hyderabad pt. 8 (final thoughts)

i arrived home on saturday and now that it's wednesday...i guess i should do a bit of a wrap-up on my india adventure and hopefully throw in some things that i forgot to mention...

on last wednesday night...i had dinner with pooja at the google cafeteria...having spoken to her for the past several weeks...i figured i could breach the politics topic and get a better sense of india...there were two things that were plaguing my heart and soul everywhere i went...

the first of these came to the forefront during our excursion to mumbai and that was wondering whether or not independence is all it's cracked up to be...this became extremely noticeable during the mini-monsoon...as the flood waters roared through the streets and continued to remain on the streets in lake-sized puddles for several days after the rains subsided...i kept thinking about how just a little of infrastructure could've helped relieve all the problems caused by the standing water (from traffic congestion to malaria)...

as i watched all of the construction that was going on in hyderabad and the scaffolding made from nothing more than sticks...i kept thinking that osha would have a field day...it also made me think about how devastating earthquakes are in india...again a little infrastructure and regulation of construction practices could go a long way...

as i sat in cars/traffic where it would take up to an hour to travel 10 miles i wondered how a 20th century (let's not even think 21st just yet) freeway system would relieve the pressure...

what would have happened over 50 years ago if the indian people hadn't been successful and the brits remained in power...would things have been better...would india have the luxuries of modern day infrastructure or would the money have continued funneling its way back to jolly ole england...

this segues nicely into my next thought...what now???...as hyderabad and bangalore battle for the silicon valley of india moniker...what about the poor people...the poverty stricken of hyderabad play a stark contrast against the backdrop of industrialization...

sure companies like google are flooding the indian economy with jobs and money...but in the end...who does it really help???...i asked pooja if she felt that this new burgeoning bourgeoisie would let their newfound "wealth" trickle down to those less fortunate...she replied in the manner that i was most fearful of..."no...they are to involved with things nowadays" she said...so...india is still under the stranglehold of imperialism only now...instead of the oppressive thumb of the british...it's the even more oppressive fist of the mighty dollar...

those that say that america is not an empire are too ignorant to understand that imperialism is a lot more than simple land grabs...just because we don't "own" india doesn't mean that we don't wage a tremendous amount of hegemonic dominance over them...our mantra of "look out for number 1" echoes resoundingly across all developing nations and...as has been proven time and time again...reagan's trickle down economics can be blown to the winds like so much faerie dust...our influence has taken so many collectivistic cultures and perverted them into hollow...self serving...and arrogant individualstic cultures...

at the end of the day i'm torn about the future of india and the world for that matter...the fact that we have celebrities...athletes...ceos and the like that make millions upon millions per year...yet we still have insurmountable poverty in the world...saddens me to my core...what will it take for us to understand the words "whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren so you do unto me"...and some of these money-grubbing maniacs have the gall to call themselves "christians"...

again...i'm left with more questions than answers but i guess that is just my destiny...

pleasant dreams...