How a commonly shared pool of literary works is shrinking alarmingly fast

Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan was, of course, merely reiterating a well-known principle — which also has applications in astrobiology and psychology — when he alluded to Goldilocks in the context of the state of the economy. But only those who had been told (or had read) about little Goldilocks' preference for the bowl of porridge that was "neither too hot nor too cold, but just right" at the house of the three bears, would have caught on. Those equally unversed in economic jargon and western children’s tales would have been left totally in the dark by his inference. Indeed, what the average Dalal Street broker made of Goldilocks should be gauged for a proper reading of the impact.

With so many literary classics of yore eschewed for perceived racist or colonial taints, it is not surprising that reference lists are divergent to the extent of mutual incomprehension. Add to that the younger generation’s underexposure to what was once standard school-level reading such as Shakespeare, Dickens and the like, most common idioms of Dr Rajan’s time are probably lost on many here. It is very likely, for instance, that youngsters would not inevitably associate references to "the emperor’s new clothes" or the Pied Piper with allegorical European children’s stories rather than more contemporary, indigenous individuals.