Friday, June 17, 2011

Update from India

Its 6:22am on June 18th, 2011 in India. I woke up about 30 mins ago. What I find most interesting is, even in these times of pollution, deforestation etc, I find the same sparrows which used to wake me up when I was a kid. I hear sparrows, I hear cuckoos, and I hear atleast two more birds sing, which I cannot name. I am with my brother in his studio apartment, in a colony that resembles the colony we used to live when we were kids. Its very peaceful here.
I came to India for my brother's wedding. It got over on 12th of June and his reception was over by 13th June. The wedding and the reception were hectic. Too many works to do and too little resources to do the works. Both me and my younger brother were exhausted by the time the wedding and the reception got over.
Hyderabad, from where I am, has changed quite a bit. Traffic is bad as usual, but there seems to some improvements. Earlier people used to junk honk their heart away and none used to complain about it. These days honking is considered a bad thing, and there is increasing unrest from the people who are honked at, if the honking is unnecessary. Honking has gone down a decibel.
Every mall, theatre etc have security check points, where they pat you down. This is definitely a no place for folks who are afraid of getting patted down. In US you would certainly think the guy patting you down is gay.
People's perspective also changed. Earlier people used to earn money and save in banks. They hardly used to spend money. Even if want to spend, there were only a few avenues to do so. Now, people dont seem to think much before spending. there are a lot of places, things you can do and people certainly seem to avail of these avenues.
Few other things I observed. Mobile texting is extremely cheap here. And hence people seem to text at every opportunity they get. My cousin was texting away while talking to us, in theatre, while wedding was going on, almost every moment. And she is just 17 and has just finished her 12th. I dont know where she is getting the money for this, since she doesnt work at all. People talk on their phones in movie theatres. And they dont even realize they are disturbing others.
The infrastructure has grown a lot, and I think it is time for the people to improve their attitude.
Btw, I found very interesting posters, graffiti and boards here. I will post them soon.