Winning the Lottery

Written on Monday, March 16, 2009 by Rohan Koshy

The Upcoming Indian Elections made me think about how I’ve won the lottery. Not in the sense of this election actually, but in how lucky I am to be born at this time. The fact is that I’m incredibly lucky to be born into a country that has been and probably (I say probably) will always enjoy long stretches of peace. I imagine that this current generation is the luckiest generation of Indians to come along in the last 150 - 200 years.

Being born in this era means you've enjoyed virtually no major wars and the country is both independent and tolerant (for the most part). While a lot of people look at the situation and say - there's communal violence, there are bad roads, bad politicians, bad infrastructure, corruption and deceit and the list goes on and on, you cannot ignore the rewards of this society

When I look at myself, I feel lucky to be born here. I've been privileged to get the very best education here. More importantly, I've been lucky enough to live in a time of relative peace and have been able to pursue my own interests. India at this time continues to be the world’s second fastest growing economy. I've been born at a time when the country has been moving up the global ladder, has reaped the benefits of opening up the economy to the world and will continue to enjoy strong domestic consumption. Having my upbringing almost entirely in Pune has allowed me to witness the rapid growth of the economy. Where once you had only maruti 800's you now don’t give a second look to Audi’s and BMW's running amok around the city. In effect I’ve luckily been at the right place to witness how a growing economy can rapidly lift the standard of living of its citizens.

India, despite its problems, allows people here to achieve riches and create value and contribute without the fear of retribution. It still is secular and more than anything continues to allow anyone who achieves greatness in their fields to achieve recognition, regardless of colour or religion. That IS the good news

Slumdog Millionaire is not a spectacular film to Indians. While it is no doubt a fantastic film, Indians are used to seeing everything it portrays. The film correctly displays to opposite side of the effects of uneven capitalism. That's the bad news. The system as it currently stands is akin to loaded dice. If you're born here, into a decent middle class family, have a decent education and work relatively hard, it actually very hard for you to end up poor in the current scenario. India's growth will carry all those "lucky" enough to have won the ovarian lottery to greater riches and a relatively stable, (economically speaking) life. (Unless of course, there’s a world war or a massive war with Pakistan). But, and this is a big but, if you're NOT born on the right side of the fence, you have to overcome massive odds to enjoy the benefits. In most cases, you will continue to stay in an economically disadvantaged position. The classic case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer will remain.

The luck that we have had in being born into the right situation is what must be acknowledged by this generation. Whether you now live in America, Australia, Britain or anywhere else, you must acknowledge that you have been lucky enough to get the opportunity to use your god-given talents to contribute and basically follow your dreams to fulfill your destiny, whatever that might be. You have a duty to the country you live in because it gives you the opportunity to be rich. We cannot escape the responsibility that privilege has given us. You cannot say that as a believer in free markets that you don’t have to worry about anything else other than your own self interest. Society has given you all the tools to enjoy yourself and you must return that favour.

Consider this situation - A man has been working in a shoe mill for 40 years of his life. He works hard and does his job diligently. Unfortunately the Chinese have jus reduced the cost of production by 90%. His company has no option but to relocate all the plants abroad. IN this situation he has no transferrable skills. He's not going to learn java and xml and change careers. Society must, in some form provide a safety net. If all this "creative destruction" (i.e. the fittest, most innovative companies winning and the others going bankrupt) benefits society, then its side effects - the displacement of workers and the associated stress- must be picked by society as well. Society must pick up the tab, if it’s going to receive the benefits.

It's not just the government that must do that, but rather individuals. If you acknowledge that you've won the lottery then you must do what you can to benefit the ones who didn’t win.

That’s creative capitalism. It's like a volcano. Those at the top who enjoy the explosion of profits and money must use it to enhance the ones who don’t get the benefit.

By all means, play to win. Follow your passion and turn it into millions if you can Make as much money as you can but remember to give it away so that you can close the gap between the haves and have not's

Remember,

"The Man who dies rich, dies disgraced." - Andrew Carnegie.

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