A book which has made me think a lot

I got my hands on a recenly published book based on Indian microfinance industry which went seriously wrong. We happen to know the author of the book a friend of many years. I had always been very intrigued by the  microfinance development and exponential growth in Andhra Pradesh and also how later it appeared that they did not do anything right, but caused grievous harm to the poor in the remote areas of that state. And the huge sums of money that was talked about as loans that went bad, did not make any sense to me then. So I grabbed the book before S could get hold of it.

I had been fascinated by the story of Mohammed Yunus and the small credit and self help groups. I really believed that the money lenders were the villains and these new fangled institutions were their saviours. But the book really opened my eyes to the reality. It was painful. Money lenders look like not so bad to me now.

I have lived in Rajasthan for some years as part of my work.My colleagues  have told me that all the pawn brokers in tamil nadu are from Rajasthan. Their state does not allow them to indulge in this business  and they find the environment very congenial in Tamil nadu, so a very large number of their relatives have migrated there, settled, learnt the language and are comfortable. I used to feel very bad about them then.

So in the present context I thought I should compare practices of a  typical pawn broker  to the practises of the microfinance institutions.The MFIs were chasing the customers and  thrusting loans in their hands without the need for any security. No pawn broker would do that.The customer comes to them and they pledge some item of value.The MFIs compete with each other for the same customer and disburse loans without any thought of their repaying capacity. Pawn brokers deal with clients who come to their shop and the loan will be fully secured. If loan is not repaid, the MFIs resorted to most unethical practises to shame the customer. The pawnbroker sits pretty in his shop and does not put any coersion on the client. In fact it is the client who is interested in making the repayment soon and collecting his security item. Suicides are reported when the MFIs resort to such strong arm tactics for loan recovery. Pawn brokers do not push the customers to desperate measures.

We have quite a few pawn brokers in our area and I see them thriving and mushrooming. Recently they also opened a jewellery shop in the same area. I would look darkly at that shop and think to myself, so all the gold jewellery that poor people have deposited with you, you have usurped as they have not been able to redeem the pledged jewellery. But after reading this book, I dont look at them so darkly.Yes , they are a menace, but they fill a need, not in the best way but better than the sharks that MFIs have been portrayed in this book.

I thought about the needs of the poor that push them to whatever is the source of credit. It is illness, education and fulfilling social and family festivals/rituals/weddings. The state has really withdrawn from the scene of providing affordable health  and many a time the poor are pushed to go to a private hospital and are unable to bear the heavy cost. Again the state runs schools which are not favoured by any of the maids in our area.They send their children to private schools in English medium. My maid tells me her grandchildren are picked up by a van to the neighbouring town from her remote village in tiruvannamalai district for a english medium school. And my cook has her grandchildren go for tuitions in addition to going to english medium schools in the Chennai. I asked them and they all say we will not send our children to govt schools even though now they are also offering english medium. We do not want our children to mingle with the students who come there. They also say, education is the only way to rise above in their social status.They are willing to undergo any pains to give the children a chance to fare better in life than them. So they spend a lot, really a lot on children's education whether they are in chennai or in villages.

Their social commitments are never ending. They have large families and every now and then there is an occasion for which they need to travel to their native place and also to shell out money for gifts and stuff. The social pressure is so much that they are not able to ease out of these monetary obligations which they are unable to bear. Education of girl children is perhaps a long term solution. They stand on their feet emotionally and economically, and not only that are able to think for themselves and take decisions which is in their interest. Only then can they withstand the social pressures. That also will help them to really equip themselves well before getting married. Again here, the social pressures to marry off the girls very early is really a bane.

I had wished that my maid and cook had her daughters study and lead a life better than them. But it has not happened. Now I see that their grandchildren are being given better inputs to have a better life. I really wish to see that they make the best of it and make good choices in life and get ahead economically and socially.

Kelvi nyanam - Knowledge acquired through questioning

Recently I was wondering about the markedly different ways in which me and my children  seek information. I am talking not about world affairs or far fetched theories. I am confining myself to everyday needs and the information required for routine living. The way I go about it is to look around and ask a person who I think knows or who I think has a good chance of knowing.Or,  I would make a call to the person who I think would be able to lead me on to the correct source of information. The network effect. But now I see my children really shying away from reaching out to the known and unknown people who could give them the information that they need.They would rather use impersonal sources like the internet or social media where they do not have to have a one on one personal interaction.

Google maps it will be when stuck in a maze of roads in a new city. I feel quite okay to pull the shutters down and ask the nearby autorickshaw driver. Most of the time they give correct directions and it is the same with google. Once we got stuck in a dead end of a road and such a narrow road that we found it very tough to reverse the car. But the google map was asking us to plough through the buildings there and go to the address we were looking for. But I am digressing. I am not here to analyse the relative merits of both the system but to look at the underlying cause of the shift in preference, impersonal to personal.

Superficially it appears as though since the world is at their fingertips and smart phones make it so easy for them to get the information that they want without troubling anybody else. But when I reach out to my neighbour or friend or a person on the road, I never thought I am troubling them. Neither did they. So, when did this distancing oneself come about?

