Of Indians And Cowboys

I sit here, a broad spattering of themes around me.

Item #1: First New Jersey, then Minnesota, now Washington. Each is enacting laws to make outsourcing of menial jobs to India difficult, if not impossible.

I have two points of view on this, seemingly contradictory. The US is being as protectionist about jobs as our PSUs. With their higher personal tax rates, social security, and medicare, the US may be behaving more like a socialist state than we are. I oppose these US restrictions, just as I'd oppose our own welfare state-driven policies.

Yes, we should work to have these laws repealed-we have as much right to take their services jobs away as the Chinese who stole their manufacturing jobs.

But why on earth should we want to? I am appalled that our biggest companies think all we're capable of are third-rate jobs like answering phones, transcribing prescription and doing the accounts. It fills me with sadness to see Sumos laden with our hopes for tomorrow driving the night shift to Gurgaon: is this really the tomorrow we're hiring global pr agencies to fight for? Have we built our education system to create a nation of receptionists? How do I convince a generation of youngsters that this is an evil set of jobs?

My refrain: Yes, we're a third-world country, but is that all we can be?

Item #2: The budget slaps an 8 per cent service tax on BPO operations, I read. Unless Nasscom re-classification and lobbying changes that, it may be another pressure point on BPO's downward spiral: Spectramind barely made 60 per cent of its last quarter estimate, and other large BPO operations are running at 25 per cent of capacity. Like the wasted investments in dotcoms, our VCs have put over $100 million in BPOs. This too will go down the drain, and I have a bitter-sweet feeling about it.

My refrain: Yes, we're a third-world country, but is that all we can fund it to be?

Item #3: Another unmissable theme is the loud noise from the US as an apostle of peace and Those Who Bring Freedom To The Iraqis From Saddam.

I am no Saddam defender, he is up there in the ranks of dictators who deserve to go, with Musharraf, Kim and Mugabe-among others. But much as the US propaganda machine would have us believe so, this isn't about good over evil. If it were so, the others on the list would've been targeted, not coddled.

This isn't even about September 11. The connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda, as a now-infamous cartoon says, is probably limited to the letter 'q'.

It is also not about an undemocratic nation with Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Gore got more votes than Bush, the latter's in power, and has hundreds of times as many WMDs as Iraq, while being the only nation with a track record of using nuclear weapons to massacre innocents. The WTC civilian casualty list is peanuts compared to what the US inflicted on Vietnam and Japan. Does that mean we have the right to bomb dc?

It is also not about ignored un sanctions: if it was, why is the US so eager to do the UN's job without its permission?

The impending war, I can only presume, is about oil. The Texans want to control the world's second-biggest supply and the events around the Middle-East have given them an unprecedented opportunity to do so.

So what should we as Indians do? Support the US position in the hope that we continue to get telephone-answering jobs? Or hope they'll help topple Musharraf? Or will that happen only if Pakistan discovers oil?

We are a billion people-four times as populous, 50 times as old a civilisation. Why can't we stand up and say our mind, rattle our sabre, show our clout?

My refrain: Just because we're a third world country, are we expected to behave as such?

Item #4: We come back from the depths of incompetence, raise our game, and stride with power and grace into the Super Six, with a confidence not even Australia had against England.

My refrain: Just because we're a third world country, are we expected to behave as such?

I don't think so. The cowboys don't always have to win.