I had an interesting
experience the other day when I visited the General Post Office to update our
Savings Account Passbooks. Even though I was there early in the morning (after
allowing time for the clerks, assistants and their seniors to saunter in, dust
their tables, and settle down with a cup of tea), I found myself at the end of
a fairly long queue waiting in an orderly way, very reminiscent of the long
waiting lines in London without anyone attempting to queue-jump. Almost all the
queue liners were like me in our late sixties and seventies and surprisingly
they were more women than men in the queue in the ratio of 3w:1m. As I looked around,
I found many of their spouses seated on the benches with a stick by their sides,
confirming my view (shared with most other women) that age does not diminish
the vigour and energy of women in contrast to men who on reaching the age of
superannuation display lassitude and lethargy even if they stay healthy and fit.
The women including me did not seek any special and privileged priority for
attention at the counter as we were all old timers unschooled in feminist
thoughts and demands.
As I was waiting my
turn, I could listen to the conversations among men in the queue as well as among
those benched by their smarter and fitter better halfs. I realized that most of
them were retired senior bureaucrats who had invested in the Post Office
Savings for tax benefits. One of them reminisced that he was seated next to the
Finance Minister at a meeting that sanctioned this swanky GPO building when he
was under secretary. Another said that he never had to visit any of these
damned offices as his Private Secretary attended to all his personal matters
like opening Savings account in the post office or investing in Public
Provident funds etc. One of the tall
gentlemen standing just ahead of me turned to tell the one behind me (to see
beyond a diminutive me was not difficult for him)that the pretty dame at the
counter was the one appointed by him and with a smug self satisfied smile
quoted Shakespeare that “age cannot wither her nor
custom stale her infinite variety”. When I saw her at the counter I wondered
what was in her to wither and what variety she had to become stale! Anyhow I
reasoned within that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
Most of these old men
were once striding like colossus along the corridors of power. They were the
top bureaucrats who had everything going for them in their hey-days. They were
the administrators - “made in India’ -and who stayed in India and not exported for
work in foreign lands. Even in the evening of their life, they stood apart with
a cerebral halo around them, distinguished and dignified despite being escorted
by their wives and supported by a walking stick. We have a saying in Tamil for
such people-“empty asafetida jars”
I recall the PM
pitching for “Make in India” to transform India into a global manufacturing
hub. This, inter alia, is meant to generate employment in service sector
activities. But it also lays emphasis on skill development which to old timers
like me will adversely impact quality education in our high class institutions.
The current generation of “Made in India’’ graduates from our universities do not wish to be a part of the famed steel
frame of India of yester years, but they look westward and the steel frame is
slowly losing its sheen and getting rusted. In the last ten years 181 officers
of the Indian Administrative service have quit and many of our bright young men
and women coming out of our higher education institutions are opting for jobs
outside India. A job in Singapore is valued higher than civil service in India.
The highly reputed institutions like the IITs and the IIMs besides Medical and
other professional institutions and a few Universities of excellence produce exportable
quality researchers, engineers, doctors, and other professionals with a “Made
in India “stamp. They go West with a “Made in India” tag and sooner than later
replace it with “Made in US/UK…” tag. They stay rooted to the West and even
when they ecstatically welcome and fete our PM on his visits to their adopted
countries, they have no desire to return and invest in “make in India”
manufacturing process. The post independence era of ramrod straight “Made in India”
IAS officers are no longer visible except in post offices, pension offices and
such other places to transact personal financial matters. Today sixty-seven years
after independence, “Made in India” has no value within the country. The
question arises whether the new slogan “Make in India” will be a homecoming for
those settled abroad, who have rubbed out the sheen of the original “Made in
India “tag and glossed it with a “Made in US/UK…” tag. It also begets the
question whether “Make in India” is for domestic consumption or only for export
to the West. Last but not the least, there is a still larger question: Will “Make
in India” have a quality comparable with all those that are made out of India?
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