Think Tank

(Life V3)

Travelogue and More

Last two weeks I had to make very frequent business trips along with some colleagues. Gujarat, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Himachal, Hyderabad, Chennai, the list includes many places where I had not visited anytime before. The trips were short, of around one day each and we flew as a means of travel. I would mention about two of them.

I particularly liked Chandigarh: I never thought it would be as beautiful as it is. It's the most well organized and the cleanest Indian city I have ever visited (the competition would be from Tata controlled area of Jameshedpur). Planned housing complexes, wide and very clean roads, not so crowded public places, good restaurants, and much greenery around: it's easy to fell in love with the city. Though I wish I I could have got real feel of life in longer stay. Then the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad were the other revelations. The International Airport at Shamshabad was simply splendid ' the best in India where I have landed in. The roads from airport the city are laden with so many colorful flowers at the center and at both sides: it's a delight to travel through them. Though the city is old and not so much developed like Mumbai, I was told that barring some areas the cost of living is very 'comfortable' here. And yes, I too enjoyed the tasty Hyderabadi Biryani at one of the famous restaurants called Praradise

Here is one snap of the new Airport:

And here, we get a glimpse of the road leading from Airport to the city:

On way back to Mumbai, we heard the news that MNS had gotten into a pitted battle with Abu Azmi and the so called 'North Indian' Samajwadi Party. One of our colleagues was a Maharashtrian who had voted for MNS during the last elections. We started talking about the incident while reading about it in the newspaper. I asked what is the use of such tactics and violence in the name of a language. When no one stops someone from speaking in Marathi then why should some other stop others from speaking in Hindi? This guy had a different view: he said everyone should be forced to speak in Marathi and every MLA forced to take oath in the same language. And he said the city of Mumbai was too crowded and a separate city should be established at some distance and all 'outsiders' (whom he defined as people who came here not before 15 years ago) should be sent away to this new city. I was shocked to see this kind of regional chauvinist and apathetic view as he displayed towards his fellow beings.

The company where both of us work has a pan-India presence: it would lose out in a day if it was forced to keep all its facilities and offices within Maharashtra. The owner of our company is a Parsi ' Parsis in strictest of the term ' were not originally even from India, leave the states like Maharashtra. Many of us, whom my friend wants to shunt out to some other city in hoards, are better qualified and hold better degrees because we have taken education and have worked in diverse locations rather than confining ourselves within one state/city. And yet, it is ugly apathy if he thinks the so called 'outsider' Indians should be dispatched to some other city or sent back to their hometowns.

It seems the root cause of this kind of regional chauvinism is when they see someone who is better than them. Each job that they lose, and each argument too, to a person who is not born Marathi, is testimony to the fact that they should come out of their holes and open up. But it is unfortunate that such regional and linguistic chauvinists take a self-defeating position of 'hating' and 'hitting' at those who are better than them, rather than developing themselves to be able to compete with them. And what to say about the politicians who make their money converting the regional feelings of such individuals into votes.

From Chandigarh to Chennai, India is one. But many of us have still not learnt this basic lesson even though we enjoy the fruits of our freedom and nationhood. Even Biryani would taste dull if there are no varieties of ingredients and spices added in it.

(Rahul)