The future of domestic help in India

 I have been raised lazy. I'm not trying to explain away my laziness, but trying to give context. In my middle class south Indian background with a working mother, there was always a domestic help around during my childhood. Going to the US when I hit 20, I had to do all my household chores by myself. But because I was only doing it for myself, and not a family of four, I found it do-able.  But it was a nuisance. And it opened my eyes to how most of the middle class in the developed world lived - sans domestic help. And ever since, I have been waiting for the women in India drop their brooms and mops and say- "We don't want to work as domestic helps anymore." Because that day is coming. Maybe even within our lifetimes. 

My mother's maids educated their daughters. My own maid's daughter has a degree, is working in a BPO and is actively encouraging her mother to stop working as a domestic help. My former maid, who took a career break a few years ago to go to her native place to take care of her ailing father, once she came back and saw that all the houses she worked at had gotten others to fill her shoes, decided to take an alternate path. She has taken up work as housekeeping staff at a corporate office. The hours are strict, but the pay is good, she has colleagues she hangs out with at break time and she gets health insurance so she can go to a private hospital for treatment while before, she had to go to the government hospital and be ill-treated. 

The country is trying to educate as many women as possible and the economy is booming. Many middle class working women in certain urban pockets are finding it hard to get affordable domestic help. This is mainly due to the fact the area around them maybe too posh/too expensive to have any lower-middle or lower income living pockets nearby. Since availability becomes an issue/ demand becomes high, and the few women willing to make the trip into those posh areas drive up the salaries, and the comparatively not as rich households there cannot afford to pay the salaries demanded by the domestic helps. So they learn to do without domestic helps. 

As for the domestic helps themselves, if a woman has school going kids, has larges swathes of the day free and has a mind to work, there are plenty of opportunities for her now that she didn't have a few decades ago. Is it any wonder that more and more women prefer to work in garment/glass/ceramic/plastic/fill-in-industry-of choice factories than to work as a domestic help? Especially if they get skilled in their profession of choice and can command a good pay check, why would they ever go back to working as domestic helps? Because lets face it, this is an unregulated industry - and the people employing the domestic helps aren't always good employers. For every lazy/incompetent/sticky fingered domestic helps story you hear, there are equal number of draconian/bigotted/kanjoos/demanding more than they pay for- employer stories. 

If there's anything that the COVID lockdowns have taught people, its that self- reliance is the best. Many domestic helps I know have taken up alternate careers after the lockdowns. Many middle-class working women I know have tech-ed up their houses and have stopped having domestic helps. I'm not saying that the whole system of having household help is going to stop anytime soon. We still have a long way to go to ensure that every girl child gets educated. But looking at every other "developed" country around, this system will stop one day, and it's coming sooner rather than later. 

The excellent casting in the movie Bombay

 Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala might have been well cast as the leads in Bombay, but the absolute winners there were Kitty and Nassar. I mean, those two are the ones who come to mind when thinking about this movie, though their combined screen time would hardly be one third of the movie. And to think about all these people protesting that movies these days are having plenty of Muslim men characters romancing Hindu women characters( Laxmii, Toofaan, Kalank, etc. My theory is that Bollywood is trying to show its attitude about inter-faith marriage in films as it happens in Metros- it's happening, it's nothing major, love triumphs above all, just chill and can't everyone else chill out about it too, please?) as a trend, long ago in the movie Bombay, not only was it was the other way around, but the sheer faith-blind casting was a treat to watch. 

Nasser, a Muslim by faith, was great as an upper caste Tamil Shaivaite character and Kitty, an upper caste Tamil Hindu was cast as a economically-weaker section Muslim character. And wow, did they deliver as they were cast!!!! And what superior acting, that it doesn't strike you at all till much later the diabolical mind that must have known, acknowledged and thrown out on its nose, the reality of these men, just so movie magic can happen. Of course I'm talking about Mani Ratnam and his diabolical mind. He must also have known the fact they, Nasser and Kitty, were basically acting out the other's future when it came time for their real life children to marry. Lol.

