Few weeks back I was in Coimbatore. The reason for my visit was not very pleasurable but none the less I always look forward to such escapes. A few days off in south in always pleasurable if one has the right kind of mindset. I have have had the great luxury of being born in North and having done my graduation in South and hence since I started observing the world, i couldn't help myself compare the sheer magnitude of difference yet in some obscure way the similarities of the two worlds as they have grown over the years - separately yet united by land .
As luck would have it, in every few years though mostly for medical reasons I had been visiting either Kerela or Tamil Nadu. This December I underwent another surgery, probably my last to get rid of the weakness in my left arm in Coimbatore. I was put up in a Hotel named Vijai Paradise near the hospital. I decided to take a walk at about 11 in the night. I generally don't smoke but it aint a long time since I was high last (those who are close to me know nothing gives me a high like fag). I bought 2 Kings and lit one up. I decided to walk around the residential colony. The name was Sai Baba colony. It really is amazing to see how much people have here in associating gods with whatever they can. Anyways, there was a nice breeze blowing and I really felt good. You know, the kinda good one feels once in a long time. I was enjoying the peace and tranquility of the place.
I was trying to observe with my limited ability and experience the difference. There were two major things which are very easy to observe - the health care facilities and the provisions for education. As I was roaming around the streets, I kept on wondering at the details of the courses that were available, the digital libraries ans internet even in the small mid-level colony schools. Talking about the health care, having had the first hand experience I am never gonna advice anyone to go under the scalpel in North due to inadequateness of doctors, poor felicitation, atrocious hygiene and even with this the costs are much more. The reasons are very easy to gather as we wander in the streets.
To begin with, the quality of education is much better. Education, I believe is all about guidance in choosing the best option for the student which includes various tools to do so along with competent people to not only remove obstacles but also to channelize his growth for his seemingly best option. naturally this has a lot to with sense of innovation, variety of options, quality of teachers and peer comparability. Expect teachers, for which I won't comment due to lack of first hand experience but in other mentioned areas even in that short period one could fathom that there was a difference. Mind you I am trying to compare two similar cities or at least potentially similar cities in 2 different geographies namely Agra and Coimbatore. Agra has a population of 14 lac and its southern comparison had 19 lac. As I went around admiring the various building and life here I sat besides a closed Snack shop smoking the last puffs imagining life if I did settle in Coimbatore. Anyways with this thoughts I finished my last puffs. Damn!! it felt good. You could see the smile on my face. It felt like I belonged here. I only wished if there was someone there whom I could hug. I definitely needed another cigarette.
Well I made up my mind, Kings is going to be my brand again. I bought 2 cigarettes this time. I went back to the colony again which was about a km inside to continue my walk. This time I took a different turn. I was already feeling a bit woozy but anyways I was loving it. I saw construction going on in one of the buildings and that to quiet diligently. I checked my watch and it was about midnight. Again the sheer amount of efficiency that can be achieved by finishing construction before time just by doing it in sleepy hours was something I was impressed with. I remembered huge crowd of laborers in Hyderabad's Toli Chowki who queued up to get work early in the morning and more than half of them went back empty handed. here it was more round the clock and contract based which gave good guarantee of employment and shifts ensured work for most.
I lumbered on. I saw an array of doctor's apartments with specialized services like neonatal care, psycho-therapy, spinal surgery, facio-maxillary clinic et al. Now this was just a colony and there were bigger, cheaper hospitals with better care available in the town center. When I remembered the days when I struggled to locate even a good O.T. in Agra, I definitely felt the difference. The best we locate at one time was G.G. hospital and thank god that it was windy that day and to our horror we could find dust in the theater. The best part which i have not written so far is the roads. Tamil Nadu and for that matter even Kerela to an extent has been quiet famous for road development and had been a source of inspiration of business fraternity since long. I was starting to feel a bit weak in my legs hence I decided to go back. Anyways it had been more than an hour of wandering around for me. I felt like giving my left cigarette to someone who might need it more but I refrained thinking about what happened in Thailand. You never know about those god damn cultural differences.
Now I had been in my hometown Agra for post surgery recuperation and I decided to take a similar walk to note down the comparisons. Conditions were different and hence the feel. It was about 4 in the evening and was naturally way busier but Agra would be busier than Coimbatore at any hour I believe. Anyways I again took couple of Kings and went for a stroll. It was more like a village adjoining a city than a sub-urban area. First thing I remembered was Gandhi talking about the biggest challenge India being public Sanitation. I also recalled one of the American journalists calling India a huge Public Toilet. People specially children were defecating everywhere. Ditches were overflowing with sewage. It was impossible to escape smoke and stench anywhere. I felt dizzy again but this time I guess it was definitely not the cigarette, it was the same nausea I have when I see real world and the world I am living. Not that I am enjoying the best of luxury but none of us are doing enough. I have been trained as manager and am surrounded by young inspiring people who want to change the world or at least say so. But all we want to do is get a better job, compare and be jealous of others no matter what, feel proud at occasions and always cry about us having less than what we deserve.
I think my grandmother is most sensible in my family and ready accept new ideas though she only studied till 8th standard. But even she had no qualms with the huge pile of sewage dumped quiet close to our building saying everyone does it and thats how it will remain. That is a fact. Anyhow I moved on trying to locate doctors or schools or anything of substance. I came across a noisy subzi mundi. I passed it and entered some colony. The only thing which was noticeable was the stark difference in social economic classification which was easily recognizable by the difference of quality of house construction, the cars, everything even of the neighborers which was not there in coimbatore.
