Once upon a time there was a Bofors Gun, it became fast friends with a dune of cow fodder. But the cow fodder was decomposed by microbes and the Bofors Gun was very lonely. Its solitude ended when it crossed paths with the G brothers namely 2G and 3G. The Bofors Gun said , “ Even I have a G in my name.” and they were inseparable ever since.
Scandals and jokes apart , the market suffered a lot when suddenly faced with globalization. Indira Gandhi took a drastic but far sighted measure of downsizing INR, in the wake of which she faced truncation from her seat. A visionary has always had his/her flaws. Hers were just more apparent to the masses blinded by greed and illiteracy.
The following decade saw a turnaround and tempest of economical change. An auto boom , relaxation of duties , fragmentation of resources to public sector and so on. The economy opened up the Indians awakened from their slumber and took to carving silicon to chips. Those chips sold faster than Frito lays and India barged in on the Global market with a boom.
Indians have always had a Knack of making a cheaper alternative to things. Many of us have a memory of being out with our mother and eyeing a Pizza at the Fast food joint and our mom cut in saying, “ Ghar pe is se achha aur healthy banaungi” ( I can make a better and healthier one at home.) But what we got was just the regular dried cabbage + potato fried gravy dripping from the top of the base. Well Pizza hut didn’t mind that drippy and unexpectedly savoury dish but when it escalated to other areas, people started to mind. It probably did start when a popular socialite noticed a housewife having a purse of the same design as hers but spelling Guccy instead of Gucci; and just like that many things which went by unnoticed came to light and Intellectual Property Rights became the talk of the town. The English Teachers started to patent their poems, so did the Biology one for his theory on how Shiva Urinating on the world; created life.
Now we live in a world where even an extra millisecond counts. Apparently the time of some people like Bill Gates is so valuable that if he sees a 100 $ bill on the ground and picks it up, he would actually be at a loss in contrast to the situation that he walked on while being engaged. If the world is cut-throat; obviously hordes will be in pursuit of sharper blades. The blades are sharpened by Intellectual Property Rights. It acts like a Grindstone and sharpens the blade but also lessens its girth every time. Some patents ought to be relaxed for the greater good of humanity or so do some people say. Is it right to profit off HIV/AIDS drugs’ patents in countries like India and South Africa where it is more rampant than common cold (figuratively)? What if someone patents the disease itself to the country where it first became a pandemic though an unravelling of Hippie Culture, psychedelics and epidermal needles? Will the country in question be responsible for providing for the 60 odd million affected through out the globe? If not then can they really claim the patent of their research? The questions keep piling up without a single suitable answer. The answer is either West-centric or third world-centric. The third world wasn’t third before the west came with their siphons and sucked off its resources in name of Industrial revolution. They didn’t ask or think of land ownership much, intellectual rights are way off the grid. India invented zero and now the world works on 010101 . We never claimed the world as our own. India has always been the land of humility. Even when lord Krishna had a headstrong Army of millions behind him, he went as negotiated with Duryodhana to give the Pandavas at least 5 villages. But the crooked never return the favour. We just walk away waving our hands in considerable disgust as to; what good is a country who’s Queens adorns a crown embedded with a stolen jewel anyway?
Once the Spartan Philosopher and legislator Lycurgus was prompted by his neighbour to come and see a jester mimic a nightingale. He in all his laconic wit replied, “I’ve heard the Nightingale itself.”