restarted? In my opinion, he has got to temporarily nationalize banks. For example, the US government has already spent US $ 45 billion on trying to nurse the ailing Citigroup back to health. This constitutes 8% of Citigroup’s equity share capital. It hasn’t worked. Citigroup now needs another US $ 175 billion just to survive the next quarter. If Obama gives it to them, this would mean the US government will own more than 40% of Citigroup. Why not just take over Citigroup (and Bank of America and AIG while you are at it) temporarily?

This would mean that Citigroup would be forced to start lending again, which would then inject credit into the US economic system. Conservative Americans do not like the word “nationalization”, because it smacks of socialism. But what is the alternative? There is none. Go ahead, Comrade Obama, nationalize ailing US banks, at least for the next one year! Swami Recession-ananda is not alone in saying this. Many economists, including Nobel-Prize winning Paul Krugman are also saying the same thing.

Fire the current managements of these companies. Put temporary caps on salaries of top executives, at least till their companies become profitable again. Ensure that the top managements who gave themselves millions of dollars in bonuses when their companies were bleeding and begging for handouts are put in prison for defrauding investors and shareholders. Put their summer homes in the Hamptons and the Bahamas up for sale.

2. Consider re-enacting the Glass Steagall Act. This Act came into force in the 1930s, and ensured that depository institutions such as banks could not invest in stock markets. The pros and cons of re-enacting the Glass Steagall Act need to be debated before it is re-enacted.

3. Do not give General Motors and Chrysler the US $ 40 billion they are asking for, unless there is a complete overhaul of the top management of these dinosaurs. Use the bailout to force them to re-negotiate their pension contracts with auto unions. In fact, don't make it a bailout. Make it a loan instead, repayable to the US government in ten years. Force them to start investing in clean, alternative technologies. Make these conditions explicit before giving them the money. Twist their arms until they comply. If they don’t, break their arms. This may sound harsh, but it is the only way that American auto makers will become competitive. I would not have advocated a bail-out for US auto manufacturers at all, but one in ten US jobs depends directly or indirectly on the US auto industry.

4. Raise taxes for the rich. This is also going to be deeply unpopular, especially among the conservatives. But it will help pay for Obama’s stimulus package and also for healthcare reform, which is the next time bomb ticking away in the US. Bush’s tax cuts were only for the super-rich. Families earning less than US $ 250,000 a year are not going to sympathize if taxes on the super-rich are raised anyway. If you are rich, you can afford to pay a little more in taxes. It is not a drastic tax increase, and it won’t kill you. Other states are finding innovative ways to raise taxes. The state of California has a proposed legislation that will legalize the personal consumption of marijuana. If this happens, the cash-strapped state will earn an additional US $ 2 billion every year in tax revenue. Marijuana is a cash crop, it is non-addictive, it is less damaging than alcohol, and it is used by millions anyway. Please do not get me wrong. I am not advocating marijuana use in this blog. All I am saying is that legalizing it will bring in billions of tax dollars. If alcohol, a far more damaging drug, is legal and brings in billions of valuable tax dollars, why not do the same with marijuana? By all means regulate the sale of marijuana, just like alcohol.

In summary, do I believe in principle, that the government is better than the private sector in running the economy? No. I do not. I am a capitalist, and come from a country which has been ruined by wasteful and corrupt socialist policies for decades. I am not partisan - I am neither "conservative" nor "liberal". I am just another middle-class average joe trying to ride out tough times. I am not wealthy, and becoming rich is something I aspire to. But what we have seen over the last decade or so in America is the pursuit of wealth at the expense of everything else - regulation, equity, fair play. That is not right.

In normal times, I would have opposed many of the economic plans Obama has in mind. But these are extraordinary times. The stimulus package will have its flaws. There will be some wasteful, “pork-barrel” spending. But as long as the majority of the money is used for long-term beneficial projects, the US economy (and the world economy) will benefit. Put Vice-President Joe Biden to work. Make him accountable for the success of the stimulus package. If he needs help from a Project Manager who has considerable prior experience in managing and tracking tough projects, I am available!

Obama’s opponents, the ones who are criticizing him at the moment, do not have an alternative plan. Just reducing taxes for the rich, holding hands and singing “We Are the World” does not constitute an alternative plan and isn’t going to cut it, unfortunately.

