So much development, so little time

An aerial view of the MTHL. We haven’t done much to address economic inequality, malnutrition, food security, healthcare, or hygiene, but car owners have a new road and the promise of more roads in the coming years, so at least our priorities are in order. Pic/Rane Ashish. LOCATION COURTESY/CRESCENT BAY

Images of people stopping their vehicles to click selfies on the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link bridge alerted me to the excitement with which this latest feat of engineering has been greeted in Bombay. It was as if some residents had never seen a long and unbroken stretch of tarmac before, which is understandable given that most roads in the city have been dug up for years now. The MTHL will probably be dug up in a month or so, too, but it's new for now, so I empathised with that sense of excitement. If I were to take that road, I'd probably consider stopping for a selfie, too.

It sometimes feels as if there's so much happening across the city, in terms of development, that I can't keep up. Every other week begins with a new life-changing project being announced, developed, or inaugurated. It's a relentless series of celebrations that makes me want to lie down because I can't cope with all the exhilaration. How can we all cope with so much progress? It boggles the mind.

I understand that not everyone may be able to partake of this good fortune, obviously. People who don't own cars, for example, may not be able to appreciate the wonder of these new flyovers and upcoming coastal roads, but that shouldn't be a problem for too long. If one looks at what our esteemed ministers have been saying in public lately, our economy is so robust and expanding so quickly that the possibility of every Indian owning a car very soon is almost inevitable. I don't even foresee the need for footpaths anymore which, now that I think about it, is a plan the BMC must have begun putting into motion over a decade ago. We just didn't have the foresight to see why they were doing it.

At the end of the day, all these new roads and other projects are about efficiency. A country that allows its citizens to get from point A to point B a few minutes faster than they used to, will inevitably be a country that wins the race for global supremacy. It's why our brand new trains are transporting Indians to their destinations around 10 minutes faster than before, all for just a few thousand rupees more. At some point over the next ten years or so, I have no doubt that the IRCTC website will start to function efficiently, too. It is this intelligent use of taxpayer funds that separates us from less successful countries such as America or Japan. When the bullet train between Bombay and Gujarat is eventually built, those countries will also turn to us for advice and support on how to improve their own outdated infrastructure.

There have been some arguments made about how these signs of progress don't really change the lives of a majority of Indians. Critics point out, for instance, that rail travel for India's poor hasn't improved at all. I disagree because the only way they back this argument is through photographs of crowded compartments or videos of passengers struggling to climb into trains. They don't concentrate on the hundreds of other Indians who travel in world-class comfort via Vande Bharat trains.

We are on the cusp of a new era, which we aren't acknowledging as much as we ought to. Our cities will not be recognisable a few years from now because of how futuristic they will seem. After our roads and rail networks have been revamped, I expect the government of India to change the way we fly. Yes, the percentage of Indians with access to frequent air travel is low, but that doesn't mean the government shouldn't pour money into that sector. A Vande Helicopter service between Churchgate and Virar may sound farfetched today, but who is to say the project won't be announced tomorrow? The important thing to keep in mind is that Indians with access to money are being taken care of, and that the richest among us are growing richer. It's why those selfies matter, because of how they turn so many of us into influencers and ambassadors for the government's great work undertaken with our own money.

Ultimately, these developments are a sign that we are moving in the right direction. We haven't done much to address economic inequality, malnutrition, food security, healthcare, or hygiene, but car owners have a new road and the promise of more roads in the coming years, so at least our priorities are in order.

When he isn't ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira
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