Money Can Buy an S-Class, But Not Class

THERE WAS A TIME when prosperity was expected to civilise.

- By Srinath Sridharan

The belief was simple, almost comforting. As people earned more, travelled more, and saw more of the world, they would also learn how to live more gently with others. That assumption feels thinner today.

As Though Joy Must be Audible

We are undeniably richer. We move more easily, arrive faster, occupy more space, and access more of the world than any generation before us. Luxury cars are no longer curiosities. Weekend flights are routine. What seems to have lagged behind is something quieter. Not ambition. Not intelligence. A sense of proportion. A comfort with sharing space without needing to claim it.

Spend time watching our fellow Indians on holiday - in India or abroad. Not the curated version that appears on social media, but the ordinary one. At airport boarding gates, hotel lobbies or poolside, cafés, beaches. The loud volume is often the first thing you notice. Conversations spill outward. Phones are on speaker. Laughter rises unchecked. It is not unhappiness. People are enjoying themselves. But enjoyment increasingly appears to require occupying space, as though joy must be audible to be legitimate.