I am not a blind Obama supporter. I do have objections to some of Obama’s ideas, such as his rhetoric opposing outsourcing and his proposal for more military aid to Pakistan, for example. But I do support his economic plan, because there is no alternative to it (at the moment anyway). He is also an intelligent man, who at least understands economics.

What are your thoughts, dear reader? Do post your comments on my blog. Thanks.

India: The Rise and Rise of Poverty Tourism

There is an old brand of tourism resurfacing in India – “poverty tourism”. This brand of tourism was fashionable in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It vanished for a little while in the 1990s and the early years of this century. Poverty tourism involves highlighting and promoting the wretched condition of approximately a quarter of India’s population, for the benefit of tourists from other, wealthier nations.

In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, this elite group of tourists generally consisted of members of the Peace Corps, left-wing economists, hippies, eccentrics, do-gooders of all stripes and spiritual seekers who kept harping on India’s material poverty and supposed “spiritual” wealth. This Indian trend of promoting poverty tourism diminished in the last twenty years, as the story of India’s economic boom took centre-stage. It has now returned with a vengeance, possibly as a result of the global recession. Miserable people always feel better when they know that there are others who are worse off than them.

I will use two examples to explain the revival of poverty tourism. The first example involves our eternal political child Rahul Gandhi (better known as Rahul “Baba” despite his middle age) taking the British Foreign Secretary David Milliband to the rural, backward town of Amethi in Northern India. The idea, Rahul “Baba” said, was to show Mr. Milliband the “real India”.

The second example is the international success of the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”.

But first, let me illustrate the phenomenon of Rahul “Baba” as global ambassador for India’s poverty tourism. David Milliband, British Foreign Secretary was in India on an official diplomatic visit, ostensibly to show his support to India in the wake of the terror attacks in Mumbai. Rahul Gandhi, rich and privileged scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, saw it fit to take Milliband to a poor, backward village in his constituency of Amethi in Northern India. Mr. Milliband stayed the night in a village of “Dalits” (a supposedly backward caste tribe), without running water, plumbing or electricity, and slept in a poor Dalit’s hut for the night. Rahul Baba wanted of course, to show Milliband the “real” India.

The Indian media gave this “event” a great deal of publicity, gushing over what conversations Milliband and Rahul Baba had with the poor uneducated locals, and how admirably these two gentlemen coped with the hardships they faced for the night. Very little was said about the villagers who have been living in Amethi all their lives.

The one and only important question the media did not address was – Why is Amethi, the constituency of the ruling dynasty, still so poor and backward after so many years? What has the Gandhi family done to improve the wretched lot of the people living in this village? Surely, the constituency of the Prime-Minister-In-Waiting should have had running water, electricity, literacy, jobs and schools by now? If not, why not? But our media conveniently chose to ignore this all-important question.

The next day, as Milliband and Rahul Gandhi departed for Delhi in a private plane, the charitable organizations that had donated clean, warm blankets and bed-sheets for these gentlemen quietly came by and took these items back. The villagers had served their purpose, which was the promotion of poverty tourism. They were now forgotten, and welcome to go back to their primitive, poverty-stricken lives. The cause of poverty tourism had been promoted and publicized, and that was all that mattered.

The second example I would like to highlight is the phenomenal success of the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. I have not watched the movie yet. I am told it is an excellent movie, which it probably is. Daniel Boyle, the movie’s director, probably made the movie because it was a good story worth telling. However, it has been received very differently by many members of the Indian media. Instead of treating “Slumdog Millionaire” as a good movie, they are somehow reading much more into it than there actually is. They are treating the movie as somehow representative of the country India is, which this film definitely isn’t.

One prominent South Bombay socialite waxed eloquent about the movie, about how it portrayed the struggle of the poor in India’s slums. While this may be true, I got the distinct feeling that she was somehow suddenly proud of these slums which she has probably never ever visited or talked about before. Somehow, these slums, that she would wrinkle her nose at in disgust on any other occasion, had become a symbol of India’s “pride”, “spirit” and “resilience”. Why? Only because a Hollywood director made a famous movie about them.

