The Average... And The Normal

Let me return to the question raised by Chetan Bhagat, the one I also discussed yesterday:

"Leaders, opinion makers and all of us in our dinner table discussions should continue to bring up this single question: What should an average Indian live, work and strive for in his life?"

My answer: The average Indian should "strive" to get rid of the average tag. He should excel - in whatever may be his calling.

No one tries to be "average." It is not an "aspiration."

The statistical average is in almost all cases meaningless. There is no "rate of inflation" or "rate of unemployment." There is no "rate of growth." No meaningful comparisons can be made between "per capita incomes" in different fiat currency areas. These are all as meaningless as the "average height of the Himalayas." All these averages are part of the mythology of "national economy" - the potted plant sitting on the central planner's window sill. In reality, each of us runs his own "private economy." As my t-shirt says: "Each Indian - One In A Billion." And each of our private economies has its own growth rate - though mine is kaput. As is the case of many in, say, Manpur.

To think of the "average Indian" and the "collective values" such people may share as THE QUESTION the entire country needs to address betrays a mind looking for "uniformity." But those individuals who really excel in their fields are always something different, something unique. They offer something new and novel. In the world of ideas they startle.

It is only collectivism that loves enforced uniformity - like the "Mao suit." Individualism means a fashion industry. Each wearing his own attitude.

Just as there is nothing called "average" among human beings, there is nothing called "normal." Men pursue ultimate ends that often make no sense to the onlooker - like, say, one chap setting off to climb Mount Everest. Or take the case of Ludwig von Mises who foretold his destiny when he said, while still quite young: "I will write a great deal about money but never make much of it myself." Interestingly, Mises was a keen mountain climber!

The ultimate ends that an Individual "strives" for are matters of the soul and the will. They cannot be understood or analysed by anyone else. However, they will certainly complain that the one who is different is "not normal." Or even "irrational." My advice to the differing individual is to strive on, regardless.

The fact that the "average Indian" does not exist is best illustrated by taking a look at RK Laxman's famous cartoon of the "common man." This image was created decades ago - and this guy, like a true "nationalist," always wears a dhoti. You did see some people dressed like this in the old days. But do you see them any more? The only dude in a dhoti these days is Chidambaram.

Just as the "common man" has evolved since when Laxman first conceived him, so do individuals evolve. Whereas words like "average" and "normal" suggest stability and constancy, in reality we are all growing into what we were not before. Evolving. There is a lot of difference between the first album of The Beatles and their last. Or between an artist's first paintings and his later works.

So let's forget all about the average and the normal, shall we? - and forget all about statistics too.