The great Indian middle class

The modernity of the middle class does not enter the realm of the mind. Perpetuating patriarchal and hierarchical notions and reaffirming stereotypical gender roles are seen as commitment to tradition. Being liberal is epitomised as consumption and spending. Modernity does not mean the inclusion of more sections of society; on the contrary, it means exclusion. It is also politically conservative, says ROWENA ROBINSON.

I AM sick of reading about the modernity of the Indian middle class: its commitment to democracy as well as its respect for "tradition". The middle class Indian is fundamentally non- democratic and his (the use of the pronoun is deliberate) "commitment" to so-called "tradition" amply demonstrates his intolerance. If "Indian" (read Hindu) culture and "family values" exemplify tradition, these encapsulate a notion of the family seen in films like "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun", "Dilwale Dulhaniyale Jayenge" or in advertisements for anything from Pantaloons to Bartan soap. This notion is hierarchical and patriarchal, perpetuating stereotypical ideas about gender roles in the family, particularly those of the daughter and daughter-in-law.

The deeply non-democratic side of middle class Indians is brought out by the nature of the causes they espouse (the romantic and the conveniently distant Narmada displaced tribals) and the ones they unequivocally condemn (those of street vendors or municipal workers on strike). The latter are assertions by people "getting above themselves" and threatening the environment and the "ownership" of public space by middle class "citizens" or cutting off their access to particular forms of consumption.

If, as in the advertisement, the middle class Indian was asked, "How do you like your modernity?", the answer would undoubtedly be: "Pack it (packet)". This allows me to answer the question that has troubled social scientists of the age: "Where does the modernity of the middle class Indian lie?" I can now tell you. In his pocket.

The domestication of modernity in India has a trajectory not unlike that of the taming of the shrew; and, indeed, many educated (male) Indians would attribute to modernity, qualities not dissimilar to those borne by that hapless Shakespearean wench. Technology is the only arena where the middle class Indian feels comfortable with modernity. And then he has to domesticate it annually through worshipful puja every Dussehra. In all other areas, particularly to do with social interaction, the middle class Indian speaks only the language of caste, kinship and community.

Over 90 per cent of all middle-class marriages are arranged or "other-initiated", caste specific and involve kanyadan (the transfer of the virgin bride), if not also dowry. Fairy tale romances are also subject to parental approval, in the absence of which the parting of ways can be swift and ruthless.

Gone are the days when young Lochinvars in real (and reel) life braved social and familial wrath for love across caste and community boundaries. The modern man is far more pragmatic and considers such moves suicidal. If he can find a love who also fits in with those rigidly conceived "homely, family values", great. Else the girl must be dumped. Today's films shore up the idea.

An acquaintance, recently being wooed - with parental consent no doubt - by a co-worker from another community and region, was foolish enough to tell him of an earlier, dead relationship. He turned tail and fled back into the consoling arms of caste and family who, no doubt, convinced him of the woman's dubious character or origins. Regardless of his own sexual status, the modern Indian male is convinced that only a virgin is capable of pure love and worthy of being introduced to his mother.

"Sources" and "contacts" are the ways to negotiate the professional world and kin whispers to kin about the possibilities of "finding something" for one of their own. The use of connections to gain employment, favours and benefits is rampant among the middle class and it rarely enters a secular arena, whether government office or corporate house, without having first found out who is the best person (in caste/regional/kinship terms) to "approach" there.

The weakest area of modern life is that of non-ascribed associations. Professional relations rarely metamorphose into deep friendships and, when they do, are strictly status and gender bound. The average male flees from interaction of even the weakest sort with female colleagues. When family meets family, sex and status are sharp dividing lines. Woe betide the single professional woman (and modern India has many of these and few single men) who tries to establish friendship with a male colleague. She can be tolerated in the corridors of the professional arena, rarely admitted into the sacred portals of the home.

In other words, the middle class Indian flees from modernity of the mind. Freedom terrifies him because it demands individual responsibility. Collective (read caste and family) responsibility offers a security that is difficult to resist. Female modernity challenges his patriarchal authority and opens up the frightening abyss of sexual choice.

The secular professional world does not always succumb to the lure of the "contact" or the "connection". Secularism and even democratic dissent, by the disprivileged, render the middle class vulnerable. Modernity for it, therefore, is not inclusion of more sections of society; it is exclusion. Public spaces close themselves to those without credit cards, residential localities hem themselves in against "the lower orders" with watchmen and boundary walls. The state protects the consumption and lifestyle of the already endowed, chastising workers, slum dwellers or other marginalised who dare to rebel for holding "citizens" to ransom.

The mentally modern is all too frightening. It is the modernity of matter (read money) that (al) lures the middle class Indian in Shopper's Stop and Crossroads (Mumbai), MG Road and Brigade Road (Bangalore), South Extension and Greater Kailash (New Delhi). Clothes, jewellery, cars, compact disc players, washing machines and flat televisions - this is the real modernity. Sindur and mangalsutra intact, female subservience and patriarchy unchallenged, the middle class Indian, dressed in jeans and T- shirt, can afford to be "liberal" in spending. He epitomises modernity as consumption. Packet modernity or modernity of the pocket. Neat, attractive and well-bound, pocket modernity, best symbolised by the remote control or the mobile phone, can be hand-held and controlled. Its powers are (literally) graspable. It is amenable to easeful handling. Its jolts are controlled by the button and, best of all, it requires no fine tuning of the mind. Pocket modernity is politically conservative and socially and economically exclusive. It feeds middle class conservatism, pitching its sales talk at "family" and "Indian culture." Raymonds and Indian marriages or MacDonalds and vegetarian families. Is it at all surprising that the great Indian middle class offers the most willing ears to the Hindu right, whose cultural organisations aim to preserve "national" symbols as the "sanctity of womanhood" and whose political organisations encourage disinvestment, privatisation and enhanced entry of multinational companies.

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