Surface Economy and the Reality Oh Give back the Kabuliwallah Take away the banks

A time will come when the sparrows and kabuliwallahs will control the
world-

RAMESHCHANDRA MUKHOPADHYAYA

Economics only gives you a fragment of the real state of economic
affairs.And when state policies are decided on the background of such
economic readings they are sure to fail.For example when they speak of
Indian economy they speak of the white money. But just as the
conscious mind is only a fraction of our total mind and just as the
iceberg which is visible to the eye is only a fraction of the real
iceberg so is the white money in fact is a fragment of the total money
circulated in the country.What is white money? It is the amount of
money on which tax has been paid.The total exchange formally taking
place is far less than the amount of exchange informally clinched
up.There taxes are irrelevant.And one cannot infer the quantum of
informal exchange from the data available of formal exchange. There
are no data of the subconscious and the unconscious mind.They often
clandenstinely express themselves through the expressions of the
conscious mind and they often unsettle the conscious mind . So does
black money often appears in the garb of white money and unsettle the
country’s economy . This is true everywhere in every country. Let
globalization do whatever it can it cannot baulk the world economy.
Rationality is only a part of human mind . You cannot turn every man
into a rational being or robot. Besides if everyman were a robot who
would conduct the robots. But that is a different issue. The point is
that no man is a robot and no man can be turned into a robot. Give us
the most rational of the human beings. He also dreams. He cannot but
dream. There are some people who think that they do not dream . In
fact they do not remember their dreams unlike others. Why do not they
remember dreams? The answer is simple. They do not dare to face their
dreams. They are like some righteous persons who think that they
cannot do any wrong. But with hand on heart ask yourself whether you
could not commit any crime whatever that takes place on earth. As to
me I feel for every criminal because I think that I am no better than
any criminal under the sun. In my fantasy I have wished the death of
so many people. In my fantasy I have so many times coveted this mans
wealth and that mans talent. So man cannot be rational. It is these
men who take part in getting and spending. How could they be turned
into the agents of a globalised rationalized system. Let the bank go
to every village. Let them spread what they call universal education.
But we will never be educated in the way those in power want us to be.
Why so much emphasis on education today. Suppose you are a
moneylender. You live in our village. I go to you for taking loans.
You know me . You know my father mother and uncle. You call me by my
first name. When I told you--- Uncle I need some money for sowing in
this present harvesting season, either you give me the money or you
don’t. But when you give me the money there is no need of writing on
my part, no need of submitting application or guarantee on my part.
These moneylenders are being replaced by banks. The banker who comes
does not belong to my locality. So he does not know me. Hence unless I
know how to sign a form etc unless I am literate how can I get loan
from the banker? So to rationalise the banking system they have jumped
into illiteracy removal programme. But we rustic people, we are
incorrigible. We cant be taught reason.Much has been done against the
private money lenders. If I were a private money lender people would
pooh pooh at me . But if I were a GM with a national;ised bank people
would address me with soft and respectful words. But let education and
banks do whatever it can the private money lenders exist and will
exist. Globalisation of the world economy cannot be there as long as
black money is there. I am speaking in the Indian context.Those who
have lot of black money donot want to keep the money with them.
Because now and then the government might harass them although they
made the black money only with the passive consent of the people in
the government and administration.So what the blackmoneyed people do
is to give away the money to the private money lenders in lieu of
getting minimum interest say 2% . The private money lenders might
charge apparently a high rate of interest. But you need not
hypothecate your house to the bank if you want to have houseloan . You
need not submit with the moneylender collateral security for getting
loan. You need not take along with you a person who will stand
guarantee for you to the moneylender. You need not fill up forms . You
need not wait for months together for the loan. If you go to your
moneylender at one AM in the night you might get loan immediately.
Your money lender never asks for the principal. He is satisfied with
the interest. But sometimes you may not pay the interest regularly.
The moneylender comes to you shouts at you etc. But that is all .
Besides there could be human relationship between a borrower and a
private money lender. The latter might waive the loan if he feels
like.But who dares imagine to have a human relationship with a banker.
He cannot waive your loan. Now a days small financing agencies have
cropped up with government blessings. They are not money lenders ,
They have no human face. If the loan is not paid back in time they
send goons to poor villagers and dispossess them of their hearth and
home . Even the big banks do that. With law as their backing they keep
an eye on your hearth and home. The bank will proudly attach them if
you cannot pay back in time the money that you borrowed from the
bank. In the competition I tell you bank despite their lot of
paraphernalia and impressive buildings must give in to private
moneylenders if there is no nuclear war in the meantime. Why? Because
the banker chooses between those who ask for loan. So does the private
moneylender.You cannot give loan to everyone who asks for it. Now the
banker is educated. He is used to answer hypothetical questions On the
contrary the private money lender is uneducated. He knows that if he
does get back due interst against the money he lends his family will
starve. Things are different with banker, So nationalized banks suffer
losses through the decades. But private money lenders continue let the
law do whatever it can. Thus the sub conscious and unconscious mind as
to which we donot have much data will rule below the surface of
conscious mind where law and order prevail and all hopes of
globalization are destined to be dashed into pieces. Long live the
Kabuliwallah. Give us back the kabuliwallahs. Take away the banks. Do
you know that the kabuliwallahs donot have money only in their
wallets . They carry mewa in them . And earlier when they used to come
to India on camelback across the Thor desert in the night the.
sandscape would be thrilled with their queer song . They would sing
seated on the camel back. Each stepping of the long leg of the camel
would unsettle the rhythm of the song . Rather it would be a fresh
genre of song where rhythms leap from one note to another with a jerk.
It was tappa. Kabuliwallahs give us loans They give our children mewa.
They brought to our land the musical genre called tappa. If I were a
poet I could write in praise of kabuliwallahs and sparrows. I know
that sparrows are no longer found in the cities But I tell you the
private moneylenders the kabuliwallahs and the sparrowswill come back
again and they will once again take the contol of the world if there
is no nuclear war.