Media Conclave

Under the twilight of the evening skies, in the open air theater of IIM Bangalore we witnessed a meeting of the minds, a coming together of ideas to define an interesting topic - The New Indian. Big names like Mani Shankar Aiyer, Manish Sabharwal, R K Mishra and Krish Ashok explored various avenues of attributes that shapes us in the new generation in a discussion moderated by Sidin Vadukut. 

It was a joy to lounge back on the grass and listen to the flow of thoughts interspersed with a sense of humour that had the audience gripped.. In between bouts of laughter to the comments, the discussion saw issues like poverty, education, labour market, technology which prompted the students to think and ponder for themselves.. In a subtle and engrossing mix of humour and seriousness, the panel explored questions of patriotism, answering the doubt of a question poised by the audience and tried to put a definition and an understanding of patriotism..They also went on to discuss about how the world outside sees us and what is the image if India and the image of Indian outside India.. Then the conversation turned towards the idols and heroes of the modern Indian.. While some were of the opinion that the current heroes were flippant and that older generation idols had more integrity, there was some dissent to that opinion also. 

All this led to them deciding on whether there has been any change in the definition of Indian and comparing between the old Indian and the new Indian.. While Mr. Aiyer thought there was no change in the Indian, R K Mishra opined that the new Indian is more bold, confident but is also the one who prefers to argue in the dining room rather than coming to the pollbooth.. Mr. Sabharwal was of the opinion that the new Indian is luckier than the old Indian with many more opportunities.. And Mr. Krish Ashok defined the New Indian as doing jalsa, shopping for Windows, more tech savvy, better informed, and occasionally mis-informed.

Even with such varied definitions one came out of the discussion, inspired to think more about where the country is going and where is the place of the New Indian in the world. In the context of people saying that the next decade will be the greatest for India, we hope he emerges on the world stage and retains his image to portray both the advancement and the heritage of the country..