Cyclops, anyone?

"Of all creatures that breathe

and move upon the Earth, nothing

is bred that is weaker than man."

– The Odyssey, Homer

Even though my age and state of body say otherwise, in my mind I am still a little boy, as cherubic and chirpy as are scores of Indians who shall play Odysseus with me in this column. They shall also hopefully do the same for our country, helping put the juggernaut of a ship called Bharat on an even keel, without further debate or ado. This is a story of our 'new times'. For the uninitiated, 'The Odyssey' is Homer's epic of Odysseus' 10-year struggle to return home after the Trojan War, whence he battled mystical creatures and faced the wrath of many demon Gods, while his family staved off evil forces vying for the throne in their own land and Kingdom Ithaca. This is my requiem to Homer and the tragic epic of the yesteryear, for only today do I understand what transpired in Homer's mind when he penned his poignant poems in the 7th or 8th Century BCE in Homeric Greek (some say 6th Century).

As in the settings of 'The Odyssey', India now faces a rash of unseemly and untoward happenings on critical planks, with scores appearing to have lost the plot, bickering over non-existentialist issues that can lead only to strife, reversals, as also economic and societal dissection. Or, as Odysseus faced eons back, we could be battling today something bigger than meets the naked, turbid eye, with deeper forces at play, pursuing vested and vitiated agendas. By modern standards, Odysseus was a vagrant, a miscreant even. But this vagabond did go on an odyssey and eventually returned victor, vanquishing all that was evil. Today, India perhaps needs an Oddysseus or two to turn things around. And listed below are the things our very own Odysseus will have to battle.

Economic headwinds

After the Second and Third Wave of the COVID-19 pandemic mercifully subsided and the economy slowly trundled back on to the rails and tremulously gained momentum, the authorities did some quick back-of-the-paper calculations and came up with a face-saving Gross Domestic Product growth estimate of 9 per cent. This was a welcome announcement in a country battered for two years by a deadly virus, which all but annihilated an already staggering economic and Corporate future. At its nadir, India's GDP had shown a negative growth of over 24.25 per cent.

The relief was short-lived, though, with the Reserve Bank soon cutting back this estimate and downgrading Indian growth forecasts to 7.8 per cent. The RBI was followed by the World Bank, which painted a gloomier picture still, projecting growth of around 7.5 per cent. Thereafter, Fitch Ratings, Moody's and the Asian Development Bank threw their hats into the ring as well, pegging the growth outlook at a shallower 7 per cent.

The sole silver lining was the announcement last week by the RBI and its former Governor Bimal Jalan, claiming the real growth picture may yet outstrip the doomsday projections, on the back of a strong Corporate build-up and healthy foreign exchange reserves. "India's current macroeconomic situation is quite positive in the sense that the rate of growth is high. Our foreign exchange reserves are also high (sic, strong)," Jalan said, even as he raised concerns about rising unemployment rates and the need for concerted action to correct a worrisome trend.

Galloping inflation

Over the last month, the country at large has spoken and many have vehemently protested the runaway petroleum products price rise, predominantly that of petrol and diesel. Since the assembly election results came out on March 10 this year, there have been over 10 announcements of price hikes, with petrol breaching the Rs 100-mark in all four metro cities and diesel chasing fast and following suit.

Last week came the latest whammy, this once from Indraprastha Gas Limited, which increased prices of domestic piped natural gas and CNG. Prices of CNG were hiked by Rs 2.5 per to Rs 71.61 per kg in Delhi, while Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad will now pay Rs 74.17 per kg. In Gurugram, it is Rs 79.94. PNG prices have been raised too by Rs 4.25 per Standard Cubic Meter, costing Rs 45.86 in Delhi and Rs 45.96 in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. Those in Gurugram have to pay Rs 44.06.

These are just direct numbers. Are there other fallouts? Yes, and we begin with the everyday Indian and our average auto driver, who is throwing tantrums, charging well above the metered price, a menace that had only recently been obliterated after decades of whimsical extortion. Cab drivers now refuse to put on the air-conditioner during rides, or insist on charging Rs 2 per km extra for the luxury of the AC at the height of the North Indian summer. Who can blame them? There's more. The last three times I bought green grapes, it cost me Rs 53, Rs 63 and Rs 83 per half kg, all over the period of about 10 days, an increase of over 55 per cent in just over a week. The story is startlingly similar with onions, coriander, bread, buns, curd, milk, medicines, edible oils and other daily essentials. The only defiant commodity bucking the rupee surge is liquor, which is now priced lower in Delhi thanks to the privatization of liquor vends. Is there a moral in this story?

And we have social chaos

Scores of other burning issues are scorching us, issues life-touching and life-changing, ones that are seeing eating habits and periodicity change as shrinking family budgets hit a till-recently prosperous India. We all witnessed instances of exodus of migrant workers in the First Wave of the damning virus. It is happening again, as some sectors in manufacturing face shutdowns forced by slipping demand and rising inventories. Let me not wax eloquent anymore and stick to what's already been mentioned in the above two sections. What's transpiring on the ground amidst this suffering is unnerving and deadly, even frightening.

Why? Well, it is perhaps because we have chilling developments that are clandestinely ripping apart the very fabric that defines us. We all know of the calls made by senior politicos for the banning of meat and some chosen articles of clothing; people wearing a particular cloth are openly and blatantly unfurling religious flags outside mosques and non-Hindu places of worship; we see repeated instances of forced chanting of the names of the Almighty by people of another colour; we have vegetable and fruit vendors of a particular cloth seeing their produce thrown asunder in the presence of some rather bemused law-enforcers; and we have witnessed students and mediapersons being thrashed for raising their voice against brutalities, even some that are on videotape. That leads me right back to where I began—the regurgitating need today for an Odyssey of our own and the birth of more than a few Odysseus', to set right India's listing juggernaut.

Odysseus; where art thou?

The plight of scores of Indians and their battle for resurgence today, 2,500 years after Odysseus' near-vaunted voyage back home, is uncanny and eerily similar to that faced in that epic journey after the Trojan War. Let's revisit what he warded off. Odysseus was nearly captivated by lotus-eaters; he engaged in a battle with Polyphemus, the Cyclops; he was caught in a storm sent by Poseidon, the creator of storms and floods; and he was all but captivated by the mystical and eye-pleasing Sirens. His journey was riddled with challenges and reversals, all of which he eventually vanquished.

Today, we face similar challenges. We have howling leaders and divisive forces threatening dire consequences if we do not toe the dotted line; we have our very own three-eyed Cyclops (at least in intent) who are attempting to gulp us down without so much as a burp; we are facing social and economic disaster and a business mirage; and at the final end of the spectrum, we have our dancing and lilting Sirens, male and female, tantalizing us with promises of a wondrous tomorrow. What do we do? Much like Odysseus, we need to learn to discern and differentiate between the real and the malicious if we want to make the journey back to a ravishing, prosperous and peaceful India. If not, the Cyclops shall devour us.

To end the tale, let me go back to Homer, who penned 2,600 years ago — "Ah, how shameless; the way these mortals blame the Gods. From us alone they say come all their miseries. Yes, but they themselves, by their own reckless ways, compound their pains beyond their proper share."

The writer is a clinical analyst and communications specialist. Views expressed are personal. [email protected]