Kremlin to Kashmir: Can Capitalism Save Itself?

Across Russia, Kashmir, and Mumbai, the quest for fulfillment exposes capitalism's contradictions and its pressing need for reform.

- Wajahat Qazi

What is common between a middle-aged Russian woman, a Kashmiri land broker and a Mumbai taxi driver?

On the face of it, nothing. But probe deeper, a connection emerges, that of capitalism.

Russian woman first.

I conversed casually with the woman during my travels recently. Corresponding a little to Sigmund Freud's 'melancholia' and 'trauma,' the woman conversationally meandered to Gorbachev's 'perestroika'.

Her working-class family during perestroika 'could only afford enough to eat' and she could buy only one cigarette, the woman techie said wistfully, puffing stylishly on her expensive cigarette.

Fast forward to Kashmir. A land broker acquaintance of mine, who hailed my car, complimented me on my SUV and suggested that I should have bought a high-end automatic transmission one. 'I am buying the automatic one,' he said.

Now rewind to Mumbai.

The cab driver, originally from Uttar Pradesh, had made Mumbai his home. While he obviously wanted to make more money, but in the main, the highly intelligent cabbie who became my tour guide of sorts, was more or less content. But he missed talking to his children and ageing mother.

How, the question is, does capitalism connect the three 'lived experiences'?

The 'quest' and the determining conceptual, quasi-emotionally gratifying consumptive aspect of millennial capitalism connect the Russian and the Kashmiri. The quest for a livelihood, rooted and anchored in family, tradition, and dignity, defines the cabbie.