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Rama Bijapurkar: The Whole Six Yards for Forbes India →

Another large culture class is the rapidly prospering small business man — shop owner, contractor, furniture maker, tailoring establishment owner. He continues to transact in the vernacular with his family, vendors and staff but manages reasonable English with his customers who he needs to SMS; he eschews ‘costly’ big shops and big brands, and is a big fan of the ‘imported’ label. This label stands for ‘cheaper’, more exciting novelty available through his usual shops, sourced by people like him. His children are his biggest teachers and modernisers; his idea of a vacation is to gather a large group of families and take a helicopter trip to Vaishno Devi.

 

Another new culture class is the socially conscious upper class elite who have decided to embrace causes, run marathons for charity, join Anna via social media, or work for or start an NGO. The jhola is being replaced by the Blackberry, the bhashan by a media panel discussion and saving India is a new passionate goal. IT kids are another culture class even as new culture classes in rural India are emerging. 

If you still don’t buy the idea of increasing fragmentation of Indian society and culture, ask Ekta Kapoor or look at the regionalisation of our television and our politics. The mental model for India is not of one big society and culture and many fringe subcultures or tribes within; rather it is of many societies and cultures in one big crucible, with many similar and vastly dissimilar traits. That is what India has always been through the ages. 

 
Read more: http://www.business.in.com#ixzz1R7MzJVgf

An interesting morning read

(Source: mansitrivedi)