An Evening Drink with My Liberal Friend

An Evening Drink with My Liberal Friend. 

 I was delighted to see my good friend visit me last evening. Like old times, we sat over a round of scotch. I was particularly upbeat after I witnessed the Chandrayaan 3 landing. So, naturally, our conversation started with this. It went as follows:

Me: Quite a feat, no? 

LF (Liberal Friend): Yeah. 651 crores. Big amount, no?

Me: I thought the budget was less than a few Hollywood, even Bollywood movies.

LF: Yeah. Add to that the money wasted on Chandrayaan 2, a failure. Taxpayer's money, you see. 

Me (A little baffled): Hmmm. But I thought this space mission had strong scientific objectives. 

LF: Like? (Takes a long swig at his single malt)

Me: Like, to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface to gauge the environment, metallurgy, carry out in-situ scientific experiments etc... 

LF: And what good would that do for a poor country like us? The money would have been better spent on education.

Me: Hmmm. You have a point. But it makes me feel very proud. We are just the fourth Nation, you see, to achieve this feat, ahead of developed countries like France, the UK, and Germany.  

LF: These efforts are nothing but doping the masses with a false sense of Utopia, which has very little practical value. 

Me: You are right, of course. But we have also very recently commissioned the first indigenous 700 MWe nuclear power station. Won't you call that useful? Power is undoubtedly a very sought-after commodity in our poor country. No? 

LF: What's the point in having a plant in Gujarat where there is no power shortage?

Me: So you admit that there is no power shortage there? 

LF: Ummm... naturally. This Government has given all liberties to Adani and Ambani. They pump obnoxious amounts of money into the state.

Me: Hmmm. But I thought NPCIL, a Government Company, ran these Nuclear Power Plants. This, therefore, has nothing to do with Adani or Ambani.

LF: (with skewed eyebrows) You get to know only what this Government feeds you with. There are lots of inside stories which no media is allowed to publish. 

Me: Hmmm. Do you mean stories where the Adani-Ambani fund the NPCIL? Now that you say this, possibly yes. Anyway, leave it.  So, how did you spend the long weekend? 

LF: Are you referring to the weekend clubbed with Independence Day? Oh, lovely. We booked a resort in Lonavala. That's the only real positive thing about the Independence Day. What did you do, may I ask?

Me: We gathered at our housing society garden for flag hoisting. Exchanged pleasantries - it's not often you get to see so many neighbours, you see. After the flag hoisting and the National Anthem, snacked on samosa and jalebi. Thanked my stars for having been born in a free India.

LF: Do you think we are really free? The Brits may have gone but do you see the oppression all around?  Most people are    

terrified. They feel unsafe to live in their homes. Extremism has reached its height. Do you call this freedom?

Me: No, no - not at all. It's almost like being tortured in the cellular jail (I chuckled).

LF: (Laughed) Now you are being sarcastic. Don't think I do not understand. 

Me: Ah - your glass is empty. One more? Should I make it a Patiala peg? 

LF: I don't mind. There are few things better under the sun than sipping a single malt with a good friend. This even makes you forget about the hard times. 

Me: Hard times? I thought the standard of living has gone up across all strata in society.

LF: Gone up? My foot. Look at the inflation. People at the grassroots level are starving. No jobs. Bleak futures. 

Me: But inflation, I suppose, is one of those one-way occurrences that are inevitable.  It happens across all countries. But I am happy that it did not go past 9% and the GDP did not fall below 3% as predicted by a few of our pundits during COVID-19. 

LF: Do you know people in villages die of starvation?

MF: Yes. Very sad. But things are changing. It can't happen overnight.

LF: Changing? It is going from bad to worse.

MF: Really? I remember World Bank data quoting that our poverty line fell from 36% to below 20%. Which, I suppose, is quite good. Even though I would admit that this is not good enough. Now that we are the World's fifth largest economy I am sure this would further go down.

LF: And what about unemployment?

MF: Logically, a growing economy must open up more job opportunities.

LF: Ufff... gullible you... lies, lies, all lies. You must see what the Washington Post has to say about this... are you aware of the Sores report on the Adani scam? 

MF: Yes. Heard about it. Too bad. He must be taken to task if found guilty. But I keep wondering why all of a sudden the Soreses and the Hindenburgs got so much interest in Indian Businesses. Our economic muscle must have something to do with it. Who would care otherwise? 

LF: Of course, they would take notice. How could they ignore a country where the PM wears a ten lakh rupee suit?

I was convinced by my Liberal friend. I proceeded to replenish his glass once again.