FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK www.theindianopinion.co.in Founders: Aman Charles Luke, Manchit Mahajan, Poorva Gupta, Subhashish Bhadra Website Layout: Aman Charles Luke, Poorva Gupta Logo: Samriddhi Gupta CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS EDITION
Aman Charles Luke A mathematics student from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, Aman was the President of the Students’ Union of the college. He currently works with GoJaVas and is a movie enthusiast.
Azeez Gupta Azeez Gupta works with one of the most reputed NGOs in India. An alumnus of IIT Delhi, he is passionate about education and is pursuing it through his job.
Manchit Mahajan An economics graduate from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, Manchit has worked as a management consultant in the past and is currently a student at ISB.
Nipun Malhotra Founder of the entrepreneurship cell of St. Stephen’s College and an economics graduate from St. Stephen’s College and Delhi School of Economics, Nipun is also the founder of the Nipman foundation.
Poorva Gupta Poorva Gupta works with a leading impact investing fund. A graduate of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, she is a theater enthusiast and is also a closeted singer.
Subhashish Bhadra Subhashish is a consultant with a leading management consulting firm. A student of economics, he is interested in politics and history. He is also a part-time novelist and poet.
Yohaann Bhaargava Yohaann is a writer and creative visualiser. He stays in Mumbai and houses an astounding knowledge of Indian cinema through the years.
When we started work on our second edition, the only emotion that seemed to have gripped the entire nation was one deciding the fate of the impending elections. Who, when, why will win? Who, when, why will create corruption? Who, when, why will save the country? As I write this editorial, while the fate has not yet been sealed, much of the action has transpired. We've witnessed the gory and the unthinkable. As we await the election results with bated breath and whatever is left of our finger nails, The Indian Opinion decided to take a trip down an India that most of us inhabit but neither ignore nor quite embrace- the India that's out there trying to change its destiny, step by step, tether by tether and yet somehow finds itself faced with impediments that not everyone can imagine. Whether it is the revolution that contemporary music has brought about in the Indian folk culture as Yohaann puts it or the much debated "change" that the Aam Aadmi Party brought about in Delhi as Manchit articulates from the common city resident's perspective, this issue is an attempt at bringing out a flavour of the somewhat side-lined Indian democracy for which these elections are actually being fought, or at least that's what we are made to believe. In another look at what plagues our polity, Subhashish revisits the Gujarat versus Bihar dispute and looks at indicators like governance, economic growth and quality of life to suggest the major differences between the two states while Aman looks at what is going horribly wrong with the one thing every Indian latches all her hopes and dreams to - Bollywood! Nipun, in the first of his multi edition story on entrepreneurship tackles what it means to be an average entrepreneur in India and why it is not the easiest country to act upon your dreams. Azeez's conversations in the hinterlands of rural Maharashtra give a breath-taking view of how the Indian school kid lives her life, while Subhashish in his second article takes the road less taken- discussing an aspect of the WWE that not many might've noticed. In our cover story, Poorva introduces us to Manisha and her friends, reminding us that the will to survive is much stronger than succumbing to the temptation of inaction and hopelessness, in a truly Indian story, in Chimbai, somewhere in Mumbai. I hope you enjoy this edition, and do write back to us with any feedback you might have. Our email ID, as before, is feedback@theindianopinion.co.in
INSIDE
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Gujarat v/s. Bihar debate revisited
Bihar’s turnaround under Nitish Kumar is remarkable, but the state still has a long way to go before it can project itself as a counterweight to Gujarat.
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Conversation s in the hinterland
A transformation is taking place in India’s rural areas. Undertake this fascinating journey right into the heart of India’s villages.
COVER STORY
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In Chimbai, somewhere in Mumbai
The most unassuming people that we encounter in our lives often have the most inspirational stories. Their tales of despair, survival, hope and redemption need to be told and celebrated.
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100th year of Bollywood
From the forgettable Raam Leela to the intolerable Dhoom 3, bollywood disappointed the audience in its 100th year.
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49 days of the Aam Aadmi
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Economic growth and social development are critically dependent on business and entrepreneurship. But India is not the best place for entrepreneurship.
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Folk it !
Riding on a wave of momentum, Kejriwal led AAP to A silent musical revolution is brewing a stunning victory. The shortwithin India. lived government that followed was tumultous, to say the least.
Challenges facing Indian entrepreneurs
Gender equations of the WWE
From naked buttocks to homosexuality, WWE reinforces the sexual idiosyncracies of our society.
