Review on the Riot by Shashi Tharoor

" it is all about the journey between oblivion and memory" says shashi Tharoor (ST) about his novel "Riot".

This happens to be my first social fiction and I could not resist writing down my reflections on this book.

The book , is more an observation than a ficiton. It covers the depth of human behavior and typical psyches. ST describes "India" in the perception of different minds. The minds of an American father who is working with an MNC , an american mother, a typical south Indian bureaucrat, another Sikh bureaucrat,an American girl who visits India as a part of her project, a muslim historian, a Hindu fundamentalist...ugh ! so many perceptions for the word "INDIA".

The context of the novel dates back to the year 1989, where in the communal tensions in northern India were erupting at different parts. ST really gets into the minds of the characters and makes the reader get the feel how these characters percieve India.

The subtelity with which he covers each and every "sensitive" issue in the Indian context is really excellent.

My reflections: I began to really feel the connectedness as i read through the book. I was highly impersonal throughout the reading and I could absorb the context and the message he was trying to convey.

ITS A MUST READ!

Free Market Paradigm

The Free Market Thinking – A State of Mind


I would like to reflect upon “Liberty” (of thought and discussion) of individuals and map it on to, rather try to look it from the aspect of free market. By free market I mean, the “Free Market Paradigm”, rather the “Free Market Concept”. This concept not only relates to business but also various walks of life. So I prefer this to call the Free Market psyche or the Free Market ‘think’. In short, it is a State of Mind.

By Liberty, I mean Liberty of thought and discussion. It relates to the restrictions on a free mind. This was a big question which has been attempted to answer in various fields.
Let us see the definition of the free market.
A free market economy is an idealized form of market economy in which buyers and sellers are permitted to carry out transactions based solely on mutual agreement without interventionism in the form of taxes, subsidies, regulation, or government provision of goods or services beyond simply the protection of property rights and enforcement of contracts. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market).

As definition goes, the buyers and sellers are free to carry on their business freely in free markets. I would like to attribute different roles for buyers and sellers in this article and try to check out the ways in which we can attempt to internalize the concept of Free Markets in our lives as managers.

Liberty Vs Democracy:

After years of organic evolution, the best form of government is and was supposed to be the Democratic form of Government. This was supposed to be the most free form of the Government which considers prime facie the opinion of the people (of the people, by the people, for the people). But, there seems to be a fundamental flaw in the way the government is thought of. It is clearly the rule of the majority. The minority, which is not considerably minor, is left unnoticed and uncared about. This actually can be termed as “predatory democracy” rather than people’s democracy. Here individual’s interests are of least importance. In this form, the society, the norms, the definitions of “good” and “bad”, all the fundamental things in life are decided rather dictated by the majority.

If we assign the Free Market think in this concept, then no matter to which class the individual belongs, minority or majority, his rights are always respected. Then the limits of the government are restricted by the sphere of individuality.

Now, comes into picture the limits of the government. The government, in a Free Market concept should act as a mere facilitator for the individual to lead life with liberty. It should hold the responsibilities which are key for safe human sustenance, and nothing beyond.

The Government! What is it? Where is it? What does it do? What ought it to do? All we know is, that it is a mysterious personage; and, assuredly, it is the most solicited, the most tormented, the most overwhelmed, the most admired, the most accused, the most invoked, and the most provoked of any personage in the world. (Source: Government, Frederic Bastiat, http://bastiat.org/en/government.html).

Then, the question arises whether it is possible practically to have such a form of government? It may be possible, if the democratic form restricts itself from participating or rather interfering in certain activities like trade and business, excessive taxing and laws which restrict individual liberty for the sake of the so called ‘majority’.
Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. (Source: Government, Frederic Bastiat, http://bastiat.org/en/government.html)

Liberty Vs society:

Society can be considered as a universal set containing small sub societies, of which individual is an essential or the prime unit. Society is responsible for the security and welfare of the individual and individual as its beneficiary is responsible or accountable for the society. The relation should be just this, but nothing beyond. Society infringes into the individuals’ decision making of his/her personal life. It binds individual to accept what it thinks “good” or “bad”.
This analogy can also be brought out in the case of religion of the majority. In history there are many instances that clearly prove that the practices of the majority always prevailed and were approved by the law of the land.

If we impart the free market mind set in this context, the relation between society and individual should be mere give and take rather than society acing like an intimidator of an individual. The society should give an individual enough freedom which in turn expects certain accountability for the freedom. So this makes any individual in the society to act rational enough to reduce the cost involved. Here both the society and the individual can aim at having a positive sum game rather than one being the looser and the other winner.

Liberty Vs Life:

Life can be considered as business where you invest your emotions and expectations. Generally, any problem in life is settled in a way which has a least cost involved (need not be monetary) to both the parties. And this is the essence of free market. The transaction which involves the least transaction cost always is agreeable to both the parties. This can be even reflected in every walk of our life, right from the way we parent children, openness to ideas, innovation etc.

Coming to the free market thinking in parenting, the parent should imbibe in his/her child the importance of him/her as an individual. The importance of their property rights should be drilled into their tender minds, so that they become strong along with their growth. This actually paves the way to ‘individual empowerment’ in a country which is a good sign for the growth of the nation. It is very important to the parent to be very open to the changes in the mindsets and approaches of their children until they violate basic human value system, which again should be decided with the consensus of the younger generation.
As a rational individual, the grown ups should also have a judicious approach towards this free market mind set. It is to be clearly understood that it is not being a rebel to the societal system or behaving in an eccentric manner. It is to have enough respect to your own property rights and equally important is to respect others’ rights. Our limits should be properly defined.

Liberty supports self ownership. According the philosophy of liberty an individual’s liberty is as important as his life.
“I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry.

The philosophy of liberty and the Free Market Concept have the same underlying principle of individual empowerment. The concept clearly states the individual has got the utmost propriety on his property and he/ she is owner of himself (includes his thought and action).
The idea behind, is that human being is rational enough to correct his mistakes by two ways, being, discussion and experience. The society (read market in business context) should give the individual the chance to experience his errors to correct them. This, in turn makes him realize the ultimate “truth”. The concept of “truth” is very abstract. The concept goes thus, what ever may be the defined “god” and “bad” but, the truth remains only one and at last the truth prevails. This can be, in one sense, called the state of equilibrium.

So, unless the individual’s liberty comes into conflict with the truth, he/she has the ultimate authority on himself and his property, and this is property right. The individual has every right to choose a leader for himself, but it should not be imposed on other individual without his/her consent.


Coming back to the free market thinking and how it is relevant to the future managers of the corporate world. It becomes the prime responsibility of the managers to understand the ground rules in the free market concept and internalize the concepts. Having done this, they should have the rationale to appreciate the underlying principle in this paradigm and try to apply this in different walks of the management. The free market think broadens the vision of a manager to think in the dimensions like “Firm with in a Firm” and “Strategic Business Units” which brings out the business from the vicious circle of profit longing to something beyond.


References:
1. On Liberty by John Stuart Mill. (Ideas on individual Liberty)