Peter,
That is a beautiful image.
Yes, those days are gone forever. All Indian urban spaces today are stinking, noisy hellholes with not a single redeeming feature (and defended only by middle-to-upper class West-aping urban Indian Philistines).For a nostalgic trip down Bombay's past, check out this lovely documentary made by an American -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob8n_Aaog58
That’s a bit harsh – after all, it’s only by having aspirations and working hard
cleverly that people – any people, as a whole – get anywhere, and India certainly seems to be one of the very few places making progress.
I’m not sure what you could do to replace the middle-to-upper classes: have a revolution by kidding the lower classes that they will benefit? Tell that to the French! Tell it to the Arab Springers, for that matter – you exchange one despotic form of governance for another with a different title. What’s that phrase – plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose? India, of course, has the added problem of caste on top of class.
The problem is over-population. China is trying hard to combat it; one religion at least is doing its best to cover its eyes and pretend it isn’t an issue; I have no idea what India is doing – or can do – if family is still looked upon as source of free labour on the farm, or wherever. Perhaps an unnatural sterility will descend upon us all thanks to Japan or maybe Iran… who knows. It’s like there is a death wish abroad – a common urge to explode and be done with the entire human experience.
I shudder for my grandchildren.
Rob C
P.S. So much for 2012 being brighter!
;-)
