other people's lives

london
you know that i believe that people's souls direct their lives and whatever they are living now is what their souls wants and so there is no point getting people to change to what u think is best for them. 

i was watching this program about india, 'welcome to india' about the lives of ordinary people living in kolkata. 

they were celebrating the durga festival, creating huge elaborate images of the goddess, and then throw it into the ganges at the end of the day. 

what a waste,was my thought... but that is what their souls want. 

it generates money flowing through the system, the rich paying for the structures to be built, because they believe it gives them favour or shows their gratitude to the goddess, and so provide work for everyone... even at the end, when the boys scavange the thrown away images for wood to sell back for next years image building. one even found a gold ring hidden in the straw that was used to build the image. 

so it goes around and comes around.haha.

everyone is very upbeat and happy. 

and it shows a father working himself to the bone to bring his wife and two kids to live with him. he says his whole life is for his kids and family. he misses them and would do anything for them. 

then there were the kids who gather mud from the ganges, roll it into balls and sell it . there is a huge market for it, but lots of competition, but they managed to sell it all,(they reject a guy offering 2rupees per ball) but  by rolling the balls into bigger balls they sold the lot and made 500 rupees each. which they promptly spend by buying jeans.  in fact they were out of pocket because the jeans cost 550rupees(about£7) so they are out of pocket by 50rupees. 


I did not catch what they do with the mud. there was a guy who made small cups out of the mud, so maybe he bought them. haha. he was the guy who wanted his wife and kids to join him. 

what use for the cups i have no idea. i bet it will be something to do with a religious observation because he said business is v good so good that he is able rent a room and so able to get his wife and kids to join him 



Those kids, to spend so much time gathering mud, and then sell it and than promptly get into debt by buying overpriced jeans...i guess that is why the poor remain poor. haha 


but that is what their souls want.otherwise how to explain it. haha.


I have a thought... religion is the engine of growth and prosperity and it runs subtly throughout the indian economy. without it there would be no one buying and selling. it is how the money goes round and round.

here in the west it is goods and services, which makes the money circulate in the economy. without people spending, there is no profit. religion is a better method of extracting money from people. there is no guilt left over ,in fact, the opposite, u get such a sense of piety and assurance that your place in heaven is guaranteed; unlike if u were to buy goods or services. 

there is never any danger of the consumer running out of room to keep their purchases; nor run out of stuff to buy or services to use, nor do u have to keep coming up with new goods, or services to entice your customers.

it seems to me religion used to be an engine for growth in the olden days in western civilisation too... look at the way the medieval church runs everything. even sells indulgences... now that is a perfect capitalist tool of consumption. and all those churches...

i daresay all economists know this.haha. 

but to me it is a revelation, esp poignant because i discover it all by myself.

i daresay everyone knows except me. ahha. often i have read blogs where the writer suddenly discovers something equivalent to  the wheel and gets so excited. haha. 

well, this is my wheel moment.haha.

here is the link to the bbc iplayer site for this program. u only have 7days to view it. and if u live outside uk u might not see it at all.