Misfortune at the top of the pyramid

With all due respect to C K Prahlad, the fortune from "Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid" will take ages to be retrieved. But during this period the fortunate few at the top of the pyramid, who are the misfortune to this nation, will continue their shameless display of magalomania and grandeur. They will maintain their positions as the people who matter. They will keep making it to the various lists of most powerful, richest etc etc and they will keep the bottom from rising to the top as long as they can. What Mr. Prahlad forgot to mention in his book, which is considered to be a landmark on the marketing landscape, is that the fortune at the Bottom will stay at the bottom because the misfortune at the top is too heavy and powerful to displace.

Who is at the "top of the pyramid"?

It's the netas who throw lavish wedding ceremonies worth 250 crores to mock the everyday struggles of a hand to mouth , or even worse off, beggar in the streets. Also at the top are the arrogant headline seekers who gift helicopters as dowry to impose their stature as a suitable candidate for a constituency and declare thei financial and social clout to political parties so they may add weight to their claim for a ticket to the legislature. Accompanying the above mentioned at the top of the pyramid are big businessmen whose daughters get a fairytale wedding to contrast with the nightmarish lives of the millions for whom everyday begins with a wish to find some reason to see another day.

The top is also perched by the corrupt leaders and bureaucrats who stash money in Swiss bank accounts, who are involved in scams of unheard-of scales, officers who own enough illegal property to put real estate dealers to shame, people whose houses on being raided, erupt volumes of currency from under the beds and sofas, people who carry guns in their hands and law in their pockets, actors who find comfort in the fact that some force from the underworld is backing them or judiciary whose recent claim to fame has been for all the wrong reasons.

This undoubtedly is the misfortune of this nation. The creature at the top of the food chain is a cannibal. It plans to engulf every weak and meek one. It is only challenged by an equally diabolic species which takes the same form once it replaces or destroys its predecessor.

Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid is a fascinating proposition. A miracle in the making to say the least. But its a far cry from being materialised as long as the Misfortune at the top of the pyramid is sitting pretty.