So the discussions at lunch today turned to Bihar. actually it started with goonda-ism, so no surprise that Bihar came up : -) Aa guy who has stayed there was telling us that he was searching for a house once, and he asked a passerby for directions - in response he was asked 'kaunsi jaat ke hain?" (which caste do you belong to) - such is the extent of casteism in the state.
Which made me think - what an isolated world we (me and my contemporaries) live in. We think that India is about GDP growth & BRIC, about the booming Sensex & rising consumerism, but the real India is out there - cut along religion, state, caste and sub-caste. I strongly believe that individually, Indians are one of the most brilliant and entrepreneurial people on this planet, if not the most brilliant - where else would you find dhurrie makers in Jodhpur selling their goods online? However, we lack a collective Indian identity, a sense of belonging. Our collective identity may be defined by the religion or the caste or the part of the country we belong to, but it is not defined by India. And that may be the biggest challenge for us as we hope to take over the world. Will the sum of the different parts transcend the whole? I hope so.
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