After a trip to my native place, I was confused who I was looking at... I'm talking about the "developed" cities and the "undeveloped, cheap" everywhere-else...
Developed - YES, our cities are... We have developed so much, so fast, that we have out-performed every statistical prediction about our own growth... that's why our roads are so congested coz nobody believed we would be selling so many cars, our malls are so crowded coz nobody believed we would spend so much time out of home, and damn, we are so costly, coz no one believed we would have so much money to spend (and even if we did, we wouldn't)... the idea of spending even what you didn't have (better known as Credit) only "developed" us further...
On the contrary, YES, the towns and villages are "cheap"... a plate of 4 idlies for Rs. 7, a glass of milk for Rs. 3 (and not unhygienic either - I'm still alive and doing well after eating out 3 days continuously) , a balcony ticket in the costliest A/C theatre for Rs. 25 (yes, they do have A/C theatres in the villages and towns these days, in case you didn't know.) It was such a relief to know there were still places in this country where money had some value left...
But the real reason why this trip was special for me was, I got to meet all my cousins again, at one place after some countless years (definitely more than 7)... This trip reminded about those years when every summer vacation would be spent travelling across the State meeting relatives with a grand finale at my grandmother's place where everyone would come and spend atleast a week together... Compared to the life of any city's citizen today, those definitely were better days... In my family's case, my grandmother would be the unifying force, pulling everyone together and tying the bonds strongly, which however had slowly begun to wear away over the last few years... Funny, how we all finally met again this year, but the reason being the absence of THAT VERY FORCE...
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