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Folk It! Yohaann Bhargava Once in a blue moon a truly novel idea rises above the scene of contemporary music. Sometimes, it is a striking combination of tomorrow’s new thing and yesterday’s classic. Always, it is an expression of the heart and soul of those whose efforts and talents have prepared and polished it for an anxious unveiling. The Indian Music Industry is moving back to folk. Yohaann Bhaargava writes on all of this and more. Rahman, one of India’s biggest music legends along with many other artists like Ram Sampath, Clinton Cerejo, Papon, Karsh Kale, Amit Trivedi and many other fabulous talents like Prasoon Joshi, Swanand Kirkire and Piyush Mishra have been up in the past few years, working towards uplifting and rekindling the spirit of Folk Music in India. Thanks to them, the Indian music scene today has the pleasant pleasure of offering the world a classic welding of music and literature. If you’re a poetry buff, come get thrilled by the musical excitement of Piyush Mishra’s “Husna“, melt in the gentleness of Rahman’s “Zariya“, laugh aloud at the insanity of Ram Sampath’s “Kattey“ and perhaps even squirm a little at the insight that Amit Trivedi’s “Sheher” offers. Original songs inspired by a variety of Indian folk traditions are now becoming very popular. In a world where contemporary music rules charts, regional folklore like Pir jalani (Punjabi) and Kattey (Rajasthani) has found a place in young hearts. Now that the viral monetisation of music through YouTube hits, likes and downloads not just makes these songs popular but also helps in churning out considerable amounts of money for channels, the promotion of these segments has become fairly easy. Coke Studio & Roots are great in terms of their content and are also very high in their production value. Promotion of local singers, lyricists and
And musicians is evident via these shows and therefore we see an inflow of young blood in the music industry. Varied themes are being explored and efforts are being made to bring Indian folk upfront in world music. These shows have been a memorable compilation. Because the young talents’ voices and penmanship are so polished and refreshing, whether the musicians had chosen to simply sing their versions of traditional folk songs, had chosen songs written by today’s young folk composers, or even sung their own compositions, any or all of these alternatives would have produced brilliant shows that no folk fan would’ve wanted to miss. But these musicians have gone to a dramatically different source for their songs- poems of some of the world’s best-loved poets. They have added their own melodies to the natural music of the words, and have literally created a whole new world of folk. More accurately, they have fitted unexpected words into the familiar framework of folk music, transforming classic poetry into exciting “new” folk songs. If you are not familiar with the words, just sit back and enjoy the music much as you would rejoice in “Vethalai“ (Tamil Street Folk) or “Aigiri Nandini-Tere Ishq nachaya”. Even if you know the words, the music will add a new dimension to your enjoyment. Since the sites also provide lyrics for a better understanding of subjects and sing along genres, you can even attempt to anticipate the type of melody these folk songs have added to the beauty of “Sundori Komala“ (Bangla Folk), the
4 excitement of “Aao balma“ (Classical Indian music), the rhythm of “Glorius“ and even the heroism of “Sati“ to single out just a few. Whatever the level of your familiarity with the poems, you’ll enjoy discovering that there truly is something new in the crowded and often cliché world of folk music. My favourites: Katte (Ram Sampath) Sati (Salim Sulaiman) Zariya ( AR Rahman) Pir Jalani (Clinton Cerejo) Husna (Piyush Mishra)
100th year of Bollywood a rather disappointing one
Aman Charles Luke It started off with Aditya Dutt’s very inconspicuous Table No. 21 and Sudhir Mishra’s Inkaar. While the former did manage to get some good reviews it was only after its Satellite release, perhaps too late for the producers to make any money, ‘Inkaar’, on the other hand, was the word that the audiences chose for the latter. Kai Po Che was a refreshing break from the incessant, mindless masala flicks that we were being subjected to, but while all the three new boys on the block shone, it was only Rajkumar Rao who managed
to carry forward his excellent form to Shahid which was perhaps the most under-rated movie of the year. It was one of the best biographical movies to have come from an Indian director in recent times thanks to some pathbreaking performances and the tautly drawn script, if only it had reached a wider audience. Talking of biographies, we also had Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, one of the most over-rated movies of 2013 in which it didn’t seem to have taken much from the makers apart from Farhan Akhtar’s pain-stakingly sculpted body and hence an abundant display of his
5 abdominal muscles, to win the audience’s approval. I personally thought it proved to be Sonam Kapoor’s best performance till date- short and sweet. Sonam Kapoor did however manage to get a hit on her list in the form of Raanjhana, thanks to Anand Rai (of Tanu weds Manu fame), one of the most talented story tellers of our times. The dark horse of 2013 was Mrigdeep Singh Lamba’s Fukrey, the only film after Rang De Basanti (2006) to get a re-release on audience demand in Delhi. The good news is that the movie was genuinely funny and gave the industry some much needed fresh talent to count on, provided it delivers in the future. Neeraj Pandey failed to match up to his self established standards of A Wednesday even though Special 26 was definitely a one-time watch thanks to Anupam Kher’s terrific performance. Rajkumar Gupta had the advantage of using The Dirty Picture’s successful on-screen couple, yet he managed to deliver a very damp squib in the form of Ghanchakkar. Anurag Kashyap’s brother (Yup! That’s what people know Abhinav Kashyap as even today) had a chance to deliver one of the year’s better masala movies through Besharam, with the luxury of having the current heartthrob of Bollywood on board, but he somehow managed to give Ranbir along with much of the Kapoor Khaandaan the most embarrassing movie of their careers (after Saawariya of course), thus ending his dream run at the box office- quite a pity after the super successful series of music videos, yes, I mean Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Sajid Khan’s Himmatwala doesn’t need an introduction; it was perhaps the biggest debacle of Vashu Bhagnani’s life but considering he still managed to produce two Jacky Bhagnani movies in a single year, I think he is the real Himmatwala. Let’s ignore Imran Khan, he managed to embarrass Vishal Bharadwaj in Matru Ki Bijlee ka Mandola, if that were even possible! I wish the movie had been at least as interesting as the title. Gori Tere Pyar Mein was the most original and funniest practical joke Karan Johar pulled on us last year, yes he did manage to top his own movies including SOTY with this disaster. Shahid Kapoor’s experiment with comedy (Phata Poster…) did not pay off, his next release R… Rajkumar (the movie was as creative as its title) was a self-claimed hit which reminds me in turn of Sonakshi Sinha. Sonakshi gave the performance of her lifetime in Lootera. To me, Lootera felt like a celluloid painting with each and every frame boasting of Vikramaditya Motwane’s mastery as a filmmaker. Moving on, there was the much talked about Ram Leela (yes, it was renamed Goliyo Ki….) a movie as stale and senseless as Mr. Bhansali’s sense of humor. Was he joking when wrote that frivolous script? Thanks to the film’s pitch perfect marketing and the presence of the Golden Girl of 2013, his movie somehow managed to churn out a lot of money.
Deepika Padukone will never forget 2013; it was nothing short of a dream for her. So what if she can’t get her Hindi diction in line, she surely knows how to sound like Bollywood’s conventional South Indian girl (Meenamma in Chennai Express anyone?). Carrying forward her coming of age performance in Cocktail, she managed to hit the bull’s eye unlike her co-star from the same movie. Nawab saab couldn’t get the audience to like his uber-cool Russian act in the over rated Zomcom Go Goa Gone, while his bullets (in Bullet Raja) also missed the target by miles. Krrish 3 was never meant to be taken seriously. If I had to compare, yes it was more boring than the other Indian superhero flick Ra.One (Ra.One being the only movie I have slept through after the first 40 minutes). Madras Café had its heart in the right place; the only problem was the supporting cast which had less facial expressions than John himself (who has now managed a set of five completely different expressions). Nobody really cared how good or bad the movie was thanks purely to Arijit Singh’s magical voice and thus Aashiqui 2 became the first musical hit of the year. Satyagraha got Ajay Devgan and Prakash Jha back in the limelight and Arjun Rampal came very close to matching John Araham’s caliber but because of divided screen space he could not completely manage to make D-Day one of his epic failures. Vijay Krishna Acharya wanted to prove that he could do worse than Tashan, so he made Dhoom 3, surprisingly both movies had kids who had grown up just to avenge their fathers’ deaths- very new and innovative for Bollywood screenplays. So that summarizes the year 2013 pretty much. It could have been better for sure; we had no Vicky Donors or Gangs of Wasseypur this year and not even a decent Dabangg! P.S. While I might have missed out on movies like David, it was more to do with the fact that I do not have the audacity to comment on the immensely talented Mr. Neil Nitin Mukesh, his acting talent can be matched only by Aftab Shivdasani and Vivek Oberoi. Co-incidentally both of them gave their career best performances in the super sleazy Grand Masti, a level of acting that even Tusshar Kapoor could not reach after his amazing performance in Shootout at Wadala.
