Mein aur meri tanhai..

... And I am loving it!!

I have always maintained that India has grown too soon too fast

I have said this for years, especially since we Indians thought that we are next economic powerhouse of the world and started feeling too proud of the GDP growth that we have clocked. But the problem... that’s all we have clocked, GDP growth. The rich have become richer and probably the top 1% of our population has made pot loads of money. This 1% has more disposable income and can buy the best of luxuries – be it cars, vacations abroad, upscale apartments, best gadgets et al. The money is concentrated with the politicians, corporate powerhouses and newbies entrepreneurs. I am not against capitalism, but when capitalism is used by few and misused thereon, that ain’t acceptable. The corrupt government and lack of governance doesn’t let anything flow down, not for a single requirement of the common man. The remaining 99%, many of whom pay taxes do not benefit from a single tax paisa that they pay. The infrastructure is lacking in every aspect, be it roads, water, electricity or basic needs of sanitation.


In a city like Bombay (the most developed and supposedly ‘commercial capital’ of our country), living is an ordeal. People have all the money but there is complete lack of basic amenities and infrastructure. You have Audi’s and BMWs but no roads to drive to on, live in apartments worth millions but the basic infrastructure is missing. No decent educational institutes to educate your kids nor the opportunity to enjoy all the wealth you have. If you exclude the couple of millions who have the money, for the 20 million other Mumbaites, it is a totally different ball game; life is a struggle. Travel to work is an ordeal, finding modes of transports is difficult and if its rains or someone decides to strike, you will spend twice as much time for the travel. Buying groceries is a pain, going for a movie is either exhorbitant or unavailable, providing their kids with quality education is a big task and after doing all of this, the economic slowdown has made finding jobs difficult. There is struggle in every walk of life. In my opinion, a common Mumbaite does not live, but just performs the day-to-day tasks to keep going.

I have moved back to my country 20 months ago, for my own personal reasons. I knew I was moving from a developed nation to a developing nation. I knew the lifestyle, quality of life was all going to be different but that wasn’t important. I was willing to sacrifice it all. I wanted to be closer to family and friends. I wondered... how difficult will it be to go back to where I started, back to where I spent 25 years of my life. Little did I know that everything had worsened. When you spend 90% of your waking life ensuring that your work and home life is smooth, when is the time to actually live and enjoy the waking moments. The fact that I am blogging after several months itself is a testament of it.

Such is life back home, and for once I am not going to say, 'but this home'...