My friend Devdutt Pattnaik has written about rituals impacting beliefs.

Set in a changed context, beliefs around a ritual also change.

The act of being frisked has been frowned upon by all of us, a violation of personal space - our mind yelling "You don't trust me?". Security barricades and frisking at luxury hotels, or similar spaces, would be a complete no-no, a discourtesy, just a couple of years ago. However, in a changed context post 26/11, Mumbai (not that these were the first terrorist attacks, but the first impacting the elite), frisking, coupled with enhanced security and scanning devices, has come to be seen as an assurance - the mind giving a comforting "I think I can trust you!" signal.

This is perhaps how, over a period in time, culture is shaped.

UPDATED 11 June, 2009 - 10.25 am - Even as I decided to unpublish the post, within minutes of it being published, many had already read it. Next morning the newspapers carried an item on the front page about an alleged retaliatory attack against perpetrator of the first attack against an Indian citizen in Australia. Some people have requested me to publish the post again and I am doing so now...

The original post is below:

The recent racial attacks against Indian students in Australia had me searching for this insight that I had shared in focus group, a few months ago.

India and Indian have, for centuries, been victims of racial discrimination . When it wasn't the colour of the skin, the accent of its people gave them away. As a poor, third-world country with a large illiterate population its people suffered meekly for decades.

However, advent of satellite television; urbanization of landscape and changed demographics with a large youth population coupled with rapid economic growth that put India amongst one of the fastest growing economies in the world (even after the slow-down from which India too is impacted) have led to a new, confident Indian, which is good.

Slowing economies in the developed world, jobs lost to India and elsewhere have polarized the populace in some way, sometimes leading people to react there the way they previously may have - discriminate based on race - e.g. Outburst again Indian outsourcing (abuse that BPO employees face).

India's youth however is not prepared to take it lying down anymore - he/ she is turning brash too. Today they simply quit jobs where they face abuse, tomorrow they might turn back and respond.

Should we fear reverse racialism?

Impact

It is difficult to predict impact yet but clearly this is not a face of Indian youth known to the world:

1. Indians are considered a hospitable community and that feeling may take a dent


2. Can impact cultural relations between populations of countries: India Vs Australia cricket series (Symonds versus Harbhajan, or the other way round) soured relationship, even though it was limited to cricket grounds

Indians are at the receiving end again. And it only adds to my fear, and forbid were that scenario were to ever emerge, it would be truly sad.

Please note: I will be strictly moderating all comments on this post, so please stick to the subject of societal impact and do not deviate from the purpose of social studies. Thanks in advance.

I recently interviewed my young niece, a typical urban teenager. These are some insight I was able to draw:

1. Spends 30 mins on the Internet each day.
2. Facebook rules; game has shifted from Orkut - why? Orkut is 'local'.
3. Gets Rs. 1000 as pocket money/ month; buys own Metro tickets.
4. But mom recharges the mobile (yes, every teenager has a mobile of own).
5. Her phone is her phone, only see sees her messages.
6. Given that messages cost the same as a call, both share equal proportion of spends.
7. Café Coffee Day is favourite hang-out place; Mocha is cool; Pizza Hut is visited often.
8. Visits to these places take place as a group - boys and girls go together.
9. Boys mostly have cars.
10. Cars are often pooled, as its more fun that way.
11. Most girls have boyfriends.
12. Career is primary focus, lots of time is spent studying.
13. While she is in school, there are 3-4 day coaching classes to prepare for admission into MBBS.
14. Travels over 20 kms in Metro to attend these.
15. Music is on Ipod, some on the mobile too, but Ipod is preferred as it's a focused device.
16. Shahrukh's Don is the only Don she knows; THIS is the original - she hasn't seen the one starring Amitabh and therefore doesn't matter.
17. Hrithik looks good, Shahrukh is ok, so is Amitabh, so is Salman.
18. Deepika Padukone looks desi, Priyanka Chopra is cool, Rani acts well.
19. Look conscious - eats very carefully - wants fat-free curd.
20. Family is still very-very important.
21. Parents are parents, but sense of 'fear' that earlier generations faced is gone.
22. Corrects dad if feels doesn't agree with attitude/ behavior.
23. Mom is a friend.

She clearly knows her mind. Ithis just my niece?

Urban teenagers are now clearly 'people' and not accessories to their parents. They have a life of their own, a mind too.

Careers are however still influenced by parents in big way - maybe because it is they who primarily fund it still?

Rural folk are a smart lot - am sure you have sampled the Jugaadu spirit yourself. Traveling through the sugar belt, and elsewhere, speaking with farmers I have learned how enterprising they can be.

