The Great Indian Middle Class

My friend Ramdas Menon writes:

“I always tell whoever cares to listen that the people to fear are not the saffron-bandanna clad, trishul wielding khaap panchayat types; rather, they're our kinsmen, clansmen, family members and friends.

“I know a guy - much senior to me and IIT educated - who called his mother from the US to ask her to offer prayers at the local Sitala Devi temple when his daughter had some skin infection.

“Yet another US based guy who had come down to Chennai to visit his ailing mother told me NOT to visit on Thursday because it was inauspicious.”

Cannot agree more. If I may sum up what I see around me:

·       Organised religion at its worst

·       Rampaging superstition

·       The privileged believing they’re somehow in grave danger

·       hating the “other”

·       Spewing hate even at a time when a pandemic, which may not kill millions, but will surely kill our economy

·       Unconcern for people who lost their livelihood overnight

·       Ostracizing doctors who are risking their lives for us

·       Not questioning what our rulers are doing to overcome the calamity

·       Accepting complete absence of transparency as normal

·       Following a charismatic demagogue like sheep

in short, irrationality defines our privileged existence.  

To the people of my social and economic background, I would say: I am a part of you, and I am ashamed of the fact. I am ashamed of myself too, because I am one of you.