Mandis join malls in Indo-US equation

DE SIDERATA
TOI, 24 September

Between communism and imperialism, it’s a good contest which has been attributed with more malevolence. Ronald Reagan coined the term ‘‘Evil Empire’’ to describe communist Soviet Union. Certainly, when it comes to death counts, the old firm of Soviet Union and China have racked up millions. Imperialist Britain and the US have not lagged behind much either, though history being written by the victor, their excesses are glossed over.

For Comrades, Islamists, and those at the losing end of a century of American sweep, America is currently the ‘‘Evil Empire’’. The Indian Lefts’ dislike of the US is so pathological that it in turn glosses over the excesses of its communist mentors. Thanks to Leftist orientation and spin, Indian political discourse has largely been anti-American for the past half century. But that phase seems to have passed.

Last week, an American lawmaker actually laughed at the idea that Indians are anti-American. US is more popular in India than in any other part of the world, boasted Congressman Frank Pallone, adding, the two countries are so tied at the hip economically and culturally, that it is futile now to try and whip up anti-Americanism or US phobia.

At least in so far as urban India goes, Pallone is probably right. Even many pro-American Indians (pro by virtue of family ties or economic links) believe US is horribly wrong to have gone to war in Iraq. But as long as US actions does not hurt India or their own prospects, they are willing to live with it. They don’t attribute malevolence to US, as the comrades do. Like Toynbee, they seem to believe that ‘‘America is large friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over something.’’ Clumsy, rather than evil.

Economic interest is a powerful neutraliser. The mall rats and call center constituents are now so besotted with American-style consumerism that they will ignore pretty much any US excesses, just the way the comrades overlooked the great purges of their mentors when smitten by ideological gibberish.

But why just mall rats? In time, with growing global economic integration, even mandi (the Indian market) merchants will take cognizance of the US just the way American farmers are starting to feel the pulse, heartbeat, and other vital signs of India and China.

It has been a turbulent past few weeks in the commodities market and the vast American hinterland. In the American mid-west, farmers are trying to get a sense of how much wheat to plant for the coming year, considering India, with its 1.2 billion mouths to feed, bought more than a million tonnes. Down south, farmers are planning to return to cotton because they anticipate greater demand from China and India.

A recent Bloomberg report has this very arresting statistic: Americans own, on an average, nine pairs of jeans; the Chinese, four, and Indians, two (they probably mean any kind of trousers). Apparently, cotton growers in Georgia have cottoned on to such inequity, just as some progressive Indian farmers are starting to check into the Chicago grain and commodities market.

Of course, some comrades will argue that most Indians don’t wear trousers, much less jeans. They are so behind the times. It’s not just the malls that tie the countries together; now, the mandis are getting into the equation too.