This thought occurred to me early in the morning when I peered out of my office cab window. The cab was taking a final right turn towards Udyog Vihar, and leaving behind the hulla-gulla of National Highway - 8.
Not long ago, (4 years ago to be precise), my friend Mukesh and I used to toil on this road, with our fresher's profile in search of I.T. companies. At that time the side opposite to Udyog Vihar was barren land, and had only two high rise buildings, The "Ship Building" and the DLF-Square building. We could walk on the side of the highway or if we could afford, board a rickshaw to our destination.
Now, there are huge structures, and many multinational organization's offices in them, their Trade Mark displayed glitteringly on the buildings at strategic locations. Even my ex-client has moved into one such sky-scrapper. It is dangerous to walk on the sideway now, with the fly-over constructed on the highway vehicles now ply at great speeds.
India definitely has more money now. That is bothering the Reserve Bank, it wants to squeeze money out of the markets to contain inflation! And what about those children who still have to spend their day searching the dustbin for waste food, rather than get proper education? How will they ever reap the benefits of "Rising India"?
The shine/glory of rising India can never seep that far, Niranjan.… for the abyss where the real India stays can never see light of the day. The rural India, the REAL India, still dons the primal garb fastened by cruel bondage of repression, oppression suppression and above all by political hopelessness.
ReplyDeleteI may sound a perfect case of cynicism and pessimism, but the stark truth is often easy to brush off than confronted. I have officiated in many democratic shams (read elections) in rural India and I know the myth that is THIS democracy!!…. And the myth that this SUN is… that seems to be shining so bright!!!....
That towering skyscraper we pass by daily, stands on the dreams of the REAL INDIA.. which has a medical center lying in shambles.. where no doctor would like to be. It makes mockery of the lone gloomy school building in the village …over there… which hides it broken floor and leaking roof in shame. If you will watch closely, the skyscraper is actually laughing out loud. Wonder is it hysterical????
Yes Manish, I couldn't agree with you more on your comments. It is imperative that we realise this early in our path to progress. The so called "India Rising" is a mere media propaganda. All the key economic indicators point towards a grim future, at present.
ReplyDeleteAlso I think, we must give more stress on developing our agricultural sector as a booming industry, wherein the other industries such as I.T. , genetic research, space research, construction etc. should feed into the development of this sector.
The so-called I.T. boom just caters to the export market and reins in U.S. dollars. We now have sufficient forex reserves and our industries should now first look to fulfill each other's need, that in it self promises to be a lucarative market.