My India 4 - 1950-55

==============================================

Yes, we were talking about the 'Socialistic Pattern of Society (SPS)' unveiled by Nehrujee at the Avadi Congress in 1953.

This more or less remained intact for the next 40 years till it was replaced by the 'Casteist Pattern of Society (CPS)'.

Let me talk about the Principal Features of the SPS, as I have seen them first-hand:

(1) Unlike the two other contemporary contenders, viz. the 'Capitalist' and the 'Communist' Patterns of Society, SPS froze the Class Structure.

The Poor remained poor, the Rich remained rich and the Middle Class remained profoundly middle class for the next 40 years. This contributed a sort of Stability to the Society much like that of an underground gutter with no inflows or outflows.

To take an example of which I am the sole authority, I was Lower Middle Class in 1953 and remained so till 1993, when I moved from the collapsing C1-97 Qrs to the airy B-140, about the Best Apartment at IIT KGP. The ones who retired from an A type were Upper Middle Class. There was none, not even the Director, who could then claim to belong to the 'Rich and Affluent': no Govt Servant can be deemed to be so, since corruption on such a scale dawned only later on (Harshad Mehta was still Practicing and not yet Perfect).

I was reminded of this last year when my friend and contemporary, retired and settled in Hyderabad like myself, rang me up and asked for some tips on how to fill up an online Registration Form for a Matrimonial.Com for his son (I went through this futile exercise 3 years ago and so a sort of Authority on the subject). There was a drop-down Menu with clickable categories: 'Middle Class', 'Upper Middle Class', and 'Rich & Affluent' (others don't bother please!).

He said he knew he qualified for Upper Middle Class at KGP but was in doubt about the situation in Hyderabad. I listed the following demanding criteria for clicking the 'Upper Middle Class' @ Hyderabad:

You should be living in your own 2-story-ed Bungalow in either Banjara Hills or Jubilee Hills or equivalent (consult me for further clarifications). It won't do if you live even in a 1-Crore Flat. You should not be a Pensioner (or if one, you should have given away your entire Pension for Charities or the Balajee Temple at Tirumala). You should not be taking up a 'Job of Profit' (you may be an Honorary Consultant or better doing 'Social Service' or whatever). Your wife should have at least 2 Kg of gold ornaments (not bought but inherited). All your kids must be living in either NY or SF or in the worst case LA; none of your relatives, even distant, should claim to be living in Alabama. All your kith and kin must be Green-Card Holders or on their way. You and your wife should be living in your Bungalow (when not in ICCU), you in your 'Study' on the First Floor and your Mrs downstairs entertaining her 'Rich and/or Famous' Guests to which Class she wants to upgrade herself (much like the Indian Railways Passengers nowadays). You should own a Dalmatian and your Mrs a Poodle (Alsatians are for the vulgar Middle Class).

I don't know if he heeded my advice.

(2) All new Industries, heavy as well as light, will be owned by the Government and/or their Cronies like the Birlas, Tatas, Dalmiyas, Bajajs, Patnaiks, Krishnamacharies et al.

This meant that India for the next so many decades will see only Ambassador and Fiat Cars, Lambretta and Vespa/Bajaj scooters, Tata, Bedford, Leyland (pronounced Loyland charmingly) etc Trucks on her roads.

This also meant that if you book one of these vehicles, your grandkid would take possession of it unless you paid a Premium or Dollars. In any case, it is a Hobson's choice, and you wouldn't be able to afford any since the Lease-Purchase System with easy EMIs was still unknown.

I became rather uppish when my cute son was born and paid a whopping Rs 600/- for his Bajaj Chetak Scooter and lost the entire amount because the Agency which took my money vanished overnight from Gole Bazaar.

There were no new Highways or even old motorable ones, so it was better that I didn't get one, in retrospect.

(3) All new jobs would be Government Jobs. This meant that after you get your Degree, you register your name in a Local Govt Employment Exchange which, if they like you, will give you a 4-digit Serial Number. You wait and wait till you enter middle-age, and till then hang on to 'temporary' private hire-fire jobs, not necessarily 'tenure track'. You can of course join as a Teacher without assured pay and subject to ousting in Summers; they will consider it a 'service' to you, since you can claim to have 'earned' Teaching Experience. You can't expect to do 'Private Tuition', since students would prefer to go their 'Permanent School Teachers' outside their 'working hours' for obvious reasons.

You may like to go abroad if you are well-off, but your Passport would take a couple of years, give or take a year, unless you have the right 'contacts'.

Even if you pass an MBBS Exam, you can't hope to get a low-paying start-up job in a Govt Hospital, since you have to clear a Public Service Commission Exam or Interview, in which rare case, you will be posted in a Rural Health Center, where you have to hunt for home and hearth. But, you will get enormous 'experience' since you will be about the only Doctor in the Catchment Area serving an entire community. Adventurous though, and very nice experience. One famous Private Practioner advised every aspiring Doctor to join a Govt Hospital by hook or crook, serve it well, make your name, resign after 3 years, and open a 'Clinic' just by its side. You will be sure to draw every patient sick of waiting for a 'bed' in the Govt Hospital nearby.

If you happen to be a successful Engineering Graduate, you can aspire to become a Junior Engineer if you have the right contacts, and then you will be lurching about in a WW II 4-wheel-left-hand-drive JEEP, if you don't mind braking your spine at one or two places.

I recall a Group Photo of a few of my Engineering batchmates with the legend: "Fate Posted them as JEs". It had also a motto inscribed, misquoting a well-known Sanskrit aphorism: "Surveyor Janah Sukhino Bhavantu" .

Actually it wasn't all that bad: we were young and hopeful. There was HOPE in the air (that last beetle of our Pandora's Box), for sure.

Anyway, most of us are still around with good enough pensions and very 'Middle Class'.


================================================