Developing India! Is it really?

After a long time, I got some food for thought post a conversation with an age-old uncle who wailed like his fellow allies against the cacophony during Ganpati visarjan to rising inflation, corruption, current generation, importance of money over relations etc. To some extent I couldn’t agree more to his crux of the conversation. So pen down my thoughts here.

“Arey chalo aage! Utro utro!” (Move ahead, get down get down) are some famous words we hear every day in our lives or rather live with them. Every single day in Mumbai is a struggle and is moving at a super fast pace. Routine life for a working employee is; wake up in the morning, complete morning chores, leave for work (or to put in  a better way - run for work) reach work, strive hard, rush back home, have dinner and sleep for another day repeating the entire routine. Most of you readers would agree with this and few defy it. But still this is the life of a Mumbaikar amongst majority.

Everything is happening or moving so fast these days, that it would also leave behind the jet plane or the super fast Rajdhani Express behind. Inflation rising up resulting in the basic necessities to shoot up almost every week, rising number of cars manufactured and an equal number of them wading through the heavy traffic every day. Sky-walks, flyovers, bridges, roads, towers, malls, highways etc are being constructed at every corner at a lightning speed. And with this hurried construction using substandard materials result early eroding, collapsing, wearing out which is inevitable. This at the end is benefiting the makers and the users but proving detrimental to the users more. The latest example is the Andheri-Kurla metro slab collapse; leaving more than a dozen people suffer.  

ROADS! Aah! Now this is the best part about Mumbai. We have the best quality of roads, long stretched, smooth, fit for long drives. Damn it! These are just the dreams all of us see and end up thinking of planning out for a long holiday out of this so called city of gold. GOLD! Oh my god! Should I also talk or think about it? Anyways will come to it later since the wait still persists, Sigh! So coming back to the roads, yes we have to travel to and fro in Mumbai using the so called strong roads with lovely beauty spots in them at almost every juncture. There are almost countable roads in Mumbai which are really good, but then are these the ones where everyday employee need to wade his way through? Almost all the roads outside every railway station are amongst the competitors of chuckholes. During the rains it’s a task to miss the colored water splash of these chuckholes chuckle at you. Rickshaws are reluctant to splash and form a design on your clothes every monsoon making you feel deuced. Buses help you make better designs. But then whom to blame for this? Blame game is another favorite pursuit in India for all of us. Pursuit for happiness being the first! (Chuckles)

Instead of this, can’t the government and citizens be more matured and take care of the nation or cities they live in on their own? Citizens vote the so called government and the government in return gives the citizens a chance to remember them in daily revolt. Though it is a fast moving life for all of us but I feel, citizens need to realize they are human beings and God is really great to have blessed us with this life with all our senses intact. Why not make use of these senses sensibly and be aware of our responsibilities every moment? Our routine life as mentioned above is almost similar for all of us as a human being, then why not be a little bit more vigilant while living it? We all see the filth; heaps of garbage, shit, and hodgepodge of spits, rising slums, plastic orphaned everywhere and everyday commuting travelers adding more to the open bin. If any one tries to stop such garbage makers they get a good piece of mind in return from them which leave them no place to retaliate. Coming back to Government, they haven’t made any provisions for throwing this shit anywhere. Citizens have been kind enough to bear with all this and live in the same filth every day and still not take a step to avoid it nor a step to raise their concerns. But even if few have raised a concern is anyone really going to pay heed to them and solve it? It’s just before elections that little show-shining is done by area specific candidates and things are back to pavilion post elections. There’s a lot to write on, “The roads of Mumbai”. Guess an entire blog would continue on this topic.

Coming to the most alluring thing in this country, GOLD. This is like an invincible desire for most of us these days. It’s more like owning a BMW for a wedding occasion. Where is this persistent hard metal heading to, god alone knows or does anyone else know it too? Malayalee’s have a penchant for it since ages and I guess it’s tough for their quirk to reduce.

Relationships and Jobs are another fast moving example in this country or rather in Mumbai as well. I read an interesting article somewhere to which I couldn’t agree more, which said, Relationships are like Jobs, Sex is like Money. To survive in this developing economy the mantra to follow is “When your job is no longer paying you, it's time to look for a new employer”. And most of the youths or even grow-ups as a matter of fact believe in this – “You don't think about it much when you already get it. But when you don't have it (sex or money), that's when you just wish you could have more of it.”

The honesty, patience, long-term commitment, abiding, understanding, love, affection, sharing is more like a behind the time feeling in terms of both relationships and jobs. I love you is just another statement used for anyone and everyone these days with no true intention or real emotion. It’s the 21^st century - the digital world where everything happens over the click of a technology and ends over this same technology.

This is called a developing country. Yes, everything is developing so fast that people have really forgotten the human touch, humanity, commitment, belief, faith, trust, care, help etc. People come people go in life is the way everyone lives in this developing country. Kids are more prone to technology than physical sports, more attracted to luxurious digital products than friends to play with, less communicative and more tech addictive. Junkies are preferred to Ma ke haath ke yummies. Struggle to fulfill the want of more and more money than the longing to strengthening family ties. Money is proving to be the kingdom for which everyone is striving to conquer it trampling down everything else. Festivals are more like a pompous event than having a devotional, human touch to it. It surely is a progress to see females moving at an equal pace with the males but along with professional growth there is rising concern to other habits being embraced by girls. Losing phones and losing virginity is fast pacing.

This city, country or world is developing but with blaring speakers, alcoholism, doping, rapes, thefts, corruption, scams, pollution, population, infidelity, animosity, fraudulent also rising with this development.