Cat and the Birth Right

 About 40 years back, a school in one of the small towns down the southern tip of India had a lesson on Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak in class four English textbook.  The same Bal Gangadhar Tilak who declared boldly to the world that “Swaraj is my Birth right and I shall have it”.  At that point in time, I was one among the young minds who were inspired by him.  

Everyday, enroute my  office, I pass by the statue of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak situated here in chowpatty (beach) in South Mumbai. This reminds me of the day, many years back when my father had first taken me to this same place to show the statue of Tilak during one our vacation trips to Mumbai.

Lucky for Tilak, he aspired for just one birth right, the Swaraj, self-rule, or freedom from the British. It was a slogan that inspired the country and the subsequent leaders of Indian freedom movement. It is said that the weapon should suit the opponent. The ‘weapons’ that the leaders of India’s freedom movement chose whether it is non-cooperation, hunger strike, Satyagraha or whatever were successful only because they exploited an inherent weakness in their opponent.  The Indians would have never won the mighty British in a traditional warfare.

In my daily commute, I see the nomads sleeping on footpaths of this same Mumbai, children begging at traffic signals, poverty, lack of housing and much more even after 75 years of Swaraj!  We have not just one but many birth rights now! The right to clean air, right to clean drinking water, food, clothing, housing, hassle free roads to commute and the list is endless.  

Back to daily routines, stray cats in our campus are a source of inspiration not to miss the daily walks. They come running for the few pieces of cat food offered to them during our morning and evening walks. Among them, there is one particular male cat that stands out from the crowd. He has all the mannerisms of a cat minus the meow sound. Probably dumb! He shows no signs of aggression and knows to rescue itself from all other fellow cats in the neighbourhood who come running for a fight with him. In the last two years that I have known him, he doesn’t even have a minor scratch on his body.

Sometimes I feel our situation too is not quite different from this cat. Raising voice for our birth rights has become futile. Our problems are to be solved by our own elected people. The fight is with them, and our arsenal is replete with archaic weapons. Like the dumb cat, our voices too are lost in the crowd and the resolution of the issues seems remote.  Like the cat who survives this hostile world, we too should find innovative means to rescue ourselves from all adversities around and strive for our birth rights.

What else can we do in this world’s largest “demons crazy” ?

Nation Building!!

 

This habit of writing down income and expenses daily, I inherited from my father. While my father used a plain diary, I use an Excel sheet. Over years this Excel sheet has grown from a simple list of items to a workbook to give detailed split up to the last Rupee reconciling with my bank statements and investments. So exactly on 31^st March, my personal Balance Sheet is ready.

For FY 2020-21, out of my total earnings, 30% was deducted by Nirmala Ma’am, our honorable FM as Income tax. I spent about 70% of the balance 70%, on petrol, vacation, dress, son’s education, insurance premium and other living expenses. The rest are my personal savings.

Obviously, different expenses fall under different GST brackets. Nearly two- thirds of my petrol expense is tax. In addition, considering the 18% GST paid on other expenses, my excel sheet tells me that 25% of total expenses was paid as tax. This means my total tax outgo is about 42% of my annual income which could go up to 45% including the tax on interest, dividend and investment income. My contribution to Nation Building!

 बोल वो रहे है, पर शब्द हमारे है. Though he is speaking, words are mine. Says the librarian to the dean during the Hindi speech by Chatur in the popular movie 3 Idiots. Whenever the prime minister of the day doles out thousands of crores into the accounts of the beneficiaries, or the chief ministers proudly waive off loans, I have the same feeling as the librarian. Though they are paying, the money is mine! But what the ‘Ranchos’ of the day has in store (बलात्कार of the tax payer!!) will be only known later. When my hard earned Maruti car is stopped on the way for a politician on an Audi to pass, I say to myself ‘All is well’ the Audi too is bought from my money for Nation building!

We are a developing country. We keep on developing. The same roads and bridges sequentially keep on developing. Storm water drains, cable laying, water supply, telephones, Metro and what not, keep on happening one after the other. Daily when I see people sleeping on foot paths, hungry children begging on the streets in a city where the world’s richest people live, I am reminded of my helplessness. I am reminded that all I can do is keep paying 45% of my earnings as tax. The ‘development’ is controlled by someone else.   

In typical Indian style, an uninvited guest or even a beggar is an embodiment of God. We say, the giver is blessed to have someone receive the alms from him. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagawad Gita, you only have the right to work but never to its fruits. Every time, the footpath is ‘rightfully’ occupied by vendors, the roads are dug perpetually, I have to pay a bribe, a politician roams around in a Fortuner, or the authorities squander money for nothing, I say to myself. I have the right only to pay taxes but never to its fruits!

I want money !

 

Yes. I mean it. Those of you who can spare some, please inbox me and I shall share my bank details/ UPI/ Paytm etc. Even cash is welcome too! 

When everyone wants money here, why should I be different!  Once upon a time, we were taught a Sanskrit poem which said न चोर हार्यं न च राज हार्यं……which meant knowledge is the most precious wealth of all that cannot be snatched away by a thief, cannot be snatched away by king, cannot be divided among brothers, not heavy either and if spent daily, it always keeps growing. 

But lately I realised that this knowledge is used only to acquire the ‘other’ wealth that  the family, government, brother, thief, and others seek / demand / snatch from you.

The omniscient gods too need money. On a lazy Sunday morning, just out of the temple after having a ‘Paid’ darshan of the God, I received a traffic violation SMS demanding a Rs.200 fine for parking outside the temple. I was soon greeted by a mobile number tucked under the wiper of my car and a wheel lock. Two policemen swiftly arrived within a minute of calling and politely handed over photographic proof of my “over speeding” violations within Mumbai city over the last 3 years! I had to pay some thousands on the spot to open the wheel lock!

We Mumbaikars, may be the only people in this entire world who are proud of two ‘Express Highways’ where the average driving speed during anytime of the day or night doesn’t exceed 15 Kmph! Obviously, there is no denying the fact that I am a traffic offender for over speeding on the sea link, a part of my office commute where I pay a daily toll of 105 rupees to save 10 minutes of my precious travel time. My engineering mind has never been able to fathom the reason for the T-Junctions at both the ends of this engineering marvel from where the traffic again starts crawling.

Everyone needs money. Some ask, some snatch, some demand, and some trick you to get it. The builders, supermarkets, chemists, garments, shoes even the roadside “Belpuri Wala” offer discounts galore to make me buy 5 when all is need is 2! 

“Sir the mutual fund in your son’s name (minor) needs churning. The current return on the same is 7.15% and we have an attractive investment opportunity to earn 7.25%.” said the female voice at the other end who claimed to be calling from my bank. She had all the information about me and wanted to sell an insurance policy which I politely refused.   

The Sixth century philosopher Sankaracharya, says in his popular poem “Bhaja Govindam” which goes as follows यावद्वित्तोपार्जनसक्त: तावन्निजपरिवारो रक्तः….. Your family and relatives will be interested in you only as long as you are able to make money. After which no one at home ever will care for you or even bother to speak to you. 

Let’s not waste time. Lets make money!