Saturday, November 26, 2005

India and development

This is my first blog on India, after visiting it after two and a half years.

My first take, whoever said India is developed or developing fast, Iam gonna kick him.

India is nowhere near a developed nation and still not a developing nation. India is more like a under-developed country.

Iam not bashing India, but Iam just talking ground reality here.

Just because every Tom, Dick and Harry has a cell phone, doesn't make a country a developed/developing country.
Just because a few individuals in a couple of sectors(read IT & BPO) make lot of money, doesn't make a country a developed/developing country.

The above 2 are the major things that has happened in India. Maybe a few restaurants here and there.

These things don't make a country developed.

Then what does?

Only when the society and the infrastructure is developed, a country can be called developed.

I did not see the above in India, or should I say at least in Chennai, Coimbatore, Erode, Mettur and Podanur(basically the places I visited).

I went to Melmaruvathur temple from Chennai. It's a toll road. That road (I heard that it goes just few kilometers after Melmaruvathur) is really awesome. It's almost as good as any good highway in Europe and US. What was amazing was, I saw women folks cleaning the highway sweeping the dirt in many places. This is really a good sight. One, it gives employment opportunities to many, particularly women, and two, the highways are clean.
Whoever visualized, conceptualized and executed this project, "Thanks. Excellent job".

But the road after that, huh.
I couldn't get a train ticket and I ended up travelling in KPN bus from Chennai to Coimbatore. Oh what a nightmare ride. The roads were so pathetic. Many places it looked like a 'Otthai adi paathai'. Full of pot holes and bumps. It took me 2 days to recover from the neck, shoulder and back pain.

The bus got flat tire twice. I was late to coimbatore by 4 hours.
The second flat tire, those guys didn't have a spare and we had to take the bus to a tire shop and got the tire fixed.

Almost all the places were very dirty, with garbage scattered all over the places. I believe this is one more reason why the rain waters did not drain properly, as the drainage were all clogged with garbage. Had it been clean, the waters must have drained fast.

Again, Iam not bashing India that its dirty. All Iam saying is, if we want to becomed a developed nation, these are the things that we have to be fixing.

Tourists from other parts of the world love to visit India. One of the major complains that they have is the lack of clean surroundings.

Every individual has to be part of this. What's the point when a software engineer, making 2 lakhs a month and driving a Ford, dumps garbage in streets and public places?

Traffic and following road signs and stop lights....ya...our cities will ask "Are you kidding?"
Need not say more.

I think people are making more money, their standard of living has improved but they seem to be selfish. The attitude seems to be "I don't care" when it comes to doing something back to the society.

With the population exploding due to rapid urbanization, until unless the people also become responsible and follow rules and regulations, the government really can't do much.

Until unless we get the attitude that this is the place where we live, and we have to take care of it, it's going to be tough.

5 comments:

Lg said...

I have felt it several times too - what needs to change (perhaps be cultivated and this is going to take ages!) right at the beginning is the dismal levels of civic awareness that people have.

This selfish attitude - I don't care about anyone else and I shall dump my garbage in front of my neighbour's door - definitely needs to change.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I just came across your blog and wouldn't agree with you or your view about India even a 1%.
You certainly did bash out, u cannot comment on a country or its people by looking at the roads or a flat tire or a week or probably a months stay.
Please do widen your views, look beyond, learn to appreciate things, I'm sure you would have found something good here (which you obviously forgot to post).
And talking about development, believe me, you don't have an idea about it.
For an example, the toll roads in various parts of the country, I think that's a sign of development.
A bad road or dumped garbage wouldn't summarise a country's developement or civic sense of the people. Just give it some time, we know what we are doing.

vimal said...

Anonymous,

Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

If you really want to debate, Iam on for it.

Lets list out all +s and -s and see where we stand and how we can improve our country.

The following has been said by many outsiders.
"Indians don't take criticism constructively'

It's 100% true.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn’t want to debate or list out, but if you want to know the +s, its up to you to find them out. And as far as the –s are concerned that everyone knows, as they are the ones that find the way out first. So, why debate?

Personally, I appreciate constructive criticism, as far as it does not serve the only purpose of faultfinding.

I look around me, see many people trying to help, many people helping out in their way, sometimes unconscious of the mission they are doing, but still serve the purpose of what they are doing.

I have seen people who say “I don’t care”, when it comes to society, but on the other hand I have also seen people to take up responsibility, the initiative to say “I do care.”

The difference lies there, who we want to notice.

vimal said...

There are always someone who says "I do care."

Iam talking about the % number of people who say "I do care" and % number of people who say "I dont care"

You know the answer for it.

Just noticing is not enough. What you do is more important than just 'noticing' :)