It’s a tale of an ordinary April Friday evening, in an election-charged small town of West Bengal, when the century had just turned to its 21st fold.
In those days the election campaigning used to have a happy presence around us. Red hammer-sickle-star were twinkling at every corner of the town. With occasional popping ups of less significant characters in less significant colours of the season. Serving rather as an unpaid beautification project on the otherwise discoloured walls of our neighbourhood.
And of course on the poorly printed pages of local newspaper. Where the political propagandas used to reside in an amusing coexistence with misspelled words. More as an entertainment! And the most beautiful part of them was that the intellectual stimulus they used to provide was very lame. I can remember how the agitated faces of the adults would become pacified by the petty hassles of everyday matters. That was good for their mental health I would say! As experience has taught me that except for a small fraction, the whole world is destined to remain in passivity. A hard-earned truth.
But the most serious one was the news broadcasting at 6 in the evenings. Not at sharp, as there were late arrivals in every 3 or 4 days because of habitual malfunction or mismanagement with an insincere apology from the state-owned television channel- Doordarshan (probably the most beautiful translation of the word ‘television’ with its semantic and concept intact). Though mismanaged a little bit, there was profound joy in the limited entertainment offered by it…which I now crave for while jumping across the amplitude of channels, OTTs aimlessly. Imperfection & scarcity have their own appeal!
It is in such an ordinary evening my father was sitting in front of the Doordarshan to follow up the day’s progress. And I, beside him, waiting for him to be finished so that I could watch the popular children’s show on a famous private channel…gained illegally by my brother from our closest neighbour with the help of a metal cloth hanger and plastic bottle.
The broadcasting of the day consisted of the news about the usual happenings of the ongoing election with several daily mundane incidents like death of a man because of the Kalbaishakhi (a seasonal thunderstorm that ‘used’ to happen in the initial stage of summer on the adjacent areas of Bay Of Bengal). Bored I, was examining the blackish spot on his index finger that he had got that day as a validatory symbol of him being a responsible citizen. But the time of the news became lengthy as there was a technical error happened during the broadcasting, visualised by a rainbow-coloured screen.
And a crow was crowing leisurely on the antenna looking ‘probably’ towards the four large dish antennas seated ambitiously on the roof of the four-storeyed building belonging to our wealthiest neighbour, facing westward.
As my father was done with his dose of snippets for the day , I just jumped for my dose of the ‘stolen’ entertainment. It was a popular children’s show about a small boy’s fantastical adventure with a magical pencil. There were episodes on how he satiates his needs as well as greed for various ‘things’ simply by drawing them on white paper which in a fraction of second would solidify his imagined desire into reality. It was quite popular amongst us, the children, as we were yet to experience the pleasure and responsibility of ‘commodifying’ things as an independent ‘buyer’. The show initially was streamed on Doordarshan itself, but due to immense popularity, was snatched by a private ownership and thereby depriving us, the children, who in fact were the sole agents of that market mechanism. I strongly believe that the act of hooking should have been acquitted of as a sin of stealth simply for that indifference towards the blossoming consumers who had no means to satisfy their own desires in an acceptable way! But hindrances used to come in various other forms as well. That day the episode ended with an usual power cut at the exact moment the magical pencil was electrifying my urge to see a desire transforming into reality. And also with my father’s rage against the symbol he has just probably stamped his support for.
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The evening returned to electrification as we were doing our dinner in the candle light- wet, dim, soft. I personally used to enjoy a lot that long power cut hours in the evenings and also the sudden optical illusion that used to occur to my eyes by the sudden flipping from candle light to tube light. But the adults were unhappy as they had to use their time in productivity and I feel also because they probably could see the humane folly behind the politically framed technical negligence.
Anyway, the TV resumed with this caption “a film directed by Priyadarshan”. It was Friday so Doordarshan had to telecast a film for us. The film begins with a gentleman Shyam, who arrives in the Mumbai city in search of a job in the Indian Capital Investment Bank, where his father used to work. He is seen anxious and frustrated as his application got rejected several times on the basis of this fact that another female applicant is also eligible for the post according to the regulatory framework.