She would much prefer India to be a poor country which draws the world’s attention with its misery and poverty, than a quiet, staid prosperous nation with no poverty. Look at Sweden, she must be thinking to herself – it is rich and boring, nobody talks or makes movies about it.

I am sure Daniel Boyle (the “Slumdog Millionaire” director) did not mean to portray all the residents of Edinburgh as crazed heroin addicts living in squalor, when he made the movie “Trainspotting”. That is because Edinburgh, like Mumbai, is a diverse place, with own share of rich and poor, sublime and tragic. Just like all residents of Edinburgh are not crazed heroin addicts, all the residents of Mumbai (Bombay) do not live in slums.

The fact of the matter is Boyle was only making a movie. The image of India being a miserable, poor country is promoted by many Indians more frequently than anyone else. Why? Because our poverty becomes the source of international attention, a form of celebrity. And of course, it is better to be famous for being poor, than not being famous at all. Right?

To those overseas tourists who are planning to visit India, I would like to say this. India does have pockets of abysmal poverty. This is a shameful fact of Indian life, it cannot be ignored and it is not something most Indians are proud of. But India also has a prosperous middle class, good schools and education, good jobs and yes, many of us actually live in homes with running water, electricity and indoor plumbing. All of us do not defecate on the street.

We are ashamed of the poverty that afflicts many of our countrymen and women. It distresses us as much as it distresses our foreign tourists. We would like our politicians to provide proper homes, education and jobs to the poor, instead of promoting poverty tourism.

Observations: In Between Trains

There are two sounds I love above almost everything else. The first is the sound of birds chirping. The second is the whistle of trains as they rush past, far away. Fortunately, my new home allows me to hear both these sounds every day. Every evening, after sunset, I sit out in my balcony, and listen to the mournful, lonesome wails of long distance trains as they rush through the night.

“Wooooooooaaaaaannnnnnnhhhhhh”, the long distance trains shriek, as they speed through the night. They sound like huge, metallic dinosaurs lost in the winter night fog, desperately trying to find their way back to the rest of the herd. The train lines are quite far away from where I live, about two miles, but the sound carries at night, when all is quiet. It is a sound that never fails to thrill me.

I have reasons for loving trains. When I was a small boy, air travel was nowhere near as ubiquitous or inexpensive as it is today. Every time my parents wanted to go on a vacation, we piled onto a train. We usually vacationed in winter, and travelled to places far away. This meant preparing for the train trip days in advance. My dad, with his usual precision and eye for detail, would make long lists of what needed to be taken along for the trip. For my mother and him, travelling anywhere meant days of advance preparation. It felt more like an expedition than a vacation. But that was all part of the experience. My parents are still amazed at how I pack for a trip (my packing takes no more than thirty minutes). For them, travelling involved a lot of preparation – material and mental.

Winter is the best time for travelling by train in India. The weather is great, and the early morning fog adds an element of romance and mystery to any train trip, especially if you are travelling in North India. Take a look out of your train compartment on a winter morning anywhere in North India, and you will feel like you have stepped into the pages of a Raj-era E.M. Forster novel.

I still have so many vivid memories of travelling by train in winter. Some of them are permanently etched in my mind. Watching the towering Howrah Bridge materialize out of thin air as the train pulled into Howrah Station on a Calcutta winter morning is one such memory. I guarantee you that the first sight of Howrah Bridge from the train will leave you speechless. It looks like a flawless structure, a shiny beast straight out of a science fiction movie.

Another such memory is that of the great Sanchi Stupa outside the little town of Vidisha in Central India. When travelling from Mumbai (Bombay) to Delhi on the Central Railway, you will suddenly see the “chhatra” or roof of the main Sanchi Stupa rising from behind the tree-line by the side of the tracks. The roof of the Stupa appears to float in mid-air, thanks to the heavy early morning fog. The Stupa is a marvellous complex of buildings dating back to the third century B.C. Its construction was started in the reign of Ashoka the Great – India’s greatest king. The Stupa is part of the living history of India, and in my opinion, should qualify as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The contrast of the Stupa seemingly floating in mid-air, with the emerald-green fields of Central India as a backdrop, is stunning, and is something that will stay with you for a long time.

