The Great Indian SuperMarket.

World's fastest growing economy,projected to be on top by 2050,4th largest for now(in terms of PPP),expected to beat japan and become no.3 by 2015,beat U.S by 2040 and finally China by 2050,too much for a country with 1.18 billion people and 22% living below poverty line!!!

We call it the Great Indian Supermarket,now pretty obviously,the more the number of consumers,the more prosperous the market will be,but what about 22% still living below poverty line???...most will say who cares??? 78% of 1.18 billion are more than enough to make any businessman the richest on planet earth and that as a matter of fact is true,this feels and sounds healthy for Indian economic growth but make no mistake here,its not so sustainable!

The purchasing power of Indian assemblage has gained bountifully since the last decade and what contributed to it most generoulsy was our service industries and ascend of several new and robust enterpreneurs,the enterpreneurship fashion is indeed the best thing that has ever happened to Indian economy in all of its history and it continues to show ruggedness and potential,talking about the other component contributing towards purchasing power of masses is service industries and to be precise IT industries,more than one lakh people join Indian IT industries every year as freshers,some stay,many leave,many others join as experienced professionals and so so,now as we know India produces almost a million engineers every year,most of which are accomodated here,be it any stream or course,so clearly this very industry is providing a great mass with a decent purchasing power,why I didn't call it sustainable,we shall unfold as we advance.

When I call the term SuperMarket what strikes the mind at first thought is shopping malls and shopping complexes and I believe that every human being is acquainted with them nowadays,and as a matter of fact all of us visit a shopping mall atleast once a week,mostly we prefer a shopping mall when we need to buy a dress or some electronic gadget and for dining ofcourse,movies are complimentary,let us suppose that we need to buy a dress and so we go to a shopping mall,now we look for our favourite brand,many will go for Levi's,pepe jeans,provogue,nike,adidas,reebok and so on,what is common among all these brands is that they are exotic and they make handsome income out of Indian population,you go on and buy an iPhone for $500 which you could get for $99 in U.S or similarly a Blackberry or other fancy gadgets at five times their actual price,so don't you think we are overpaying for everything???

Returning back to the sustainability factor,those who work in service industries have their clients sitting somewhere in U.S and other european countries,they outsource their work here lured by cheap labour and they underpay Indians also as compared to their American counterparts but still it is not so bad as far as Indian lifestyle and 7.8% of unemployment rate is concerned,whatever money they pay the Indians,Indians spend on buying their products,this huge population is acting as a channel to amplify the power of their money and returning it back to them,they make Indians do work worth billions for millions and then sell them merchandise worth hundreds for thousands,how smart is that!!! and in the process the Indian government makes some money which they will spend on buying chartered planes and BMW cars for their ministers and politicians,the irony of situation is that its not just the Americans who are robbing people here,its more of our own leaders,if you look at the income tax structure and deductions on your salary slip it won't be difficult for you to acknowledge my point,you would pay some 10-30% income tax,if you happen to travel on a toll road you will pay toll tax everytime you cross it,you would pay professional tax,you would pay parking charges,I don't understand why we call ourselves a free country when we have to pay for everythin we use,you would buy petrol at rs.60/litre when people in countries like pakistan could buy it for Rs.25/litre,if nothing else,this is embarrasing!!!

The subjects which creates biggest tides in Indian political houses are Babri masjid verdict and inflation,considering the former to be out of equation for now,the factor deciding who will hold the highest office in India will be inflation,but unfortunatly due to the lack of any other political challange for now our current government is so not perturbed about inflation,our prime minister openly says "we cannot do anything about inflation" and I say what the hell are doing as prime minister then?,if you are so incapable let someone else do it.You would leave thousand tonnes of food grains to rot in rain and say its not your fault,you would spend crores of rupees on fugitives per day and say that you don't have money to control inflation,like foriegn investors see India as a supermarket to sell their products,these politicians see Indians as vote supermarkets,they earn votes by selling lies and then sit back relax for five years while their kitty is being filled by the hard earned money of Indian people and moreover they always have public rights like 2G spectrum to sell to rich business people for their own good,how does it matter to them if country loses $38.27 billion,what matters to them is they earn enough billions to support their next seven generations,its high time that we take a stand like that of egypt and libya,its high time we have these people realize we are more than a supermarket,its high time we start earning for ourselves and not to generate profit for people who take us for a fool and treat us below the belt,its high time we punch them in the face and say ENOUGH!...

Dilli ki sair...

A cold and misty morning and ya its drizzling too,its quite scenic in front of the purana quila in the heart of Hindi heartland "Dilli".

Suddenly this notion strikes my mind,a couple of months back I was far from home and had to ride office without any breakfast,the venter was empty and so was heart,my world has undergone unfathomable avulsion since then,now,I sit down and relax while my chauffeur glides me through the splendid corduroy of pragati maidan,India Gate and Parliament all the way to rastrapati bhavan and beyond.The aura of all these micro geographies is so alive and soothing that I wish we stay stuck in traffic for some more time while my cheesy chauffeur continues to show me around how rash people drive in Delhi,ha has got a complaint for every three out of five people who overtake him and he will continuosly tempt me to abuse them along with him but who wants to spoil his mood on such a lovely morning so I respond just with a smile ,he also might be wondering if I am a descendent of Mahatma Buddha...all smiles...all the time!!!

