The year was 2000 & the Indian middle class was reaping the windfalls of liberalisation & Y2K I was busy organising shoots for several brands in my textile belt. The coordinator I was working with was a lady from a politically connected elite family. +

Despite being a small beneficiary of the new economy, I was dead against India adopting neo-liberalism without any plan in place to protect the poor & those living off the old economy. The coordinator held exactly opposite views for obvious reasons. +

For the first time, the upper caste, educated, civil servants & bankers who had power, but no big money had started to see their children earn big bucks in IT, advertising & other industries. They could also take foreign holidays like the gujjus next door who were traders +

Once while arguing with her about job creation, I said jobs are being created only for those who are already from better off families. What about jobs for the children of small town people & villagers? The answer she gave for it, told me everything about India in a flash. +

She said, "Jobs are being created. Earlier we had only one maid working for us. Now we have 2 maids, a gardener, a cook & 2 drivers. Thats a 600% increase. And they are all from our village where we have a farm". I was speechless.

I never argued about economy with her after that