Tchaikovsky over Benares

India is young at an interesting time. The much vaunted “demographic dividend,” the drop in the average age of this country—as much a potential boon as a potential curse—has come at a time of comparative choice and freedom if you belong to the educated middle class. The internet, and the post-liberalisation economy story and its globalised nature have meant more exposure, access, self-belief, and opportunity to the class in India which is best placed to make the most of these developments: English-educated Indian cosmopolitans. More than any Indian generation before them, they have been afforded the curse and boon of increased choice, in jobs, careers, personal freedoms, tastes, and lifestyles. They are also afforded the intellectual, social and cultural capital (the financial dimension pre-
decided in this instance by the class of Indians under consideration) to redefine, or at least aspire to redefine, the personal vision for their lives away from traditional mores, often to the consternation of their families holding on to older middle-class values. But this is, of course, difficult to do. Even with technology on one’s side, this involves a struggle against elders, cultural attitudes, social pressures, and the cynicism of the marketplace.