I am compelled to comment on a recent article that was sent to me by my sister. Specifically, this is an instance of the "Slice of Life" column by V.Gangadhar titled "Down with the Visa system" that appeared on The Hindu, arguably the best Indian newspaper.
The gist of the article is that Mr. Gangadhar and his wife are eagerly counting down the days to their daughter's visit home (in India) from the USA. As with most Indian families with offspring abroad, such visits are rare owing to several factors. The bottom line is that the daughter is unable to board the flight because she did not have a transit visa for France (she was earlier told by officials that she would not need one). This results in her cancelling the trip, and the article is basically one long dramatic complaint by her father, culminating in his wanting to dissolve the visa system.
At the outset, let me say that I completely understand the situation VG is in. Having seen his daughter only twice in the past 5 years, a visit is most definitely worth looking forward to, and all the preparations he made (described in the article) were definitely indicative of their love for the daughter and totally justified. I am more uncomfortable with his daughter's reason for cancellation of the entire trip. If visiting India were such an important thing, a small visa hiccup should not have to topple her plans. Hiccups happen, and there has to be a plan B. Agreed, not everyone has a plan B all the time (especially this is a weird last minute twist that foiled the trip). But how difficult would it be to schedule another trip the following month, or to move the trip dates by an extra week? Why did that have to warrant postponement of the trip to the following year??? And finally, why blame the visa system for something like this? The visa system is a well-established system that has worked for a long time; with no visas, everyone would freely move to other countries and the world as we know it today would be a shambles. No, don't even mention 9/11 please.
Which all brings me to explain why "the Matrix has you". To anyone who has seen the movie, the prognostication is that our minds and thoughts are influenced and essentially controlled by an external entity, and we simply live out our lives following pre-programmed algorithms. The thought of that is definitely scary. But I feel a lot of us lead lives in that fashion. Take the life of a typical middle class Indian person as an example. This might be the algorithm:
1. Get born
2. Complete elementary+high-school education
3. Complete undergraduate degree in (computer) engineering
4. Move to United States for a Masters
5. Find a job.
6. Get married.
7. Work, work, work.
8. Have >= 1 baby.
9. Work, work, work more to support child, sacrificing personal life.
10. Die.
No -- don't get me wrong -- I'm not being cynical. I'm just trying to say that somehow such an algorithm seems to get applied onto a large group of people and aberrations are either viewed suspiciously, or denounced.
What does any of this have to do with this article? Well, my feeling is that algorithm has possibly obtained a vice-grip on the lives of people such as VG's daughter. I am sufficiently convinced that her reason for cancellation has to do with the fact that international travel can only take place in a certain time of the year (like summer), vacation time at work can never be moved over to another time of the year (possibly because kids must go to school), etc. etc. Life ends up becoming one huge compromise. No one has time to do what they really love to do, to meet the people they really love and who love them back the same way, to enjoy nature and life the way people probably used to do several centuries ago.
The Matrix has you.
Posted by beemboy at August 11, 2002 10:06 AMVery good post!
Posted by: Kalyan on August 11, 2002 02:14 PMNice Post. I do have to mention that this situation was most likely not any different in the past. (Please excuse my blatant Buddhist bias in the following text). Buddha was vexed by the same cycle of suffering, samsara, back in 600 B.C.E. The algorithm he saw was similar: birth, sickness, suffering, death.
I was flipping channels last weekend when I caught a portion of the Suze Orman Show (A show on personal finance). Suze had a caller, a 23 year old newly married woman who had recently purchased a home. She wanted to know how she should invest the extra money she had. Suze strongly urged her to start a college fund for her children! I was stupefied. Suze's advice does make sense in the face of increasing college tuition and an uncertain future. However, here was a young woman in the prime of her youth. Instead of seeing the world, enjoying her youth and living her life fully she now had to prepare for the arrival of the next generation of the species. I cherish my freedom, illusory as it may be.
Posted by: A. User on August 11, 2002 03:49 PMKalyan, I do not entirely agree with ur comments - I agree that we need to spend money for ourself - like tourism, fun etc etc. But I find nothing wrong in saving money for a future college fund or something - saving "something" for the future is goodness - saving "everything" is not :-) Remember the famous quote "Sambathikiranga - Selavazhikiranga" !!!
Ravi, the algorithm u have said - I want to tell u that there r millions of people in India who would love to be in this cycle (or algo) which u described - the problem is only a select few r able to successfully live according to the 10 steps - since u (or we) are well on our way to complete those 10 steps, it looks like a routine algorithm for u - but there r several millions for which the 10 steps r quite different and worse - and they would love to be in our shoes.
PS - Somehow I dont like to reply like this - wont it be nicer to discuss such stuff in email threads ? What do u guys think ?
Posted by: Sriram on August 11, 2002 08:01 PMNeedless to say this is definitely a good post although I think the two issues addressed here are independent of each other. Though the author claims they are correlated in this context I beg to disagree.
Firstly the visa issue addressed in this post. I would like to bring to the notice of the author that citizens of the United States do not require a visa to enter certain countries. Merely the fact that they are citizens of the United States is "visa enough". Likewise citizens of certain countries do not require a visa to enter the US. Ofcourse without a visa requirement we all know how many people would be knocking on America's doors.
In the situation described in the article by V.G. The solution would have been a 'transit visa'. This is common practise followed by several countries.
Coming to the second issue on hand,the algorithm we all follow. What can one say but one is free to choose the algorithm he or she chooses to. Is it hard ? Yes, but then if you so badly want develop and follow an algorithm of your own, feel free. Parents and society are prescribing an algorithm they feel has worked for them or think is the best to follow for "success" (success the way they choose to define it) in life. Take it or leave it, the choice is all yours. And if you are choosing a different algorithm, maybe trying and reasoning it out with your near and dear ones will help in avoiding heartaches. Remember one thing though if your algorithm does not achieve the desired results you will have no one to blame !
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