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In Chimbai, somewhere in Mumbai Poorva Gupta I feel some stories need to be told many times. As many times as possible and to as many people you can find. This is the story of an unlikely entrepreneur. I say unlikely because you wouldn’t expect entrepreneurship from Manisha. She works as a housemaid in the Bandra West area of Mumbai, helping out nearly five households in their day to day chores. She cooks, buys groceries and cleans her clients’ houses. She herself lives with her family, in a tiny ground floor house overlooking the Chimbai Beach right off the famous Jogger’s Park of Bombay. Much as the tiny by-lanes and by-by-lanes of Bandra West surprise you by their very existence as the autorickshaw hobbles towards her neighbourhood, you suddenly find it stopping outside a narrow lane that opens right onto the Chimbai Beach. I read about it later and it was described as what used to be ‘…an idyllic strip of coast now languishing in a decrepit state, strewn with rubble and overrun by encroachers, outlining the eponymous fishing village…’. I read further and got entangled in what my imagination fancies to be a dusty cobweb of beautification and rehabilitation plans conceived by local fishermen, Bandra residents, architects and the BMC (Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation) to restore the beach’s long lost glory much as they claim to have achieved on Carter Road, Juhu Beach and Bandra Bandstand. What I remember are a few boats, some fishermen on the coast, a few potbellied men enjoying a drink under the late afternoon sun,and the not so startling absence of a single visible
shore displaying white sand not mixed with anything and everything that men and women chose to dispose of, much reminiscent for me, of the Har Ki Pauri at Hardwar. Manisha mentions that she worries for her nine year old son when he goes off fishing alone in the sea. But you forget the sea once you enter the network of lanes that lead to her house. I know I’m digressing but I couldn’t help but wonder how some Hindi films have depicted such neighbourhoods so aptly in their screenplay- narrow passageways and rickety staircases leading to houses with open doors; kids playing, half inside and half outside the entrances; toddlers following their neighbours’ kids into the rooms next door- at least they get reality right somewhere. Manisha’s husband has polio, although his physical disability is not very apparent. When he was an infant, as his mother tells her, the dosage they had given him for polio had failed to work as he had unknowingly eaten something over the dose. Today, he has a slight limp due to an unevenness in the length of his two legs. Also, the polio affected his face, constricting his jaw which he cannot fully open anymore. While this presents no issues in speaking, he does face a certain discomfort in eating, having to rely mostly on fluids and softer foods. He refuses to get an operation done, which the doctors say should help him out, because he fears it might worsen things, which he feels are fine as they are currently- having been hospitalized for a whole year as a kid has led to an aversion of doctors, hospitals and medication.
7 Manisha doesn’t worry more than she feels necessary. She says a lot of her friends have issues in life. Sangeeta’s husband recently died of a heart attack leaving her alone to take care of her two kids, eight years and three years old. He used to work on a boat, but drank a lot. Anjali’s mother-in-law has suffered from three paralytic attacks, she is almost completely paralyzed neck below and it costs six thousand rupees every month to buy her medicationthis has been the case for the last six years. She is also diabetic, has high blood pressure and a kidney disease. But Manisha, along with her friends has decided to go on and fix her own life. “I understand that my husband’s job doesn’t fetch us enough, so I have taken on more work myself. I get tired, very tired, but it’s alright. I wake up at five in the morning, run around to get work done at home, I go home in between if possible to fix up things for dinner, now I’ll be going home, you know, looking after for an hour and a half, probably go to sleep by eleven.”. She smiles all the while she tells me this. Like a lot of her other friends, Manisha likes to save money by keeping it hidden at odd places in the house. Her favourite location of course is between the falls of her sarees. When I ask her how she even remembers where she’d kept her money, because there’s no chance that I would, she says confidently, that she almost always does. Besides, more than remembering, it’s also about the feeling of hope that the sudden appearance of a fifty rupee note gives her. When there’s no money to buy the medicines or food, finding something in her saree’s fall at night reassures her, coaxes her not to give up, giving her the confidence that she’ll manage. I ask her how she speaks such good English, in spite of being born and brought up in a Maharashtrian environment. “I started working in a Catholic household when I was very young, they were in Mahim, I worked for about 10-12 years, they almost brought me up with their kids. I also looked after their kids and they didn’t like it if I spoke in any other language, so I picked up English. I can speak mostly, I can understand very well, but reading and writing is a little difficult.” Manisha and some of her friends now go for adult literacy classes thrice a week while their children attend after-school tuitions. They celebrated Women’s Day there last week. “Mehangaai ka kya hai na Didi, aisa hai ki do-chaar rupaya bachane ke liye hum log joojhte rehte hain.” When I ask her if she feels Bombay is getting expensive to live in, she offers no rant blaming inflation or the government or the food prices. She says we keep struggling to save menial amounts wherever possible. “If my friends and I need fish, we go to Malad.” “If I were to buy my ration and vegetables, I won’t buy it from any shop here in Bandra, I’ll go further east, or go to my specific shops, where everything costs five rupees less. I once sat down to calculate how much I save doing all this. It
might not be a lot you know. But it saves me a hundred rupee note. And to me, that is a lot.” She says she’s a great bargainer, and she doesn’t buy clothes from Bandra, she’d much rather go to Santacruz, Khar, Dadar. She buys vegetables in wholesale- 2.5 kg and 5 kg- at a time, for the whole week, two weeks, sometimes even a month. We suddenly start discussing life, and how it’s up to us to stay happy, when she remembers the time last year when her son suddenly got fever, his face and body froze and he had to be immediately rushed to a hospital. They chose the one that would admit him immediately, a private hospital which was quick. She had recently received a maturity cheque for her son’s policy with the Indian Post, approximately thirty eight thousand rupees. Her son’s treatment cost her forty thousand rupees. When I try to remind her that it was for this very kind of situation that she had in the first place gotten the policy for her son, she reminds me in turn that while she doesn’t regret having to use it for this, she’d much rather be able to use such money for his education so he can build a better life for himself. Her father-in-law had been unable to pay for her husband’s computer courses when he was young. He had been a very sharp student and she feels he would’ve been able to do much better if he had had the chance to study more. She doesn’t want to ever have to refuse her son for that kind of money. In fact, I must’ve met at least five families that reiterated this very fact- all the hard work is aimed towards putting the kids through school, for better lives, better opportunities. As a few of us discussed this later at home, we wondered whether the kids felt the same way about education and the chance to work towards a successful future as their parents or whether it was to them merely a burden that they weren’t willing to shoulder even if it meant potentially being unable to wriggle out of the squalor?
