The book " The Great Indian Middle Class" looks at the evolution of the Indian middle class from the pre Independence era till date. The author notes that Jawaharlal Nehru , the first prime minister of India was modern, had a scientific and rationalist outlook and did not care much for religious rituals.
However, in recent years as people have become wealthier and acquired more materialistic goods like consumer gadgets, many of them have also become less modern in some ways, blindly spending time and money on irrational activities. He notes that an educated middle class person will publicly denounce some of the harmful traditions like dowry , but will privately do exactly the opposite. In the chapter " Inner Landscape" , he notes that "The young in the middle class are even more susceptible to blindly imitating the West than their parents were", which is very true.
He concludes by noting that a nation will not be considered great or a superpower if only a small section of its society is wealthy, but when it also treats its poor and vulnerable with care and concern. This book gives a very realistic glimpse of Indian society society, shorn of all the hype and gloss.
The Great Indian Middle Class by Pavan K.Varma
Pages : 243
Publisher : Penguin India