I spent a greater part of my childhood days in a particular locality in chennai and although I have lived in various parts of the country now, still love to go to my favorite childhood locality and see how many of my childhood friends, uncles and aunties and other known faces are still there. All these years I didn't get the opportunity to do so. But during the recent stay in Chennai, I managed to visit the locality and was shocked to see the rapid development there. It was saddening to see that all the open spaces and sprawling bungalows have given way to innumerable shops and hotels and boutiques and high rise flats. I was trying to find at least one house or building that retained its original structure that would bring back my sweet childhood memories. But sadly none was there.
I was behaving like a lost child and was standing in the same street where I grew up like as though I never knew the place. It was heart wrenching and was like losing one part of my self. Not a single face I could recognise, not a single soul to say "hey, how are you? seeing you after a long time". I was heart broken on my return. Suddenly there was a heavy downpour for about fifteen minutes , as though skies were crying with me. And I had to wade through knee deep water to walk back and was pleasantly reminded of my childhood days when we had to literally carry our school bags on our heads and walk in knee deep water to reach the bus stand to go to school. This experience of walking again in knee deep water brought a smile to my face and felt relieved that at least there is one aspect to the locality that has remained the same for years.
But the realization that development is not only about razing down old structures and constructing new ones but also involves infrastructural developments like sufficient water, electricity , sewage , drainage and good roads struck me hard.People are interested in developing their own space and don't think of collective development of the area and politicians are busy making money in their short tenure and not interested in the larger good of the community. Till they do so, our hardships due to lack of infrastructure would remain the same for years.
I was behaving like a lost child and was standing in the same street where I grew up like as though I never knew the place. It was heart wrenching and was like losing one part of my self. Not a single face I could recognise, not a single soul to say "hey, how are you? seeing you after a long time". I was heart broken on my return. Suddenly there was a heavy downpour for about fifteen minutes , as though skies were crying with me. And I had to wade through knee deep water to walk back and was pleasantly reminded of my childhood days when we had to literally carry our school bags on our heads and walk in knee deep water to reach the bus stand to go to school. This experience of walking again in knee deep water brought a smile to my face and felt relieved that at least there is one aspect to the locality that has remained the same for years.
But the realization that development is not only about razing down old structures and constructing new ones but also involves infrastructural developments like sufficient water, electricity , sewage , drainage and good roads struck me hard.People are interested in developing their own space and don't think of collective development of the area and politicians are busy making money in their short tenure and not interested in the larger good of the community. Till they do so, our hardships due to lack of infrastructure would remain the same for years.