Child Friendly Bollywood songs for viewing

 I have small kids - girls - and they like Bollywood Numbers. The higher the tempo, the better. The problem is that once they have listened to a song and begin liking it, they want to see it. Yup, if you have small kids and want to give them a healthy body image in later life, your plan is already screwed what with the constant messaging everywhere they get about thin=beautiful, fair=beautiful, less clothes= sexy/desirable. So, I am reluctant to let them watch the videos until they are older and can understand why the Bollywood industry panders to the male gaze and now more and more to the female gaze as well. But, now as they get older, the struggle to keep them from the TV is real and on going. 

In any case, I am trying to compile catchy beats that are child appropriate (read - less skin show by both male and female actors) , and now that is almost impossible, then at least, songs that have no titillation, kissing, overtly-sexual content, inebriation - excessive drinking/drug consumption,  etc. Also, while, we are at it, why don't we have a age rating system for music videos/movie songs that has to be compulsorily displayed before the song is shown on TV?

These are the kind of songs seem okay for 3-6 year olds:

1. Dol Bhaje and intro song (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam)

2.  Shava Shava  and Bole Chudiya( Kabhi Kushie Kabhi Gham)

3. Pinga (Bajirao Mastani)

4. Ghar More Pardesiya (Kalank)

5. Radha Kaise na Jale (Lagaan)

6. Naacho Naacho (RRR)

Do you have any additions to this list? 

How to reject Dynastic Political Entrants ? Part - II aka Lessons from Delhi

 The case of Rahul Gandhi

I do not know why or how the political acumen in the Gandhi Family has watered down, but it clearly has. Now, Jawaharlal Nehru is being criticissed for a lot of his decisions, but hindsight is 20-20, meaning we have the data of several decades to see which of his policies were successful and which were a total waste - but he didnt. Within whatever data he had and the comparisons he could reasonably make, he made policy decisions the merits of which that are even now being debated by the BJP which wants to completely do away with the Congress ruled years and the legacy Nehru left behind. But his political acumen as well as his daughter's was definitely on the nose. They had the eye on the ball and were excellent players in the political arena. One could say that they had no competition, and maybe that was partly an issue in Mr. Nehru's time, but by the time Mrs. Gandhi came to power, it was definitely not the case. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, was also competent in the political arena, but served only one term and was assassinated before he could fight to get back to power. 

But Rahul Gandhi has been completely sidelined before he could really come into his own.  There was a motivated trolling machinery committed to branding him "Pappu" and labelling him inept and generally a bumbling, incompetent teen who doesn't even deserve a seat at the adult dinner table, much less, in the power corridors of Raisina Hill. And this strategy has worked for the BJP in the 2014 elections and every early mis-step on his part was blown up beyond it deserved and this strategy has been continuing to work in their favour by taking on a life of its own. This manufactured image is so ingrained in the popular psyche now that no one can look beyond the Pappu tag and take the fellow seriously, so much so, he seems to have given up leading at the centre in the Congress has has taken to a walking trip about the country lasting months! 

The rise and rise of the CM sons : How can you send back to the benches that nepo candidate who is being favoured for posts and portfolios beyond those better qualified and better experienced??? 

1. Don't vote for them? That sounds easy - lets do that. Except the CM's son will not stand for election in your constituency. His father knows where to field him as we saw in the previous post. He will become a MLA one way or the other. And in 10-15 years time he will be ready to take over from his father and then Udayanidhi's son/daughter will become CM of Tamil Nadu another 40 years from now. 

2. See above note about Rahul Gandhi. Now, there is a lesson in all this for those committed against nepotistic politics. If enough resources are committed to this, any opposition party can dig up enough dirt for a disinformation campaign, cancel campaign, negative branding exercise, a trolling campaign and whatever the latest social media strategists come up with. And given that the BJP has done it on the national stage, they could easily scale down their process with targeted campaigns to brand the upcoming political heirs in each of the major regional parties - as doofuses, idiots, mumblers and bumblers without giving any of them a chance to sink or swim on their own. And maybe it is a good thing given that their fathers have considerable long term resources to sink into their heirs - and only those with a spine, very good political acumen and strong motivation to succeed politically or the ability to get themselves first class chanakyas as advisors can rise above the character abolishing trolling campaign that can and will be mounted against them. 