Unfortunately, steam powered trains are a thing of the past. These engines were once the backbone of the Indian Railways and were very much in service until about twenty years ago, especially on the smaller and lesser known train routes. Watching several steam powered engines huff and puff their way into the railway sheds in Lucknow is another enduring memory of my childhood. When you travelled in a train pulled by a steam powered engine, you knew that travelling could be a pretty tiring and strenuous affair. You could sense the little engine giving it all it had, as the soot from the coal fired engine settled on your clothes. It took a long while for the engine to finally get up to high speed, by which time it was groaning and gasping for breath. When the train finally pulled into a station, you heard the little engine exhale, and take a break from its labours. It was truly fascinating stuff, in my opinion.

Steam engines are no longer in service on the Indian Railways. They have become extinct and gone the way of the dodo. There may be a steam engine heaven somewhere, where these sturdy engines built more than a century ago frolic and play. If so, I would like to go there when I die. The one steam engine that is still in service is the one going up to Himalayan mountain town of Darjeeling, in Northern West Bengal. This little engine, more than a hundred years old, is lovingly preserved and taken care of, and is still in daily use. Travelling on that train is one of the things I intend doing before I die. The sight of the world’s third highest peak, Kanchenjunga, wreathed in clouds as it first appears from the train, is something I would not want to miss.

Of course, Indian train stations tend to be unhygienic, crowded, chaotic places. Watching a crowd of travellers at an Indian railway station, writer Paul Theroux remarked that they looked like “a crowd of lazy refugees fleeing an ambiguous catastrophe”. That pretty much sums it up.

Apart from the real pleasures, sights and sounds of train travel, there is also another factor that is responsible for my love of trains. As a child, train travel for me meant vacations, a change from the mundane and routine. It meant pleasurable anticipation, and a chance to leave one’s boring and sometimes difficult life behind for the irresistible charm of new places and adventures. Like Jimi Hendrix once sang:

“I hear my train a’comin’
Comin’ to take me
From this lonesome town”

I know what Jimi meant. Trains were a way to reinvent oneself; a way to new adventures and a new life; a way to leave behind those parts of yourself that you did not like; a new start.

Air travel doesn’t have the same appeal. Even today, when I feel uncertain or apprehensive about the future, I convince myself that I am in between trains. Sooner or later, my train is going to pull into the station and take me away from this lonesome town.

Music: Why it means so much

I was playing the first self-titled album by the band Traffic last night. For those who have not heard it, this album from 1968 is a classic. Alternately sombre and light-hearted, loud and melodic, it is a tour de force by Steve Winwood and the rest of the band. Winwood’s vocals never sounded so urgent. Dave Mason’s understated guitar work is brilliant, Jim Capaldi’s angular drumming is spot-on, and the lyrics are profound, yet self-effacing. It is rock, it is blues, it is folk, it is jazz. Like a lot of great music, it is hard to categorize.

Listening to the album had an entirely unexpected effect on my wife. Ten minutes into the album, I saw her sitting in a corner looking very thoughtful. I asked her whether she was bored by the music, since rock music for her is still an acquired taste (I do not blame her, considering the amount of taste she has had to acquire for it – I play so much of it). She said she wasn’t bored. In fact, she liked the album. She had another question on her mind entirely. What, she said, would the next generation of kids listen to, now that most modern music is so inconsequential and pointless?

I paused, with my glass of rum and coke half-way to my lips. I was floored. I did not expect the music to have that effect on her. I wasn’t prepared for the question, which was a very good one. “Well”, I said, “I am sure there still are some good new bands out there. Maybe we just aren’t aware of them, old fogeys that we are” (or I am anyway). Besides, in terms of my tastes in music and other references to popular culture, I am a throwback to the 1960s. I am hardly representative of my own generation; forget about kids who are much younger than me.

But the question was still a very valid one, and I started thinking of why exactly music has played such a huge influence in my life. I consider myself an expert on rock music – not just the music or lyrics, but what the music represents. For example, I can tell you what the Who classic “Won’t Get Fooled Again” means. Written and released in 1971, it is about the souring of the social revolution of the 1960s. Drugs, idealism and a naïve belief in loving everybody else on the planet isn’t going to work, the singer cautions; don’t get fooled again!

