Monday, October 09, 2006

Thinking Big...

India is thinking BIG.

Look everywhere around you. Construction going on everywhere - roads, buildings, flyovers, viaducts... there are gleaming cars on the roads, mobile companies vying to attract customes... India is growing, and booming.

But the most exciting part is - we are thinking BIG.

We are no longer content building a new road through difficult terrain - we now build 100 meter high viaducts.. no more road widening, we build 6 lane expressways.. no more setting up shop abroad, we are making billion dollar acquisitions... no more industrial estates, we now have multi-crore investments in SEZs, no more Pananis, we now build Persistent Towers..

I had been to the Kakade Magnum Mall in Camp a few days back - walk into the atrium, and you will see the grandeur of the GREAT INDIAN DREAM. Fully air-conditioned, a 16-speaker rack piping out peppy music, hundreds of happy shoppers and visitors alike enjoying just being there, large super stores like Pyramid and West Side, side by side with international chain stores like Marks and Spencer, Pizza Hut, Mac Donalds, Yo China - and see the smiles on people's faces - we are a HAPPY population - I have been to so many cities in Europe and the US, and I have never seen a more vibrant population!

Yes, we do have poverty and corruption and dengue and malaria - but hey, we are getting there!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are getting there.. but we have to admit we have a long long way to go..

The population you are talking about are upper middle-class people, with flats and cars and the ability to spend and buy things from these malls... We cannot deny this is just a very small percentage of the entire Indian population.

People like you and me are changing, and I believe people like us and our kids have a role to play in doing our bit instead of going to US just because it offers you everything - including corruption-free environment, great roads, a great system where a lot of things like electricity and water and all the comforts are assumed..

However, whenever I see a well-educated person stepping out of his posh car and throw nirmalya (that too in a plastic bag) in the water, I really wonder where we are heading..

It is really high time, the public at large understand the importance of simple things like - not throwing garbage on the roads, not spitting on the roads, following traffic signals.. We can build ICCs and Pyramids and InfoTech Parks.. that is all fine - but we need to do a lot more..

And yes - I only speak about all these things. I will tell this to my friends and teach my kids - but I have no idea how the big Indian population at large is going to understand this!

Harsha Kumar said...

India is Thinking Big..We're thinking more Jazz..
We're shooting up our standards of living...
I'm just worried that while we continue to think big, that we should not miss out on the little things!
Everytime I see a beggar on the road, or kid forced to sell balloons, a lot of the "big things" seem meaningless...
And no not just the down trodden - We are proud to have some of the best education institutes in the world.. But how capable are we of offering world class education that focusses on practical approach over theoretical.. Why are so many of our people tempted to go to th US for an MS or an MBA... Its not just the lure of a glamorous lifestyle... Its also the fact, that our education here doesnot always leave us feeling confident of what we've studied...
Our universities need to go through a major Revamp.. Enough, of the focussing on the IITs and the IIMs! There's a huge mass of bright students in our country that cannot make it to the Big Names! And enough attention needs to be paid to keeping the syllabus in sync with the industry requirements in other institutes/universities too..Our universities need to focus on all-round development!

What about our transportation?? Are the buses convenient of even hygenic, really, for travelling...
A country where the population is increasing by leaps and bounds, we are missing out on meeting some of the basic requirements of our masses!

I do get the point of this blog though! Its about looking at the brighter side! I dont deny that this country is doing well... And its only going to do better in the future.. But my focus is also on a lot of areas that are still calling for atention! I hope I can contribute in someway, someday! Contribute, not just by paying taxes ;)

Siddhesh said...

Arati, first a reply to your comment....

I am not really talking about just the upper middle class - I am talking about the urban middle class as a whole, and that's a sizeable population anyway!

Interestingly, there was an article a few days back in Outlook Money on how this buzz is now moving into the rural areas too - there are actually malls catering to the farming and rural populations, providing value added services - from consumer goods to electronics to mobile connectivity and the Internet, slowly but surely a huge new market is now opening up... and trust me, this boom will be MUCH bigger than what India has seen so far in the urban middle class segment.

Now coming to comment you made about the US - corruption free, great system - I strongly disagree. Whether it is in defence contracts, or what happened in New Orleans afetr Katrina, the US is no better off - yes, in public life, maybe it's a little less evident. But the dirt and the filth is every where. People all over the world throw garbage on the roads - just that in NYC, you have automated garbage sweeping trucks cleaning it up much faster.

Harsha, now to answer your comments...

As far as education is concerned, I think you are being unfair by comparing the standard of education in India comfortably ignoring the best institutes here, against nameless faceless "world class" institutes in the US. I truly believe, and this is based on the experiences I have had with US education and school system through my countless cousins settled there, that we are MUCH better off here in India at any rate. Do you know that you have only two options in the US for schooling: either pay for the terribly expensive "public" - read "unaided" - schools, or you put your child in the ONLY school allocated to your area. Yes, so if you are interested in some other school, you better be living in that area!

It's the same story with medical help - you are left to the mercy of the insurance companies. No wonder medical tourism in India is booming.

Mass transport - yes, the US and Europe wins hands down - no way I am going to be satisfied with the PMT here. But do you know the Indian Railways is one of the most efficient and effective public transport systems in the world? Have you checked out the AC busses in Mumbai and the Volvos in Bangalore? Things are changing - give us 5 more years, and I will write a blog on the awesome state of mass transportation systems in India :)