Development or uncontrollable situation!!!

It is believed that Pune is one of the fastest growing cities in India and is a huge potential business hub. After Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore are looked upon as IT centres. Pune has changed a lot but definitely not for betterment.

A city having a tag ‘Pune tithe kay Uane’. This city, once favoured for its beautiful climate & good living, is slowly loosing that status). Uncertain situations have made it uncertain that a person leaving home for work, school, college, etc will come back safely. Undisciplined traffic sense and the increasing number and severity of road accidents add on to the panic.

Recently, while visiting Pune after a gap of 8 months, I realised that Pune has changed a lot. Long back Pu La Deshpande, a very famous Marathi writer in his article ‘Tumhala Kon hoycha aahe? Mumbaikar, Punekar ki Nagpurkar’ pointed out that, all Punekars say that Pune has changed a lot. “Atta purvisarkhe rahila nahi”. Be it a 5 year old kid or a 70 yr old grandfather! But, I could feel a change in Pune, a negative change. There is a competition for the worst driving sense! People take pride in not following traffic rules! It is so called ‘bindaas’ attitude developed in all age groups. Rickshaw walas take more money than the meter reading and then shamelessly argue “daha rupaiyach jasta magitle na, kuthe vees thees magitle” It is a routine. BRTS Bus Rapid Transport System bus drivers drive so rapidly, that they forget their responsibility to stop at the bus stop and wait until all the passengers get in safely.

Two wheeler accidents are so common and the riders know that, even if their rash driving kills someone and still they manage to escape, no one can catch them or trap them in a police case. And to top it, even if a hurt victim waits and tries to fight for his case, the culprits know the ways to get rid off such cases very well. The system is so corrupt, that everyone knows the ways & means of escaping from a committed crime. To talk on phone while driving! It’s not a bloody circus demonstrating ways of killing while driving. And mind well, there is no age barrier to this! It is not only the young generation! It’s an add on to one’s personality, to be capable of multitasking by talking on mobile while driving, which looks like more important than pedestrians’ or other commuters’ life.

I wish we citizens could say, “Please wake up politicians!” I wonder if all the politicians vanish one day due to some natural calamity, India would be a safer & organised country. Hour by hour, day by day our news channel, who are interested more in showcasing the gossip and the decorated form of any news keep on flashing news which we wish never didn’t happen.
26/11 attack, still unsolved and not given justice, and now bomb blast in German bakery, Pune, earlier supposed to be a safe city.

One of the major hurdles in India’s development is corruption and friction between politicians, who are never interested in serving to the country or making it a better place to live in, but are on their toes in pointing out the negativities of other politicians or political parties. Poverty and population are of genuine concern but not more than corruption. The politicians simply don’t want to work hard for country's development.

While on my way back from Mumbai to Dusseldorf, I was waiting at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport after checking in my baggage. As I had to pass time, I bought a cup of coffee and was just watching news channel. News channels were flashing news about whether Shahrukh Khan’s movie, ‘My Name is Khan’, will be released or not. CM of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan, and a political party leader, Uddhav Thackeray, were fighting over this issue. Is release of Shahrukh Khan’s movie more important than other problems that persist in our country? What Shahrukh Khan said in support of Pakistani players or Pakistan, is a genuine concern. He should have not made such comments or may have made them to gain publicity for his upcoming movie release. On the very next day, Rahul Gandhi, to top it, was very enthusiastic to challenge Balasaheb Thackeray, for other issue of allowing non maharshtrians to stay in Mumbai without speaking Marathi. Our politicians make our news channel a good entertainment for some and a sick show in front of the world. When are we going to stop and start doing some serious genuine work? Every country, be it developed or developing, is corrupt to some extent. If India was less corrupt, then we would have reached such high goals than what we can now.

A gentleman from UK, Steve was sitting besides me in my flight from Mumbai to Istanbul. He was on his way back to UK. He asked me that I saw on news channel at the airport that some political leaders were arguing on release of Shahrukh Khan’s film, “Is that film so important, what the film is about and why the political leaders were fighting”. I told him that it is Indian politics, you will not understand. It’s difficult to explain. But frankly, even I have not understood this and have no words to explain. We are making a fool of ourselves by splashing such news on the news channel and the world is having a good laughter time or sometimes a totally confused state of mind as Steve did!!!!