India and the Order of Govinda

India was socialist and confused as a nation till 1986. In 1986, two things happened. All of the nation started talking about the imminent advent of computers in our work life. The other was Govinda. India was no longer confused. Computers were put to use in various government departments, banks and railway reservation counters progressively to show us that we could get services in a better way, above zero that is. Govinda showed us we could fight, dance, eat, jump and play flute in the air, all with a smile. Govinda made us strong, affable, confident and resilient. Computers started to be looked as the next big employment thing. Some boys lined up at various visa centres and started to go abroad for projects. These boys never came back. But their parents were elated. Their dowry rates climbed up into the stratosphere. Govinda, in the meanwhile, could do no wrong on screen. He democratized the classes of our society, he could wear anything and do anything. He got nearly the entire cow belt dancing to his rhythm. Youngsters suddenly were okay with wrong English and fast Hindi or the other languages. 1991 came. Rajiv Gandhi went and a quiet old man Narasimha Rao quietly ushered in economic reforms. Wily that he was, he got Manmohan Singh to announce all of it. The country went into overdrive. Jobs happened. A lot of money suddenly fell into people's hands. 1991 continued. Aankhein happened. Govinda was the king of all that the common man surveyed. Pink shades, yellow jeans, rough cut CDs, Jhankaar beats, motorbikes, rainbow coloured dupattas, boots, sandals with heels and gyms, they all happened then. Because of that awareness, we got cable TV at home and in 1994, the whole country witnessed a Ms Universe and a Ms World arrive in India. Sushmita and Aishwarya. Notably, both acted in the Hindi cinema industry where Govinda had been churning loads of hits every year. That's when, aided by better budgets and the Ms India philosophy, a unibrowed Karishma suddenly turned modern and created some more monster hits with, yes Govinda again. They created anthems and you know that anthems unified the country more than ever. In the meanwhile, what was a trickle in people learning computers and doing things, became a flood. You could study anything but end up making a living sitting in front of a keyboard. And go abroad too. On projects. By then, phones and calls had also become cheaper. Govinda also helpfully did a telephone song. He philosophically asked, what is your mobile number? The country responded by hitting high double digits growth in mobile phone sales. Suddenly, the country was connected. Just like that. The South had by then seen and understood the power of the bumpkin hero. They reinvented Rajinikanth and Vijay in the same mould. Students saw their movies, did an engineering course from some college in Tiruchi or Vellore and viola they were in, US!! Andhra Pradesh took over. Their films, that were in a way the precursor to those Govinda milestones, just became grander. Venkatesh, Nagarjuna or Chiranjeevi. Six songs, six dances and lissome heroines. Some eight fights and three comedy scenes. They churned out blockbusters by the month. Their students clogged the dialled internet lines between Nalgonda and New York. Life wouldn't ever be the same for an Andhra guy ever again. By the end of the nineties, the Order had matured. The Order of Govinda. The baton had to pass on. His hair, belly and smile were starting to sag. Two things happened. The first dotcom bust and Dil Chahta Hai. The momentum had shifted. Indians would now do what their Dil Chahta Hai. They couldn't be led by the Order anymore. So, Quality came into public consciousness. It wasn't the same again. Secretly, even today, all the 80s and 90s gen pay obeisience to those Pentium 1 computers and Govinda. To lives and lives of back then. Gritty nostalgia. "Arre, tu jaa re!"