There was no doctor's sign and no school, college, anything. All I saw was a play school and a coaching institute. Another thing which was very was the sense violent unrest especially in the youth. You try talking to anyone and one can easily sense aggression. As much as my readings guide, I believe this is due to sense of insecurity or negligence. The issues are more basic here- Sanitation, Employment, Infrastructure (Agra has one of the best roads in U.P. and trust me they the worse than most places I have been).
As luck would have it, in every few years though mostly for medical reasons I had been visiting either Kerela or Tamil Nadu. This December I underwent another surgery, probably my last to get rid of the weakness in my left arm in Coimbatore. I was put up in a Hotel named Vijai Paradise near the hospital. I decided to take a walk at about 11 in the night. I generally don't smoke but it aint a long time since I was high last (those who are close to me know nothing gives me a high like fag). I bought 2 Kings and lit one up. I decided to walk around the residential colony. The name was Sai Baba colony. It really is amazing to see how much people have here in associating gods with whatever they can. Anyways, there was a nice breeze blowing and I really felt good. You know, the kinda good one feels once in a long time. I was enjoying the peace and tranquility of the place.
I was trying to observe with my limited ability and experience the difference. There were two major things which are very easy to observe - the health care facilities and the provisions for education. As I was roaming around the streets, I kept on wondering at the details of the courses that were available, the digital libraries ans internet even in the small mid-level colony schools. Talking about the health care, having had the first hand experience I am never gonna advice anyone to go under the scalpel in North due to inadequateness of doctors, poor felicitation, atrocious hygiene and even with this the costs are much more. The reasons are very easy to gather as we wander in the streets.
To begin with, the quality of education is much better. Education, I believe is all about guidance in choosing the best option for the student which includes various tools to do so along with competent people to not only remove obstacles but also to channelize his growth for his seemingly best option. naturally this has a lot to with sense of innovation, variety of options, quality of teachers and peer comparability. Expect teachers, for which I won't comment due to lack of first hand experience but in other mentioned areas even in that short period one could fathom that there was a difference. Mind you I am trying to compare two similar cities or at least potentially similar cities in 2 different geographies namely Agra and Coimbatore. Agra has a population of 14 lac and its southern comparison had 19 lac. As I went around admiring the various building and life here I sat besides a closed Snack shop smoking the last puffs imagining life if I did settle in Coimbatore. Anyways with this thoughts I finished my last puffs. Damn!! it felt good. You could see the smile on my face. It felt like I belonged here. I only wished if there was someone there whom I could hug. I definitely needed another cigarette.
Well I made up my mind, Kings is going to be my brand again. I bought 2 cigarettes this time. I went back to the colony again which was about a km inside to continue my walk. This time I took a different turn. I was already feeling a bit woozy but anyways I was loving it. I saw construction going on in one of the buildings and that to quiet diligently. I checked my watch and it was about midnight. Again the sheer amount of efficiency that can be achieved by finishing construction before time just by doing it in sleepy hours was something I was impressed with. I remembered huge crowd of laborers in Hyderabad's Toli Chowki who queued up to get work early in the morning and more than half of them went back empty handed. here it was more round the clock and contract based which gave good guarantee of employment and shifts ensured work for most.
I lumbered on. I saw an array of doctor's apartments with specialized services like neonatal care, psycho-therapy, spinal surgery, facio-maxillary clinic et al. Now this was just a colony and there were bigger, cheaper hospitals with better care available in the town center. When I remembered the days when I struggled to locate even a good O.T. in Agra, I definitely felt the difference. The best we locate at one time was G.G. hospital and thank god that it was windy that day and to our horror we could find dust in the theater. The best part which i have not written so far is the roads. Tamil Nadu and for that matter even Kerela to an extent has been quiet famous for road development and had been a source of inspiration of business fraternity since long. I was starting to feel a bit weak in my legs hence I decided to go back. Anyways it had been more than an hour of wandering around for me. I felt like giving my left cigarette to someone who might need it more but I refrained thinking about what happened in Thailand. You never know about those god damn cultural differences.
Now I had been in my hometown Agra for post surgery recuperation and I decided to take a similar walk to note down the comparisons. Conditions were different and hence the feel. It was about 4 in the evening and was naturally way busier but Agra would be busier than Coimbatore at any hour I believe. Anyways I again took couple of Kings and went for a stroll. It was more like a village adjoining a city than a sub-urban area. First thing I remembered was Gandhi talking about the biggest challenge India being public Sanitation. I also recalled one of the American journalists calling India a huge Public Toilet. People specially children were defecating everywhere. Ditches were overflowing with sewage. It was impossible to escape smoke and stench anywhere. I felt dizzy again but this time I guess it was definitely not the cigarette, it was the same nausea I have when I see real world and the world I am living. Not that I am enjoying the best of luxury but none of us are doing enough. I have been trained as manager and am surrounded by young inspiring people who want to change the world or at least say so. But all we want to do is get a better job, compare and be jealous of others no matter what, feel proud at occasions and always cry about us having less than what we deserve.
I think my grandmother is most sensible in my family and ready accept new ideas though she only studied till 8th standard. But even she had no qualms with the huge pile of sewage dumped quiet close to our building saying everyone does it and thats how it will remain. That is a fact. Anyhow I moved on trying to locate doctors or schools or anything of substance. I came across a noisy subzi mundi. I passed it and entered some colony. The only thing which was noticeable was the stark difference in social economic classification which was easily recognizable by the difference of quality of house construction, the cars, everything even of the neighborers which was not there in coimbatore.
There was no doctor's sign and no school, college, anything. All I saw was a play school and a coaching institute. Another thing which was very was the sense violent unrest especially in the youth. You try talking to anyone and one can easily sense aggression. As much as my readings guide, I believe this is due to sense of insecurity or negligence. The issues are more basic here- Sanitation, Employment, Infrastructure (Agra has one of the best roads in U.P. and trust me they the worse than most places I have been).