How to reject Dynastic Political Entrants ? Part - I

 Now, in the film industry in India, be in Mumbai or in Chennai or in Hyderabad, if a star kid enters the film industry and lacks that special something that makes a star, he or she gets sidelined after a few continuous flops. Examples include - Tushar Kapoor, Jacky Bhagnani, Harman Baweja, Tanisha, Shamitha Shetty, Rinkie Khanna etc. They gracefully slide out of limelight, or resign themselves into acting in secondary characters or move into other professions successfully or sometimes unsuccessfully depending on their education, training, social networking skills (the real world kind- not the online kind) and a big dose of luck. 

But in the politics industry, somehow or the other, the son/daughter somehow clings on to the political industry and makes a living someway or the other until finally the power wielding parent dies, and the party functionaries "clarion" call the "heir" in all the media to come forward to lead the party. This is the format in all the regionally powerful parties and was the same in the centre as well, until the advent and sad reality of Rahul Gandhi. In Maharashtra, in AP, in UP, in Bihar - if the CM's son/daughter is not automatically crowned as the heir due to whatever reason (No natural leadership instinct, Other powerful senior leader is chomping at the bit, CM wants the kid to learn the ropes from the bottoms up, etc ) - they eventually do become the heir to the power in the party. 

The major difference between the two industries is the nature of the game. Movie industry success depends on movie to movie - and the number of other careers that are broken/made in the process of the star kid's flops and hits. But politics is about the long game and several strategies can be played at once - it's not a friday to friday game-changer. And politicians play at the longest game of them all. (See the average age of Chief Ministers across state-lines. Sigh)

The reason for all this above rambling is the current news that the son of Mr. Stalin, CM of Tamil Nadu, previously actor and producer and now MLA is going to be given a ministerial position tomorrow. Now, there is at least one or more better qualified with managerial expertise or several people with more experience and who have served in the party far longer than the son. Compared to when(age at which) Mr. Stalin ascended to the "Throne" and all the hoops he hasn't been asked to jump through like Mr. Karunanidhi made Mr. Stalin do, obviously many people within the party are miffed - but aren't speaking about it. The people outside the party are saying aplenty and the political opponents are basically screaming their heads off about nepotism. To no avail. Because there is no rule/law violation in this instance. Any MLA can be given a ministerial position after all. (And the father with the political clout and know how will surely field his son in a constituency for elections which is a sure shot win for their party.) Just because Mr. Stalin is making his son a minister in his government above so many others better qualified and experienced is just in bad taste. You can't fault someone for bad taste or sue them for acting in bad faith. And so the opponents have to try other tactics. 

Everything takes longer to cook in Bangalore.....especially if you moved here from the coast

 Are you from a seaside town? Cochi, Trivandrum, Mangalore, Mumbai, Chennai or Vizag? You might even be from the plains up north - like from Lucknow or Patna - and then you have moved to Bangalore. And you're wondering why cooking takes so much longer here. Even milk takes longer to boil, and given that this is a repetitive task which you do at least 2 times a day or more, it gets super annoying. 

One the perks of Bangalore is the great weather (or so they would have you believe) and that is partly because it is situated on the Deccan Plateau - at 900 mts above sea level -that is almost 3000ft above the place you just came from. It's even situated higher than Dehradun. No wonder people are flocking here from all over the country- Good (mostly) roads, great infrastructure, plenty of new market jobs and most importantly, its much cooler than the other cities mentioned above :-)

But the same height above sea level that gives the cool weather also makes cooking a pain in the ass. Every 1000ft above the sea, the pressure drops about 1 bar. If your vague physics lessons come to mind, they would tell you that pressure and temperature vary directly with each other. Pressure drops and the boiling point of all the liquids you are trying to boil drop. It sounds like a good thing - but it really isn't. Boiling point drops!