And then I realized that for me, music has always stood for a lot more than just a tune or a lyric. In many cases, it has captured my feelings in ways that I could not. Great rock and classical music reminds me of what my dreams in life once were. It reminds me of how I used to be before (like everyone else) I was forced to compromise and dilute some of my beliefs to get ahead in this world. It reminds me of everything out there that is still pure and free. It reminds me not to take anything at face value; to question everything. Rejecting easy answers to complex questions is the easy part. Sometimes (and a great art form like music tells you this), there just are no answers to the difficult questions life throws at us. Sometimes when life gets hard, there is no redeeming pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You just have to grin and bear it.

Of course, this was not always the case. In my youth, I thought the best way to deal with the blues was to listen to Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter” at very high volume, preferably with my choice of intoxicants and stimulants close at hand. It felt great for a little while, but at the end of the song, my problems still didn’t go away. Much later, I realized that the music in itself gave you a high. You really didn’t need anything else to go with it.

The music itself can capture what you feel, your hopes, dreams and apprehensions; in many cases, music captures it better than you can yourself. Music is also that last free, pure, unadulterated place in my soul – that last piece of paradise within me. It is mine! I am very selfish as far as guarding that space is concerned. Dig it, baby.

Of course, music has also been responsible for me meeting and getting to know many of my closest and truest friends. An initial conversation would go something like this: Me - “What do you like to listen to, man?” Friend – “Well, I like Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Clash”. Me – “Really? Well, we should get together sometime and listen to “Guns of Brixton”. Friend – “Yeah, that sounds like a plan”. And that is how many of my most valued friendships have started. Recently, when a close friend of mine saw the Who in concert in Los Angeles and brought back a t-shirt of the band for me, I was ecstatic. Yes, band t-shirts still make me happy, ok?

Coming back to the question my wife raised; Will the next generation of kids have their own representative bands, making music that reflects their hopes and fears? I do not know. What I do know is for me, so many years later, the music I first heard twenty-five years ago as a boy still matters. And I have a feeling that I will still feel this way even if I live to be eighty.

I realise this has been a “heavy” blog. I promise that the next one will be a much lighter one!

Mountain Stories: When the Beatles Came to Town

My wife and I recently returned from a lovely Himalayan vacation. The base I use for all my Himalayan sojourns is the town of Almora, tucked away at 5,500 feet in the Kumaon Himalayas. Apart from the spectacular natural beauty on offer in this part of the world, I have a deep emotional connection to this place. My grandfather was so taken in by the beauty and splendour of the Indian Himalayas, he decided to retire there in 1969. As a child, I made annual pilgrimages to Almora every October to meet my grandfather and soak up the atmosphere of the Himalayas. Most of my most vivid, important childhood memories are from the mountains, where as a child, I spent hours tinkering in my grandfather’s beautiful garden and watching the play of light and shade, cloud and sunshine on the deep, dark forests and snow-covered mountains.

Over the years, the town of Almora has grown exponentially. Like most Indian towns, the growth has been largely unplanned and haphazard. As a result, most of the town has become dirty and crowded. However, my grandfather’s neighbourhood has remained largely unchanged.

But this blog is not about Almora or even the Himalayas. It is about the legend of the Beatles coming to a little village above Almora back in 1968. That the Beatles visited the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh in 1968 is a documented fact. That they stayed in Rishikesh for three months is also well-documented. However, reliable sources tell me that three of the four Beatles (John, Paul and George) visited a little village above Almora now called “Crank’s Ridge” back in 1968.

Before I get into details, I need to tell you where Crank’s Ridge is. It is located about six kilometres above the town of Almora, at about 6,500 feet. The forested ridge is on the sunny side of the mountain, which means that it does not get too cold, even in the depths of winter. It has a truly spectacular view of the Himalayas, with the 25,600 foot high Nanda Devi peak dominating the horizon. It also has a reputation for being a place with a spiritual aura around it. Famous Indian mystic Swami Vivekananda lived and meditated here in the 1890s. Ever since then, it has seen a steady stream of famous artists, musicians, mystics and cranks (hence the name “Crank’s Ridge” – check it out on wikipedia).