The scene changes with a song with a complete change in mood. In that song another young man is seen enjoying a hedonistic lifestyle with several imported shiny cars and “polished” female figures. But as the film progresses the song is revealed to be a mere daydreaming by that same young man (whose name is Raju) while working in a laundry as an iron-presser. And because of his fancy daydreaming he burns off a customer’s suit. His boss scolds him for this kind of repeated mistakes and advised him strictly to be more “laborious” if he wants to be successful in his life. But he shrugs off the advice and states casual yet definite tone with snapping his fingers-
“kaheka mehnat! paise toh mein youn banaunga youn, shortcut tariko se”. (What Labour! I will make money only by shortcuts)
And the scene ends.
The scene in our home would have also ended with the TV being switched off if the movie was all about couple dancing around with fifty other dancers after falling in love! But there was something very refreshing about the film. There were ‘heroes’ who were full of ordinariness and human follies. There was a heroine who was far from being the glamour queen. And there was romance too which didn’t spring from a sudden hit between the girl and the boy in a, say, college campus. Rather the love develops amid stark realities of life- in absolutepoverty, unemployment, unavoidable personal loan.
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It was post-Liberalisation era in India, but the evening happened in a small town of West Bengal where the political ideology of conserving the economic activity was still prevalent. While the emerging instances of open economy were also stepping their foot around. Like, that cable line connection, shared by us illegally. Or that proud four dish antennas. There were interesting conflicts all around us. The conflict between taking chance vs conforming to the same occupational habits; making wealth in a free way vs interviewing repeatedly for a fixed salary. And the film was, I would say, the most humorously presented picturisation of that conflict.
So, the story developed further as Raju & Shyam hit accidentally in road & by merely a cautious “statement” Shyam, the rule follower mistakenly “doubts” Raju, the shortcut-maker as a pickpocketer. This very doubt remains alive throughout the film thick-n-thin, giving birth to a sweet-n-sour relationship between them. This short confrontation becomes hilarious as they meet again in Baburao Apte’s house where they are given accommodation. But from the very first, an amusing enmity grows between them with Babu bhaiya, the shelter-giver acting as an arbitrator. Now this Babubhaiya himself is submerged in debt and has nothing except a “big-heart”, a poorly-maintained house and a garage. Another interesting thing he has which is, a telephone connection having a queer cross-twining with another number of a wealthy businessman, Devi Prasad.
Life was going all around as usual. With Shyam looking for a job; desperate to pay off the amount he had taken from his friend Kharaksingh so that he can marry off his sister. In the mean time Anuradha Parrikar the lady love enters into his life, who is also living in abject condition. On the other hand, Raju doing all his fantasy driven diddling to make believe his elderly mother that he is a very successful person & soon to start a business. And Babubhaiya, trying to ease away by drinking, all his tension of having an immense amount of debt, thrust upon him by his deceased father.
It is at this moment the telephone rings at the stroke of midnight looking for Devi Prasad to demand a ransom in exchange for the life of his granddaughter…by Kabira, the kidnapper.
The call is received by Shyam, who panicks after comprehending the whole matter. While Raju snatches this technical mismatching as an opportunity as a true enterpriser. He plans to redramatise that whole incident of kidnapping to the original Devi Prasad with doubling the ransom amount and thereby making money. Though Shyam and Baburao seem reluctant initially but soon agree to the idea as they “need” money too.
All goes plan wise in a hilarious way until the moment police enters the scene!
Failed, they return home. But the phone rings again with “Kabira speaking”. And the ransom demand gets doubled as a charge for involving the police.
Now this time Shyam & Baburao deny to drag the matter further and decide to disclose the whole matter to Devi Prasad so that his innocent granddaughter returns home safely.
But as the case! They need money! So they again plunge into the matter, but this time the desperation of making money goes hand in hand with a sincere urge to save the girl’s life. And they become successful in executing the plan with lots of comic adventurous chaotic moments.
And the film ends happily with both Devi Prasad & police discharging the trio from the charges of kidnapping with all the ransom money granting to them.
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I grew up in a family where all of the adult members used to vote for the Marxist Communist Party of India. Some with a little knowledge of what its ideology is and some of them out of ‘blind faith’ and ‘unthoughtful habit’. And on a larger scale the socialist sentiments (often in its narrow sense) was prevalent all over the state as the party was ruling over for two decades without any serious opponents.
