A call to action. A farewell to the burdens of the past. Haven’t we been here before? The World Cup victory of 1983 was a prelude to Rajiv Gandhi’s election as prime minister and to the promised dawn of a modern, 21st century India. Rahul Gandhi’s formal elevation within the ranks of the Congress on the day of India’s exciting T20 win against the backdrop of India’s technological and economic advancement seems to be another such moment.

As we have seen before the country’s problems are too intractable for easy optimism. And the glamorous ferment of dance contests, cricketing events and soaring Sensex figures cannot obscure the deprivations of a large number of our people. Yet the fact that a youthful exuberance is muscling through the cobwebs of our tangled past and that the middle-class Indian youth is, according to a much reported study by the Swedish research and consulting firm Kairos Future, the happiest in the world is surely a cause for celebration. The challenge is to both boost and harness this new energy and focus it in a purposeful direction. For opportunities are known to dissipate as quickly as champagne bubbles.

Mumbai-based Shah is the author of ‘Hype, Hypocrisy and Television in Urban India’