But because it is colder weather, it takes longer to heat the liquid - like water and even milk.  When the boiling temperature is reached, the liquid starts to boil away happily - but the excess heat you're still giving the vessel goes towards making the liquid into steam/vapour and not into cooking your food effectively. Hence cooking takes longer. Stupid physics and stupid thermodynamics!

So 1 litre milk that should take 2.5 - 3 minutes to boil, takes 5 minutes boil. One cup rice takes 10 minutes longer to cook and even super processed maida based pasta cooks later. Welcome to Bangalore, ladies!!!!

Best solution : Pressure cook everything you can !

A child-less world : The future?

Jokes and memes aside : India's population grew tremendously between the 1930's and 1970's when those governing woke up suddenly to the fact it was growing at an alarming rate without concurrent resource growth and began devising policy to control it. Tubectomies, Vasectomies were touted. Sterilization targets were given to states by the centre. International aid was sought and supplied. "We two ours two" became a policy in India towards reducing the fertility rate towards replacement levels of population growth , which we are almost at now - that is- 2.1 fertility rate from more than 5 in the 1950's. China went a step further and mandated a strict "We two ours one" policy in 1980 which was only withdrawn in 2016- because the demography was getting screwed, and even then, the policy withdrawal came after many, many internal calls from population scientists for ending the policy over the course of several years.  

Now to the other side of the coin - Who wants to have kids these days? Either people across the world are getting super smart and learning from the experiences of others or people are automatically becoming less enthused by the idea of becoming parents and not having much between the sheets action. In fact, discounting a few northern states, fertility rate is actually below replacement level in most of India. And so our population may stabilise in the 1950's and then begin to decline is what Indian population experts are saying. 

My current interest is in what happens when people refuse to have kids? This phenomenon is already happening to some extent. For various reasons : I don't think I'll be a good parent. I am too focussed on my career to take care of a kid. I don't really like kids. I'm not good at marriage and I don't want to be single parent. And so, me, coming from a small metro city in a still developing country, know personally, people who say the above things. So, this is a real thing. At some point more people will say the above things and less people will be willing to have children than the ones who don't want kids. 

Countries and politics can induce people into having kids by giving freebies (Child allowance), more time off work for parenting, etc - like several European countries do. But still, people are just not willing to have children or most have one child and so politicians are encouraging skilled immigrants. As people see that having no kids or fewer kids is rewarding, more and more will opt for that lifestyle. Then what? What will happen to a small country when there are hardly any people now and will have none in the future. This is not likely to happen in my lifetime. But this is a scenario that may play out in the next few centuries. (Provided we are not hit by a massive meteor, huge tsunami doesn't drown half the world, etc etc. 

If everyone has just one kid or less, then what happens? The world population goes into a gradual decline like China's policy affected their demographic spread. More people would be older and less would be of working age. Then eventually as population dwindled further and further, cities and towns would get abandoned as governments would work to concentrate the resources better to provide for those cities that were still occupied. Like there are more unmarried men available compared to unmarried women in China and India, there might be sex ratio issues in the reverse. 

So clearly this one kid per every two people is not really a good idea. This replacement ratio seems to work better. But it would mean that population would remain the same as it is currently : Every two people have 2.1 kids  (That 0.1 is to account for those who die off before reaching reproduction age) . And the population that is currently on earth is 8billion odd. (Happy world population day btw). That does not seem like the right number. There is rampant poverty in a lot of places. There is malnutrition. Lack of access to healthcare. So that is not the right amount to people this earth can support. Then what is?

Nope, there is no magic number. But whatever it is that scientists and experts postulate is far lesser than 8 billion for sure. Some say 5 Billion. Some say 2 Billion. Some propose a range : Between 500 Million - 5 Billion. And so we are back to Thanos :-) Clearly this earth is overpopulated. So this population reduction policy that India is following "We two ours two", while not ideal, is the best we have got. So I say we stick to it. The problem comes when every country is trying their own population control or are implementing a population growth policy at very different times. 

By the way - Nigeria's the new China and India. Their population is set to grow very fast in the next few decades. So clearly my dire predictions of abandoned cities will not come to pass soon. We and China can always invite people from countries which have too many people to come and populate our dying cities and towns in a couple of 100 years, eh?