When you say someone is “Tata, Birla madhyalo Laila,” you are saying they have committed the ultimate sin in Indian social calculus: Part II: The Many Faces of Laila To different Indias, Laila means different things.

We are all, at some fleeting midnight, the Laila between the Tata and the Birla.

To dance. To disrupt. To dare to be in the middle.