American beat generation poet Allan Ginsberg visited here in 1962, and felt it was a “little like the Catskills in upstate New York, only more spiritual”. Sixties guru and University of California Berkeley professor Timothy Leary lived here for extended periods of time in the 1950s and 1960s. Singers Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens also visited here, as did noted Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman, father of the delectable Uma Thurman. In fact, the young Uma Thurman also probably lived here for a little while. Indian dance maestro Uday Shankar (brother of sitar player Ravi Shankar) set up a school for Indian classical dance here in the 1930s. Indian film-maker Guru Dutt also lived here for sometime in the 1950s. These are all documented facts.

Wikipedia also says that Crank’s Ridge is “a cult destination, it now has a small community of backpackers and ex-hippies settled there ever since the place gained the reputation of being a Power Centre during the hippie hey-days. This reputation is due to the alleged gap in the Van Allen Belt above the ridge, a perception arguably strengthened by the free and easy availability of hemp on the slopes. There is also a Buddhist meditation center on the ridge”.

All in all, Crank’s Ridge is a place worth visiting, and I go there every time I am in the mountains. And now, patient reader, I will come back to the question I raised a few paragraphs ago. Did three of the four Beatles visit here in 1968, or is this just another shaggy-dog story? An individual I know and respect has irrefutable proof that Timothy Leary was indeed a frequent visitor to Crank’s Ridge and the town of Almora. Leary was a very close friend of the Beatles. The Beatles were in Rishikesh in 1968. Rishikesh is also a town in the Himalayan foothills, about 250 kilometers away from Almora and Crank’s Ridge. I also have it from reliable sources that George Harrison made several trips to Almora and Crank’s Ridge in the 1970s. This is not surprising, since of all the Beatles, Harrison was the one most attached to India and was also a keen student of Indian music and Hinduism.

If indeed the Beatles made the long and winding journey to Almora and Crank’s Ridge from Rishikesh back in 1968, they would have followed much the same route we did this year. They would have traveled via Deoprayag, Rudgraprayag, Gwaldam and Kausani. Like us, they would probably have had a night-halt at the town of Rudraprayag, the confluence (“sangam”) of the Alakananda and Mandakini rivers, which together form the mighty Ganges. Here one road leads up to that holiest of Hindu pilgrimage towns – Badrinath. Another road leads towards Gwaldam and Almora.

Of course, Almora was a much smaller, more picturesque town back in 1968. Crank’s Ridge today boasts of several high-class resorts, an excellent multi-cuisine Continental restaurant and lovely cottages where old ex-hippies from all over the world live. The place has a real multi-cultural, laid-back feel to it. But back in 1968, it would have been just a collection of stone and slate mountain houses where villagers lived and eked out a living in the terraced fields below.

But could John, Paul and George have come here in 1968? It is not only possible, it is likely. John and George would definitely have been interested. I am not so sure about Paul. George was already sold on India, Indian mythology and music. At the time, John was sold on the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It is very, very possible that they came to Crank’s Ridge in 1968. If that is indeed the case, it is also possible that some of the songs on the landmark 1968 Beatles “White Album” were written here. The Beatles themselves have said that most of the “White Album” was written in India.

I find this whole hypothesis fascinating. Could “Across the Universe” or “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” have been written above Almora, Uttarakhand? It is possible.
Did the three Beatles visit Almora and Crank’s Ridge in 1968? What do you think?

Indian Heroes: The Mangal Deep School for the Mentally Handicapped

The last few weeks, and indeed months, have brought us nothing but bad news in India. The economic slowdown was the first bit of bad news we heard about. Then the spate of terror bombings across the country, culminating in the mowing down of innocents in Mumbai two weeks ago. Our politicians seem too weak-kneed, incompetent and corrupt to deal with the situation.

Heroes seem hard to find in this day and age. But they still exist, as I found to my pleasant surprise. It is just that they are hidden and not easy to find. They quietly go about their business, saving lives one by one, against all odds.

This is the story of the Mangal Deep School for Mentally Handicapped Children in the mountain town of Almora, deep in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. On our recent trip to the Himalayas, my wife and I were taken to meet the founder, students and staff of this school. I was wary. Many Indian NGOs (non-governmental agencies) that are ostensibly set up to provide social welfare and justice are just as corrupt and inefficient as their governmental counterparts. Many of them use monies received from well-meaning donors to feather their own nests, instead of using the funds to benefit their intended audience. I am personally aware of two or three such NGOs that have duped me in the past.

