Volume 5 · The Great Indian Bazaar · Essay 64

Drifting Status Quo Paradox

Here is a thing that should not be true, and is: Drifting Status Quo Paradox. Sit with it for a moment. It will repay you.

The paradox resolves when you notice the two truths operate at different levels. What is lost at the counter is gained at the treasury. What feels like failure in the week is often progress in the year.

The village panchayat and the housing society meeting are the same animal in different clothes: five people deciding, fifty people complaining, and everyone leaving wiser than the minutes suggest.

Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. Keep the name. Use the pause it gives you. That is the entire homework.