8 By far the most intelligent conversation Manisha and I had was on the subject of family planning. Yes, as surprising as that may sound, she doesn’t want to have a second kid. She feels whether it be a girl or a boy, she will educate the child and she does not have the resources to bring up another one the way she wants to. She often argues with her mother-in-law, who feels one must not depend on a single offspring. But she is clear. If you are becoming a parent, you have to take the responsibility of being one. Whether or not something were to happen to her only son, she feels it’s up to God and she doesn’t need a Plan B for life. She was out of the house within three months of delivering her son. She would wrap him up in a sheet and take him to work with her as she cooked, cleaned and dusted. She knows what she is doing.
Everyone will always find work to do to make a living. It is for this very reason that I feel that she’s the most exciting entrepreneur I’ve met recently. Her self reliance and willingness to earn and create value through hard work have redefined the meaning of the word entrepreneurship for me. Her views on several aspects of life have such uncanny clarity that I’m both amazed and inspired, realizing that it is possible for one born outside of privilege to have the courage to think beyond the shackles that the boundary of an underprivileged life offers. It’s unnerving, yet relieving to see the indomitable power of the individual’s will.
Manisha is only thirty two years old but with wisdom much ahead of her three decades. Hers isn’t a story you’ll read of only once in your life. There are many Manishas out there. But I feel that each of them equally She has given thought to the future. She will possibly deserves to be mentioned, because while life is save up enough money to buy some land and set up a certainly difficult, it is difficult for everyone and sharing poultry farm in the village. our stories must only make it a touch easier, reminding us, that while our battles are our own to fight and Manisha has been born and brought up in Bombay. conquer, they aren’t the only ones being fought and like She was brought up by her paternal grandparents Manisha, we must neither give them more importance when after her father’s death in a railway accident than they deserve, nor less integrity than they demand. when she was barely two, her mother never recovered. She’s from Andheri, and while she agrees it is an expensive city to live in, she feels the best part about Bombay is the fact that it has work.
49 days of the Aam Aadmi Manchit Mahajan
9 Rain is not the most common occurrence in Delhi but on that historic day, it was quite apt. Arvind Kejriwal’s 49-day government, the aam aadmi government, had just fallen. Opinions were divided on whether that was the right move, even among the staunchest of supporters of the AAP. “It was so that he could prepare for the Lok Sabha elections” said one, while another countered “No, he could not have continued constitutionally after his bill failed.” I could also sense a certain fatigue among the people. “All he did in these 49 days was drama” said one of my friends, echoing the sentiments of a large section of people who voiced their opinions on Facebook.
A similar phenomenon was observed in Bengal, where the intellectuals initially came out to support Mamata Bannerjee in hordes, but have grown increasingly disillusioned with her politics. But her voters who powered her to the Writers’ Building continue their trust in her.
A recent report by McKinsey & Company answers some of these questions. It says that only about 50% of the social spending undertaken by the government of India reaches its intended beneficiaries – and this number is as low as 36% in the case of health services. The report says that the total spending lost to corruption every year is Rs. 285,000 crore. Put in perspective, this means that To understand the true significance of the every poor Indian could avail of services worth Rs. government, however, it is important to look beyond 2,850 every year. Considering that the report estimates the ‘dharnas’ and the drama, the mid-night raids and that 56% of India lives on less than Rs. 1,336 per month, the threats of resignation. It is here that a particular you can understand that it is a substantial amount. auto ride I took was most insightful. I was going to Kailash Colony in Delhi, and waved my hand at an Which brings me to my point – that the impact of autorickshaw. corruption is highest on the lower sections of society. My friends or I, who engage in animated political “How much to Kailash colony?” I asked the auto driver discussions on Facebook, are quite cut-off from the (in Hindi, of course). reality of the vast majority of Indians. The politics that we do in Delhi or Mumbai, or on Facebook, is not the “By meter” he promptly replied. politics that happens in, say, a Bastar or a Kashmir. In those areas, people struggle for their daily sustenance, This was my clue that something was wrong. How and the government ration shop becomes an important often do auto rickshaw drivers in Delhi agree to go by source of their survival. Now, if over one-third of their meter? I was curious, and (after sitting comfortably ration is lost to corruption every year, then they feel the inside) asked him why he agreed to go by meter. pinch. For me, it doesn’t matter because I’ve never seen what a ration shop looks like (yes, friends, there are “It’s the Kejriwal effect! Ever since he came to power, ration shops even in cities), let alone having availed of we are not harassed by the police anymore, we don’t its services. But for the large section of those below our have to pay any bribes. So I can afford to go as per so-called ‘middle class’, the true aam aadmi of this meter” he said. country, it matters. The Kejriwal government, I pointed out to him, had There were other things that this government did that just fallen the day before. What now, I asked him. we do not appreciate because we simply did not know about it. For instance, free and immediate medical “Pata nahin (I don’t know). I suppose the police might treatment for rape and acid attack victims at all come back to ask for bribes. Or maybe they have government hospitals. Or other initiatives in the changed forever, because this government has healthcare sector, like increasing the number of fullytaught everyone that tackling corruption is not equipped ambulances. What we saw and talked about difficult.” was the Somnath Bharti incident or the dharna around Republic Day, and part of the blame can be laid on Finally, I asked him if he would vote for AAP again if Kejriwal and Co. but let us not be blind to our own re-elections were held. insensitivities, our own yearning to hear ‘breaking news’ and form conjectures and hypotheses. “Of course!” he shot back “All of us – my friends, family, other auto-drivers, all of us will vote for We might have our different political views, and I am not Kejriwal again.” sure myself if I would support AAP in the Lok Sabha elections. But for a large section of society which had It got me thinking that even as AAP seemed to be lost hope that this country would ever fulfill the promises losing support among the so-called ‘middle class’ (in of independence, they represented hope. Because as reality the top 10-20% of the population), their support they say in Shawshank Redemption, hope is a good among the working class had been stable, if not grown. What explained this paradox? It must be that the raison-d’etre of the AAP resonates best with this strata of society.
