My car has a little problem that has never gotten fixed even at the Lexus dealership. They can't find anything wrong with it. Front tyre are both fine, but the back right tyre loses air in cold weather. Not a lot but enough for the tire pressure monitoring system to register it and the warning orange lights to light up. This annoys me no end! Hate this light!
So I used to drive to the gas station just at the intersection outside home and fill air before I proceeded to wherever I was going. The air pump was self serviced and free! Did I already tell you 'it was'? Then all the gas stations decided that they will charge a dollar for air unless someone fills gas first. In that case It will still be free. I continued filling air this way; sometimes by paying, at other times gratis because I filled my tank at the same time.
Then the price went up to 2 dollars to be charged to your credit card, irrespective of you filling gas at the same time or not. Just for comparison gas was about a dollar for a litre. It started to pinch ; specially as I had to fork out the entire winter; just for that one tyre twice a week. I can afford 2 dollars , but it is the principle and it stinks. You get the feeling ; don't you?
Even the air was not free any more! Eventually I had to spend good money on purchasing my own car battery operated air pump to avoid the gas stations bankrupting me by selling me free air!
Amazon still does free returns! Just keep in mind that you need to have bought some stuff already and they have included the return postage into their selling price. It isn't free really!
13th amendment abolished slavery in 1865 and African Americans were 'freed' a long time ago. They are still paying a price for being who they are. Free is not really free! Everything costs something and God forbid should you go for free money. It costs too much! Your life... almost always! Nothing is free!
So you have already heard about Zohran Mamdani; newly minted mayor of New York. He is Mira Nair's son from her current husband Mahmud Mamdani. My biased opinion is that her name would have been Maira Mahmuda Mamdani but likely got saved by the fact that she was already an established film maker under her own name at the time of her marriage!
Any way I would hope that she had some self respect and kept her name consciously. Her film making does show a clear impact of her Islamic company. Apparently she did not convert at marriage and her husband is non practising. Zohran still was raised a Muslim by her and that's what he self identifies as. A little strange self goal I would say!
I can see people's reservations with that in a city like New York. Specially his previous statements about Israel - Palestine issue and his aunt's hijab. There is another complexity - his wife! Rama Duwaji is an established artist of Arabic heritage and her work is largely focused on Arabic and Islamic themes. Just understand that 9/11 happened in New York by Arab terrorists in support of Arab and Islamic causes and picture begins to darken. I do not blame people to see the ghosts of 9/11 in 11/4 !
Zohran can cause a lot of uneasiness just by being himself. He also played Bollywood numbers after his win; maybe as a nod to his Indian mother. India is not exactly the flavour of the day in the US under Trump and it has not gone down too well either! A direct comparison is already being made with Sadiq Khan; currently the mayor of London, UK. It is giving many New Yorkers sleepless nights as London under Sadiq has mostly turned into londonistan according to reliable word on the street!
We can ignore most of these facts for now as unproven bias and allow his actions to show his true self. We need to give him that. The real challenge lies some where else! In one word it is called ' free stuff'!
Mamdani looks like he graduated from the kejriwal school of politics. Kejriwal perfected the art of promising freebies that he had no money for; to select sections of the electorate and win at the polls. He also pioneered cultivation of the urban Naxalite ; anti rich image that appeals to a certain demographic.
A cursory look at Mamdani's platform will show that he wants to tax the rich. He believes nobody has a right to be a billionaire. He has promised free universal child care; free city bus services; freezing of rent and city run grocery stores.
He would pay for it by a tax on wealth and an increase of the corporate tax rate. All this B.S. appeals to the immigrant and lower and middle class demographic. Those are the one that need a helping hand and they get out to vote in large numbers. This is another parallel between New Delhi and New York. Large immigrant voter base struggling to keep their head above water in an expensive megalopolis. This demographic is the one that voted kejriwal to power and this demographic is the one that has voted Mamdani in. Just remember voting percentage in New York has not crossed 38 %. That means 62% of the eligible voters did not cast their vote!
Here is the problem. The moment you tax wealth; wealthy will vote with their feet and leave the city. Their money opens many doors to them and they do not have to live in New York. If you raise corporate tax understand that corporations have a clear responsibility to their share holders to maximize profits and this increased cost of operation will result in either the corporations relocating or passing the cost on to the consumer. Likely both.
These promises are hollow with slim chances of success or any tangible benefit to ordinary citizens. There is no money for them either.They however are a good rallying points and create big voting blocks that can and does hand you the elections!
Those that know how those kejriwal world class schools; mohalla clinics ; free DTC bus for women, free water; free electricity etc. fared ; know that these schemes are populist but not sustainable. Only thing that worked well was buy one get one booze bottle scheme! You do not need me to tell you that having a wine shop on every street corner does not do much for social uplift. It was used to generate slush fund for election spending in Punjab.
Here is wishing Zohran Mamdani a better result for New York than what kejriwal delivered for the citizens of New Delhi. I would not exactly recommend keeping high hopes to the good old New Yorkers though! Keep your fingers crossed. Free is always expensive! You will certainly pay more than you would have if you get what you can afford. It is all coming out of your pockets! Remember that!





