No I am not talking about Henry Ford or Henry Kissinger or Henry David Thoreau for that matter. I read a very interesting article at the below source which referred to HENRY as "High Earner Not Rich Yet" and it made me wonder if the Indian middle class especially the ones reaping the benefits of IT boom is stuck in this particular category.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-18/the-problem-with-henry-may-derail-u-s-recovery.html
The Indian IT industry has contributed a great deal in increasing the disposable income in the hands of middle class Indians but in the process did it create a new middle class who probably do not realize it themselves. They are definitely high earners but yearning to be rich or in essence to be wealthy. Being wealthy is still an aspiration for most of working IT force. The growth in income has brought more material comforts. To detail an instance, while growing up as a kid, we lived in a middle class colony where in the entire colony of about 200-300 residents there was one Maruti 800 and whenever the car was in the street children used to gather around to get a glimpse of what's inside and run along until it has accelerated its way past the street. Those were the days when owning a scooter made for a comfortable existence. You were not dependent on the Lord Rickshawallah who was the master of his own existence and could care less about what you thought of him.
Things have changed today. Perhaps you would not find any such middle class colony without a dozen i10's or swifts ( May be there will still be a Maruti 800 somewhere in the colony). Cars are no longer a fancy but something that you expect to own over time. The independent rented houses have given way to apartments though not the skyscraper kind. But in all of this transformation what possessions would classify someone as a middle class has come to change.Today owning a car is something that would not classify you as rich. May be an independent house does make you upper middle class. The increase in Income only seems to have elevated the standards of middle class but has not been able to create the illusion of wealth. The struggle still remains the same. If it was about owning a scooter back then, its about owning a car now. If it was about meeting expenses back then, it is about meeting the auxillary expenses - paying for that year end recreational trip etc. But the sense of wealth has still eluded the middle class. But the hope still floats that the High Earners would become rich one day and in that hope the middle class struggle continues as before....
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-18/the-problem-with-henry-may-derail-u-s-recovery.html
The Indian IT industry has contributed a great deal in increasing the disposable income in the hands of middle class Indians but in the process did it create a new middle class who probably do not realize it themselves. They are definitely high earners but yearning to be rich or in essence to be wealthy. Being wealthy is still an aspiration for most of working IT force. The growth in income has brought more material comforts. To detail an instance, while growing up as a kid, we lived in a middle class colony where in the entire colony of about 200-300 residents there was one Maruti 800 and whenever the car was in the street children used to gather around to get a glimpse of what's inside and run along until it has accelerated its way past the street. Those were the days when owning a scooter made for a comfortable existence. You were not dependent on the Lord Rickshawallah who was the master of his own existence and could care less about what you thought of him.
Things have changed today. Perhaps you would not find any such middle class colony without a dozen i10's or swifts ( May be there will still be a Maruti 800 somewhere in the colony). Cars are no longer a fancy but something that you expect to own over time. The independent rented houses have given way to apartments though not the skyscraper kind. But in all of this transformation what possessions would classify someone as a middle class has come to change.Today owning a car is something that would not classify you as rich. May be an independent house does make you upper middle class. The increase in Income only seems to have elevated the standards of middle class but has not been able to create the illusion of wealth. The struggle still remains the same. If it was about owning a scooter back then, its about owning a car now. If it was about meeting expenses back then, it is about meeting the auxillary expenses - paying for that year end recreational trip etc. But the sense of wealth has still eluded the middle class. But the hope still floats that the High Earners would become rich one day and in that hope the middle class struggle continues as before....
1 comment:
Weird But True.... As soon as I read HENRY, the picture that came to my mind resembled none of the Henries that you mentioned in your post. My mind immediately projected the Henry in a cartoon series "Horrid Henry" which my kids watch, shown on Cartoon Network. :) ... Lifestyles... Lifestyles......
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