The middle class dreams
A reaction to the 'Slumdog Millionaire'.
Movies, books and the other stuff that dreams are made of either focus on the very rich or the very poor.. It might be that I have not come across such a book, but not many are there that talk about the middling middle class.
Brings me to the mediocre existance of middle class.. No.. Wrong there.. 
For they are not mediocre. Their lives also have a fair share of disappointments, hopes, aspirations and a lot of hard work. You zoom in on an average middle class family in one of the metro suburbs. Father and mother often employed (earlier with a government job, great if there were chances of a bribe... now private sector jobs that just seem to go on and on,despite the HR's best efforts of arranging colorful birthday parties...), children studying the best private sector school that the parents can afford (often confused these children are... many of their friends from the upper classes have gizmos way cooool and way beyond their reach; and yet travelling back home they see the poverty on the streets, slums, the servant maid that comes to clean their house and in the thrift and pettiness of their parents trying to save that one rupee...) grandparents in a comfortable old home or far away in some 'native' place...
For they are not mediocre. Their lives also have a fair share of disappointments, hopes, aspirations and a lot of hard work. You zoom in on an average middle class family in one of the metro suburbs. Father and mother often employed (earlier with a government job, great if there were chances of a bribe... now private sector jobs that just seem to go on and on,despite the HR's best efforts of arranging colorful birthday parties...), children studying the best private sector school that the parents can afford (often confused these children are... many of their friends from the upper classes have gizmos way cooool and way beyond their reach; and yet travelling back home they see the poverty on the streets, slums, the servant maid that comes to clean their house and in the thrift and pettiness of their parents trying to save that one rupee...) grandparents in a comfortable old home or far away in some 'native' place... Now you ask me where are the dreams?? where are the aspirations???
This home has all the trappings of aspiration.. A better washing machine. a bigger tv.. no, make that an lcd or home theatre (but where will we hang that thing in such a small house??).. better school for the kids (do you know that last year 8 kids from their maths group cracked iit-jee??)
a small plot of land on the suburbs of the suburb (land in my name, with a house of my own built from a loan with XYZ bank.. the emis are screwing my happiness)..
hmm.. these are the aspirations and alas they look so common.. every other middle class bugger seems to have them. probably why that they are not the stuff of dreams.. but dreams nonetheless.
(picture courtesy - Slumdog Millionaire)
posted by CDey at 12:34 PM
1 Comments:
Middle class beautifully described.
A thought about another aspect of this "dream trapped" middle class. Despite all the yearnings for the betterment, these people are more happy than those classified as "high class". Their dreams might be common, but they need not plan for the next hour or for a dinner with their own family.They take life as it comes and manage to have fun along the way for their worries are limited to small things like how to get the leaking tap repaired as against the "how best to make another 1 crore profit" dream of the high class.
cheers.. :)
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