Why we can't have nice things: the Jaguar is still in the shop...

The toilet in our bedroom has not worked in more than a week. Oh, wait, did you actually believe we have a Jag? Well...you'd be right, but not in the way you think.

So back to our commode, our loo, or toilet - whichever name works well. Our toilet would not stop running. Since both A and I are overachievers, our problem was not just limited to our own apartment, but we've actually succeeded in draining our entire complex - made up of four flats of a day's water supply. The jokes practically write themselves, but hold off on those for just a short few minutes, you'll thank me later.

In the past week and a half we have had a crowd of plumbers and their various associates and assistants make their way to the toilet in our master bedroom. The first couple of plumbers suggested that our flusher (a rather large button inserted into the wall) was stuck and all it needed is a bit of coconut oil, go figure right? Sadly, that did not work.

Through the email correspondence, we found out that our toilet is Jaguar brand, if I had to guess, not related to the car manufacturer. I am pretty sure this is the model we have in our home (pictured below)

 

...but personally I think this one is a pretty sweet Jag - kind of looks like an egg doesn't it?



Feel free to browse the company's website - its pretty spiffy. Website: "Jaguar - experience bathing"
 
So yes, the State Department lent a Jag to us and we broke it. This is why, we can't have nice things. Let the jokes commence - I will even start you off with a few:

Born to perform.
Unleash a Jaguar.
Don’t dream it. Drive it!
Jaguar. The art of performance.
Grace…. space… pace.
  
There is no better time to engage in bathroom jokes and channel the second grader somewhere deep inside of all of us.

Feel free to contribute, but for now, ladies and gentlemen, our Jag is in the shop...

Cheers!

Foreign Aid - The Debate

I am returning from a long hiatus. While I work quite a bit of hours, I can't say that the hiatus resulted from a higher workload. I have traveled for work quite a bit in the past few months, but I can't say this directly contributed to my lack of motivation to blog. I guess I have no real excuse, but I am back and I hope this post will serve to start a discussion.

A few weeks ago, the head of the international development practice of my firm visited from DC. He did a whirlwind tour of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. We set up meetings for him with NGOs, diplomats, law firms, and entrepreneurs. When he was in Chennai, we began an interesting debate, which has stayed with me since. Foreign aid and its purpose. Let's face it, funding for foreign aid is one of the first things on the proverbial "chopping block" when a government tries to reduce spending. The debate of governments' responsibilities to their citizens vis a vis foreign citizens inevitably ensues.

Questions of "why should we pay for the building of schools and hospitals in less well off countries, when our own schools and hospitals are struggling with shrinking budgets?" "Why if country X has a perfectly functional government, should we help pay for the poor children of country X to read?" "We have lots of problems at home, why should we support foreigners' whose government is not capable of or does not care to adequately support them?" All are perfectly reasonable questions.

Here are a few other things to consider - poverty alleviation, improving education, and job creation are both domestic and international issues. While we hope and work towards improving the situation at home and abroad the situation not ever be perfect. However, a wealthy country's purchasing power abroad is much higher than at home. The impact of a bit of aid coming from a wealthy country is much higher than at home. If we can help using relatively little funding and make a big difference to multitudes, why not do it? Foreign aid, when administered through cooperation with the beneficiary government is good foreign policy, which results in improved bilateral relations. I know this may be a bit simplistic, bu better relationships between countries lead to trade, which results in job creation jobs and economic growth on both sides of the border.

UK and India

In the past few months, UK and Indian press have been replaying a quote by Pranab Mukerjee, India's Finance Minister saying that British aid is no longer necessary and is "peanuts." The quote fueled controversy in the UK over the role of DFID, British aid agency, in India - the top recipient of British aid. By the way, this quote is actually from 2010 and was taken up by two MPs who are making the argument for a reduction in British foreign aid.

