The Shatabdi – A Metaphor for the New Middle Class India
A recent trip from Delhi to Rishikesh on the Shatabdi was a “eureka” moment. The Shatabdi is definitely the perfect metaphor for the middle class. Santosh Desai of Future Brands wrote once that the autoricksha is a metaphor for India. It can weave its way in and out of utter confusion, is ugly, noisy and inconvenient, but it serves the purpose quite well, at an incredible low price. Unlike an amusing bumper sticker on a Volkswagen that said “when I grow up, i will become a Mercedes”. the autoricksha will not grow up to become a car. It will – and is – becoming a much better autoricksha. But after seeing the Shatabdi, the thought occurs that the autoricksha may be a metaphor for the lower SEC (Socio economic class) C and D Urban India (roughly the second and third income quartiles of urban India); but the Shatabdi is definitely […]