Till the advent of airplanes, sea voyage was the principle means of interconnectivity amongst civilizations spread across the continents. To the Caste Hindus however, sea voyage was a taboo. Caste Hindus viewed all foreigners as mleccha - ‘unclean,’ ‘uncivilized’ and ‘unworthy’ of human association. In few Hindu Dharma Shastras, the term mleccha is applied to describe Dalits. Whatever the explanations, to the Caste Hindus, contact with other civilizations was a religious sacrilege. Was it a fear factor - of ‘pollution’? Or, the Caste Hindus had some secrets to hide from the rest of the world!

Sure enough, Hindus’ view of their “Self” and Globalization are a contradiction in terms. Against the traditional Caste Hindu code, Globalization has become a lived reality.

Globalization– economic reforms and the market economy – has become a reality in this country not because of efforts of any individual asking mlecchas to enter India. As the term goes, Globalization is a global phenomenon and no nation could have escaped it. N Koreas could be notable exceptions. The phenomenon of globalization is driven more by IT revolution than by any political or economic ‘conspiracies’ unleashed by the powerful. With the invention of Internet, there was no way localism could retain its ‘purity’.

No wonder then, conservative Caste Hindu groups were the first to oppose Globalization and its attendant economic behavior. Intriguing as it might appear, Indian industrialists were the second most articulate block in opposing Globalization. The Left groups too joined the Right and the business lobbies in their battle against Globalization. My suspicion began. Whenever the Right and Left conservatism made an ideological cocktail with business establishment as an added ingredient, some landmark rupture must have been threatening to occur in this country. The past holds plenty of evidences to that end.

The organized Right opposes Globalization on two counts: to protect Indian culture from the ‘immoral’ Western cultures; and to protect national interest by keeping multinationals away from the Indian market. The traditional business group called the Bombay Club petitioned the State to protect Indian businesses from the threat of multinationals. The Left feared second coming of imperialism this time led by the US, and cited ‘national interest’ in opposing Globalization.

All the three organized groups opposing Globalization are unanimous in defending ‘national interest’- the indigenous bourgeoisie being the spirit of India-the-nation. They feared that the more competitive and technologically advanced multinationals would run over Indian businesses. Driven by this fear the quasi Socialist State had protected Indian businesses since independence. Amusingly, the quasi-socialist Indian State protected the indigenous bourgeoisie in the name of the underclass.

The world over, people aspire for worldly goods. Underclass the world over is driven by an exceptional desire to enter the middle class basket. The ticket to the middle class basket comes at price though. To qualify for the middle class basket, the aspirant household must possess certain material markers. In India for instance, possession of material goods as Refrigerators, Color TV sets, phones, cooking gas connections, and a two-wheelers if not a car, are a prerequisite for a middle class status. Without these material markers, a family is not noticed in this country.

Circa 1990, material goods mentioned above were so highly priced and inaccessible to the prospective middle class aspirant that marriages were settled or broken over such items. Their in-laws for having not brought some of those goods burned thousands of newly married women to death.

The goods mentioned above were expensive and beyond the reach of most Indians. A few Indian companies who formed sort of cartels to jack up the prices produced most of these goods. Those who could possess those material markers were the ones with a history of inheritances - often the traditional upper castes. If some Indians could save money to buy goods of pride, many of them were not available in the market. A particular brand of scooter was available only in foreign currency. For most two-wheelers there was a waiting period of over five to eight years. Waiting period for phone and cooking gas connectivity could be as long as a decade.

Pre 1990, the Indian manufacturers were doubly protected. The rigid license/ permit regime discouraged prospective new [Indian] entrepreneurs entering manufacturing. Courtesy high custom duty, Indian manufacturers were also protected from foreign companies. On certain goods, the custom duty could be as high as five hundred percent. Protected by the Indian State, Indian manufacturers forced third-rate goods on Indian consumers.

Call it mother of all ironies, but it was a true. Indian manufacturers would not use goods they themselves produced. They would import instead. While they imported goods themselves and took great pride with ‘foreign-made’ possessions, they told Indians to think of the ‘Nation’ first. They sold the slogan- ‘Be Indian, buy Indian.’

Post 1990, the impact caused by globalization is heartening. The most aspired worldly goods have not only become dirt cheap, but also immediately available. The predominantly Upper Caste Consumer Club has lost its exclusivity. The mleccha companies have given hopes to the local mlecchas as well; many of who can now access the symbols of pride.

In the planned long series on this all important question - Globalization and Caste - I would like to show as how the market economy is universalizing access to aspirations. I am collecting bills of circa 1990 to show how expensive consumer goods were then and how cheap the same have become today.

My cousin, an Engineer with a leading public sector oil company, bought a 53 centimeter screen Color TV on July 23, 1995 from a shop near Delhi’s NOIDA. He paid Rupees 20,900/ for that damn TV set. He could afford that expensive TV as he had interest free loan facility from his company. The same size color TV with world-class technology is available for Rupees 06, 500/ today.

The same cousin of mine had bought a refrigerator on January 10, 1991, and paid Rs. 8,000. Refrigerator of the same size with world-class frost-free technology is now available for Rupees. 7,800/ today.

My nephew had joined merchant navy as a sailor and would crisscross continents too often. A young sailor, he wanted to be in touch with the family. Phone was one medium. My brother had applied for a phone connection years ago but waiting period was too long. My nephew had to pay a price for owning a phone at the earliest.

The Department of Telecommunications – the solo agency to provide phone service in India– had come out with OYT [Own Your Telephone] scheme wherein consumers could get phone connectivity within a couple of weeks. But, OYT came at a premium. My nephew applied for a phone connection on July 17, 1995 under the OYT scheme and paid Rupees 12,000.

With so many private companies competing for subscribers today, a telephone connection can be installed within twenty four hours by paying a mere Rupees 1,500/ today.

Change post 1990!

Worse fears of the forces of Indian ‘nationalism’ seem to have come true. The particular brand of the Indian scooter, which was available only in foreign currency, is pushed out of the Indian roads today. The much better Honda Scooter, and also cheaper, is a hot cake. There is no waiting list for any of the two-wheelers. Many a two-wheeler companies are now home delivering their products in a day’s notice.

That damn Indian refrigerator with a Jet engine like sound is nowhere in the sight. The indigenously made Color TV sets have lost authority to show broken images in Indian homes. The government owned phone company officials have learnt to behave with consumers lest they switched sides- to private service providers.

Within less than two decades, the Exclusive Club of inheritance propelled Consumers are in tantrums. As the school teachers too can now possess material markers of pride, the traditional middle class has lost its Exclusivity.

In other words, the mlecchas’ led Globalization has begun universalizing access to worldly goods of pride. Millions of local mlecchas too can now lay their hands on material markers of pride. Manu must be restless.

We, therefore, are witness to a social phenomenon where the Globalization led market economy is questioning the very notion of ‘nationalism.’ Companies like Samsung, Honda and LG have outpaced Indian companies. The Indian companies, which collaborated with Multinationals, are doing well though.