Impermanence

Indians have been conditioned to seek stability and 'permanence' in everything we do. Family relationships, especially stable marriages are the bedrock of our society. Jobs and careers follow the same pattern. The sturdy middle class always sought government jobs as ones that were not run by pernicious capitalists and offered a stable, albeit  somewhat stultifying future for young aspirants. The pinnacle, of course, was the IAS or one of the central services.

This entire mindset has gone through a seismic change in the recent past. Some examples would serve to illustrate the point:

1. Marriages are not as stable as they used to be. It's another matter that marriages in the past may not have been stable either but there was a strong social stigma attached to divorce that prevented them from falling apart altogether. There is no such thing now. Divorce rates amongst the middle class (the labour class anyway has had a fairly relaxed approach in this context) and above have skyrocketed and a single woman divorcee does not attract the same societal opprobrium as earlier. Second and third marriages are fairly common and the 'yours, mine and ours' concept for children is becoming far more visible.
2. The most striking aspect of impermanence is clearly the attitude towards jobs. Not so long ago a young man or occasionally woman, was lucky enough to land a respectable government job soon after they graduated. This would form the basis of an honourable livelihood for the rest of his professional life. It would also define his social status, friends circle and the kind of people whom his children got married to. The first transition was to a private sector job instead of a government one. This was bad enough but it was compounded by increasing opportunities in a rapidly growing economy. The temptations of new opportunities and more money has led to a roller coaster of new jobs every few years or even months.
3.  A man no longer treasures his first scooter or car that he acquired after a long wait and much penny pinching. Ownership is increasingly passé. Ubiquitous Ubers and Olas have made car ownership unnecessary and even burdensome in our crowded cities. Even if you do decide to own a car, leasing is becoming the preferred option rather than buying. This is aided by rapidly evolving technology that constantly tempts you to move up to the next best thing. Mobile phones are a classic example of this. If you do change every two years to the latest shiny Apple and Samsung, do you stop to think that the cost of the hardware is likely much more than the service that we constantly complain about. It may be food for thought that if we were willing to pay a little more for better service and kept the same phone for 4 years we would be probably be far happier with the outcome.
4. The fact that rental yields are abysmally low may just be finally sinking in. At a 2% return on the replacement value, it makes far better sense to rent a house rather than buying one. In the previous generation, people struggled to buy their first homes with expensive bank loans and sacrificed holidays and what little luxuries they could afford for the stability that home ownership offered. The 'here and now' is much more important today and young people would rather spend on a holiday abroad than be tied up to a low yield asset.

This list could go on. As of now all this sounds depressingly familiar as it follows the track that most western countries have been on for quite some time. 

So does the concept of 'impermanence' have an Indian idiom? Will Indian society inexorably follow the path that the west has been on? 

The idea of impermanence is deeply embedded in Indian philosophy. One of the most striking examples of this is the way that Hindus treat the body after death. There is no burial and after burning the ashes are immersed in the Ganga. There is no attachment to the body. The atma is immortal and depending on what your karma specifies you could have a rebirth or attain moksha. Does this thinking permeate our daily lives?  

Interestingly, it does not. 

Hindus, and I dare say, Indians in general believe in the impermanence of the body yes, but not the impermanence or rather instability in the process of living. 

I feel that adoption of western concepts and ways of life tends to follow a kind of a S curve in India. Adoption starts slowly and then accelerates upto a point but then it flattens out. I may be sticking my neck out here but I would hazard a guess that divorce rates, for example, will not reach western levels in India even in heavily urbanised and westernised parts of India. Adoption of western food items like breakfast cereals have also followed this kind of pattern. Eventually idlis and parathas will prevail over breakfast cereal. There are many MNCs who have learnt the hard way that India will not mirror western market constructs and that one has to learn the Indian way if you are to succeed in this market.

One may argue that the leap from breakfast cereals to a metaphysical concept like impermanence is a tenuous one. Suffice it to say that most Indians are grounded in a reality that has been a long time in the making and one that is not easily shaken. There is something about a 5000 year old, unbroken civilisation in each one of us. World thought leaders? Mais non! But self confident in one's own skin, certainement!