The Evil Spell

 During my childhood days we used to visit our ancestral village near Puri to spend the summer vacations. We had a cow shed which harbored a few cows in their last throes but still produced milk twice a day - during the morning and evening. I used to accompany my PIUSI NANI (father's sister) to the cowshed. The old cow with shrunk udder hardly produced half a litre of milk. Our Piusi would cover the top of the container with a piece of cloth while she carried the meager amount of milk back home.

I thought she did it to prevent dirt and insects usually swarming around the clumsy, smelly cowshed from contaminating the milk. But later on I discovered the real reason. She was covering the container as she staunchly believed "LOKE DRUSTI PAKEI DEBE or in Hindi as they say NAZAR LAG JAYEGI (people will cast their evil eyes)". She was alluding to our immediate neighbor who lived in abject poverty, their family often going without food to bed at night might cast their evil eyes on the milk.

We weren't extremely rich but quite well off to wonder why someone would cast evil eyes on half litre of milk ? Well, those were the days when poverty wasn't so uncommon in Odisha which was one of the poorest states of the nation. Many marginal farmers and traders lacked stable and sustainable income, often ending up being unable to make both their ends meet. Salaried class folks were considered privileged ones as their month end paychecks kept their kitchen humming in those days when the government was the largest employer. 

Now although 60% of Indians still live in less than $2 a day, affordability has gone up considerably compared to those days. A thriving middle class now is affluent with climbing purchasing power. Such kind of abject poverty is a thing of the past and unlike those days not many are going to bed hungry. India is now a $3 trillion economy with close to $1 trillion Forex reserve under its belt. Over last few decades India has able to bail tens of millions out of poverty.

But the insecurity in mind still persists and hasn't changed a whole lot. In the meantime the human physche has graduated from 1/2 litre milk to the new model fancy car which might attract neighbor's DRUSTI (cast an evil eye on). It will take a whole generation to overcome the stigma of poverty and shibboleth associated with it. As per our Odia Dhaga - "ABHABE SWABHABA NASTA (Deprivation spoils the human nature"), scarcity can lead to a manifestations in superstitions believes.

Another example is China. It has come a long way since the country liberalized its economy. Last year Chinese President Xi Xinping boasted about removing its last person from below their poverty line, a commendable achievement. China has succeeded in moving 650 million, a gargantuan number out of poverty since they adapted the slogan "Getting rich is fun" in the late 1970s, relinquishing communism in favor of Capitalism.

However it has yet to get rid of its insecurities. Unlike America and the erstwhile superpower Soviet Union, the global powers of last century, it has never felt confident enough to take a leadership role as its hangover of being a poverty striken country still persists. USA and Russia aren't risk averse and have lead from the front on many occasions. In contrast China hasn't dared to make any full scale invasion a nation. USA has invaded way too many countries after the World War II. Russia has its share in Ukraine and Afghanistan. China has never been able to step up its military adventures, limiting to few skirmishes on Vietnam and Indian border. Though a $15 trillion economy 5 times that of India, it is still unable to get rid of its insecurity mindset even if it has been able to get rid of poverty.

Change is inevitable. Change is the order of the day. Progress in materialism and accompanied change in status doesn't change the human psychology - not too fast, not too soon. It takes ages to bridge the hiatus, probably generations.