GROWING FAT AND FORGETTING TO FLY

MY neighbour is considered a good man.

- CP Surendran

He gifts clothes and food to the poor. He prefers white. His house is white. Car and scooter too. Last week, he brought home a white cockatoo in a white cage. Someone said the cage was small. So yesterday he changed the small white cage for a long, coffin-shaped cage, also white. The cockatoo sleeps most of the time. When awake, it eats fruit and grain, and drinks water from a white dish. It does not make any noise. Sometimes the cockatoo spreads its wings, as if in memory of a flight. When I go past the cockatoo, I see it is becoming fat. I play with the idea of opening the cage. But if caught in the act, I would get into trouble. Freedom is a fraught idea on all sides.

India is getting fat, too. Last quarter, the GDP grew at 8.4 percent, one of the fastest rates in the world. Financial experts like Ruchir Sharma say India is a bull market and will stay one for long. A few days ago, Sharma wrote: "For a country that has long disappointed both optimists and pessimists, the bar of expectations is now very high." 

The same week, in an indication of where the country is going, the government announced the clearance of three semiconductor manufacturing projects worth ₹1.3 lakh crore. The finance ministry says the economic growth is driven by the manufacturing sector, which is a very good sign. Infrastructure development is at a furious clip, too. In a recent interview, Russian President Vladimir Putin said India ranked just behind the US, China and Japan in terms of economic growth.