The ads and services section in the newspaper is like a fruit laden tree. Just reach out for what you want. And currency notes in people's pockets have given a certain buoyancy that was unheard of ten years ago. I have been seeing ads for "Movers and Packers" in the papers almost everyday. It is not just that businesses and services like "moving" did not exist ten years ago...its that people simply did not move that much! A generation ago if you got the much coveted Government Job, you were golden. You got health-care, a house and pension. Now, for a vast number of people (though still perhaps not the majority), the world and world-view has grown to geographically embrace itself and the world . For those that grew up in Indore or Patiala or any of the many "Tier 2 cities"( Newspaper's classification, not mine!) , it is obvious that one would move to metros like Delhi or Bangalore after graduating from school or college and get a job in the any of the many new private businesses/industries. A cousin who works for the government at a fairly good position wants to move into the private sector too. The reasons he states are many- opportunity to grow, less red-tape and better pay are a few. He says he works six days a week, in a far from glamorous office, using a software that is bug-ridden,slow and barely useful. His bosses and colleagues are bribe mongers and he sticks out like a sore thumb. Yet, with a wife, a kid and another one "planned soon" along with the fact that once he quits the government job he will not be able to join back ( Government jobs are usually competitive and have an age limit) makes him postpone his decision until the "next year". This is a kid who is bright and intelligent and the government of India, the largest employer, has no place for him. The only reason he is staying on is that old promise of stability. How long will he hold out to pressures around him and the aspirations within him.
The government's employee today is a frustrated bystander while corrupt politicians continue to give themselves pay hikes and perks. The Armed forces are reporting record number of voluntary early retirements and shortage of officers. A country needs its armed forces to defend its borders and keep its people safe but what happens when in the not too distant future the only people who will join the army will do so not out of any sense of patriotism or pride but because it was their only option. Will we then have an army of mercenaries?

Bangalore has a brand spanking new airport which was built by a private company. The roads leading to it though are nowhere near complete- that was the part the state government had to take care of. I guess you could still fly into and out of Bangalore but you may never get to leave the airport. This is the absurd reality of most infrastructural projects that the government undertakes in India today.

With so many people moving into the city, there has been a spurt in new housing developments in satellite towns. Private builders promise "24 hours electricity back up" in their high rises. That's because there isn't enough electricity even for the existing number of houses, let alone the gazilion that are coming up. So the private builders will run petrol powered generators to provide electricity for the high rises and also use the aforementioned generated electricity to suck the water up from the ground below, because there's no water supply either. So then we will burn gas/petrol to get water & electricity. Sort of like Mary Antoinette's fool proof solution- we can eat our cakes, since we will certainly not have any bread to eat!

Can a country really run on private businesses and its shining markets alone? The reality is that all private businesses need infrastructural support for them to function efficiently and for long.

Are these symptoms growing pains or a diseased core that will ultimately eat its way outwards until we remember these couple of decades as the brief flicker of hope that died sooner than it was born? Perhaps it is for the economists of the present and historians of the future to tell us.

When I tell my friends about where I was yesterday, I will probably have to add many qualifiers and explanations. I took a class in Basic Pistol training. Yes, I did! I even have a certificate now from the NRA.
Gasp!!!
Here's the sequence of events and even as I write this I know that it really will not qualify as a "reason" but here it is never the less, in the interest of expanding the mind(mine) and shrinking the world(mine)
A few days ago the Indian newspapers were ablaze with photos of a shameful incident in Mumbai. Seventy men mobbed and molested two women as they stepped out of a hotel. To cut a rather long and sorry story short, the men were arrested two days later and then then let go on bail after which they approached a prominent local politician who not only swore to avenge these men but escorted them through the city in a sort of a victory lap. If this does not boil a reasonable person's blood, I don't know what does.
Many whys , whatthehecks and several racing heart beats later I got thinking about what I would do to make myself safe in a similar situation. I have taken self-defense classes in the past, got a pepper spray and built some muscle but lets admit it, these offer mere peace of mind and nothing more. None of the above would so much so as blow a hair on the mustache of these "virile men", if I were ever encounter them (or their brethren that solo or in groups inhabit public spaces and public transportation in India)
Stretch your anger and imagination with me if you would...I signed up for the basic pistol training. I figured, I may never (and probably will never) buy a gun, even though
scaring the machismo out of molesting men (of which there is an unfortunate abundance in my country) would be fun and a service to womankind. The time seemed right to learn this skill.

The class was interesting, taught by three obese and polite NRA trainers who cracked inane jokes about their inefficiency "at computers" when they were not catching their breath from walking in a 7 by10 classroom . Their reference points were Star Trek and the 70's music scene in San Francisco. We started by watching an NRA video about gun safety. I could JUST SEE how outside of that room, I could edit that video chop chop and make something Michael Moore would envy. "Keep your mouth shut. You are here to learn", I told myself and so I did. We went over gun safety, types of guns, the physics and ergonomics of each type. After this we went into the shooting range. It was fun...yes I said it, it was fun! I shot everything from a from 9mm bullets to 35 magnum, from semi automatics -Glocks and SW's to Colt 1911 ( 1911 being the King,Queen, Prince and Princess of guns according to the 3 gentlemen) to the revolver that Dirty Harry used. I was surprised that I liked shooting and I was even more surprised that I was darned good at it!
In eight hours I was hooked to the skill required to load a gun properly , to the attention required to hold a gun safely and to the concentration required to actually be able to shoot (Zen like).
End of class. Amidst "You were awesome!s" we return to the class room. This is when things get iffy. The instructors start talking about how to get a gun. Wait a minute- I don't want to!
No Thanks! For an additional $25 and a test "you will breeze through", I could walk out with a certificate that I can take next door and buy myself that 1911 I loved so much! NO THANKS!
They insist, talk about gun control laws and about how the lawyers and politicians are "fools writing senseless laws". With every shake of their disapproving head, I am more and more thankful that there are laws that prevent people from acquiring guns. I can not believe that they will let me have that thing over there just for having spent an afternoon with the three messiahs of Bang! I had seen pimply kids with their skinny girlfriends, druggos, weirdos walking in and out of the shop next door. So they were not shooting blanks and targets for fun!? Any one of them could do (and probably did do) what I did and they all have guns!

The instructors lost interest in me somewhat after I said "No" and shifted their attentions to this other guy who is applying to be a Sheriff in the county.

What about my country where all you need is economic and/or political power and you can have all the guns you want...and you don't even have lawyers and politicians making laws everyday that prevent misuse of weapons. NRA would love India!!!

Sum total of it- I am deeply conflicted about my new found fascination. I like the power it brings, beyond what I can achieve physically and past my shouting hoarse about the frustrations of being a woman in a society that when taking its best shot will dismiss me as a rabid feminist.
I also hate that this power is not mine alone. It makes the oppressors just as, if not more powerful. Guns will not solve the problems of a society, only increase them yet I am convinced that only I can solve my own problems.