I remember how every now-n-then there used to be a bandh (strike) and we, the children used to reap the fruits of that political agitation with some extra hours of playtime. I, myself even contributed a little to this process of striking! Though unknowingly, more as a part of having fun! One of my uncle was a trade union leader and used to paint posters for the party. I would not say it “writing” as the way he used to implant the agitating words upon those colourful papers was more appealing than probably from the message, conveyed. My task was to collect the still wet painted agitations from the table and spread them on floor so that they get dried up peacefully. Another uncle of mine was rather an obedient blind follower of the party and was a regular subscriber of the party’s official newspaper which he used to “rot up” for his party meetings. How seriously he used to incorporate those bombastic newspaper vocabs into his speech as if simplicity doesn’t have any power to make a change!
Now when I look back with mature eyes at that time I can see how the desire to make money was looked upon. How the elements of competitiveness, of entrepreneurial zeal used to be considered something morally derogatory.
The economy of the country was officially opened up to the world. But since that opening up was necessitated from a “need”-a massive balance-of-payment crisis, the mind of the nation still clinged to the “ideals” of conservatism. And the surrounding, as I can understand now was wedged between that dichotomy. Overall the relationship with wealth was quite complex and problematic.
A funny yet romantic incident comes into my in this regard! A neighbour of ours was a staunch communist, so much so that he didn’t allow any religious or ritualistic arrangements in his home, not even a single icon or statue of any deity…causing a serious trouble to the female members of his household. Now this gentleman got married to a very beautiful lady. And as traditional Bengali women do, his wife insisted on setting up a consecration of goddess Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth & prosperity. I don’t know what that communist gentleman did with his ideology, on the next Kojagori Purnima (an auspicious occasion when goddess Lakshmi is worshipped traditionally) there was a grand occasion of Lakshmi Puja celebrated in his house. Was that a result of falling in love or falling for money I still wonder!
With this kind of environment, my generation developed into adults with getting introduced to colour TV, lots of foreign private channels, imported fashion brands, shopping malls, internet etc. And side by side with phrases like “market penetration”, “target customers”, “profit generation” and so on. Living across between these two different era, I nowadays delve into searching what my roots has to say about money. About generating wealth. About welfarism. About balancing economic matters with the other aspects of life.
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From childhood I have been hearing about-
Dharma-Artha-Kama-Moksha
(Righteousness-Wealth-Desire-Liberation)
As the four Purusarthas or fundamentalgoals of human life according to Indian tradition. And this I learnt not on the pages of social science books. But from the everyday conversations on mundane matters. Probably it is because of this reason they didn’t imprint a solid impression on my conscious thinking.
While the bookish definitions of Capitalism, Socialism, Keynesian theory which I had to go through to pass my exams somehow shaped how I look at economic matters. But in a country which has a journey of thousands of years definitely should have its own way of looking at economy. Now I can grasp a little the wisdom behind those often neglected words…
It is quite interesting how Artha (wealth), the economic aspect of life is placed upon on the same row with moral duty, desire & spiritual liberation in Indian tradition. The four noble principles, in fact, are conceptualised as a balancing equation…balancing each other. Unlike foreign notions of Capitalism or Socialism, where the spirit of wealth generation and the ethos of welfarism are seen as antagonistic to each other. While in Indian thought they complements each other to live life in its totality, sitting on the same continuum.
Like any other old culture, we have lots of deities personifying every aspect of our life. Interestingly, the deity personifying wealth is not a powerful male figure. Rather it’s a female deity- a docile, non-aggressive one. A happy fulfilling feminine figure- holding a basket full of paddy grains with a sweet smile on her face. The nature of worshipping her is also simple. On auspicious lunar days married women do puja in a non-grandeur homely manner with offering home-cooked foods. The ambience is arranged deliberately in a quiet manner so that Lakshmi gets “attracted” & visits the household on her own. No forceful tugging or pulling! And this economic philosophy has been handed over generation to generation by the women of our country. I wonder sometimes how did those women get such a soft-natured yet prosperous wisdom, with no urge to gain wealth by “penetrating” the market?
