Consumerism's Children

Distracting away from the core theme of the blog - and it’s only the second entry! On my flight back to London saw “Haazaron Khwaishein Aisi”, for the second time. For those who haven’t seen this movie yet – it is a must watch. It is based on the lives of three college friends in the early 70’s, with the politically turbulent India as the back-drop. The character played by Shiney Ahuja (“Vikram”) is capitalism’s child – an upwardly mobile middle class boy keen to make a quick buck by exploiting political inefficiencies and a corrupt bureaucracy. The second lead, played by KK Menon (“Siddharth”), is an idealist. Born into an affluent family and heavily influenced by the Marxism, Cuba, naxalism, caste struggles etc. An idealist who gave up his comfortable life in a plush Lutyen’s delhi neighbourhood for the villages of Bihar. The constant clashes between these two leads makes for an interesting narrative. Vikram constantly mocks Siddharth, given he is born with a silver spoon and wants to achieve something completely intangible and impossible. His feelings are best described in a statement – “While all of you are trying to get out, I am trying to get in”. Point noted – I guess it’s easy to philosophise when one is not obsessed with just trying to improve one’s lot. Based on the movie and innumerable stories from my parent’s generations about those days it is fair to say that there were quite a few people in that generation who were actually moved my something more than just making money. They romanticized political ideologies, alternative societal frameworks and were willing to give up a lot for that. World-over people felt there was something fundamentally wrong with society and that they could actually change something. Regardless of whether it actually led to something people were fundamentally moved.

That got me thinking to who the “Vikram’s” and “Siddharth’s” of my generation are. It is fair to say I could think of innumerable Virkam’s but no Siddharth’s. It is tough to think of people I have known in school or college who have actually taken the path less travelled. The most risk-taking peers of mine were probably those that decided to be entrepreneurs. However, even this was largely driven by a good idea and the belief that it could be monetised as opposed to being a social change agent. I guess if the generation of the 70’s were the “flower children” we are “consumerism’s children” armed with a fair degree of pragmatism and ready to pursue wealth creation. We are far too busy striving for the next promotion, discussing real estate prices and frankly updating our profile pics on facebook to worry about which political party is better for the future of India. Is that good or bad – I guess that can be the topic of another blog.

In order to try to maintain the core theme of the blog – will mention a restaurant in London that I plan to try out in the coming weeks – “Dishoom”. Inspired by the original Irani cafes of Mumbai, which I have visited a few times, seems to have caught the attention of the desi expat community in London. Review to come.