Rant

Rant
Circa 11pm 18.10.2008
I’ve come to believe, and it’s not just me, it’s also educated Indians who care about their country, that India’s democracy is really an oligarchy of the recently rich. And I say RECENTLY rich, as they are usually freshly bribed out from oblivion to be the puppet of x, y or z company or h, i, or j person. The puppet master(s) also then ensures that the puppet is supplied with a very large and well bribed constituency.

Why so critical? Because I love India, and I’m tired of all this crap.

What can prove my love?

(Michelle made me a cookie cake for my birthday, and it took 3 or so weeks to get to me, but it was still good. She also made an identical one for herself, and we ate our cookies together, after she sang happy birthday, and I blew out the unlit candles.)

Well, for starters, I came back after catching TB last time I was here. After being constantly sick last time, and after suffering the most constant pain I had up to that point suffered in a 3 month period.

Secondly, I brought people with me this time, and I’ve assisted several known and unknown people in their trips to India (as a testimony for the unknown, I have an anonymous comment thanking me, a while ago). I love India so much, I wanted other people to go through the SAME PURGATORY that I went through last time, because I knew they would LOVE it too.

Thirdly, I’m STILL here. If you’ve been following me up to this point, you know how sick I’ve been and that I’ve ended up in a hospital because of an unknown sickness. You know that when in Kolkata I was constantly sick in bed and that I’ve had NUMEROUS bouts of bed bugs, of which you also know I’m highly allergic to. You also know that there is a violent rampage happening in India that has made at least 40, 000 people homeless, Hundreds to thousands injured from being beaten, and decades raped and murdered. You probably don’t know that they’re all living in the forests, or in refugee camps. Refugee camps, which are so well secured, by the farcical Indian Interior Defense forces, that, oh, SEVERAL bombs were found inside of them (luckily before they were detonated from my information).

And if that’s not enough to prove my love, then FOURTHLY, I have come to India to live four months away from the woman that I so very much wish was already my bride. I love her, and I think of her every day, but my love for God and India is so great, that there is no where else that I’d rather be than here. Even if it every bit of my body wishes it was next to my future bride.

India is farcical.

Last time I was here, I noted that the metal detectors, the police and the military were more for show than for security. Unless of course, that security was their own.

But this time, my eyes are more and more aware of the deep ugliness that is common AND accepted in the Indian culture.

But Ed, it’s not accepted and we want to weed out those rare bad eggs!

(I got my election ballot the other day!)

Be quite you Liar. It is accepted, and you are doing little to nothing. For example, corruption in government, if you were trying to weed out the bad eggs would be decreasing, but by the unanimous testimony of Indians I’ve met, corruption in Government is increasing and not decreasing. Increasing SO MUCH, that in the state of Karnataka, bribes are no longer considered bribes, but are considered part of the understood fees. And each level (and there are many) that such and such paperwork goes through requires a specific bribe. Oh lets see, today that building permit is on the local approval list, and tomorrow it’s on the regional list… let me see, oh here it is under hors d’ourvres , that’s 1000 and 5000 respectively… 6000 rps is my total bill this week.

Every where I look, theft, bribery, lying and pretty much anything to get a buck (they call rupees “bucks” just as we do to dollars) is accepted AND viewed as perfectly legit and moral.

(My birthday presents from Michelle consisted mostly of Gatorade!)

Take almost any street vendor or vendor in a tourist area, or (guessing) a quarter of them otherwise, they know the fair price, and they won’t give it to you. Foreigners are expected to pay at least 2-3 TIMES the fair price.

Take the post office, which is really the direction of my most recent anger at the cultural weakness of India. I received two things today from Ajit that had been mailed to him.

One was my voting ballot and the other was my birthday present from Michelle. My voting ballot was obviously opened by a person. And the most likely reason was they were looking for money. They have this nice scam where they look for money and if they find a check, they go to their friend at the bank and open up an account in YOUR name, cash the check, withdraw ALL the money and then close the account. But don’t they need ID to open an account. Yes, but you forget it’s their friend and he also gets a cut.