While this is the way we “attract” wealth in our life in Hindu way. Other traditions, especially Buddhist literature like Dighajanu Sutta gives a moral stance on economic activity. The text is an account of Buddha teaching a layperson named Dighajanu on how to achieve financial security, welfare and happiness in this present life. A famous line includes Buddha stating about the importance of legitimacy in wealth acquiring-
“He has righteous wealth — righteously gained, coming from his initiative, his striving, his making an effort, gathered by the strength of his arm, earned by his sweat.”
It seems quite interesting if we place this ancient notion of moral righteousness in wealth generation in the post-Independent Indian context, when a civilization became a modern nation state officially. Lost connection with all its own value system by repeated political and economic exploitation it adopted borrowed ideas. And the forgotten inner wisdom reduced to be mere idiomatic phrase and history.
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While the other day I was going through a chapter on Marxist criticism that distant evening just came across my mind. Well, the detailing might be contaminated to some extent with imagination but I must say that imagination is strongly built upon everyday experience. With little awareness, that evening resurfaced in my mind in a whole new way.
Every reformation gives birth to newness. And the film I saw that evening is a perfect example of that. It told a known story in a new way. “Money” for the first time was shown openly as a sole driver of human life. That, people need money not only to survive but also to maintain relationships with their dear ones. The tendency to see “making money” as morally derogatory was shrugged off so wittily.
And it captured the transitory phase from closed to open economy so well…through the interaction between several characters. While the jobseeker, rule-following Shyam personifies the prevalent attitude of closed economy; Raju, the shortcut-maker reflects the dreams of the emerging open economy. And tossed between their quarrel, Babubhaiya represents the idea of a Mixed economy, who constantly tries to make a peace between them.
Everyone in this film is shown as indebted and in need of money-which symbolises the pre-LPG era economic condition of India. And the opportunity to earn money comes as a telephonic cross-connection- as an accident. The Economic Liberalisation, in fact, too came as an accident, when India had to open up its market to the world.
But the shock proved to be beneficial as entrepreneurial zeal of the country grabbed the circumstances just like Raju snatches the kidnapper’s call to make money out of it…supported by Shyam’s constant ‘complementary’ doubt and Babubhaiya’s arbitration. Though initially their plan to redramatise the act of ‘kidnapping’ is motivated solely by “profit earning”, it soon gets accompanied by an ethical duty to save an innocent’s life. It is here plays India’s own tune of economic value system- the ethos of legitimacy & righteousness in wealth creation.
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Postcolonial experience is not purely indigenous…it’s rather hybrid
We were taught in college. And not by bookish knowledge only, everyday experience has taught me this as well. As I have seen Ramayana & Mahabharata first on TV, a foreign technological invention. So it would be foolish and narrow-minded if we cling to only our nativity in an age interconnected so massively. But a thought frequently comes into my mind now-a-days-
Is adoption always a responsibility of the less dominant ones to make a step towards progress?
If we as a nation, as a culture adopt the goodness of other’s invention & thought, why is it not that others may also listen to our words?
Economic progression in modern era has traditionally been associated with snatching, violating, hindering other’s progress. Having a colonial history, we, as students, got aware of that at the very early of our academic years. Rampant exploitation of nature, draining of wealth, systematic destruction of indigenous industries are the conditions, we as a country inherited at the time of Independence. There are stories in every household about our grandparents facing shortage of food, lack of proper education. (From that, my generation live with food in their plate, with a decent educational facilities unless someone is dumb-headed & non-serious about studies like me!)
May be that was the reason India tilted towards Socialism from the very start of its journey as a nation. And then we “borrowed” the concepts of laissez-faire, welfarism, sustainability…as if in the thousands years of our history we didn’t practice any of them on our own way. While now when we have a more or less strong foot of our own is it not a good idea to heading towards progress with our own tools?
What is a more beautiful way to contribute to the world than by being a distinct part of it?
Money matters! To live a happy life, to maintain relationships, to give back to others, to make closer ones happy. And if that is gained in a rightful way, with a purpose, the ending will definitely be happy!
As the Priyadarshan film ended that evening.
