Pete Seeger the new middle class icon?
the Indian middle class has come of age. Quite literally so. The motor car, that epitome of middle class aspirations, is no longer a dream. Of course, that automobile is also not the lumbering Ambassador of yore.
Dainty Marutis had long replaced it. Emerging from a collaboration with the industrious Japanese firm, Suzuki, it heralded the onset of a new age. A ticky-tacky one, which would ultimately replace the cardboard dreams of the old days. The trusted Maruti too went through several avatars: among them the sleek Zen. The middle class really wanted change, and it wanted it fast.
Its impatience has become even more palpable today. The middle class's revolt against juvenile sameness has taken many creative forms. It has discovered and coopted new icons. Tea shirts emblazoned with images of the Argentine leftist revolutionary Che Guevara are commonplace. We shall overcome is no more the song of antediluvian socialists.The middle class sings this song of the American civil rights movement with much gusto.
But why are we deviating from cars? That's because the middle class's desire for a new shape to its ultimate aspiration has led it to seek other icons. This time the American songwriter and singer: Pete Seeger. Seeger has been known for his political beliefs and his involvement with leftist political organisations, including the American Communist Party. He was a bitter critic of the war against Vietnam and political opponents have called him pejorative names such as "Stalin's songbird'