When I called Nagarji this morning, he was traveling back home from his office in New Delhi. I could imagine he was sitting on the back seat of his car that was driven by his chauffeur. His cell phone rang and he answered with a deep affectionate voice. I felt a sense of joy in his tone.
I asked him if there was anything I could do for him. Nagarji replied that he would let me know if he needed anything from 'a friend who lives in America'. I sensed a touch of sarcasm in his tone that I have always enjoyed while chatting with him.
I went on explaining to him how it felt living in America, the country that was experiencing the worst economic crisis in history. Paul Krugman has advised the president-elect Obama to run a large government efficiently as did Franklin Roosevelt during the New Deal period of the great depression of 1930s. Those, who live in America today, have to get ready to embrace the atmosphere of the 30s. What a way to experience history!
After sharing our thoughts for a few minutes I told Nagarji that a fairly well-to-do middle class citizen of India, when moved to America for a living, may feel like belonging to the low income earning class in America-burdened with debt of mortgages and credit cards. How the pockets of Americans are emptied today, while those living in Asia was filling up. Nagarji, authenticated my thoughts in his well-crafted style saying that it was in the nature of American capitalism that trapped everyone in a sandbag of debt. I think we live in an illusion that the sand bag is our security trap!
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