The intelligentsia of ‘New India’ is making quite a splash, outside the traditional power structures with Sanjeev Sanyal, Hindol Sengupta, Vikram Sampath and now newly minted cultural diplomat Amish. SOAS educated Anglophile Swapan Da is ofcourse in the Rajya Sabha who bet on the BJP when it was unfashionable to do so.

I forgot to add, all these gentlemen are the new intellectual elite of the country. Even Ram Guha is undergoing a repivot. Interesting times.

The greatest contribution of this pandemic has been the rupture of the idea that progress is infinite, and as professionals we need to be on the treadmill called the resume. There was jobless growth, now we are in a post jobs world, and growth is measured in the mortuary and in the number of hospital beds. There is surely ‘growth’ in edutech and healthcare, if that can be referred to as secular growth. This is stepping in to maintain the new normal, trying to replicate the old life.

We are trying to hold on to the pre pandemic normal by clutching to the bare threads of the fabric of normalcy. Now a days, heading to the market is a health risk. This fact itself does make any talk of economic green shoots inedible.

In extending Sociologist of Risk Ulrich Beck’s work we have entered the phase of the ‘Meta Risk’ Society’ and are undergoing a simulation of a submerged world of climate change of 2100, where all the risks need to be managed. I get reminded of the a16z note of learning to build again. Only this time building for survival and a fresh start is needed.

#thoughtleadership

#writing