Give me freedom and see if you can take it back!

I had a call from William, a schoolmate, and dear friend, now settled in the U.S. Will has a cute and chubby daughter named Mehreen, aged around 2 years. She was recently in India with her mother. They stayed here for 3 months and this was Mehreen’s first visit to India.

They had a busy schedule as they met relatives and friends and had to travel to different places. The mode of travel was a car. In the U.S. there are strict laws for traveling with a child. The Car needs to have a child seat properly secured if you are to travel with a child. India is a little behind on this front and it is not yet a strict rule to provision for a secure child seat in the car.

Mehreen would have traveled in a car in the U.S. as a toddler and been seated in the child’s seat fastened on the rear seat of the car. In India, she had no such compulsion and could sit, stand and move inside the car. Of course, that is not safe but many cars in India do not have a feature to affix the child seat. So, it is a calculated call Indians take every day while they travel with their kids. Mehreen enjoyed her freedom and liked to be not fastened to the child seat.

After they went back to the U.S. Will called and told me that now it has become a challenge to travel with Mehreen. She just won’t sit on the child’s seat and wants to be freed. She has just had a taste of the freedom she enjoyed in the car in India. This new scarcity of freedom irked her to the extent that it is impossible to quiet her once inside the car.

I discussed with Will that this is a psychological reaction that once a freedom is granted it is difficult to take it back without severe resistance. The case of Russian liberalism in 1991 when Mikhail Gorbachev, then President of the USSR is a testament to this phenomenon.

Gorbachev had announced liberalism in the country and the measures had been received with exceeding appreciation by the masses. There were opponents to the liberal grants including a small group of government officials, the KGB, and the military of the nation which grabbed power through a coup. Gorbachev was house arrested and the matters were taken under control by the group. The first action taken was to roll back the liberal measures and reinstate the old order of restrictions.

The masses came out to the streets leading to violent protests across the country. The detractor officials were spellbound by the public reaction. They probably did not anticipate that by rolling back the freedoms granted they are creating a new scarcity in the minds of people who will not forego their prized possession.

Gorbachev was reinstated and mercy was sought by the detractors. People got their newfound love back.

So Mehreen is reacting the way a Russian reacted to the coup of the military.

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