Wired editor Chris Anderson has discovered India, and he writes about it in his blog today. It is a wide eyed report from Bombay, a city which is no longer representative of the 21st century India. Maximum City, sure but of the 20th century, not the 21st century India its new generation wants it to be. Bombay’s creaking infrastructure and fall from grace is direct result of the far reaching power of crime lords in that city. The technology boomed in India, just not in Bombay. Progress? Not in Bombay. Its the past. If he is looking for future, then Chris should have gone to Pune. A few hundred miles from Bombay it will soon be on the lips of everyone involved in the pharmaceuticals business. Or that little town in Haryana which is becoming the motorcycle capital of the world. Want to see subtle changes in the economy - go to Coimbatore or Hyderabad. Bombay and Bangalore are predictable. I think anyone, who did not grow up in India, will never have the context to see how much things have changed, and how much they need to change. Except the changes are not in Bombay!
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5:59 PM PT
It feels like I am reading the customery series of articles written by a freshly appointed NYT correspondent: strong and tragic contrasts and such, soon to be followed by a sure prescription to cure all the ills (following the great tradition set by Naipul) and by the end of the journey a romantic description of the society and individuals who are all so noble and asking “why we can’t be all like that”. Oh well.
Probably you know and have mentioned in one of your essays, the achievment of Coimbatore I admire is that this once water starved city managed to channel runoff water from the “ghats” to a reservoir so much so it is a rare city in Tamil Nadu that does not have water problem (at least when I knew of it).
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