The Urban(n)er and the simpleto(w)n

Leaving my hometown was a struggle. I left it long back when I was still a kid. I was, rather my family was,lured by the lights of the big city. We found work there. We found society there. We found money there. But the question was, what did we loose? As any ordinary urban dweller will tell you, living in a city can be a tolerable experience. Living in a town is still rather a vision. We urban dwelllers think very little about of our small town cousins. But is it really our fault that the breadth of our imagination almost fails to capture the beauty and serenity of a village or a town life.

First and foremost most towns in a developing country are beset by problems of their own chief being the connectivity from the town-centers to the urban-center. I have observed an interesting difference amongs the western towns and their native counterparts. First and foremost is the planning that has gone into even the most raucous of western towns, right upto the smallest detail is phenomenal. The hospitals, the gyms, the clubhouses, the golf-courses are all there where they are supposed to be. It is a lifestyle statement living in a town in the west.

Whereas we are almost distinctly hounded by population, pollution, corruption and so many other 'tions' that I am afraid to count. SO what am I saying? Why I'm repeating oft repeated connotations. Well, partly because there is an ever increasing desire to watch rational unfold in an ever irrational world. We want to improve ourselves and the collective always. That is our nature. Some States have already achieved that and in style while others are still playing the catchup game. But improving the infrastructure in the entire country is more important than concentrating all infrastructure and developing activities across a few city centers. We risk alienating our small town cousins and that is not an acceptable. We need to forge ahead with a all-round development programme rather than scattered and concentrated growth patterns.

Last time when I went to visit my native town, I saw there were two new cyber-cafes, a fully equipped transport station, some new mini-malls where the nearby village-folks were out shopping clearly dazzeled by the array of goods up for sale. Also it made me realise that the native growth story is percolating down to the most basic strata of the chain. Whether this will be a good or a bad development only time will tell, but yes, I do want my town to retain its aura of a peaceful abode of few foolworthy simpleto(w)ns. :)