EUPHEMISTIC ENCROACHMENT.

“Euphemism” to me is like speaking while grinding your teeth. The pinnacle of disillusion & dilemma- no, not for the listeners but for the speakers. Their hallucinating temporary bouts of pleasantness, aping while cloaking the obvious. “HA!!” is my reply.

“GLOBALISATION”-the most sought, cherished & the cursed boon is a fancy word. Very pleasant and hip. Enough has been written, talked, debated & fought over coffee-tables, classrooms & offices alike by friends, students, teachers & managers about the new found power to be unleashed, used & tapped to unravel the underlying potential of this world. It is in vogue to take over companies & do each other’s jobs. Indians can Americanize their English & Americans can learn Hindi. We can clean their toilets & they can make us pizzas-all this done very sweeeetly! All cloaked & accepted-“It’s globalization!!”-they say. Americans call India to fix their TV’S, we forget educating slum-children and are in a frenzy to home tutor American children. It’s fashion and universally misunderstood, appreciated, gaped with awe-all the while draining!

Is globalization a euphemism for encroachment??

Cultures are lost-cry hoarse the culturists, values & principles lost blame nationalists, society’s lost blame the sociologists. Shouldn’t globalization be limited to business? Can it be stopped at that & not creep into my daily cuppa? What if I don’t want the overpriced Versace & want to stick to the cotton from Crowford market. Should I watch with tears as my favorite little stalls grow in size because of global business- as stupid Americans buy things in bulk (because they are cheap!)- While I, an Indian, in India die of shortage.

It all started with students trying to study and learn abroad, went on to businessmen seeking apprenticeship, took a complete turn from poor to rich migration to the rich to poor. It soon became a manufacturing strategy & now retail, clothes, food chains, consumer goods, everything has been encroached on. Wealth creation, creating jobs, spoilt for choice, raising standards of living, opening the doors of opportunities, making the big bad world into the small, pitiable, playable on the fingertips palmtop- yeah, sure it all fells good you say but I have my share of convincing to do!

Why did human civilizations differ? Why aren’t Asians as tall as the north Americans…etc? There exists a fundamental difference in the people of different regions. Geographically, climatically, the lifestyles and cultures, the religions, fun & frolic. All these differing on absolute natural and logical reasons. If the entire world moves around in jeans- how boring would it be? If Cuban cigars are considered the best & are distributed all over the world, if Indian spices are packed & exported- would people travel at all??? why should I?? I can see India on my computer (all graphically thanks to Google earth & several other travel websites!)…I can taste the spices from nearby global Indian store & speak to Indians online, better still in the neighborhood. Will the reason of touching the rocks of some historic relics be the only incentive to travel because all cities due to globalization will look alike- CONCRETE JUNGLES. All people will speak English – because it is just profitable that way. Everyone will look alike because every day’s not fancy dress. Will this lead to the UNIVERSAL MAN! Where the ultimate goal is to make “poorer” countries richer by revolutionary globalization- by taking their cheap resources to make them more expensive invariably. An egalitarian society in every aspect of the material dimension. Will that be complete globalization-HA!ACHEIVED!!

The ultimate goal of globalization is offering affordable goods & services to everyone-well, surely that is not happening. The rich get richer & the poor get relatively richer but subsequently remain the same-POOR. In fact, the growth spurred in the developing countries by globalization is only in pockets. Like in China- the NW province remains as underdeveloped as ever & in India, Bihar & UP remain poor. This whole concept seemed to have turned in to EXPLOITATION by greedy capitalists- not enough monetary policies for the wealth earned by the MNC’s to be reinvested at the source-THE IRONY!

I think I don’t know the significance of half the Hindu festivals. It’s all vague to me. I have never seen my village& I have totally lost those roots& like many Indians am working to be the globalised citizen of palmtops, smart suits, smooth talk & perpetually busy buzzing flights. The world is my home & I say that because my life has been encroached on and I am a refugee. Selling myself cheaply to the world, expensive to my own, giving away my clothes and taste-buds as souvenirs to buy relatively expensive (cheaply cultivated,)things in turn. As filter coffee gets expensive on time ( to make it in the morning)- I just go to CCD to drink stale coffee….never mind….I’m at least getting to a “hygienic”-global coffee brand serving me!! Everything’s being snatched by goading with traps- the next generation wouldn’t even know they existed. It’s ENCROACHMENT all without lathis, BMC…etc- it is by the suited, booted, ever smiling, extremely pleasant global citizens. Brain drain, culture drain, invariable wealth exploitation….I cry hoarse….THE EUPHEMISTIC ENCHROACHMENT!!!!!