My package

And my birthday present was proudly presented to me by Ajit. He was so happy that it hadn’t been opened! And he commented on the incredible packing job by Michelle. I immediately noticed that there was a few pieces of brown tape not very nicely applied… which seems normal on a package except not so on a USPS priority mail package that is self sealing and is then sealed by the US post office using clear and blue Logoed tape. Another thing I noticed was the condition of the box… obviously “accidentally” dropped and kicked around, hoping that it would open.

Another view of the wonderful shape.

With great hope, I started to unravel the twine that the Indian customs or post office had apparently applied to the outside of the box to prevent it from being opened. And I began to take things out. Everything looked fine (damaged from repeated “accidental” drops, but nothing was fragile.). Then I finally came to my birthday card which was conspicuously outside of the envelope. It didn’t immediately make sense to me, as Michelle is a quirky character, and I figured she did it for some reason only she could understand. But when I found the envelope I realized that the envelope had been torn open, in an attempt to find money of some sort. (They foolishly didn’t realize that a gift card is pretty close to the equivalent of cash, and thus my iTunes gift card was safe.)

The contents...

So piecing everything together, my assumption is that the following happed to my package: First, it got through US mail perfectly fine. Go ahead try to steal something in the US mail en-route; it’s possible, but exceedingly rare. Second, it came off of the airplane and was promptly dropped, kicked, dropped, kicked, drop-kicked and dropped. Thirdly the person said “oh look at this package, such a shame, it’s almost open, I should help open it, so I can then tape it back together.” Fourthly, said person then rifles through the contents and tears open my card looking for money. Fifthly, upon finding nothing, person returns the contents to the container and seals it with brown tape. Sixthly, person then passes it on to someone who wraps it in twine and then seals it with wax, or does this step themselves. Seventhly, it’s sent on it’s way, where en-route, it’s repeatedly dropped hoping beyond hope that something good will drop out, and that the previous people didn’t take everything yet. Eighthly, it arrives.

Now by no means is this universal. But it is SO COMMONLY accepted and so frequently occurs that it absolutely MUST BE cultural.

There’s a joke that I was told by an Indian that goes something like this: “A bridge expert was travelling Asia, and first came to Japan. Where the locals were excited about a new bridge, and brought the expert to see it. The expert was told by the site manager that this bridge is the longest bridge in the world, and it only cost $100,000 out of which I was paid $10,000. The expert was greatly impressed that such a marvel could be built so cheaply and efficiently. He then moves to China, where he’s shown another bridge. The site manager says: “do you see this? It’s the second longest bridge in the world” the contract was for $100,000, I kept $50,000 and used the rest to build it. The expert was impressed that the bridge was built at all, and upon inspection, wondered when it might fall down. But concluded that it was sturdy enough for a few decades or more. Then the expert came to India. Where the site manager says you see that? “See what?” replied the expert. “That site got me a $100,000 contract; I kept the money and then sold the site for $10,000. I made $110,000. With that money, I bought an election, and am now the town mayor, where I make about $20,000 a month mostly from bribes, so by year’s end I should easily make twice my investment. Aren’t you proud of me?”

So I am now firmly believing that if India wants ever to be taken seriously on the international stage, it needs a conversion.

My previously opened card.

Why Ed? Why? That sounds so unloving and so unenlightened.

Well lets see.

All "Western Countries" are Christian. And Japan, has a tradition of virtue that, though not Christian, definitely has the appearance and, from what I can tell, practice of justice and fairness that is if not comparable, exceeds that of the “western countries”. China is a threat to the world, due to it’s man power and weaponry, but ultimately it’s not viewed as a fully “fair or just” country. And it at times seems to flaunt it’s lack of justice. India however, tries to flaunt its (frequently missing) justice, fairness, and democracy.

The western countries are Christian based and Japan and China are based in Shintoism and Buddhism.

And though I have the preference of India being Christian, which I actually believe it will become due to the recent violence, I really don’t care if India becomes Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Shinto, because in my view, any of these is better than the current state of affairs here. And any of them will provide a much better moral base that will help India be a serious contender and not a ticking time bomb ready to devour itself at any moment.
19.10.2008 1211am