So the Mangal Deep School for Mentally Handicapped Children came as a very pleasant surprise. Set on a picturesque ridge in a village below the town of Almora, the school premises commands a very impressive view of the Central Himalayan Ranges.

The school was started ten years ago, with a student population of only five children. Today, it has grown to cater to fifty children with special needs. The founder and staff of the school are extraordinarily dedicated. Over the years, they have learnt to cater to students with many different needs (the latest student to enrol is autistic). They have learnt this on their own, with little or no support from state and central governmental agencies (more on this later). The school was set up by a retired college teacher who used her entire pension and retirement funds to start the school. She must be nearly seventy years old, but she is indefatigable and always cheerful. I have not seen such positive energy in people half her age. She is also self-effacing to a fault. Over the years, this extraordinary lady and her staff have learnt to deal with students with varying kinds of special needs, indifferent, occasionally hostile parents, a sceptical and conservative society, and apathetic and often corrupt governmental agencies. And they do all this with a smile on their face.

But the real stars of the school are the students themselves. Each student is taught a vocation based on their talents, so that they become financially independent and help support their families, who are often poor. We were astonished to find the high levels of artistic ability that these children possessed. They make high-quality dinner and place mats, greetings cards, hand-woven carpets and gift bags, among other things. You and I would pay big bucks for these items in any big-city mall. The school has succeeded in making the students financially independent and gone a long way in helping many of them enhance their worth in the eyes of their families. The students are also taught to read and write And all of this is done with smiles and good cheer.

The less said about assistance the government is supposed to provide, the better. The number of approvals required to receive allocated financial assistance from the government are many, and frankly, quite ridiculous. Every governmental agency in the chain wants its own cut or bribe. It is truly shocking. I knew corruption in Indian government agencies was endemic, but the extent and the brazenness of it left me speechless, when I found out details. I know who these corrupt governmental agencies are, but I will not name them in this blog, because it may get the school into trouble. Suffice to say, the school authorities have squarely refused to pay bribes to obtain the financial assistance promised to them. Like in most other facets of Indian life, the government is an obstacle to overcome, and not a facilitator.

But let me come back to the school and its founder and staff. They work hard, against all odds, to cater to a forgotten and neglected section of our society. They ask for very little in return. They do this only because this is the right thing to do. They soldier on and prevail in the face of daunting adversity that would deter most other people (it would certainly deter me). In my book, this makes them true heroes. Forget our self-obsessed celluloid stars in Bollywood and our overpaid, over-hyped cricketers. What this school is doing is noble, it is real, it is right.

For many years, I have felt guilty of not even attempting to return a little bit to the country that made me – India. Now I have the opportunity to do so, in a small way. My wife and I intend contributing what we can to help the Mangal Deep School grow and flourish. At this point in time, modest financial assistance is all we can offer. If we choose to settle down and live in that part of the country some years from now (this is very much part of the grand plan), we will find other ways we can contribute.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Mangal Deep School, please contact me. Do something good, feel something real. Thanks.

Politics: In Defence of George Bush Jr.

I expect this to be a deeply unpopular blog with plenty of adverse comments. How can you defend George Bush Jr, people will ask? Look at the mess he has made, especially in Iraq. Look at his approval ratings – barely 25% of Americans approve of his presidency at the moment. He is dyslexic, clueless about foreign affairs and policy and knows very little about macro-economics. His prior experience as a businessman and owner of a baseball team show him to be a failure. So how can you defend him?

To begin my defence, let us first list the facts. All of what I have mentioned in the previous paragraph is true. George Bush made a huge mistake going into Iraq, a country that under Saddam Hussein was a tyranny. However, it was a secular, reasonably moderate country in the Middle East. Crucially, Iraq under Saddam Hussein was an important counterweight to the other key player in the region – Iran. As long as you had these two countries balancing each other out, the world was a safer place. Now that Iraq is no longer a rival, Iran has aspirations of becoming a regional superpower and there is nothing the US can do to stop them.

