I’ve been for long, wanting to have a conversation without ‘baggage’. Not literally. I wanted to talk to someone who I knew well enough to want to talk to, but not so well enough to guess what they’d say in response. I got the opportunity one Sunday morning in Singaara Chennai!

This post is not about the morning. It’s about one thought I had during that conversation. That ‘we, in urban India, live in an era of infrastructure development’. Too bad for us! But no denying that we do!

Bangalore traffic sucks, Metro is unnecessary, flyovers are badly planned, there is no parking space, blah, blah and more blah. I am not going to deny any of that. I don’t know enough. But I do know this is the era of infrastructure development for the country (mostly urban India). The trouble we go through while a flyover is being built is like packing and unpacking while moving houses. It is indeed hassling, but it’ll be worth it in the end.

If we are going to compare ourselves with the Londons and the New Yorks of the world, we should also consider that their days of infrastructure development are over (well, almost). If we imagined the London Underground was a smooth transition, we are terribly mistaken. They all cried foul as early as in 1850s. ‘The Tube’ was called an “insult to common sense”.

The New York Public Transport System wasn’t an easy lay either! Watch the layers of poking fun in the picture below! The cartoon spits apathy!

By saying all this, I am by no means saying that we shouldn’t complain. Criticism is an integral part of participative democracy. Bring it on. Complain. Rant. Make a noise. But shout out loud enough to make the authorities listen to you. Do your part right and shout out louder.

When the Metro is ready, I would be ready to say “I endured the Bangalore Metro”! I endured development. I endured progress. I take pride because I live ‘here’ ‘now’.

P.S: The cynic in me says “Huh! You don’t have much of a choice.” The optimist in me says, “Well, then at least lie down and enjoy it!”