Friday, February 22, 2013

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

India 2013

I relished this tongue in cheek essay by Suhel Seth in The Telegraph of January 06. I think it captures the prevailing mood of urban, well-off, in-your-face India perfectly.

My friend Suhel, however, betrays his all-too-Indian failing of hypocrisy by signing off with the line ‘Suhel is poor’. No man who lives in metro India, is associated with the ad industry at a fairly high level, speaks English like his mother tongue, is at home on the internet and often appears on television is ‘poor’. That is a pose in rather poor taste, besides being hackneyed. Reminds me of a certain billionaire from the south who has always claimed to be ‘middle class’. Well, I am middle class myself, and I know and admit the difference. I am not poor: I guess I am better off than at least 90 per cent of the population. And I count my blessings every day.