I remember when we were kids, we used to try to solve the crossword puzzle. If we were stuck for a word, we would ask to everyone in the room(we did sit together in the same room to relax, by the way) what is the synonym of 'asds'. Somebody or the other would answer but nobody would say,go and refer 'synonyms and antonyms  book upstairs.  Today, such a setting is rare and when I throw this question, i can at best get a " why dont you refer google  ma"  and there will be a trace of irritation to be disturbed from whatever they are doing.

My children hesitate a lot before taking up the phone to ask their friends for anything.But then they are forever on the phone, talking all sorts of things.But the minute they need to ask about a course or how to prepare for some exam or where do you get accessories for the new dress in this place, there is a great reluctance. They dont feel they are close enough to take advantage of them.. My logic is you need something you reach out to somebody, and you are quite okay with them reaching out to you when they need something. We are not islands, we need other people and more than that, there is pleasure in touching base with another person.

Many a time you not only get what you asked for  but much more, interesting tit bits and some more stuff you can use at another time. Like when  I ask my friend about a reliable jewellery shop in the new town, she will tell me if she knows or will get back to me through her network and also tell me the customer experience in that particular shop. It is a total package and wholesome.

The more face time the better we say. But it is not so for the gen next.
Let us continue the search...

google hangout session restored

I had posted sometime back that it is quite painful to see the virtual image of chikoo and not being able to hug him and hold him close and smell baby smell and feel the soft cuddliness.

But then it is different now. A few days of not seeing him even virtually was very painful.. So I asked D to come to google hangout. It was so nice to connect with him, with all the limitations of distance and lack of physical contact. I was wondering, when we get something, we want the whole, and only when you dont get even that something, you realise what you are missing.

Chikoo was dancing to D's favourite Ajit song, smayi ayi ayi ay,,,Of course D was holding him and waving his hands and swinging his legs. He was so happy. he was gurgling and making all sorts of sounds.  He was able to see me and was smiling, I was telling D he will get confused, so minimise the screen at your end. She said, he is happy and does not get confused these days.He is becoming a big boy now.

With this pronouncement, she just put him down on the bed in a sitting posture and was about to get cushions to prevent him from sliding down. But he was sitting quite steady and I was able to see the magic and was so thrilled. D immediately went and got her mobile and took a few shots of him. before he began to lean on one side.

He is talking to trees D told me. She had taken him out for walk and he was looking at the branches swaying. A gentle breeze was also blowing and Chikoo started talking to them in his language. D called me and I was also listening in. D says just like he started smiling at the switchboards and fans and lights before he smiled at her, he has started to talk with the trees first!

Every day is a new day, every day chikoo is excited learning new things, seeing new things.
The mother is busy tending to him and the grandparents are enjoying his growing up hundred percent.

Patti and thatha title is hard fought and to be held really close to your chest.

An hour with birds and the trees they come home to

For sometime now, I have been seeping in the organic food, going back to nature, environment concerns and waste recycling, healthy living, you say it, I am interested.I was also feeling quite smug and holy about it, that I am doing something to give back to nature.

So it was something of a great come down, when I spent an hour walking in a nearby park. It is full of huge and very old trees with fantastic canopy. I have been championing the cause of growing native trees, and these trees are quite native all right, no gulmohar tree, a native of madagascar. The birds were part of the ecosystem of the trees,they liked coming back there at the end of a long day and rest there for the night.

So I should be blissfully happy that one hour. But I was not. The birds were making a huge racket. I never knew birds could cackle so much, and non stop in the entire time I was there(having my walk for about an hour). Do they have so much to tell each other, or is it something like a club house and they were having a party everyday? It was like being in a school playground of a large primary school at lunch time, everybody shouting and every child screaming its head off.I was not at all pleased with the din.

Then there was this heavy shitting that was taking place. Every other walker there, will stop suddenly on her tracks, bend down, when their friend would take out a tissue and wipe off the bird shit from her hair, shoulder or back.Every one of them will look above, as if to spot the bird which did the dirty job and give it a sharp look. I would laugh to myself when this happened, till it happened to me this time.I was not amused. I kept thinking, when there are birds they will shit, and it is natural. There is no Modi directive against open defecation and swacha bharat campaign for them. But I am living in the city for the last many years, and forgotten my childhood times in the shrubs and jungles of MCC. What I do remember is that the trees used to be well spaced out, and the birds will not all congregate in one tree and have a party.They had their own pet tree and a quiet night there. The urbanisation has reduced trees to such an extent, that the birds are also living in such green areas, as though in a matchbox apartment, tightly packed.

The well laid out pathways are full of yesterdays shit and the day before and the day before and they send out a very powerful smell. Actually D used to feel particularly sick when she used to come their for walks during her pregnancy.So this is no good.

So am I only a half baked believer and when confronted with real life, not taking kindly to trees giving asylum to birds and birds having fun and answering nature's call.

Very difficult self introspection going on here.