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Gujarat v/s. Bihar debate revisited Subhashish Bhadra A major debate for much of last year was over Nitish Kumar’s ‘inclusive model’ of development in Bihar versus the allegedly ‘pro-industrialist’ model of Gujarat. The debate even reached the top echelons of economic thinking, with Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati taking antagonistic stands. Mainstream media also took sides in this debate wherein every inter-state comparison had a paragraph or two dedicated to a Bihar-Gujarat debate, and usually tried to underplay the latter (refer, for example, to Mint’s article “What Gujarat can learn from Bihar and Odisha”, 23 October 2013). In this article, I will focus neither on Bihar’s stunning turnaround nor on the policies of the Gujarat government. I will, instead, pick up only a small part of that debate – the question of where economic and social outcomes in Gujarat have been poor. Before I start this article, I have a confession to make. I started this article thinking that I might be able to prove that Gujarat’s growth, in fact, has not benefitted the poor masses. But over two weeks of research, I realised that is, in fact, not the case. Gujarat is not the perfect state or even the numero uno state as claimed by Mr. Modi, but it has provided very good outcomes to the vast majority of its people. Here are some of the ways in which that has happened. Governance To be intellectually honest, it is unfair to compare a
state like Bihar, with a history of very poor governance, with a more developed state like Gujarat. Yet, some useful comparisons can be made when one looks at these indicators. One metric of governance can be the MNREGA scheme. Launched during UPA-I, it is now operational in all rural areas of the country. A report by the Ministry of Rural Development (2011) sheds light on the governance aspects of the scheme. For instance, only about 45 percent of the works undertaken in FY 2010-11 were completed. Gujarat was a mildly positive outlier, completing 53 percent of the works it undertook. Bihar was among the worst performers, completing only 11 percent of work. Gujarat was also one of only 11 states to pay an unemployment allowance (albeit very little), a key cornerstone of the NREGA. Bihar made no payouts for unemployment. On the question of delay in payments, Gujarat at 13 percent delay was marginally better than the all India average of 15 percent, but far below Bihar’s 27 percent. While I acknowledge that the challenge of governance is stiffer in Bihar due to its starting conditions, it is not entirely impossible. UP, with an equally big governance deficit, scored quite well on all NREGA parameters – 60 percent of work was completed, some unemployment payouts were made and delay in payments was only at 13 percent. However, there is one area where Bihar has done rather well – the Public Distribution System (PDS). The mammoth PDS is designed to provide subsidized food
11 food grains to the poor. In 2005, before Nitish Kumar stormed to power, Bihar had among the most dysfunctional PDS of any state – the poor received only 1 kg of foodgrain per household, as compared to
FIGURE 1 : Uptake of foodgrain from the Public Distribution System by the poor (2011-12)
an entitlement of 35 kg. By 2012, the poor were receiving 17 kg, or roughly half, of their entitlement. This is slightly higher than the national average of 16 kg. However, Gujarat continues to defy logic and is among the worst-off states. In 2005, the poor received 6 kg of foodgrain, which rose to only 7 kg in 2012. At a time when almost every major state in India has improved the performance of the PDS, Gujarat defies logic. The poor in Gujarat do not seem to have access to a very important part of food security. How this important program has escaped policy debate in Gujarat is worth debating.
Both states were among the fastest-growing states of the last seven years, along with Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. One of the objectives of development policy has to be to increase the economic wealth of the citizens. It always did seem a bit odd to me, however, that Gujarat would have ‘pro-industrialist’ growth while having very high agricultural growth. I decided to dig deeper to find the truth. It is true that between 2005 and 2012, Bihar reduced its poverty ratio spectacularly, going from 55 percent to 34 percent. In the same period, Gujarat’s gains were more modest, going from 33 percent to 17 percent. However, it is easier for a poorer state to reduce poverty, just because a greater share of your policies is going to reach people below the poverty line. Reducing poverty is thus easier in a poorer state. The correct metric to compare is the rate of reduction in head count ratio (HCR), or the proportion of people below poverty line. Bihar reduced HCR at an annual rate of 7 percent. Gujarat was among the best performers, reducing HCR by 9 percent annually. The best performing state was Andhra Pradesh, which reduced HCR at an astounding annual rate of 15 percent. FIGURE 3 : Compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of reduction in poverty ratio (2005-12)
Economic Growth State-level GDP numbers in India are notoriously unreliable. For instance, Sikkim reported a 17-fold jump in its industrial sector GDP (at constant prices) between 2005 and 2012. However, given that these are the most reliable GDP numbers we have, it merits a brief discussion. Between 2005 and 2012, Bihar’s GDP grew at 9 percent per annum, led by strong growth in the industrial and services sector. Gujarat grew marginally faster, at 11 percent per annual, the difference being contributed by faster agricultural growth in the latter. FIGURE 2 : GDP growth by state (2005-12)
However, the correct measure of the extent of poverty is the poverty gap, or the gap between the expenditure of the poor and what they need to spend to be above the poverty line. It is impacted by two factors – the number of poor (which represents the ‘width’ of the gap) and the gap between the poor man’s consumption and the poverty line (which represents the ‘depth’ of the gap. India’s total poverty gap in 2005 was Rs. 54,000 crore annually, and about 28 percent of this was contributed by UP and Bihar. In 2012, the gap had reduced to Rs. 29,000 crore (in 2004-05 rupees), and the share of UP and Bihar increased to 34 percent. Through this more accurate lens, Bihar’s achievements seem moderate. Bihar reduced its poverty gap by only 7 percent annually, only marginally higher than UP’s 5 percent. In contrast, Gujarat reduced its poverty gap at a brisk rate of 12 percent annually, lower than only Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Punjab (in that order).
