If earlier sociologists like Max Weber and Louis Dumont maintained that the social situation of the Brahmins was of decisive significance to the understanding of the traditional social order in India, today it is the changing fortunes of the backward classes that provides the best insight into Indian society. It holds up a mirror that reflects the turmoil of a society in transition.

For centuries, the backward classes-exploited, oppressed and stigmatised-have been a part of India's submerged humanity, confined to the fringes of society. Their social presence, when not needed for specific tasks, was considered inconvenient and embarrassing.

However, in the boiling environment of democratic politics, the outward calm of the hierarchical society has been shattered, releasing swirls and eddies of incalculable momentum ensuring a major change in a society that no longer respects hierarchy but one which demands equality-that too in a jiffy. And hence the picture of a society marked by disorder, turbulence, and violence, which is only likely to grow as society's constituents increase their demands.

With religion and caste becoming a key determinant of political identity, and strong caste-based affiliations an effective tool for political mobilisation, the numerically-strong backward classes have suddenly found themselves finding favour with the political classes. With conflicts now even between scheduled castes and tribes, expect to see more caste-related violence.

The Spirituality Question God And Mammon: God and business are unlikely to ever be separated in India. Political and economic functions were always inferior to religious functions in ancient India-and still are. With individual businessmen, increasingly bereft of community-support structures, recourse to religion cannot but increase. The pursuit of wealth may be a secular enterprise, but its success, will be governed by the divine.

But there are other disturbing chasms that are only likely to widen in the future. The growing economic success of some in India has created a wide chasm between the rich and the poor, who make up nearly 65 per cent of the total population. Add to this are more glaring facts: every third person in the world without adequate drinking water is an Indian. More than 50 percent of our people in cities live in degrading squalor, while about the same number are unable to afford two square meals a day. A fourth are illiterate. With little improvement in the conditions of this section of the Indian population despite a decade of reforms, violence may well become the order of the day. This is a bomb waiting to explode. It's a tribute to the ordinary Indian and his stoicism that it hasn't. Ashis Nandy, Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, believes the ostentatious display of wealth will lead to "enormous social tension", especially in the urban areas. But rich, urban India won't be slowing down. They will have better cellular phones and sleeker car models, more amusement parks, more bowling alleys.

But there will be positives. There will be a great flowering of creativity because liberalisation will necessary empower some of those from the lower rungs of society. We are already seeing the greater participation of women in the work force. There is a great democracy of capital and opportunity unfolding for those who rise above the ranks of the desperately poor. But they must first have the ability to rise from the desperation, the tenacity to survive inequalities. Tomorrow's society may be radically different. Let's just hope our differences don't become too radical.

The Modern Indian Teenager

Footloose: The contradiction just got complex. Teens, in a perpetual identity crisis, now get more with pais then with siblings.

You might think today's teen is freer with the opposite sex. Possibly, unless it interferes with career. Today's teenager wants greater intimacy but is scared to get into relationship, because of the complexities involved. The teenager is also very conscious of the fashion trends and easily adopts to the changing trends. Role models are not paragons of virtue but self-made millionairs-or billionaires in the case of Bill Gates. Personal grooming is very important, not just to appeal to the opposite sex but for personal satisfaction.

Finicky about careers-hence the importance to education-and choosing comfort over conservatism and chic alike, the Indian teenager is basically a group on roller skates, yet knows where the sudden bend in the road leads. Moreover, they only want the best in life-be it the shopping mall, life partner, or the latest mp3-enabled music system. To most, computer literacy-if not proficiency-is almost like what job-work skills were to their parents. In fact, they were lucky to be waking up to the world when an economy-in-chains was celebrating its new-found freedom a.k.a liberalisation.

No wonder then that for these, the all-consuming philosophy is individualism. Teenagers also believe that they can be principled without being bogged down by conservative tradition. Surprises don't alarm them, they thrive on it. After all, it is the hip, hep and happening generation.

But all these doesn't make them insulated from the great Indian tradition of contradictions. Amidst the flash and the cash, religion is still a big draw. Temples, mosques, churches, and gurdwaras report more young people coming to worship than ever before. It's a strange mingling of faith and consumerism, but it is the way of the new Indian teenager.

-Ashish Gupta

The Modern Indian Child

Fancy free: The biggest beneficiary of post-liberalisation India. The new child is a marketer's dream.

Being a kid was never this fun before. For it, growing up today has become a natural process accentuated by so many flashy thingamajigs-some even catering to needs which no body believed existed before. Parents, who could never even dream of such goodies during their infancy, are now showering the latest toys on their kids, thanks to the new money.

Also, today's child is highly acquisitive-a marketer's dream but a parent's nightmare. The flip side is that she is also likely to be extremely spoilt. Wooden toys made by artisans are out, battery-operated Taiwanese gizmos are in. And it wants those products that offer instant joy and help identify with the peer group.

Like the child of yesteryear, today's child occupies a central position in terms of exercising power in the family. It also has vaunting ambitions, of being rich and famous, at a very young age. No longer do middle-class children say they want to be steam-engine drivers or bus conductors; they are likely instead to say they want to be Shah Rukh Khan or Sachin.

For parents, getting their kids to the best school-not just educating them-has become a do-or-die affair. Yes, growing up was never so much fun.
-Ashish Gupta