I am the Pseudo-Middle Class.

I was never poor. Neither was I ever rich.

I am a child of the working class. I am the one with a childhood spent on convincing my Father to buy me a tennis ball. I am the one who failed most of the times due to unsatisfactory persuasion skills.

I am the one who grew up listening to The Backstreet Boys, then Blue, then Linkin Park and Eminem and delved into Metallica, Eagles, Cream, Led Zeppelin and saw the rich kids listening to lyric-less Disco music. I am the one who watched them buy the iPod, when I had saved enough to buy a cassette-playing Walkman.

I am the one who wasn't allowed to go for movies with my rich friends till the 10th grade. I am the one who had to lie in order to do the same. I am the one who got caught, and slapped across the face for aspiring.

I am the one who watched a rich friend of mine gifted a cell phone in 2000 when I thought it was only for aristocrats who attend weekly business meetings overseas. I was the one who asked my parents for a cell phone 5 years later and got laughed at. And then glared at.

I am the one who could not study what I wanted to. I am the one who fell into the engineering trap, like so many of my brothers. I am the one who stuck through it all and spent years trying to fix those years of obsoletion. I am the one who watched scores of others who were rich enough to study what I wanted to. I am the one who watched them flush double the amount of educational funds down the drain where my dreams went downstream.

I am the one who watched peers who hardly passed any of the college courses, who knew hardly any English, go on to study further in London, Manchester, Rochester, San Francisco, Austin, New York, Los Angeles and even Miami. I am the one who asked the same people the capital of The United States and watched most of them answer incorrectly. I am the one who still can't really afford to study abroad. I am the one who watches pictures of distant friends on Facebook going to Mardi Gras without being able to pronounce it.

I am the one who tries saving up for NH7 Weekender and fails, and the one who watches people flock to a Deadmau5 concert, pronouncing it as 'Dead Maw 5'.

I am the one who tries to peer through dark tinted windows of the Jaguars and the Audis and the BMWs while sitting on my 125cc motorbike, being punished by the Sun for not being rich.

I am the one who marvels at brilliantly made iPhone commercials on Youtube through the cracked screen of my Micromax that has a mind of its own. I am the one who tries to place the charging point of the phone in a particular 33-degree angle, because it won't charge otherwise. I am the one who can't afford to buy a phone at the moment.

I am the one who is awestruck watching continuous episodes of Mad Men, in the hopes of becoming a tenth of the person Don Draper is. I am the one who tries to crack the code in advertising to make someone else rich. I am the one who makes just enough to make ends meet, and I never do. I am the one who gets stuck with 400 bucks for the last ten days of the month. I am the one who tries to crack a marketing campaign based on my situation, again to make someone else rich.

I am the one who buys the cheap whiskey. I am the one who can't afford a drink inside a club on a regular basis. I am the one who wants to lose weight but can't afford Subway more than once or twice a week. I am the one who cannot afford a decent gym membership.

I am the one who is directly affected by the price rise. I am the one who cries over paying 12 bucks for a 10 buck-Coke, because I want to enjoy it cold.

I am the one who looks down upon the poor, but become one of them by the 25th of every month.

I am the one who wishes for more hours a day to do something productive. I am the one who watches others while away their days in lounges and bars and video game parlours or under a tree getting stoned throughout the day.

I am the one who watches the rich pay dowry equal to the combined net worth of five of my lifetimes. I am the one who watches the rich fight in bars. I am the one who watches the obese kids order a Happy Meal with a frown on their face.

I am the one who watches old classmates celebrate their birthdays in yachts in Bombay and on cruises in Bangkok. I am the one who saves up for 2 months to backpack across one of the poorest countries in the world.

I am the one with the dreams. I am the ones with the aspirations. I am the one who wants to be. I am the one who wants to do.

I am the Pseudo-Middle Class. The Working Class Hero.

And I might be able to become like you. But you'll never become me.