The Cosmopolite
Monday, May 21, 2007
  Middle India cries for release
I watched the movie - "Life in a Metro" yesterday. The movie itself is ok, nothing spectacular. But its popularity reflects the emotion that is clearly visible in India, especially urban India today - middle India's incessant and increasingly loud clamor for release!!

Middle India is claiming its rightful place in India, as it moves into the space traditionally occupied by the rich elite. Liberalization, the retail boom, the great software revolution have all given them greater economic rights, but they are not satisfied. Middle India wants more... it wants social appeasement, it wants recognition and importance, it wants a lifestyle which it has been deprived of and denied so far. And this desire is being manifested in a zillion ways - through popularity of movies like Life in a Metro and Lage Raho Munnabhai, through the throngs that routinely populate Hyper City and malls like In Orbit, through the increasing popularity of the judiciary and the now clearly voiced hatred for the rich elite.

The recent cases of Alistair Pereira and Manu Sharma (Jessica Lall murder) are examples which amplify the point. The people, and their protests, had as much of a role to play in the re-trials as the proactive judiciary themselves. And such victories provide a greater impetus to the fight for greater rights, as the large middle class wakes up, gains in confidence and begins believing in the machinery and checks & balances of democracy. More importantly, it begins believing in its own power. And if this confidence were to be instilled strongly, nothing could be better for India!
 
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