There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in Iraq either. I agree that Iraq was Bush’s one big mistake. Because of that expensive error of judgment, the US became deeply unpopular throughout much of the Islamic world. Dubya’s father, the far more capable and intelligent George Bush Sr., did the right thing during the first Gulf War in 1991. He bombed the hell out of Saddam Hussein, destroyed the Iraqi Army and left, having taught Saddam a lesson for invading Kuwait. That war was won in days, it was inexpensive and the body count was low.

But if you take the Iraq War out of the equation, how would George Bush Jr. fare as a president? Would his legacy be viewed more favourably? Here again, it depends on your perspective. Bush did nothing to help in managing the two big domestic economic crises that an aging America faces – Social Security and Medicare. He refused to tackle the key problem of prohibitively priced healthcare insurance - a problem that deprives tens of millions of Americans from getting access to affordable healthcare. At the beginning of his presidency, he laughed off concerns about global warming, saying these fears were exaggerated. He did not encourage American automakers to develop alternative fuels.

But George Bush Jr. also did quite a few good things. The most important among these (for countries such as India and China) was that he encouraged and supported free trade. As a result, China became the manufacturing hub of the world. Its economy grew by leaps and bounds, and millions of Chinese were pulled out of poverty. India became the services and information technology hub of the world. The explosive growth of India’s services sector in the last decade owes a lot to George Bush Jr. He made it easier for qualified foreigners to live and work in the United States, by liberalising immigration policies. During his presidency, the U economy remained robust and grew faster than it had in decades, which created jobs for Americans, Indians and Chinese alike.

George Bush Jr went out of his way to work with India on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. I do not claim to be an expert on this deal, but when people like former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Indian National Security Adviser K. Narayanan support the deal, I assume that it is in India’s best interests. He stayed out of the Kashmir issue, and said it was a bilateral matter that needed to be resolved between India and Pakistan.

It is easy (and completely wrong) to blame George Bush Jr. for the current economic recession in the US. The fact is that he had nothing to do with it. The legislation to provide supposedly “affordable housing” to those who could not afford it was one that was passed many years ago, by his opponents the Democratic Party. This legislation was a populist one designed to garner votes. Dubya in reality, tried hard to nullify this legislation. The fact is that Dubya presided over the largest global economic expansion in history – one spanning six years from 2001 to 2007. Thanks to the economic policies of his government, the U.S, China, India and many other countries prospered.

It is possible that history will be a little kinder to George Bush Jr. From an American viewpoint, Bush started the Iraq War, and did nothing to combat global warming, resolve the healthcare crisis or reduce that country’s dependence on foreign oil. But he also ensured seven years of unprecedented economic growth. From an Indian viewpoint, he was a friend of India and his policies were consistently pro-India. Therefore, his legacy for Americans will be a mixed one. His legacy for India however, will be uniformly positive.

This does not mean that I have anything against Barack Obama. I wish him well. But there are a couple of areas of concern. The first is his view on outsourcing. He has said that he will find ways to penalise American companies that are “shipping jobs overseas”. This is like the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena saying that jobs in Maharashtra should be reserved for only Marathi speaking people. The fact is that all employers around the world will always find ways to reduce their costs of production. Lower costs of production means that consumers like you and me pay lower prices for goods and services. I sincerely do hope that Obama does not try and curb US outsourcing work to other countries, because this is something that is mutually beneficial.

The other warning sign is that Obama plans to appoint Bill Clinton as “envoy” to help “resolve” the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan. This is being done in the mistaken belief that Pakistan will fight terrorism better if they had all their troops stationed on the Afghanistan border. Also of course, now that Hillary Clinton is no longer a candidate for US President, Bill needs something to do to keep him gainfully occupied. This desire to appoint an “envoy” to “solve” the Kashmir problem is worrisome. Kashmir is a bilateral problem between India and Pakistan.

But it is still early days. Obama is intelligent, charismatic and seems to be a unifier. He has overcome formidable obstacles to become the President-elect. He appears to be very serious about combating global warming. He has publicly stated that he will encourage research into alternative fuels and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. He appears serious about resolving America’s healthcare and social security crises.

But will he be a good friend to India? Only time will tell.