I wonder what took me so long to come to this topic, because if ever there is anything that haunts me, it is the so called middle class. Innumerable times I have been proud of my association of being middle class, of being rooted, of not giving up, of not forgetting where I come from and what I stand for. I love being middle class. But what is middle class? Is it being brought up in a middle class household, or is it really a way of thinking. I believe middle class is a school of thought; it is a way of living, the way I live, and the way so many of my friends live and so many Indians live. Am I going to graduate from this, I don’t think so! I love being this way. Of whatever little I have seen of other classes I have been disgusted by the way they think, behave and act. Right or wrong I am too inexperienced to judge but certainly not the way I want to live my life. I still find it uncomfortable getting anywhere into the domain of being hip. Its not me and I find it awkward being anyone else, be it as trivial as the use of word fuck as liberally as some of the others, or something as serious (or not serious at all) as Sex. What hurts, perplexes, and especially annoys me is the fact that people who are a part of a so called rich class or urban class, they have little understanding of us, and hence they look down upon us. As I write all this, I see instances and images in my mind which I would like to site as examples here, but I don’t write to vent my grudge, I write because I will feel light after it.
There are so many things that I associate with this topic and progressing in life is just one of them. Having the privilege of quality of education where do I go from here, ten years down the line, will I still be middle class? I do aspire to be a part of the rich and famous, in better words successful. But will I be able to hold on to the same set of values? It is an important question and how I take the next step in my social existence will be largely determined by this answer. My parents have lived their lives in the so called middle class way, what am I going to give my children? Mom and Dad gave me platform to fly, what do I have to offer? Where do children go from there? There is my answer, the answer to my aspirations, my hunger, my values, I long for something in life, I have to work hard to achieve it, the privileged are underprivileged in this sense, and they live a stagnant life. So what should do they do to break the stagnancy, I don’t know, for now at least this BHAIYA from UP is going to sleep in peace because he has found that even the rich class doesn’t always sleep in peace.