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Random Musings

RANDOM MUSINGS

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The terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008 were a very defining moment for the city, the country and the citizens of Mumbai and india. For the first time, everyone felt insecure. One never knew whether the person next to you was a normal guy or a terrorist in hiding. One felt scared to go out while the battle to secure the Taj and The Oberoi was on. One felt scared to venture into public places for fear of being massacred the way people were killed at CST station. The brazenness of the attack and our total unpreparedness for countering the same, along with the fact that top police officers were killed by a handful of gun toting terrorists, added fuel to the already burning fire.

But now people have gone back to their ways of life - i.e those who were not in any way affected or bereaved by the incident have gone back to life as usual. One does not know the level of preparedness to thwart the next attacks or the next level of attacks on the city - more advanced in planning than the recent one. One hopes that will never come to be.


I am troubled by Mr. Jaipal Reddy's call to take development away from villages and bring it to cities. It is a reflection of the changing trend of development thought - to move away from glorified rural utopias to current realities in social life - Life is too complicated to be spent in a village. Fine, as far as it goes.

The trouble is, what next ? One, where is the space for all the people ? People are only going to live more and more in cramped pigeon holes. Mumbai is already hellish in that respect and unfortunately other Indian cities are following suit. The financial system is supporting this boom and that is another cause for worry - so many long term loans doled out, what is the guarantee of repayment and how will that affect the financial system ? third, what of infrastructure ? It is all very well to have rising disposable income, and financiers to finance acquisition of cars, and manufacturers to bring in new models, but WHERE ARE THE ROADS TO DRIVE AND PARK THEM ? ARE OUR RULERS SO DUMB THAT THEY ARE UNABLE TO REALISE THIS ? THE SOLUTION FOR ALL THIS IS NOT TO BUILD MORE FLYOVERS, BUT SIMPLY CURB ACQUISITION OF CARS, OR IMPOSE HEAVY TAXES ON THEM, AND INSTEAD PROMOTE PUBLIC TRANPORT THAT IS MULTI MODAL IN NATURE. Mumbai for instance badly needs a metro and the way the government is dragging it's feet over the issue, by the time it comes up it will already be outmoded.

Further where is the water to sustain all these people ? I dont know what will happen about that in the years to come.

And where is the food for all these people going to come from if more and more farmers are going to grow cash crops instead of food and die in poverty because of that ?

There is immense pressure on everyone to buy a house as soon as they start earning. The objective is partly to move out of a crowded family nest and obtain privacy...BUT AT WHAT COST ?

What people are ignoring is that the difference between rural and urban india is not so much a question of disposable income as it is one of availability of choice, quality and basic amenities like water and electricity. If this gap is bridged people will have no problem in staying in their villages. It is this lack of choice and quality that has created a lack of perspective amongst rural India - what we call narrow mindedness and backwardness. It is this that needs to be addressed by the foremost technology institutions and technology intensive giants of Industry in our country. What else is Corporate Social Responsibility if not this ? We need more titans of industry doing what Satya Sai Baba has done in Anantpur district with his drinking water project.