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FIGURE 4 : Annual reduction in poverty gap (2005 - 12)
Gujarat’s ability to reduce poverty has this been grossly under-estimated and under-reported in the media. Having thus established poverty gap reduction as the appropriate way to measure a state’s performance in tackling poverty, we return to economic growth across states and how it compares to poverty reduction. This is where the difference between Gujarat and Bihar is rather stark. Bihar is among a handful of states (which includes UP, Delhi, Jharkhand, MP, Karnataka, Assam and Chhattisgarh) that reduced poverty at a rate lower than GDP growth. What does that say about the ‘inclusiveness’ claims of the Bihar ‘model’ of development. I leave that to the reader. Quality of life Whatever we have discussed till now are essentially figures, mostly economic, that might not directly contribute to the quality of life of citizens of a state. We must look at the physical attributes of well-being – whether the health of children is improving, whether houses are receiving electricity and whether every individual can has access to safe drinking water. Gujarat is definitely not the best performer on these social indicators – but on almost all parameters, Gujarat has performed better than the all-India average. For example, the percentage of households without toilets inside their homes reduced by 2.6 percent annually in Gujarat between 2001 and 2011, as compared to an all-India average of 1.8 percent. The same number for Bihar was 0.5 percent. Even if you assume that all the progress Bihar made was between 2005 and 2011 (the Nitish Kumar regime), this number only rises to 1 percent. Similarly, the percentage of households not having electricity reduced by 6.9 percent annually in Gujarat, as compared to the all-India average of 3 percent and Bihar’s 0.7 percent. Gujarat is among the handful of states that saw access to drinking water improve in this decade, as compared to a 0.5 percent decline in India as a whole. n conclusion, it can be said fairly that Gujarat is not among the top performers in India – either in terms of GDP growth (where it is outstripped by Maharashtra, among others) or in terms of development indicators
FIGURE 5 : Improvement in electricity access (2001 - 11)
(where Delhi, for example, performs much better). But the juxtaposition of Bihar as some sort of an alternative to Gujarat is completely misplaced. Bihar ’s achievement, while commendable compared to its own history and stage of development, pales in comparison to that of Gujarat. There is much that the two states can learn from each other. At the same time, a few indicators might not capture the entire scope of the problem. I welcome comments from readers regarding this debate. Write to us at questions@theindianopinion.co.in or comment on our facebook page. I promise to take any questions, and provide more data to back up this tiny bit of analysis. P.s. The raw data used for this analysis is now available on the web version of this article
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Conversations in the hinterland Azeez Gupta A quick introduction – I have recently joined the Pratham Institute as part of a pursuit for happiness and meaning. The past 2 years spent working at a renowned consultancy saw me engage in stimulating work with fantastic minds – yet I could never escape the nagging feeling that I was coasting. I missed the violent single-minded passion I experienced during my most fulfilling college years, and hope that working for a cause again will help me re-discover those emotions.
ime at Pratham training centers. The quickest and most enthusiastic response – “Shaving”! Shaving?! Here we are, claiming to turn your lives around, give you opportunity and all that jazz, and what you like most is shaving?! J It was very endearing – and jokes apart, the shaving was part of a broader theme of following rules and regulations and living a structured life. Concepts that we elites resist resolutely, but are both important for and attractive to these young people who’ve lived their lives in relative chaos.
Seeing as I came to Pratham as a relatively green, mostly city boy, who had grown up seeing the poor, but had never really interacted deeply with underprivileged people, I was promptly packed off to see all our programs and centers on the ground. The resulting 2 week trip through the hinterlands of Maharashtra was truly eye-opening. I met dozens of our students, learnt about their lives and heard their stories. In the process, I went from being an armchair intellectual to… well, definitely not an expert, but someone who’s starting to get a pulse of India today. The things we all pontificate about, but really know very little about.
- The level of attention in classes and devotion to learning was extraordinary – it put me to shame, looking back at how many of my batchmates and I went through our IIT education.
In this post, I will try to put down some of my observations, as I remember them. These are random and unstructured reflections, often mundane, and accompanied by my unsolicited comments – but may be interesting to my peers, as cossetted as I was. - I asked students what they liked best about their t
- I heard the personal stories of many students – most were from villages and had absolutely no jobs available at their homes. They spent their times roaming around the fields aimlessly, with nothing to do, and occasionally working on the farms. It bought the scarcity of opportunities home to me very starkly, especially in contrast to the vast expanse of options I have been blessed with all my life. - The more things are different though, the more they remain the same J When I asked what kids use the computer center for, after their daily studies are over, there was a lot of sniggering followed by the euphemism ‘watch videos of movie stars on the internet’. Young men are the same everywhere!
14 - A very interesting thing to experience first hand was the Indian penchant for entrepreneurship. We read everywhere about how India is driven by its entrepreneurs – I saw it embodied in a sizeable number of these students who were keenly interested in opening up their own restaurants or garages, rather than work for someone else, and were supremely confident in their ability to do so. I have always thought that natural inclination for entrepreneurship comes from the sort of family that one comes from – whether a business or a service family. Given that a lot of our rural farmers are effectively small business owners, is there a bunch of untapped entrepreneurial energy in our hinterland, just waiting to explode? - I also heard first hand accounts of how corruption is a problem everywhere. There was an almost universal lament of how the few government jobs that exist in rural areas are unavailable, because of demands for large bribes. For me, this widespread low-level corruption is a far bigger issue than highprofile scams – I wonder how long it’ll take for technology and e-governance to cut through this and force a change? - While we’re thinking about technology – EVERYONE today has mobiles! Each and every student (and most of these are BPL) had their own basic cellphone and used India’s revolutionarily low call rates to connect back home and with each other. Our centers also have wifi – each kid used it to get on whatsapp and wifi. Talk about technological leapfrogging!! Mobile internet connectivity really will change the world for everyone – Google and Facebook, get your balloons or satellites or whatever working ASAP!! - Information asymmetry is dying a quick death by technology. This is completely unrelated to our programs, but I was starkly reminded of it when I went to visit Ellora, which is very close to our Auragabad center. My auto driver wanted to take me to a few of the nearer caves and bring me back – my handy phone internet told me about the best caves and I convinced him to take me there. The Idea ‘No ullu banaoing’ add really came alive to me then!
