The North - South Divide
Theres a mighty chasm between North India and South India. I'm currently based out of Noida, so get to observe the worst of North India from very close quarters..!
I was recently in Kerala - I landed in the Cochin airport mid afternoon and got out onto a balmy mid afternoon day - and immediately I could notice a difference - a certain calm, quiet, relaxed atmosphere pervaded the area.....people were coming in to the airport in two wheelers, twirling their munds (the traditional white cotton tunic wrapped out the waist that covers the lower body of the mallu male)....it seemed a world away from the delhi airport madness - rude rude rude people jostling for space, honking like crazy.....
Kerala has an air of relaxed informality and friendliness about it - perhaps a touch too much. Delhi is very rude, very unfriendly and in a BIG hurry - I dont know to where and what end? Delhi-ites has a "delhicious" way of justifying their transgressions and blaming it on others - no one follows traffic signals - its a joke hearing some of the justification - " I know exactly when to go", "I'm not breaking the signal when I have a kid with me", "I'm not causing any accident, so whats the problem", "I'm in a two wheeler - why I should stay in the signal for as long as the cars?" .....I'm not kidding - people here break the law with an impunity bordering on the ridiculous.
Kerala, on the other hand - had crappy infrastructure, but the people seemed more tolerant, more able to adjust with their reality and more at peace with their lives.
One interesting thing I did notice about Cochin though - there were literally hundreds of billboards lining the highway - and except for three, every single one of them was advertising swanky new apartments - either these guys are still living in caves or the Kerala economy has done a remarkable job of insulating itself from the rest of the world or perhaps the advertisers, in anticipation of demand, had bought up the billboards for the next five years and now see no reason to pull it down......it was quite a site - every single billboard selling apartments - I dread to imagine what will happen to Cochin if those apartments get sold - it already is the most barren of all places in Kerala, the place more resembling the rest of the country and if this wave were to succeed - well it would Satan's own corner in God's Own Country...!
I have finally realized - I DONT LIKE DELHI - this place, the people, the boorishness, the smog.....I yearn for Hyd - those long days spent watching test matches in the living room, those evening cricket matches in the friends roof, those long walks, those friendly neighbors.......I yearn for Los Angeles - those wide roads, those magnificient days, those fantastic beaches, those carefree days of financial freedom - somebody,....... ANYBODY - take me away from here......
I was recently in Kerala - I landed in the Cochin airport mid afternoon and got out onto a balmy mid afternoon day - and immediately I could notice a difference - a certain calm, quiet, relaxed atmosphere pervaded the area.....people were coming in to the airport in two wheelers, twirling their munds (the traditional white cotton tunic wrapped out the waist that covers the lower body of the mallu male)....it seemed a world away from the delhi airport madness - rude rude rude people jostling for space, honking like crazy.....
Kerala has an air of relaxed informality and friendliness about it - perhaps a touch too much. Delhi is very rude, very unfriendly and in a BIG hurry - I dont know to where and what end? Delhi-ites has a "delhicious" way of justifying their transgressions and blaming it on others - no one follows traffic signals - its a joke hearing some of the justification - " I know exactly when to go", "I'm not breaking the signal when I have a kid with me", "I'm not causing any accident, so whats the problem", "I'm in a two wheeler - why I should stay in the signal for as long as the cars?" .....I'm not kidding - people here break the law with an impunity bordering on the ridiculous.
Kerala, on the other hand - had crappy infrastructure, but the people seemed more tolerant, more able to adjust with their reality and more at peace with their lives.
One interesting thing I did notice about Cochin though - there were literally hundreds of billboards lining the highway - and except for three, every single one of them was advertising swanky new apartments - either these guys are still living in caves or the Kerala economy has done a remarkable job of insulating itself from the rest of the world or perhaps the advertisers, in anticipation of demand, had bought up the billboards for the next five years and now see no reason to pull it down......it was quite a site - every single billboard selling apartments - I dread to imagine what will happen to Cochin if those apartments get sold - it already is the most barren of all places in Kerala, the place more resembling the rest of the country and if this wave were to succeed - well it would Satan's own corner in God's Own Country...!
I have finally realized - I DONT LIKE DELHI - this place, the people, the boorishness, the smog.....I yearn for Hyd - those long days spent watching test matches in the living room, those evening cricket matches in the friends roof, those long walks, those friendly neighbors.......I yearn for Los Angeles - those wide roads, those magnificient days, those fantastic beaches, those carefree days of financial freedom - somebody,....... ANYBODY - take me away from here......
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