WHOSE BROTHER IS HE?

Dedication

To all those who find time and most importantly patience to read this which doesn't add any value to anybody.

Prelude

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Well, this is not Dickens, but a set of random scenes that occurs during the time of financial crisis that started in 2008. It was the best of times as the entire world was in economic ascendancy  It was the worst of time as the so called financial system that builds an economy collapsed spectacularly, leaving economists in the world in situation they never envisaged – atleast the majority of the economists. But credit has to be given to the collapse as it is single handedly responsible for instilling the word “recession” in the vocabulary of millions of people – even people who do not speak English. It also gave opportunity for many employers to get into crazy cost saving mode like reducing or restricting the access of coffee vending machines in office premises. They still don’t understand neither the work nor the employer motivates an employee as much as a shot of caffeine. It was exactly at these times, the random events are set to be unfurled.

Scene 1

Location: A metropolitan city in India.

He is married for little over 2 years. He lives with his wife in a modest apartment not far from the city center. The apartment became part of their life 3 months back and is still in debt with the bank. He works in a leading software concern with satisfying pay check and a fancy job title and is now waiting at the dining table fully dressed ready to welcome the day at office which predominantly involves writing software code irrespective of his job tile. Flipping through the television remote, he settles on a business news channel he watches everyday to plan his next move in stock market. On reaching the channel he suddenly notices a frenzy of activity in the television screen. It took some time to find the cause of all activities as the screen is mostly filled with word “flash news” and “exclusive” in big fonts and in line advertisements. Finally he reads the news that runs as a ticker in mush lesser font size - “Lehman Brothers to declare bankruptcy”.

Indian IT industry employs more number of people than the population of some countries. But the sector is divided into technologies that, some time the world is too short for a group of people, no matter the number of companies they change. With the advent of social networking, it just becomes all easier. On seeing the news, his mind comes up with some of his friends working in the IT project outsourced by Lehman Brothers to his company and starts to wonder what will happen to them and future projects. At this time, his wife enters with a plate of breakfast and keeps it in front of him. The breakfast is as usual Idli – the humble idli prepared and savored for centuries and which the modern day dieticians declare to be unhealthier breakfast than the utterly hopeless and tasteless pack of oats.

With eyes still glued to the television set, he meticulously adds chutney to his plate of breakfast and starts eating. The precision of this action could have made a robot working at a factory blush. His thoughts now wander about what will be impact of this on the company he is working for as the economic impact of the news seems to be far more graver than his initial understanding. His wife joins him with her own plate of breakfast.

“Forgot to ask you, is salt ok in chutney?” said his wife.

“Yes” he replied. He has almost completed his breakfast.

Seeing her husband glued to the television and the tone of the answer given by him, she adds a spoon of salt in chutney and starts her breakfast.

Few months later

Scene 2

Location:  A remote village in India.

The pair of eyes is concentrating on the mirage that could be seen at an unknown distance. The eyes belong to The Master. The Master knows it should happen now and it happens. A giant ball of dust seems to raise and engulf the mirage. As it approaches, he could see the mini bus in the middle laboring through the unpaved road. On seeing the sight The Master enters his shop. The shop is just a structure made of thatched roof with a steaming boiler at one end of the entrance and a six feet long bench at the other end littered with newspapers. It is a typical village tea shop. He is called The Master as he has mastered the art of making one full glass of tea with half a glass of black tea and even lesser quantity of milk. The dust storm passes the shop and the bus stops at a distance from the shop. The Master sees The Villager getting down the bus and go straight to the village cooperative bank right opposite to the tea shop. Some people enter the shop and The Master becomes busy showing his expertise of making tea.

The Master knows The Villager as honest and straight forward person. But many people call The Villager a loser. While everybody else waited for the government to waive the interest off - which in turn did waive it off keeping the polls in mind - The villager had repaid all his dues against the agriculture loan he had bought. This tinge of honesty was enough to brand him as a loser. Whatever others say, The Master and The Villager are friends and they go a long way.  With all his customers served to their satisfaction, The Master patiently waits for The Villager to come out so that he can get a chance to speak with him and duly The Villager comes out of the bank and enters the tea shop.

“What made you come here and why are you worried?” said The Master after seeing the disappointment in The Villagers face.

“You know the monsoon was very good this season and I made some good profit this year. I wanted to use the money and with some loan from bank wanted to buy cows to start a small dairy” said The Villager.

“Well that is good news! You can do it with your hard work”

“But the bank did not give me loan”

“Why?”

The Villager took a sip of the tea handed over by The Master and stared at The Master.

“I don’t know, the manager says the bank is not having enough cash and is not authorized to give new loans. The manger was kind enough to explain why and what happened, but I did not understand anything. In the end, I am not getting any loan for now”

“May be this is what many people are saying as ‘recession’”, pitched in The Master.

“Could be! The manger said it all started with the collapse of Lehman Brothers”.

The Master looking at the disappointed face of The Villager asked, “But whose brother is he?”