Good, Bad, and Ugly- incidents following Pulwama terror attack shed many lights on Indian society and politics.

It seems that a large section of Indian society, mainly the middle class and the elites, want peace and not war. So there must not be any war and India will get peace simply because these people want it! So let there be peace- Amen!

Composition and nature of Indian society is playing a huge role in opposing war in general- irrespective of whether it's in national interest or not. Sociopolitical evolution of India plays a crucial part in this issue.

The way a kid succeed in Indian society- starting from his schools days, to university and then professional life including those in executive branch, mainly in bureaucracy and law enforcement, can be of huge importance here too. Now many reports suggest that Indian military is also getting affected by the same issue. The issue is "good boy" culture.

These "good boys" are fully protected by their parents, aloof from the society, get a very privileged life to the best of their parents' ability. And all of it with just one goal- to get a lucrative job to have a comfortable life and ensure equally comfortable live for the parents. Their world revolves around this story line. The progression of their career with that single goal start almost immediately the child is born. It gradually  change in shape as the child grows up. In schools, they care only to score as high as possible. Parents bring coconut water, yogurt, fruit and other "healthy snacks" while the "good boy" attend classes- in school or in private tuition. Private tuition and many other "not so harmful" acts of unethical behavior and corruption is not only supported by the parents but also encouraged in many cases. The child care intensifies to the level of torture for such domesticated "good boys" during exams, as parents are equally or, may be more, stressed.

At the end of one's student life, the job they desire are selected based on two main parameters- money and socioeconomic hierarchy. Childhood dream or lounging to join a profession, ability to do the job there, dedication to excel etc. are irrelevant for both the parents and the kid. All concerned parties including the students, their parents, teachers, mentors, and the society as a whole support such "good boys". They always follow orders but love to talk about courage and other such great virtues, mainly in social media. They may watch wrestling matches on TV, war and patriotic movies, and enjoy violent video games. But tend to act totally cowardice when some basic sense of ethics, honesty, or justice arises. They are always asked by their parents to keep themselves away from any conflict or potential conflict, talk only what others want to hear, never argue to authority and so on. Protecting themselves from any harm is inbuilt in such children and almost always remain that way when they grow up. They never interfere in any local or national or social dispute/issue, except in social media, always play safe and never engage in any physical fight even when get formal martial arts training (mainly done for certificates  as an extra-curricular activity- for academic purpose to get admission in some prestigious university or job opportunity). Gradually they even stop giving frank opinions in places where it might matter. Lately I realized that many such people stop drinking alcohol in professional parties and even in social gathering in the fear of talking something that might put them in trouble. In the process they lose their ability to access risks besides many other virtues that are so essential for leadership and some even essential for basic decision making in our offices and homes. 

These people succeed there to occupy the top positions in almost every institutions and also became one of the main export items for India. Indian media, vast majority of middle class Indians, and the 'elites' are also affected. Relatively poor guys from less privileged background, who aspire to climb the socioeconomic ladder, also try its best to adopt that culture. They imitate the "elites", just like in most other countries. This system is in place since long. That's one of the reasons why that farmers' movement, which started in the village of Naxalbari in 1967, failed so miserably when the "good boys" from cities and "elite" universities joined it.

Now these opportunist, highly selfish but very vocal Indian elites and middle class "intellectuals" want peace at any cost. They think it's the noble duty of others, including our enemies, to give that peace to them on a platter. Their otherwise stable boat, as they perceive, must not be rocked by any war or socioeconomic unrest. 

At the same time, many equally vocal middle class Indians are indoctrinated into blind religious and/or political faith. It's just another consequence of India's failing education and sociopolitical system that put too much pressure for compliance of societal norms. These people tend to "support war" but themselves never want to join in it. They surely can offer puja, hold rallies, harassing anyone who dare to oppose their "patriotism". They only can join war if they are given lucrative positions in Indian military as an officer, who are known to enjoy highly feudal and British era luxury at tax payers' expanse. It's generally accepted that hard life of an non-officer army personnel are only for the poorest of the poor who can not be any "good boy" to succeed. These are the people who probably can not even survive with any other decent job in Indian society but to join lower ranking positions.

India's top political class used to be dominated by the "good boys" since long before independence simply because those people were promoted by the British rulers and given (not earned) the privileges to succeed professionally, financially, and also in politics. It would not be wrong to say that both Jawaharlal Nehru and MK Gandhi were among those privileged "good boys". Naturally, they were fine when Pakistan occupied one third of Kashmir. Nehru was also not much opposed to Chinese aggression and never even tried to develop the North Eastern states of India. That time Indian Govt made it the state policy for so many states within India that political leadership thought might be occupied by the Chinese and/or the Pakistanis. Yes, they all wanted peace! That's the start of India's insurgency problems as we see it today.

But that time, immediately after independence, many not-so-good boys, who had a rough childhood; did not have so protective, insecure, and selfish parents; also used to succeed. Such people also used to join executive branch in the Government and also in politics. But that trend gradually declined as social mobility drastically deteriorated in independent India for various reasons. It worsened significantly after globalization of 1991. That situation is again changing for Indian politics lately. Now Indian PM is not any "good boy" guy. He has seen Indian society from the very bottom of it and has a real good grasp over it, understand Indian people better than any one in Gandhi dynasty and other such "good boys" in Indian politics. But he did not seem to learn anything else- either educationally or professionally. It broadly indicate the trend or type of people rising as common man's politicians. Yes, I do not support him in many issues but I must admit the qualities he has, which can be a great asset for the country if used judiciously, guided by wise advisers and honest executives.

In the whole mess, both truth and sense of one's duty got sacrificed. Making logical and sensible decision get harder in today's India. It's equally true for general population who make their decisions based on what others say and what others do. And those "others" are either actual uneducated or poorly educated bad boys  or the so called "good boys".

India is now lost in that cacophony of good, bad, and ugly.  Previously India used to unite when they could manage to crate an external enemy- be it in politics or sports or anything else. It was the only way to make Indians united. Those days seems to be over now.

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