Sure, India's economy has shown robust growth, growing up to 10% a year. Was no one really left behind during this blockbuster economic growth spurt of the past five years? The latest data released by India's Planning Commission indicates that poverty in urban India declined by 20.9%, in rural India by 33.8%, and at all-India poverty level declined to 29.8%  in 2009-2010. While states such as Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttarkand saw a decline in the poverty ratio of 10 percentage points, states such as Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland saw their poverty ratio increase. Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh have only seen a marginal decline in the poverty ratio.


However, these census figures do not capture the whole picture. For example, data shows that minorities and marginalized community groups - scheduled castes and scheduled tribes - still predominate the least well to do. Casual or temporary laborers in urban areas - those that come to cities for better opportunities - also have a very high incidence of poverty. According to the data released by the Planning Commission, poverty among casual laborers in Bihar is 86%, Assam is 89%, Orissa is 58%, Punjab is 67.6%, and West Bengal is 53.7%. Data released by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), indicates that while 2009-2010 is characterized by significant economic growth, this type of growth generated a rather small number of jobs. Furthermore, while the number of temporary workers grew by 21.9 million, the number of regular or full time workers only grew by 5.8 million, meaning that people have less opportunities to find stable and steady employment.

The last piece of statistic I wish to bring up is the measurement of inequality. Latest data released by the Planning Commission indicates that all-India inequality worsened - the Ginni coefficient (which measures inequality) went from .35 to .37.Inequality worsened in rural areas of ten states and urban areas of 18 states across India. If you want to compare to inequality in the United States', the Ginni coefficient in the US in 2009 was 46.8.

So we can see that while overall poverty declined, a closer look at the data indicates that India is experiencing a widening of the space between the proverbial "haves" and "have-nots." True, India is one of the world's fastest growing economies, with immense yet-to-be-realized potential, is home to the largest number of billionaires, but it also home to a large population in need of home and foreign government assistance.

Sorry, I veered into India-specific statistics, but I feel there a case to be made for foreign aid to the world's most vulnerable. What do you think?

Sources:

       Gilligan, Andrew “India tells Britain: We don’t want your aid” The Telegraph 4 February 2012 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/9061844/India-tells-Britain-We-dont-want-your-aid.html>

2.       Mehra, Achal “Let them eat cake” Little India 16 March 2012 <http://www.littleindia.com/commentary/12376-let-them-eat-cake.html>

3.       Mishra, Asit Ranjan “Fewer poor, but still a long way to go” LiveMint 20 March 2012 <http://www.livemint.com/2012/03/20003512/Fewer-poor-but-still-a-long-w.html?h=A1>

4.       Padhamanabhan, Anil “Poverty falls, but inequality worsens” LiveMint  20 March 2012 <http://www.livemint.com/2012/03/19225906/Poverty-falls-but-inequality.html?atype=tp>

Documentary - the kind that pulls at heartstrings

I someone post this preview of a documentary about an Israeli school. The documentary is called "Strangers No More" and was nominated for an Oscar. When I began watching the preview, tears came to my eyes, because I realized that I know that school, those rather unattractive walls, and those administrators - I was a volunteer English teacher there about six years ago - Rogozhin - the school that takes everyone who asked for an education irrespective of color, immigration status, age and religion.Tikkum Olam "fixing the world" at its finest.

The title is taken from Exodus - the Hebrew looks like this:

וגר לא־תונה ולא תלחצנו כי־גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים

The English translation: 

"You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt."

Enjoy the preview:

 http://vimeo.com/19453440

 Sadly, I won't be able to see it for a while, but if you get a chance, please do.

Happy 2012!

Since the last time you folks tuned in a few things have happened. My parents came for a visit. A and I met them in Delhi and took off on the tour of the Golden Triangle - the best of the best and most memorable that North India has to offer. Pictured above is Humayun's Tomb in Delhi. A beautifully restored UNESCO World Heritage site. Humayun conquered Delhi in the 1500s, because that was all the rage, ruled for about a year and died. His wife commissioned the tomb in 1562 and thanks to the efforts of the Agha Khan Foundation, it is a beautiful sight. The Persian architecture of this tomb serves as the model for the Taj Mahal.