- Many of our students are tribals from heavily Naxalite affected areas (Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra)- their stories finally gave me a real perspective on the issue. They told me about how Naxals come into their villages after sundown and try to retain support. They have a massive network and are hugely ruthless (finding and executing informers instantly), but also support tribals through carrying out some development work. Net net, the ordinary folks in Naxalite areas are afraid of the Naxals, have some measure of sympathy for them but are mostly looking to get on with their lives and engage with the government and the rest of the country. Their lives have been ravaged – there are absolutely no jobs there. I do believe that the state has failed these people – and development has to be the key to turning things around. I thought the same earlier as well, but talking to these students convinced me of it. - Many kids drop out of school after class 8 – supposedly because of the nominal amount of money they have to pay for schooling! I still don’t know what to make of this – it is probably true to some extent, but I think the biggest reason would be because they realize by then that education is not really helping them. - My point above seems to be borne out by some other stories I heard – in a small village, parents were willing to pay 1.5 lacs to an agent to get admitted to a private school. It seems the agent ran off with some crore rupees that he got by this route. The story was extremely sad in that it illustrated the desperate lack of quality education in India but was heartening in that it also showed that people really do realize the value of a good education – something that I have always seen first hand in cities as well. - At this point, I will also slip in a small ode to the institution I’ve just joined. I have been overwhelmed by the love and help that has been offered to me by everyone in Pratham, especially people who will never interact with me on a work basis. I was introduced to a Read India program coordinator – he not only explained the program to me in great detail but also got another coordinator to start some camps the next day and spend his morning taking me around on a motorbike to see the camps first hand in several villages. Multiple other program coordinators similarly spent hours explaining their program to me, despite my lack of any formal connection to their programs. This kind of culture in the organization left me totally humbled. - While I was on my motorbike visit to Read India camps, I was also treated to sugarcane juice and ‘gud’ straight from the fields of one of our trainers. It was not only delicious in taste and fascinating to watch, but also exponentially increased my confidence in my digestive capabilities! - On the subject of food, one slightly sad observation – it seems that decent paneer cannot be gotten for love or money in Maharashtra. For a Punjabi vegetarian, it seemed a fate worse than death, but I’ve mostly gotten used to the local food by now J
15 - Back to Read India camps – I loved to see small school children were jumping up and down to participate. The pedagogy and method of teaching really does make a big difference, I think. I seem to remember our classrooms being much more somber in tone – I used to be the only one answering the teacher’s questions but that was because I was always this nerdy kid L - I’ll now slip in something on religious harmony, as that is always a favourite topic of mine – it made me happy to see little kids of different religions playing and learning together. I vividly remember a poignant image of a small boy in a skullcap yelling for his Hindu friend. Am probably romanticizing this unnecessarily, but I haven’t seen this much in the areas I’ve lived in, in the North, and it felt good.
- I also keep coming across interesting religious legends. One example is of these sets of small mandirs that apparently survived the massive 1993 earthquake in Latur, while everything around them was razed to the ground. Overall, I felt a lot of energy – our struggling majority is ready and aspiring to improve their lot. Meeting and talking to them was inspiring – I can see what Gandhiji meant by that Talisman that was ever present in our NCERT books.
Challenges facing Indian entrepreneurs Nipun Malhotra While looking at businesses, India can broadly be divided into two categories. Some like to divide it between ‘Bharat’ and ‘India’, referring to Bharat as the ‘old’ and India as the modern – the thin line between the two dwindling now as communication between ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’ rapidly increases through modern means. Another division is to divide India between ‘rural’ and ‘urban’, however here I would like to divide India into the ‘organized’ and ‘unorganized’ sectors as well. The ‘unorganized’ sector being the parallel economy that doesn’t come within official Indian laws and the ‘organized’ sector of which most readers of this magazine are a part.
The story of entrepreneurship in both these sectors is very different. The ‘unorganized’ sector or the parallel economy is filled with local tea vendors, vegetable vendors, milkmen amongst many others who have taken the plunge to becoming ‘self employed’. They have taken the risk to start something of their own, ensuring they have a sustainable livelihood, in places where ‘jugaad innovation’ has also become really popular in helping people live frugally, move ahead and progress in life. Then there is the other India- the ‘organised’ sector so to speak- the sector you and I are likely to belong to.
16 My focus over the next few articles on entrepreneurs and challenges facing them is primarily going to be on this set. The first challenge facing today’s youth in their journey to becoming entrepreneurs is really more of a temptation to be a part of the rat race. How do I decide what to do? What is my purpose in life? Should I start something of my own? Should I join my family business? I am sure these are questions we all face as we end formal education and move on to the ‘real world’. An important phase in life when one moves from learning, to application of learning – a transition from a phase where you have taken from the world to one where you start contributing your bit back to it. Such are the laws of life, where one must transition – from school to college, college to work. However, do we really allow the flow of this transition? Or do we follow the typical ‘rat race’, ticking items on a check list that will get us to the ‘dream campus job’? This is quite evident right from our time at school, where parents start suppressing passions for music, dance or soccer as they affect grades. They would rather you become a mediocre engineer than a great dancer. They would rather have you study at IIT than be a part of the latest rock band! IIT why? No, not because it is India’s best engineering college but more so, because more IITians get into IIMs than students from any other undergraduate institution. As for sciences and engineering, just the fact that no Indian who has won the Nobel prize in science is a citizen of India today sums things up. Who cares if you are a good scientist, you might be better off shifting out!
Another problem that the Indian psyche faces is a fear of ‘failure’. More than the failure in itself, it is the social pressure that comes with it that really pulls people down, making thinking outside the box look like a disease and living the ‘ordinary life’ the only socially auspicious choice. However, it is impossible not to fail – success and failure are just two sides of the same coin, what can change is the magnitude and it’s only those who fear failing are the ones who succeed. What we often forget, is that most successful entrepreneurs have failed before they succeeded. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and perhaps the most famous entrepreneur of our times started his entrepreneurial career with ‘Traf-O-Data’ along with partner Paul Allen. This involved designing a computerized microprocessor that would analyze traffic data and create reports for the Washington state highway department’s traffic engineers to optimize traffic and end road congestion. However, the idea soon became obsolete when the state of Washington offered to tabulate the tapes for cities for free. Bill might not have succeeded in his first venture but he gained the experience and the right partner in Paul Allen to succeed the next time with Microsoft. Why isn’t India producing the entrepreneurs it should? The first problem according to me lies in ourselves: following the rat race and treating failure like a social disease instead of a ‘launch pad’ for future successes. The problem lies within us, and what lies within us can be changed only by us!
