Iyow - in your own words

The Economist had an interesting article on the emerging boom in South Asian Indian art, as a result of its rising middle and upper classes. This is a good sign. The renaissance of tech is visibly raising the wealth level in developing countries – or, more likely, the continuation of the tech boom in places where the profit margins have continued to be juicy.

It’s also heartening on another level – it speaks to some universal need to push one’s culture forward after basic needs are met. It’s so common to hear news about wholesale economic re-investment in India and China, that one would almost think that the only thing people in developing countries do or care about is drilling their young in math and science and importing business into their country. Of course not.

In college, my native-born Chinese language tutor and I used to spar over values differences between the West and the East, as well as about the importance of wealth. I kept insisting that it was essential to people’s happiness that government took pains to ensure their freedom. My language partner laughed and said, “If you had to choose between freedom or food, what do you choose? Food, of course.” Uh, yeah. When you put it that way. But the follow-up to that, is once you have enough food, you don’t want more food, you want your freedom – and art, or maybe just something that reflects you.