Email
Print
ShareOne editor I knew based the assessment on her three-year-old nephew. The more adventurous will include the travel writer's staple -- the taxi driver. This gent (it is usually a gent) is globally acknowledged as a pop philosopher, a psychobabble interpreter and a barometer of popular opinion. Driving up and down city roads apparently make you an expert on human behaviour.
However, chauffeurs who work for one boss are usually not accorded this status. They mix in rarefied circles (memsaabs, babalogs, maids and such). Then occasionally, someone will commission a survey and the agency will speak to 122.5-odd people (this is a statistical exercise which mere mortals are not supposed to question). Their answers will be distilled into percentages and so you will learn that 42.8 per cent of the population believes that rabbits live on the moon and 7.8 per cent are not sure.
To make a long story short, how does one figure out the mood of the nation this week? There's the election mood in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh and the pre-Diwali mood.
For Maharashtra, the cabbies feel that it is the Congress-NCP again, so do family and friends and as it happens so do the surveys. The general sense seems to be that the Lok Sabha pattern where the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena skewed the picture for the Shiv Sena and the BJP will be repeated. The most reliable meter here might be the bookies -- after all they have money to lose -- and they're on the Congress-NCP too.
So if you're backing the wrong horse, don't put too much money on it. That leaves the other two states and to be honest, no taxi driver spoken to had any clue. This includes Maharashtrians and North Indians, so all one can conclude is that one (that is I) cannot hazard a guess when the "don't know" category touches 100 per cent.
The Congress, however, thinks that it is winning in Haryana even though second terms have no historical precedent and are therefore a statistical no-no. The opposition however is in a bit of a tattered state and hey, there are always benefits to be accrued from NREGA. The story's similar in Arunachal -- the Congress looks the strongest and the opposition's a mess. This pop analysis is based on newspaper reports so it is likely that local spouses, taxi drivers and random people on the street have voiced their opinions to someone.
That leaves Diwali. Now this is a real leaves-you-stumped question. Are people buying or not buying? A newspaper supplement recommended for its readers to buy a pair of earrings worth Rs2.5 lakh. Yes, these had diamonds called baguettes which I'm guessing have nothing to do with French bread. Also suggested was a watch for Rs63 lakh. Is it fair to assume that the readership of this publication can afford this stuff or would like to afford it?
"Shopping" though is now a word in every Indian language and it is a national pastime. No cabbie had been consulted here, but it is likely that shopping may soon beat cricket as our favourite sport. Therefore, why should we stop this Diwali? Remember when government emporia would offer a 10 per cent rebate and then add a 10 tax? Many of these Diwali sales might be something like that. Some shops never remove their 'sale' stickers all year long, but at this time of the year, we can see them better.
For the salaried middle class which had to suffer salary cuts this year, though, Diwali is a dreaded time. The domestics expect and deserve their bonuses (plus the baksheesh to everyone else) but you're not going to get any. So the only thing to do is hide your wallet and weep. And before that, just check with spouse, cabbie, neighbour and vote for somebody.