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Gender equations of the WWE Subhashish Bhadra I always refer to the WWE as a young man’s soap opera. Skimpily clothed and well-oiled men and women compete in well-scripted matches and put on a spectacle that is lapped up by millions across the globe. While growing up, I found the programming quite ‘modern’ and refreshing – where else in the midto-late 1990s would you frequently see kisses and near-nudity on television. But as I’ve grown and started reflecting on the content that formed a large part of my growing up years, I am struck by its rather illiberal attitude. The WWE, to me, catered to the most conservative aspects of our sexuality. Hot women, good looking young boys and weird homosexuals formed the staple fodder. In this article, I put together my thoughts on the portrayal of male and female sexuality on screen, and then move on to the depiction of homosexuality. According to me, the male WWE wrestler falls in one of four categories – the monster, the flyer, the brawler and the star. The monsters, like a Big Show or Undertaker, usually do not have sexual undertones to their character. However, that might change at times – for instance, Mark Henry’s ‘sexual chocolate’ phase, Kane’s numerous affairs with women (notably with Lita) and most recently, the Great Khali’s kiss cam. These sexual storylines are meant either to be humorous (remember Henry’s hand ‘son’?) or scary and psychotic. It can, however, safely be said that the monster usually returns to its core job of towering over its opponents and scaring them. The flyer (Rey
Mysterio, Sin Cara etc.) and the brawler (Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar etc.) are often seen to be in short-lived relationships for storyline reasons. It is the ‘stars’ (a category in which I include John Cena, Randy Orton, The Rock, Shawn Michaels etc) who display the most obvious and in-your-face aspects of sexuality. Shawn Michaels, for instance, posed for Playgirl in the mid1990s, a magazine which is known to be popular among homosexual men. Val Venis, whose name obviously refers to the magazine Pal Penis, played the role of a male porn star in the late 1990s. I still remember the battle of innuendos between Goldust (Dustin Rhodes) and Debra Marshall around that time. When Debra exposed herself to Goldust to distract him during a match, Goldust returned the favour the next week. With the onset of the PG era in WWE, male nudity has almost disappeared from television – Vicky Guerrero forcing Dolph Ziggler to wear tight pants and then staring at his derriere was as much as has been seen on the major shows lately. In the house shows, however, male nudity continues quite unabated. Randy Orton’s trunks have frequently been pulled down to expose his behind. This is, in fact, a fairly common occurrence for other young wrestlers – Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase, CM Punk and Chris Jericho among others. Yet, it would not be wrong to say that sexuality is not the focus in the male wrestler’s character. It is at best a humorous appendage or a fleeting erotic moment. In contrast, almost every female WWE wrestler has a significant sexual aspect to her character.
18 Among WWE females, the ‘monster’ character is almost entirely missing, except for the brief appearance of Kharma. There are either some female wrestlers (such as Candice Michelle and Sable) who make the cut based purely on their physical appearance, or there are substantial wrestlers (such as Beth Phoenix and Lita) who have to adopt a particularly glamorous billing to be accepted. Hence, Beth Phoenix had to supplement her strength and wrestling prowess with dollops of glamour to become the ‘glamazon’ while Lita adopted a ‘chick’ attitude that appealed to a young segment. Sable, whose entry to the ring started with the crack of a whip, was among the pioneers in the industry. Her wrestling skills, which barely existed, were overshadowed by her ‘sexy’ attitude. The one incident in which she came to the ring with only hands painted on her breasts, and another where her upper body was exposed on television, are symptomatic of the WWE life that she lived. In no case, however, is the move towards making women sexual more obvious than in the case of Chyna. Chyna debuted in the mid – 1990s as a tall, stronglybuilt, muscular and rather ‘ugly’ bodyguard for Triple H. But her career really took off after through a series of surgeries, she transformed herself into a more conventionally good looking face, and also started wearing more provocative clothes. This led to her appearance on playboy (not the first, but easily the most memorable). On a WWE show around that time, she talked about how being called ‘beautiful’ empowered her. It was obviously part-fiction, partreality, but it is among the very few WWE segments that have struck a chord with me. Alongside this, she broke other gender barriers – got in the ring with men, won a prestigious title otherwise held only by men and became the first woman to enter the Royal Rumble. Her ascendancy created a lively debate around whether or not the WWE did the right thing by letting a woman wrestle men. Jim Ross, former WWE commentator and one of the most vocal voices in the industry, has maintained till this date that WWE was wrong in allowing that. Two reasons were given for people’s opposition – first, that the whole scene of watching a woman compete with, and often beat men was plain incredulous; second, that showing violence on women on television would set a wrong precedent in people’s homes. I do not necessarily agree with either of these arguments. For me, her story was, and has been, quite inspirational. It is a story about breaking stereotypes, about reaching the top with hard work and charisma, and yet losing it all due to completely unrelated reasons (Chyna left the WWE under unpleasant situations and now works as a porn star). Trish Stratus, now idolized as WWE’s most successful female wrestler, acknowledged Chyna’s role in broadening the role for women in the company. WWE has now gone back to completely separate divisions for males and females – but an occasional female entering the Royal Rumble probably doesn’t raise as many heckles now as it did back in the 1990s. The distinction between men and women extends to depiction of homosexuality on screen. Female homo-
-eroticism has been glorified on screen – a popular angle had Torrie Wilson and Sable becoming very close on screen, culminating in a joint appearance on the playboy cover. Similarly, the angle with Trish Stratus being stalked by Micky James received good reviews from the audience. In comparison, male homosexuality has been portrayed as a matter of humour. Chuck and Billy, for instance, was a visible homosexual tag team that was meant solely to provide humour. The overtly homophobic attitude of the WWE till recently had been a major cause of concern, especially with the outpouring of support about Chris Canyon’s story. However, with the recent coming out of Darren Young, there seems to have been a sea of change in the attitudes of the powers-that-be. Perhaps the change in the organization reflects the change in its audiences – with an increasingly liberal attitude towards homosexuality, the organization might not be such a stifling place for its gay wrestlers. Sexual attitudes and gender equations in the WWE have changed over time to reflect the changing tastes and preferences of its audiences. I hope, however, that the organization stops being just a reflection of its audience, and starts being a thought leader.