Last month, while heading for an official meeting during the first half of the day, I asked my driver to look for a shoe polisher nearby. It was still early, and after a few detours, he finally found one. It was a small tent under a tree, neatly organised and bearing all the signs of a busy cobbler’s shop. Inside, hanging prominently on the wall, was a photograph of Lord Vishwakarma.

The man I was looking for, however, was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps, he had stepped away for his morning cup of tea. With time running short, I decided to wait. Just as I was about to leave, I spotted an old man waving from across the road. He hurried towards his shop, profusely apologising for keeping me waiting.

As I placed my shoe on the elevated stool, I noticed something that stayed with me. Before beginning his work, he removed his chappals outside the hutment. He then touched the photograph of Lord Vishwakarma with reverence and quietly settled down to polish my shoes.

It was an ordinary moment. Yet, to me, it seemed to capture an extraordinary India. Here was a man, probably belonging to the Baby Boomer generation, following a practice of reverence almost instinctively. He did not announce his faith, explain it or seek validation for it. He simply touched the photograph and got on with his work.

And there was an irony that was impossible to miss.

He was seeking the blessings of the deity he revered while repairing and polishing shoes inside the very same shop to earn his livelihood. His work was not separate from his reverence. His professionalism existed alongside his belief. In that brief moment, I saw a man who represented both reverence and professionalism. It also made me think about the India we are entering.

For generations, reverence has been woven into everyday life. It has existed in the way people greet elders, approach places of worship, respect teachers, celebrate festivals, and even begin their working day. Often, it has been expressed without words.

Not afraid to question

But India is now being shaped by generations for whom questioning is almost instinctive.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha are growing up in a fundamentally different environment. They have access to information before they have developed the patience to process it. They interact with people, cultures, and ideas across geographical boundaries from their phones. They are exposed to multiple perspectives, challenge hierarchies and are far less willing to accept something simply because it has always been done that way.

What older generations may describe as irreverence, younger generations may see as independence of thought. What one generation considers disrespectful, another may consider honest. And what one generation accepts as tradition, another may ask, Why?

This generational shift is particularly fascinating in India because our diversity has always been one of our defining characteristics. We have managed to coexist despite differences in language, religion, ethnicity, food, customs, and social practices. Now, perhaps, we are adding another dimension to that diversity: generational world view. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are not merely younger Indians. They are digital natives growing up in an India that is more connected, aspirational, and globally exposed than ever before.

They consume content differently. They discover brands differently. They build communities differently. They communicate differently. Even their relationship with authority, institutions and tradition is changing. Yet, perhaps the mistake would be to see this as a battle between reverence and irreverence.

The old man at the roadside reminded me that India has never really been about choosing one over the other. He could touch the feet of his deity and, moments later, work with complete professionalism. There was no contradiction in his mind. Perhaps the same India that has preserved its traditions for centuries will find a way to accommodate a generation that questions those traditions. As we move towards celebrating 100 years of Independence, the country is already a continental-scale paradox — diverse, contradictory, resilient, and constantly evolving.

The founding fathers could not have anticipated Gen Z and Gen Alpha becoming another defining layer of that diversity. Nor could they have imagined a generation that would challenge conventions with the confidence of having the entire world in its pocket. But perhaps that is the beauty of India. Every generation believes it is changing the country. And somehow, India absorbs the change without losing itself. The old cobbler, standing beneath a tree, touching the photograph of Lord Vishwakarma before polishing a stranger’s shoes, offered me a quiet reminder of that resilience.

Maybe the future does not belong entirely to reverence or irreverence. Maybe, like the man I met that morning, India will simply find a way to practise both — with reverence for what shaped us, and enough irreverence to question what should change. Knowing India’s resilience, I am confident this too will pass.

amudhan.iic@gmail.com