The bludgeoning to death of a CEO in Noida is an eye-opener to every Indian. It happened in Calcutta in the late 1960s when the Naxalite movement was at its height but for some reason I always thought, as India evolved we would become a calmer and more mature nation. Sure we would face all the problems that any nation faces: there would be the big divide between the haves and have-nots; there would be the familiar pangs of development working for some and not working for others but somehow what happened in Noida last week is reflective of a deeper malaise and that has more to do with who we have become rather than what we wish to do. For me, this act was not an act out of uncontrolled anger; instead it was an act which suggested years of repression that many of our youth is experiencing and will continue to experience as we have frayed and unequal development. What is even more saddening is that the political system, which is supposed to correct some of these anomalies, has completely failed the people.

I still believe that the day is not far when politicians will be lynched or killed because they affect the economic progress of the citizens. Mamta Banerjee will be well advised to stay at home because what she has done in Singur is not just going to affect the farmers but will destroy the industrialisation of Bengal and in the process harm the economic agenda of not just the Government but also equally the citizen! It is that citizen who will unleash his anger in the most heinous manner and we as a society will then balk. But there is a lot we need to do in order to prevent this madness from being repeated.

There is no question in my mind, that in today?s India we have created so many aspirational tools that materialism is what drives a large part of our population and while we are quick to be laudatory about the demographic dividend, it is precisely the youthfulness of that demography that will create the biggest dangers. It is the youth that is enveloped in idealism and when they will see no way out, they will begin to unleash repressed anger and this is what we are seeing across the country. Be it deaths by mobs as we have seen in some villages or the general increase in violence, in some strange way, the India of Gandhi is now the moniker of violence and epitomising the worst in society: and we are seeing it in all facets of our daily life.

There are more and more cases of road rage; in a society that is supposed to be evolved, there are no qualms about either reading or relating to cases of honour killings; no longer do we react to the maniacal violence of farmers or policemen; it is today par for the course. Which means two things: violence has now become part of us and in some strange way, we have internalised hatred and nothing can damage the edifice of a society more than when it adopts hatred as one of its sources of sustenance! The second thing that seems to have happened is we have now numbed ourselves to such chilling reflections of who we are as a people! We have slowly been de-sensitised and this is partly because of the streak of sensationalism that the Indian media indulges in with wanton disregard for the influence it may wield over young and impressionable minds: so while the I&B Ministry worries every time a skirt flies a wee bit higher on television, we are fine with grisly images of blood and death on our television sets!

I believe the time has come for introspection and I really don?t know where we must begin? Do we need to curb materialism? I don?t think that is going to change or reduce. What may change is if we can create an alternate inspirational model. If we can share stories of these heroes who remain unsung because they are not captured on television cameras. It is these stories that need to be told. Much in the same way as the story of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma was played out some weeks ago, India has lost its set of inspirational heroes and too many of our current heroes have feet of clay: that needs to change. Only if we wish to harness this hyped up demographic dividend for good!

The writer is Managing Partner, Counselage