Seeing India through the seven chakras

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Survival, Pleasure, Power, Love, Creative Expression, Transcendence, Spirituality. These are the seven basic life themes—based on the seven major chakras in the human body—that drive all human behaviour.

Whether it is the student who is stressing about admissions. Or teenage girls with typical vulnerabilities of their age who are trying to reconcile the gap between what they actually are and the bold media portrayals of women today. Or lower SEC mothers who are pinning their every hope on their children to bring them better futures. Or the thousands of Indians striving to learn English so that they are not left behind. Large numbers of Indians are on self-preservation mode, looking for security, stability, grounding—these are the Muladhara, or Survival Chakra people.

These are the people who were particularly restricted in the past and had diminished self-images but have caught attention by their determined effort to redefine goals, raise the level of persistent efforts and have managed to raise their lifestyles and self-esteem despite inadequacies. Witness the endless stories on the rise of Indian women, the rise of small town people and the rise of the lower SEC. Rags to riches, sudden fame and wealth through hard won contests and revival or comeback stories capture public imagination. People in this chakra are—naturally—deeply worried about the future.

They are of two types—the Anxious Survivor and the Buoyant Survivor. While some remain anxious, get bogged down, and feel an inability to get out of circumstances, others are buoyant and lively with more faith in their abilities, and drive themselves to come out of adversities unscathed. Most of the consumers in this chakra are conscious of their strengths and weaknesses, they tend to set manageable goals and hope that persistent effort in place of brilliance will see them through.

Anxious Survivors choose stagnancy over risk, and find security in maintaining the status quo. They need the cushion of certainty and predictability, even if it is limiting. Buoyant Survivors, on the other hand, are determined to climb out of their current situation and are in search for positions of power and influence, almost with a vengeance. These are people who feel more pressured to keep pace with change and are not willing to accept things as they are. The do tharah ke log that the famous Bunty aur Babli dialogue described so evocatively.