I hear from people that Delhi has evolved a great deal since the past four or five years and I couldn't agree more,last time when I was here as a tourist I was not so happy with commotion media around here but now with metros and DTC's green bus service its quite efficient and environment friendly,speaking of todays captivating morning,we were driving around the purana quila and I was looking at all the pedal boats resting tranquilly on the banks of the backyard lake,the waves formed due to the mild rain were moving in all the directions,those heading to shores had a hard time making any impact but those making it upto the boats made their presence felt as they kissed them gudmorning every time they faded into the shores,the boats tickled by the soft kisses of the meekly waves would feel like moving ahead and hug the rain with their arms wide open but the ropes wouldn't allow them so,they would rather thump their legs on the water at their spot to create some more waves and share their joy with their fellow boats as their arms touch each others and create a wave of their own.I was enjoying this game of compassion and affection between the waves and the boats untill my critical driver engaged in a war of curses with a wreckless lady crashing her way through the traffic,"wreckless lady!!!" interesting address eh!!!...

As we moved ahead towards shershah road and moved into the splendiferous boulevard of government quarters and offices of political parties I saw some slum kids playing under the trees,enjoying the rain and I realized that I didn't take bath this morning even when I have a geyser installed in my bathroom and these kids were challenging the rain saying "c'mon,is that the best you can do!!!" I kinda laughed at myself,I felt their superiority over me as it came to

being rugged and I feel no shame in accepting that I felt like a hydrophobic moron!!! They say God is playful,so are these kids,they seem to have a close connection with each othe,as for me,I felt hollow.

Moving ahead on my highway to base,we came across the most resplendent circle of the country,The India Gate cross roads junction,the circle of India Gate and all the stem roads entering it resembles the human heart where all the veins and arteries would enter from all the directions and the heart would beat and thump with conceit as it pumps them away and welcomes another stream of blood into it,the India gate is like the heart of Delhi indeed,it connects all the prime government offices and other tourist hot-spots in Delhi,we enter the circle through one stem and going around almost half its circumference,looking at it with both eyes wide open and with a feeling of vanity in heart,reliving the scene of "Rang De Basanti" where Aamir and his friends riding on a car around The India Gate and saluting it as they pass around it,it fills me with superbia and thus we leave the giant gate wide open behind us as we enter another stem exiting the circle on our way towards Dhaula kuan.

As we happen to move away from the India gate on Akbar road,comes a road with state embassies of all the states in India,I happened to notice Uttar Pradesh bhawan,and to my surprise it was quite decent and clean and bigger than other subsequent bhawans but soon I realized that I should not be so surprised, of course Mayawati had nothing to do with it thats why it looked so calm and decent,maybe I was expecting a grand elephant statue or a massive

hoarding with Mayawati waving at me with a smile and saying "I have been robbing you for past five years,did you notice???".

Leaving Indian elite offices and India in the hands of God,we move ahead towards Gurgaon flyways through Dhaula kuan and air force cantonment area,this road here is a headache indeed with all the vehicles coming out of Subroto park gate and interfering with the commotion of main course vehicles,many a times it creates a deadlock and consequently a jam,I sit there on my not so comfortable seat staring at the fighter jet hoardings and pictures painted and pasted on the gate of Subroto park and start imagining if I ever wanted to be a fighter pilot and soon in my dreams I am flying at 2000kmph and shooting down enemy warcrafts and doing all sort of stunts that nobody has ever dared to imagine,I shoot down a hundred jets with my one and then raise my helmet to acknowledge the ovation of my country men after scoring a century,this is an imposing dream but again guess who has knock knock knocked at the heaven's door???...my very own misanthropist driver and this time he is abusing an officer,luckily he didn't hear him or we would have never made it to the office in time,I ask him not to mess with defense personnel ever again but I don't think my advice deserved 1 percent attention as far as his attitude was concerned.

After getting through hundreds of fighter jets hurling rockets and napalm balls at me,we reached Delhi's most compound network of flyovers,more than over a million vehicles roll through it everyday and this is the lifeline connecting Delhi and Gurgaon and its so swift that due to any reason if you are riding slow in the middle of the road then chances are there you will be duely wiped off the road,off the vehicle and off your legs for a generous amount of time.So,it'll a safe deal if I suggest my felon charioteer to keep left but as you would have guessed,he would rather step on the accelerator.

I remember an interesting presentation that was playing at my office lobby once quite some time back,it was bolstering about the certainty factor my employer oraganization offers to its clients and clients only,not employees (wrote it just to avoid any confusion),it was saying that the chances that you will make it to office safely today are 50 precent

and thus conveying the message that nothing is certain in this world but them,haah...bite me!!!...I was wondering how lucky I am to have landed safely when an escaped convict was my driver and thus I am standing in front of my office before time wondering how to kill the time,well what could be a better idea than killing others with your writing,so here it is,my next KILLER blog for all you darlings...!!!