I’m NOT anti-american. But that does NOT mean i will prostrate in front of americans or anything american…in fact i’ve always stated we copy all rubbish from the west & blame it on the poor americans. I do wish we can ape their power to say NO (well that too they let go of when they re-elected the rocket-scientist bush!!), fact that things move there at sonic speed, the people make things happen, they are at least concerned & focussed on their local area management, they believe in change & make it happen & lastly, they believe in true democracy…its not hypocritical, unlike in India…having said so, i think their policy makers are completely out of sync with the reality.

I am NOT accusing them. Let’s not forget the Americans have the last say in the world trade organisations, international relations, organisations, in the security concerns, leading financial institutions, lending banks & agencies like the International Monetary fund & the World Bank. Now in the already poorly developed countries like India…yes, we are not poor & we are developed though it is arbit & lop sided development; we always regarded the IMF & WB as international monsters. When the social activists said this, or scholars too, they were all (including many like me) as anti-american, pro-communist, blah blah…now it does NOT connote and people should NOT interprete it wrongly. I believe they simply do NOT have their bearings in place.

The large dam issue for a change. We in India had our indigenous rustic check dams & small dams in place. Now if we wanted some billion $ loans for some project the WB twisted our arms because we did not have the bloody balls to tell them to Fuck off…unlike china we prostrated. I admire chinese policy makers because told the Americans, if they wanted china to accept international investments it would be ONLY on the Chinese terms & conditions. We are a confused nation. We lap up everything as if it is going out of stock tonight itself.

So let go of our indigenous intelligence & skills & instead we happily adopt some model which is trickle down, NO people’s participation & go for dams that are competing with mini skyscrapers. It is a damn joke on part of our ministers & highly selfish bureaucrats who are scared that the grassroots will rule the country one day. So in their monopoly to hold onto to power they follow the ridiculous policies of these American policy makers.

Now extend this to our financial scenario. Mr Manmohan Singh, the magician as Indians believe, who got us from high debts to a booming economy. A financial wizard, agreed to all terms & conditions of the investment advisors & so-called financial experts & bankers from America in 1987. So now we had nationalised banks that gave us at least 10% interest, we had decent credit rates, low loan recovery rates, nationalised saving options. We were buffoons according to the international experts. They said, look you Indians you have weird, rustic banking sectors. If you want our funding, want more American investments then you got to get your act i order. NO government control!! period, remove it at once. Decrease bank interests on savings of your poor people, who now should forget they will ever become rich. Block all traditional avenues of investments, you guys have NO idea how to run banks.

So what did we get? More foreign investments, more investments, low credit rates, low interests on our savings, Private banks & more private banks. Well just because some arse hole Harshad Mehta & Ketan Parikhmade trillions on frauds in stock market, does NOT mean the 99.98 million Indians have the know how & access to become corrupt or get involved in frauds. But NO the banking experts had sealed our future. So Indian bank sector became 90 % privatised. Even the nationalised banks began selling off the govt stake.

We got the 1st American bank coming in a BIG way to India…ya ya Citibank. Oh! It made news & how?? They gave loans to the middle class promised a lot & delivery failure took place on part of the customers, often, i admit. The schemes must have been lucrative, who knows. I ONLY know that on 2 occasions i returned the credit cards because my employer had forced me to take them & i had literally cut the credit cards into tiny bits & returned with a stinking note since they were charging obscene amounts. They would send the receipt for credit card late then charge high late fee, after few reminders to send the receipts on time, i stopped.

So the banks pushed us all for telephonic, Internet banking…all methods for international scams & frauds. Instead of making a ‘people’ contact they hired more English-speaking rude call centre types customer service officers. Who need to be reminded time & again “you are there because i am forced to invest in Ur bank & that it is why you are being hired…your bank is making money on my savings.” If i say this most may dislike it…but I’m sorry, I’m the customer, I’m being charged phenomenal amounts for the services which once were my right, are now seen as if the bank is doing me a bloody favour.

So coming back to the Citibank. Suddenly we got news of suicides, rise in police complaints against the bank & their spokespersons making tall claims in the newspapers in the 90s. Why? Becoz this bloody bank had hired men belonging to various underworld gangs & eunuchs (transvestites, those who are more menacing wt criminal records in India) to be loan recovery agents. So what did we media get? Panic calls fm investors & customers saying there are extortion calls. The officers of this bank needed to be shot…im NOT getting into the morals & policies of loans, repayments, etc…i know one thing for sure, if ur investor is NOT educated he/she needs to be explained all details including the consequences of failure of non-payment of loans. The bank put up its hands saying these are agents hired by their agency…the passing of the buck. End result? Some suicides, police feeling helpless & we media going ballistic. But i tell you many cursed that bank.

Today, after the American policy makers made fools of the many countries like India, saying they had More intelligence & expertise on banking…look at them!! what a bunch of jokers they are man…they need to flogged in public seriously…lakhs of people have invested their lives savings in these banks, they must given so much of their salaries as fees for varied services to these arrogant bankers & what do they do? Mismanage the investments & savings of the people? How can they get away with such fraud? Now these very bloody right-wing arse holes of America who have NO commitment to public service (like most right wing politicians & people), who opposed any form of socialism are breathing the very word -NATIONALISATION of American banks?? They owe us people fm various parts of the world a darn apology. I do feel Citibank deserves a hard lesson. Im also glad that scholars & academicians here in the conflict resolution course have re-iterated that do NOT forget the history of any conflict. I do hope the american policy makers & experts realise the mistakes they have made. The aftermath of their mismanagement in our parts of the world where it takes nearly over a generation to make riches in the proper legal way.

Well, i am always looking for NOT putting my money in the banks…any suggestions?? I always remember Shylock…”Merchant of Venice” Shakespear my friends was a visionary…how many eons ago he showed the true colour of a money lender…i strongly believe any lender is always a crook…that Shylock happened to be a Jew is another matter (hahaha….) that apart banks too are money lenders let’s NOT forget that…