being in a place like India constantly redefines the edges of your definitions of irony. lemme give you a synopsis of some of the stories in pubs here. this is a country with an unbelievable amount of money. there was a story in this morning's Weekend Business Standard- titled "Have money, wills spend"- by Soumik Sen chronicling how the new business majarajas are spending 6 figure amounts for their new must-haves. the reporter profiled the plight of the louis vitton showrooms- where new goat-skinned handbags for 128,000 rupees- ($2845 U.S.)- are leaving the shelves in flocks, faster from the New Delhi store than in Europe. the batch of 300 bags earmarked for India sold out two months in advance. Sen also used Corum's new Admiral's club pink gold watch as an example which retails for 1,250,000 rupees ($27,777US) . the company expects to sell 15-20 watches a month in India, their cheapest watch comes at 80,000 Rs ($177US). our prime minister's motorcade is getting a rather drastic makeover. they're switching from the tried and true Indian workhorse- the Ambassador- to an armored version of BMW's 7 series vehicles. the fleet of 4 (3 decoys) will begin carting the prime minister around later this year. thats whats in the offical record, heard on the street are stories of extravagance that boggle the mind. spending time at a hip new local super-model hangout in Mumbai can set you back 8000rs ($177US) for a couple of beers and perhaps a bottle of wine. getting in - is near impossible because of the crowds ready to pay that kinda price. the most posh restaurants and hotels have rates listed in USD, and native as well as Non-Resident Indians are happy to comply and play at this level of obscene wealth. the latest mercedes SLK editions are selling out in advance and the evidence is on the streets- all leading you to question the notion of a recession. the recent IPO of Maruti (formerly a venture with Suzuki) drew 300,000 small investors into the hurlyburly stock market. the money is here- and not even so hidden.

simultaneously,there was an interesting piece a week and a half ago- the cover story for India Today magazine about the "Robbercracy" - regarding bureacractic corruption being at a new high. it highlights the extent to which cases are brought against individuals by several anti-corruption units in the government, but how less than 1 percent actually result in any action against the individual because the system has become so graft stricken that it insulates the wrong-doers. it mentioned international measures and surveys of corruption- from Transparency International and the World Economic Forum and how poorly the country fared. the article had several special pull outs profiling individual ministers- how they had been caught with hundreds of thousands times the value of their yearly salaries in the form of homes/ land/ small businesses/ vehicles/ jewellery etc. and how many of them are still in business at their official posts even after these findings. if you think the US criminal justice system is sluggish- you ain't seen nothin'. there are new degrees to which you can procrastinate your fate in this land. the article outlined details of people caught in 1984- whose case was only heard in 94 and who have just been scheduled to make their first appearance in court in 2003.
a small business trying to open a factory here has to apply for 48 different licenses (creating that many opportunities for kickbacks) 65 different officials have to "inspect" the facilities during the year (creating yet more opportunities for graft). the sad part is that there is a certain level of immunization that has happened to people here when it comes to issues of corruption. they're hardened to it. articles like these are relatively easy to do and are only shocking to someone who is an outsider.

the same issue had a small piece on the village of Kachariadih in the state of Bihar where an astonishing 90 percent of the population (including 50 children) are crippled. the water containing 8 percent fuoride (where the legal limit is 1.5%) might have something to do with it. most of the children twisted limbs and bent backs. as widely publicized as the plight of this village is, there really hasn't been much intervention by the gov. to relocate the villagers or clean up the water. its not a matter of throwing money at the probem, the Indian gov. actually spends 4 billion rupees a year on poverty- its getting that money down into the hands of the people w/o sticky fingers between the head office and the impovrished thats the problem.

the anecdotes on the street. are much worse. rickshaw drivers n chenai (which are vaults of information on the transportation sector) tell you that it doesn't take a genius to figure out how systemic the fraud is in public transit. every bus in chennai leans dangerously to one side during rush hours because its carrying at least 2-3x occupancy, and there are people literally hanging on with a couple of fingers on a rail and perhaps a toe on the bottom stair. how can these buses declare losses every year? the answer is that much of the money the ticket conductor takes in - flies into his own pocket- and is sometimes split with the driver. its a coveted position that bring in such loot- so there is a huge bribe necessary in order to get such a post. so to get a job that techically pays very little, you have to bribe someone with an arm and a leg- because everyone knows that can make back the amount of the bribe in a few months of "unofficial" work. ask any college student how ruthless the graft is in higher education and they'll tell you the tales of their families selling the farm for an admission fee. these fees don't have anything to do with the actual tuition costs etc., we're just talkin' incredibly large sums of money that have to pass under the table- off the books- to get you in the door. screw how smart you are, you better be smart enough to know what that special number is. colleges are popping up like weeds outside chennai- and when you look at their business models- it makes perfect sense. lets forget the large sums- ask someone what it costs to have your child delivered to you after birth. this is probably the most insidious type of graft i've heard about (and i should also say the least substantiated- with a potential of being an urban legend). when the nurse comes to the waiting area and tells a family its a boy, they're expecting 500rs, when they say its a girl, they're expecting 300, if not there is a chance that some vindicitive individuals will switch your child with another one- as a protest to your ignorance.

there is a feeling of helplessness and hope when you see all this going on. the helplessness has to do with the feeling of insignificance, that your individual effort to fight any of these things is futile. the hope on the other hand comes from seeing that there are people managing not only to survive in this type of system- but actually improve their lot in one way or another. the students mentioned earlier - whose parents had to sell the farm in order for the admission fees - are making a drastic leap in earning potential and level of education. somewhere in the chaos seems to exist a pattern.