"I'm not interested in reading the preamble. Just take me straight to the quiz please."
 

Believe it or not, taking this quiz sincerely and honestly would spark or start a process that could eventually make you introspect, save your career/livelihood, enhance your lifestyle and life, transform you and your community/society, and even help make India and the world a better place ultimately.
 

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Imagine 100 diverse people on an isolated strip of verdant, relatively safe land with ample natural resources. How should such a group of people organize themselves into a closely-knit modern community?

No-brainer, right? There should not be any major problems, we suppose. Morals, ethics, fundamental tenets of human organization would govern such a community, whose underlying principles would be transparency, accountability, sincerity and probity.

There would be a sense of belonging, and a spirit of camaraderie. The community spirit would make everyone feel responsible for and toward each other. ‘Live and let live’ would be the motto, and they will all live like one large family, finding strength in unity, to ward off threats and dangers from other sources.

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They will know, and act in accordance with, the fact that they are all interconnected, interdependent. So, they will cooperate and collaborate with each other. And, they would NOT think or act in ways that are contrary, or could hurt, damage or undermine the community. For example, individuals would not act in selfish, self-centric or anti-community ways.

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Now, instead of 100 people, imagine 1.4 billion people. How should the nation of India organize itself into a closely-knit community? At least conceptually, should it be any different from the 100-member community?

Now, imagine more than 7.5 billion people who constitute the world’s population. How should we who are inhabiting this planet organize ourselves into a closely-knit global community? Again, should it be any different from the 100-member community in the first example?

Reality, as you might agree, is different and sobering though. But, why should things be different and worse merely because of scale, size and complexity? Why should fundamentals be compromised upon?

Now, here’s the shocker: The majority non-elites — the common folks, or ordinary citizens, or the middle- and lower-income people —  are as much to blame as the elites for the current pathetic state of affairs in India (and, arguably, in the rest of the world).

How come?

Three aspects need attention here:

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1) The ordinary people’s equation with the institutions or entities like “nation”, “republic”, “State”, or “government”, and the minority elites who control them);
2) The majority ordinary people’s equation with peers; and
3) The ordinary people’s ‘contract’ with the process of economic globalization, its impacts and discontents.

Our contention is this: a safe, secure, fair, just and equitable world, irrespective of its size or scale, is still well within our reach, provided we all pay attention to the three aspects mentioned above, and figure ways of ensuring that fundamentals are not violated in any community, irrespective of its size, scale or complexity.

We must also ensure three+ other things:

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1) We must resist the temptation to scale up if there are no built-in mechanisms to safeguard fundamentals;
2) We must resist scaling up if the actual intent behind it is to benefit personally at the expense of others/the ecosystem through violation of fundamentals; and
3) a) We must not delegate or outsource responsibilities of the community’s/ecosystem’s well-being to a select few merely to live self-centric, selfish, hectic lives shaped by ‘rat race’;
b) We must not watch on helplessly or indifferently when such select few mismanage or subvert the fundamentals; and
c) We must all be responsible for the health and evolution of the community / ecosystem, irrespective of its size, scale and complexity.

Now, being responsible toward the larger community does not just mean:

- paying taxes,
- complying with laws or rules,
- casting vote periodically,
- contributing occasional donation or charity, or
- taking part in one-off so-called community/social activities.

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The larger the size or scale of the community, the bigger should be the involvement and responsibility at an individual level as well.

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This is where we have all gone wrong for decades on end. And we are all paying a very heavy price globally for that now -- because, we, the middle-class people, have benefitted a great deal from the massive size and scale of opportunities (for a better life) that arose from economic globalization, but we did not contribute in a commensurate manner to the community.

 

Worse, we turned a blind eye (and a deaf ear) every time we were confronted with the reality of globalization's dark side: the ravaging of the planet and its underprivileged people.

To better understand these aspects, let’s take this simple quiz. Please answer the following 15 -- just fifteen -- questions sincerely and honestly. (No cheating, okay?) :-)

 

Well, no-one will know your score, unless or until you share or announce it to others. The quiz is designed to act like a mirror. What you see in the mirror can't be untrue. But "seeing" is optional, a skill or an ability, which is different from confirmation bias, self-deception, misperception. Not everyone who looks into the mirror truly "sees". Instead, he/she may "perceive" only that which he/she wants to believe, admit or acknowledge, or has not become blind to.
 

Although some of the questions below may appear overlong, rest assured they are all an easy, quick read – we have designed them in such a way that you can choose "Yes" or "No" in a jiffy for your answers.

Enjoy "The Great Indian Middle-Class Quiz" ! (You can scroll the quiz text up/down in the console below.)