Barack Obama - The Pied Piper from UncleSamville

This year's Diwali celebrations in our country have been garnished by the arrival of two honoured guests, viz., Ms. Michelle and Mr. Barack Obama, First Lady and President of the US of A, respectively. Thanks to the plethora of channels available today, we have had the privilege of following them by the minute sitting in the cosy comfort of our homes and am sure much of India, like me, was glued to their TVs over the weekend watching them. But I do wonder if anyone truly saw beyond the images of the dancing with tentative steps, a contemplative, slow delivery of answers to questions or shaking hands with primary school kids and squatting to speak to them and give away little gifts. What is playing out in front of us is truly history that will shape this Nation and its people in a couple of decades. If you don't believe me, hang around and you will see. And if you ask why, then read on……….. As I have discussed before on this Forum, India has over 500 Million people below the age of 28. This makes us the youngest country in the World at a median age of 24.7 yrs (This 500 Million represents almost double the population of the US!). And we are adding 20 Million more to this every year!! As Europe and China ages in the decade to come, India will be one of the few countries with a healthy working age population and willing and able to supply the World's workforce across the Globe and not just in India. This could be in services, back-offices, manufacturing, research and even Agriculture and not just IT. Am sure the Harvard Law School brain of Mr. Obama would have figured this quite well. Get this.... The global workforce of the future of about 500 Million Indians are not just toilers but are also consumers!!! And the number will grow to 800 Million in 20 years. So these kids of today should be easy pickings for the American Businesses and entrepreneurs, right? Not really..... These kids have been growing up in a milieu that still does not fully trust the US for many reasons, not least of which is its support to Pakistan among other things. And then they live among the older generation of Indians who clearly mistrust the US for historical reasons and that's not going to change soon either. So here's the catch for a President who wants to tap into this humongous consumer base of the future. So what does he do............ ? He makes a brilliant move. He gets of his plane and heads straight to pay the regulation obeisance to India’s past, arguably the moral and spiritual force of India, Mahatma Gandhi's Memorial and quickly takes off to meet the children and the youth of this country. He wants to touch them, feel them, know them, jive with them and make a “connect”. He is willing to answer any question on any topic, dressed like just another guy and unlike a President of US. He speaks slowly, deliberately, openly, with no bias for gender, speaks highly of Islam (realising a sixth of the 500 Million Indian kids watching and connecting are Muslim), puts Pakistan is perspective and even goes to the extent of saying, "you and your generation have a great opportunity to correct the mistakes of the previous two Generations". He was connecting up with not just the 300 college kids out there but to the 300 Million around this country of that age. And he does not stop there with just high school and college kids. He goes further to meet some of the poorest of primary and secondary school children, 10 of them, within the ramparts of Humayun's tomb, shakes hands, gets up close and even gives them all a gift that they will cherish for a lifetime. The setting of the tomb may have been the ultimate symbolism - let us bury the past and start a new relationship, you and I, let’s shake hands and be friends for a long long time. I want to pause a bit and introduce you to couple of concepts here. Dan Ariely in his classic book on human behaviour , Predictably Irrational, says there are two types of contracts between human beings – one driven by Market norms and the other by social norms. The former is simply that we have people providing goods and services to us and we pay them the market determined price for it. The relationship is predominantly transactional. The latter is the social norms based contract which is unwritten and unspoken but drives many of our relationships at home, at work, at social gatherings and in society at large. We still get our goods and services but we pay as price trust, friendship, camaraderie and an unwritten promise to help or provide a service at a later date. Am sure you get the drift. Let me tempt you to go to the book for more on this wonderful subject. Now back to our Mr. Barack Obama……. Don’t for a moment get fooled that he is doing all this for photo-Ops or to show what a “cool” guy he is. He is doing it with a mission and a clear strategy. He is clearly breaking with the past of a market-norm based transactional relationship with this country and its government that has been riddled with bias, mistrust and one-upmanship and (re?) establishing a social-norms based relationship directly with its people and its future leaders, policy-makers and people. Clearly, this is far easier than re-establishing trust with the current Generation of leaders and policy-makers. And this is his way to secure the future of his children, Sasha and Malia, along with millions of other American kids for several decades to come. Thus, folks, it is not about the US$18 Billion he is taking away in orders or the 50 to 60000 American jobs it will create that he is here for. He will certainly take it as a small Diwali gift from India but he is playing for the big stakes and for the long term. He is truly the Pied Piper who is leading our children on a path of friendship and trust to a place called hope and prosperity for not only our children but also his own. At least, so he thinks……. and I see no reason not to trust him. As elders of this town, let’s keep watch but leave him to play his flute and enchant our children as he’s been doing last couple of days……...