Of memories and constructs

Two years ago, I argued vehemently with a colleague that Bihar and UP and Chattisgarh and Orissa will not remain Bimaru (backward) states forever. And change was in the offing. I had no framework or theoretical construct to explain this. Neither was I an astrologer or a soothsayer. . I just felt so. And I was duly dismissed as a romantic optimist, ever hopeful at heart.

I was lucky that as part of my work, I got to not just travel extensively to some of these states but also interact extensively with people across the entire socio economic spectrum. In fact in many a cases I got to life their lives for a day. And somewhere through all these conversations I felt the atmosphere was charged with hope and optimism. My argument was along the simple lines that there is development happening elsewhere. In Gujarat, in Delhi, in Madhya Pradesh and media and mobile phones were bringing the news of progress into the houses of people in these Bimaru states. I remember the analogy I used. Its like the habit of a man-eater. Once the people of have tasted blood (development here), you just can't wean away them from it. Of course to the left brained, analytical MBA, ‘I feel so; did not work. And I was unable to come up with anything better. I did not have an answer then to the question of why Bihar or UP or Orissa would vote against caste lines.

But today, my feel seems to have right. I seem to have caught the trend. No, I do not claim to be the only person who would have sensed this trend and no I am not writing this for ' See, I told you so' speech'. I write this today because I found a simple construct in corporate jargon to possibly explain this phenomenon.

Consider caste or language or religion as verticals running in the society. The matter when Identity politics are called up. Consider issues like defence, safety and security and other issues in national consciousness as horizontals cutting across the society. So regardless of which vertical you belong to you cannot escape the horizontals (national consciousness). Now, education, access to healthcare, performing governments any many such developmental issues have been added into horizontals.

Ok. The explanation is not mine but it is from Nandan Nilekani's book Imagining India. I have just finished the preface and am already captivated by his constructs. Of the many books on India I've read off late, this seems to be the most interesting of the lot. Should be a good read.

My earlier post on this is here

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For the past three years I have noticed this phenomenon in Bombay. This happens in regularly in month of May and I don't know why. At sunset as if suddenly all our eyes have magically activated orange filters, that so far lay dormant, the entire city is coloured orange-ish brown. No, it is not just the buildings but also the air. It is the gentle orange tinge and sepia, one that evokes a sense of nostalgia of the good times gone by. The memories from your past of innocence come flooding back. On one such evening, as I sat sipping my coffee, memories from my childhood, those carefree days came rushing back to me. I had no idea that I had such strong and vivid memories of my kiddie days. My indulgence with those memories lasted a few minutes. I blinked intentionally, transitioning from the distant past to the present in an instance skipping 18 years in between, when I realised that the night had fallen.

The orange phenomenon lasted precisely four days. While google and Wikipedia answered my questions on why this phenomenon occurs ( taking my back to Optics chapter in Grade 12), I don’t think I will be able to ever answer why this phenomenon evokes such memories and why it possibly has a different or even no effect of others.