 It was a good time all around. Aside from our own digital memories, pictures of our family grace many a facebook and physical albums of fellow Indian tourists. At one point, my parents sat on a platform at Agra Fort for a rest and no fewer than 10 families got a shot sitting next to them. They just shuffled through in a rather surprising calm and organized manner - it may have been the first time I saw this phenomenon. I think my parents were deeply uncomfortable with their new found celebrity status, but hey this is India and we don't blend in around these parts. They enjoyed hanging out in our apartment and going to Adequate...oops I mean Ideal Beach.

On 24 December 2011 there was a Hanukkah or Christmas miracle and we got our Ford figo. We named the new arrival the "phantom," since it took the Ford corporation a mere 4 months to manufacture the car, get our color, model, and price (prepaid 100%) wrong. The Ford Corporation also sent us a German diplomat's tax application as a "sample," and proceeded to lose our tax paperwork several times...but I digress, we are very happy to have our little "phantom." Sadly, my husband did not take up my suggestion of calling our figo - "red tape." The diver that we hired 4 months ago, who has been waiting so patiently, is also very happy the car finally came. I am thinking about our next sketchtastic destination and whether it is possible and legal to export our little bundle of joy - we shall see! Incidentally, our driver's name means "happiness" (contentment or delight). The three of us are very happy with the arrangement.

The auto drivers across the street and I separated amicably. They wave to me when I pass them in our "phantom" on the way to the office. No hard feelings, we still use their services when A wants to have a drink at a party. Just last night, we used an auto to go to a New Years Eve party at a friend's house.

Before wishing all a great 2012 I would like to give you a short rundown of 2011. I guess I need to reach a little further, since life changed for us dramatically in May 2010 a few minutes before we left for our graduation from SAIS, A "got the call" and by "the call" I actually mean an email inviting him to join the a foreign service training class. We got married a few months later, moved to Northern Virginia (which was really a lot less painful than anticipated), and A started his training. As A, began his training I became obsessed with my professional options and started a bridge consulting job in DC. My professional obsession helped me come out of my shell and reach out to many wonderful and interesting professionals working in DC and in South Asia. My interactions helped me gain a better understanding of India's economic and social history.

In 2011, I got an awesome job offer to work as an economist for a DC consulting firm with an office in - you guessed it - Chennai! SAIS mafia power. We both studied Tamil at the Foreign Service Institute. Many zip car rentals, exhausting shopping trips, and spreadsheets later, we packed up our life in the DC area. We saved up and went on our honeymoon in Spain. We moved to India. I learned to value access to an electrical generator and internet. I discovered that I have been under-utilizing my body's capacity to sweat. I went to Israel witness the marriage of a wonderful friend, met new friends and spent time with family. I spent a wonderful weekend in Dubai together with my best friend, who is currently based out of a much less prosperous and stable South Asian country.

After a rather shockingly short brush with Indian bureaucracy - getting a work permit six weeks after submission to the Ministry of External Affairs, is pretty much unheard in this country - I started a new job. I got to know wonderful co-workers and members of the diplomatic community. My work has taken me to Delhi to meet with senior members of the Indian civil service and industry experts. A and I both started doing yoga - A occasionally joins me for a practice. Yoga became my oasis from obsessively stressing about things that I cannot control as well as a gateway for a healthier lifestyle. My commitment to keep kosher has turned me into a de-facto vegetarian, which made for some interesting conversations. We hosted my parents' first foray into India and our little "phantom" arrived at our doorstep on Christmas Eve. All in all, a pretty incredible, challenging and fun year (technically year and a half).

Happy New Year to all! I hope your 2012 is filled with lots of love, friends, family, adventures, and of course good health! Since I don't believe in keeping New Years resolutions - I sincerely hope to be more consistent in posting to this blog and keeping up my personal research.