Vacation Reflections in GOC

I am feeling incredibly happy to be back in God's Own Country.

After the initial euphoria of seeing familiar faces and familiar places, reality began to seep in. On the positive side, I see a lot of widened roads, new buildings, new specialty hospitals and other signs of outward development that make me pause and reflect on how much the city has grown since I left. A welcome sight indeed! The development of the city’s formerly congested roads seem to be going full throttle. I see many a flyover, bridges and underpasses coming up and I hope this continues irrespective of the party in power. I also hope that these kinds of developments will not be restricted to one specific city, but that it will spread around.

The heat is quite unbearable and the humidity really drains you and makes you lethargic all day long. I find my days starting quite late in an effort to stay awake the coolest parts of the day. It never used to be this hot and sticky ever. But then again, this is something we are all equipped to handle fairly quickly. Besides, sometime back, when living through the middle of a bitter winter, I had sworn never to complain about the heat if I get a chance to experience it.

Last week saw Sakhavu Achudananthan take his new position as leader of the state. The day of the swearing in ceremony saw red flags and people in red shirts at every street corner. Cars draped with red bits of cloth swished past at break neck speed through narrow streets, putting all others on the road in peril, the passengers inside trying hard not to fall out of the open windows in their eagerness to show their happiness. I was surprised to hear the party of the “poor thozhilali” apparently has a lot of wealth to fall back on; Rs. 4000 crores. At least in these early days, it looks like the LDF government is planning to go full steam ahead in implementing the development projects started by former CM Oommen Chandy (OC). I guess it is a good thing irrespective of who finally gets his/her name inscribed on the foundation stone. However, thanks to OC we have all these projects to look forward to in the near future.

The new CM is in charge of the IT portfolio. It is not his lack of education that worries me greatly; I am hoping with his vast political experience he has some sense of what’s right for the state and what’s not despite some actions to prove otherwise while in opposition. The worrisome fact is that the state is going to be run by a man who has been vehemently opposing Smart City as well as any developmental initiative that OC previously suggested. Can he do a complete about turn and bring in the much-needed investment, which apparently is something against his ‘ideologies’? I pray and hope that it will be the case.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I heard from someone that CM Achudananthan felt that if only 50% of jobs in Smart City go to non-IT related people will he sign the agreement. This is also a person who till the other day was saying that the Smart City project was nothing but a real estate deal meant to pocket commission by people behind this project and that if LDF government assumes power, the first order of business would be sending OC to jail for encouraging Smart City. I hope he really studies the benefits this will bring to the state and the trickle down effect it will have that will be a boon not only to IT folks but to others as well. We need a real enthusiastic and intelligent head of state to foster an environment of growth and development.

Although this aspect worries me a bit, I am still hoping our new CM is surrounded by intelligent civil service folks whose prime motive is state development and not party politics and who will have some influence over the CM and his ministers to do the right thing for the state.

And what’s with LDF’s fondness for changing names? I heard the latest is renaming the Expressway which they thought did not agree with their ideologies one bit, the “North-South” highway. The name change apparently did the trick. Thank God, they did not fall prey to the "wise" suggestion of an LDF MLA , who shall remain unnamed, to call it “bypass.”

Something that does not seem to have changed a whole lot is the general attitude of the people around. Most of them display a callous and ‘don’t care’ attitude that still shocks me. As long as things around them are going well, they care two hoots for anything else. Case in point and something that has been mentioned in this blog before, is the unwillingness of some educated people to exercise their privilege to vote. These people seem to come with a short-term tunneled vision. Long-term forecasts and planning do not interest them at all.

Another thing that I find annoying, apart from the selfishness is the strong tendency of some people to find faults everywhere and in every thing they come across. These people cannot seem to find even an ounce of goodness in what others do or are trying to do. They also seem to possess a remarkably short temper (must be something to do with the incredibly hot weather) and in most cases, a mild conversation about any topic turns into an ugly war of words.

I feel it is pointless trying to explain the situation to such people, as I am sure with their short term thought process; it is hard to see the bigger picture and the brighter future.

Maybe it is just basic human tendency and nothing can be done about it, except for the listener to maintain a dignified silence and respond with maturity.

Apart from a few minor irritants like this, it is lovely to be back. I have really missed my hometown. In spite of the numerous problems ailing it, I just find it so delightful to see the city thriving and trying to keep up with the changes happening all around. Right now as I travel by Parasuram Express to almost the other end of Kerala, rushing past incredibly green paddy fields, flowing rivers, little houses by the way side and young kids playing football, I realize that our state is really blessed. It is good to be home. :)


PS: When I wrote this post, the monsoons had not yet started. Now I am sitting here clutching a blanket and trying not to shiver. So much for cribbing about heat and humidity. :)