Tilak Amitava Chowdhury

Prosperity is in the air. The numbers of luxury cars and foreign vacations are really impressive. Indians are finally living it up. The glittering mobiles and jewels are adding a lot of glamour to the cosmopolitan Indians. Is it? We are, in my view, moving up the ladder as defined by Maslow's need theory but in the process losing out on the basics. So in short we are building skyscrapers on swampy lands. Ready to collapse anytime Sorry for being so pessimistic. Most readers of this article are beyond the basic needs of food , clothing and shelter and have started their journeys on the bigger things. But, look at the mass urbanisation leading to shrinking farmlands. Look at the falling water tables. Look at the quality of air we are breathing. We need to understand that money is good for nothing if in exchange for it we can't get what we desire. So while we might be increasing our net worth on paper but later we may have to consume only those papers to survive. It's an a...