Bhola (name changed), my driver of last evening, left me with much:

I had to let go of my car & driver and needed to take an auto ride instead...first from South Delhi to Mayur Vihar and then back home - all put together, over 2 hours of time spent together . Bhola, 23 years of age, offered me roasted peanuts as I got back after finishing my task - my reward for making it back in 15 minutes, instead of the promised 20 - most people overshoot by twice as promised, he shared.

He had been driving the auto for over 8 years, first in Surat when he was 15 (obviously without a license) and then moved to Delhi 5 years ago. He wakes up at 5 am everyday; bathes and dresses; fetches milk, makes tea and starts work on preparing breakfast. Menu for the breakfast, paranthaas, is the same as lunch; some days he makes sabzi too, on others he would buy that from a roadside vendor.

Work starts at 8 am, and goes on until 11 pm. The auto owner charges Rs. 450/- day as rental, not including fuel; daily sales are between Rs. 1100/- to 1200/- on an average; deduct Rs. 100/- towards fuel (CNG) and the rest is earning. Monthly savings exceed Rs. 10,000/- and are kept aside for sending back to the village.

"Who all is there back home? Will this money be used by them for monthly expenses?" I ask "They don't need the money," comes the reply. The family - mother-father, 3 brothers - 2 married, from what I recall; father & brothers manage the fields - 40 bighaa in all; we grow Mustard and Wheat, which generate earnings of Rs. 2 lacs & 1 lac respectively; half of this is profit; this is used to buy new land, make enhancements and additions to the house etc."

"What about your savings?" I ask him.

"Yes, that's being saved to contribute towards the borewell that's being planned for next year," he says, adding "The canal doesn't reach the village. The water will give us better yields for our own fields and there is great demand for irrigation water in the village. People pay Rs. 100/- per hour of pumping (diesel is paid for by the user) and 3 hours of pumping/ month is required per bighaa."

Continuing, "We will drill upto a depth of 100 feet, ensuring perennial supply of water. At approx Rs. 2.0/ 2.5 lacs of investment, we should be able to recover the investment within a year. What's more, with a borewell, the dowry that my father will receive for my marriage will go up."

I was very curious to hear this in greater detail...and he obliged.

"Last year when my brother got married, my father got Rs. 3 Lacs and a Bolero but then we also made jewelery worth Rs. 3 lacs and my father hosted a big wedding - over Rs. 2 lacs were spent on the arrangements. I should get at least 5 lacs, with the borewell in place."

We spoke about Bandits (his village is was on the fringes of Chambal) who feast at weddings and many other interesting things.

It too cold for another auto-rickshaw ride at the moment, but am looking forward to one soon.

Two of the full page ads in yesterday's Delhi Times (with ToI) made me sit up and notice, for both represent categories that would logically be impacted/ concerned about the slowdown. It would be interesting to see how they fare:

1. The first one promotes something called 'Gloria - The Brand Show' targeting lifestyle brands for participating in this fashion & lifestyle exhibition. Events like this are typically planned months (or even a year) in advance and I suspect there was little they could do at the last minute, for a cancellation could anyway mean losses. Brands are spending less right now, however, for all you know they may have booked earlier and the event sails through just fine - I pray that that's just the case.
2. This one left me thinking about days of the dotcom boom, except that it comes bang in the middle of a slowdown. Naaptol.com appears to be a social networking site for shoppers. I love the thought of customers engaging with each-other and with brand owners and this may just be the time to seed something meaningful (the site however looks no different from any other brand compare/ buy site, and the community, at this moment, just a fringe feature). Entrepreneurs have to make these interesting decisions - burn money to seed a community right now and wait for revenues; except do we have enough cash to last us the wait...only the entrepreneurs in question can answer.

   Personally, I am gung-ho about a community that allows customers and brands to engage with each other in earnest.

What do you think about spending in times of a slowdown? There is a cost to sell but how would you decide what's necessary, and what's a waste?

Keep writing.

UPDATE: My colleague Rajika's brother, Rajbir, referred us to a document from Knowledge@Wharton series. It's aptly titled "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Don't Skimp on their Ad Budgets" - find it here.

I want to keep this really simple, direct and actionable.

Here is a call for all Indian media - Newspapers, TV Channels, Magazines, Blogs - everyone.

What stops us from putting a Black Band on mastheads of our respective newspapers, magazines, channels, blogs...until we see some conclusive plan from the government on how it plans to ensure security for all of India's citizens?

Let's do this together and tell the powers that be that the people of this nation are not going to take crap anymore.

Let's spread the word within the fraternity to make the government answer.

UPDATE : Yes, also your page background on Twitter too.

UPDATE: Here's the banner with Black - unfortunately, the idea didn't find any takers.