What they had to say however made it clear that we are not going back in time. In the anthology, Bombay and Mumbai: The City in Transition (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2003) sociologist Sujata Patel claims that two kinds of modernity were evident at one time in the city : an indigenous elite cosmopolitanism and  a creativity spawned by a largely Marathi-speaking working-class movement.  

One could suggest that in the post-liberalisation scenario, those two phenomena have been reproduced as crass and anti-modern versions of themselves: one became the moneyed elite, increasingly preoccupied with status and glamour and the other the violent so-called sons of the soil. If one accepts this interpretation then the blame for the blinkered approach of Mumbai’s haves cannot be attributed to them alone but has to be placed in the larger context of the liberalisation process.

In the last two decades, aspirations towards wealth and glamour have increased by leaps and bounds with the ultra-rich acting as the poster-boys of this revolution. Their role as flag-bearers and the extreme visibility awarded them have created a somewhat skewed perception of their significance both within their rarefied world and outside. To some extent it can be argued that it was always so but the intensification of this tendency has made an enormous difference. Mumbai’s older elite made the advertisements; today’s elite are the advertisement. And one cannot expect stereotypes to see beyond themselves. 

The thinking has to come from elsewhere. Not enough thought has been given, perhaps, to liberalisation’s social and political ramifications. The attacks of 26/11 have spurred much reflection about our vulnerability in many areas: security, the treatment of minorities and so on. It is time also to look at the relationship between classes. To try and find a way that enterprise and competitiveness can be retained without losing empathy; to regenerate the human connection that once glued together this city of islands whatever be its name — Bombay, Mumbai, Bambai...

... contd.