How India has changed in the last Decade

I had made quite a few trips to India during the decade that I was in US. During these trips, I always used to get a sense that things were changing in India. But since the trips were short and since it was a "visit", it was difficult to grasp some of these changes. Now that we are "living" in India, I feel I have a better handle at how the things have changed.

Below are some of the changes that I have experienced and observed over the last few months.

1) Since everybody now has cellphones, everybody is connected. And so there is no excuse for not informing. It just doesn't work anymore. Delivery folks, maids, drivers all call up and inform that they will not be coming. Sure, they still have the same random excuses; but atleast they call and tell us. This is of huge help since it allows people to plan.

2) The labour class of the society has realized that education matters; that only education can lift them out of the lower strata of the society. As a result, they make sure that their children go to school. They even take active interest in their studies. The other day, I overheard our maid telling my wife that she will be late on Sunday since she needs to attend PTA. I felt so guilty I promised my wife I will attend our son's next PTA.

3) The youth of the society is far more aware of environment and much more inclined to do social work. Most companies of repute have a group of young engineers who are leading the company's efforts on global warming, banning use of plastics, providing aid to organizations doing social work etc. And no, they don't do this just to be COOL. I have personally interacted with such folks. They are genuine and truly care.

4) I did most of my schooling in an English medium school in A'bad. I still remember the late 80s and early 90s when English medium students were considered to be snobbish. Speaking English was seen as haughty and arrogant. I am sure several folks of my generation felt something similar. Well, times have changed. Parents now PREFER to put their kids in English medium schools. From what I have heard, even the famed C N Vidyalay of A'bad was planning to start a separate English medium stream. People have realized that in a globalized world, English matters and English helps. Mother tongue is all fine and u certainly need to have a handle on it. But let's be honest; you cannot talk in Gujju or Marathi with folks sitting 3000 miles away, in a different part of the world.

5) Media is the new government. It is they who do the job of awakening the nation on a particular issue. Once they pick up something, they are hard to beat. Ask Manu Sharma (Jessica Lall murder case), Vikas Yadav (Nitish Katara murder case) or Sajal Jain (Bijal Joshi rape/suicide case). Though there are allegations of media houses being partial (NDTV supports Congress, TIMES NOW is anti Congress), I think that is fine. We all know which party FOX supports in US. Overall the media is doing a good job and needs to be applauded.

6) Cars, Cars everywhere. Surely, that's what the view is if u were to ever take a helicopter ride over any of the major cities in India. Higher disposable income and easily available loans have led to this. Everybody loves to complain that the infrastructure in India hasn't caught up with this. But let's pause for a minute. Did anybody saw this coming ? The chairman of DLF (India's biggest real estate developer), KP Singh,  has a very famous quote "15 years back, u could drive blindfolded in Delhi at 3 in the afternoon. Now, u cannot do that even at 3 in the night". There u have it; both the scale and the suddenness of the problem.

7) The teenagers (i.e. students from 9th grade onwards) are far more exposed and have a much better understanding of the world around them. In general, they seem well rounded. Also, thanks to globalisation, they are no longer in awe of US. Sure, they still want to go to US, but for all the right reasons: better courses, more opportunities and better lifestyle. Not something as lame as dolllar/rupee conversion rate.

8) Coffee shops -- "Hi, are u in the city too ? Great, let's meet up. Where? Either the Barista on 80 feet road or  the CCD at Outer ring road or maybe the newly opened Mocha". Coffee shops are truly omnipresent. They are the favored joints for everything: whether it is a date, catching up with an old friend, hanging out with college gang or striking a business deal. Starbucks is one thing India has imitated very well. From treating Espresso as coffee with foam to recognizing that it actually means strong black coffee; India has come a long way.

9) Aamir Khan -- The Guy's profile has changed so much in the last decade, that most people do not even remember the crap load of movies that he did in the 90s  (does anybody even faintly remember "Tum Mere Ho", "Daulat Ki Jung" or "Aatank Hi Aatank" ?). Yes he was a good actor and had been a part of a few blockbusters; but still at the end of day he was just another bollywood star. Things have changed significantly. He now has this aura of uniqueness around him. Since 2000, each of his movies has been path breaking in one way or the other. Starting with Dil Chahta Hai, followed by Lagaan, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par and Three Idiots. Besides, he is the only bollywood celebrity to have had the courage to lend support to causes like Narmada Bachao Andolan and Anti corruption protests. Recently, he was awarded a huge honour when the PM of India invited him for a dinner party welcoming the US president (no other bollywood personality was part of this; no Amitabh, no Shahrukh). There is so much conviction in what he does and what he speaks; both in reel and real life. A breath of fresh air.

10) Multiplexes and Bollywood--- In 1999, multiplexes were just starting to emerge. Every major city had a couple of multiplexes at that point. Now, it is difficult to imagine going to a place other than multiplex for a movie. And the advent of multiplexes has been a game changer. Could anybody have imagined movies like "Peepli live", "A Wednesday", "Aamir", " Jhankaar Beats" or "Iqbal" a decade back ? No way ! Who would have produced them ? and who would have watched them ? But now Bollywood has learned to balance the low budget off beat movies with multi crore potboilers. Essentially, there is no separate art cinema. The hat-ke movies are now watched by millions instead of being screened just at film festivals. And that is HUGE.

11) Credit cards -- A decade back, only a privileged few had credit cards. And there were only a handful of high end places in the city which accepted credit cards. Then, as consumerism boomed in India; having a credit card became easy. And that led to more and more places accepting credit cards. Now, every other guy has it and every other place accepts it. A decade back, people used to view credit cards as a debt trap; a kind of an evil emanating from the West. Now people understand both the convenience and pitfalls of a credit card; and are comfortable with it.

My Top EIGHT Pet Peeves about India

Now that it is almost 9 months since I returned to India, I thought it would be a good idea to pen down some of the idiosyncracies that I have seen in India. Some of these seemed perfectly normal to me when I left for US. Now they are irritating, annoying to me. I guess u do end up with a different persective after living abroad for such a long time.

Here is a list of my pet peeves; in no particular order:

1) It is not a paper napkin, silly. It is a tissue. Well, atleast that is what all the waiters call it. If you are going to say paper napkin, be prepared to say it 4 times (before eventually accepting defeat and saying tissue). Also if u request for "can I have some tissue?", u will get only ONE. So if u need Three, be explicit and say THREE.

2) "Sleeves" for coffee cups is an alien concept. They just don't exist ! So after u have ordered a piping hot cafe latte (costing Rs50) at the nearest CCD outlet; all u can do to prevent ur hands from burning is to wrap a paper napkin (oops tissue !) around the coffee cup.

 3) Garbage Cans in public places or rather, the lack of it. People hold coke cans, tissues, empty packet of chips etc for a long long time in the hope of finding a garbage can. Eventually they just give up and throw the garbage on the road. I have personally experienced this on a couple of occasions. I seriously think this is something that can easily be addressed by the government. It is cheap, effective and easy to implement. Is anybody listening ?

4) Nose picking in public -- It is like a national pastime. Everybody does it. Everywhere. And nobody is bothered by it. I don't know what else to say for this.

5) If u speak softly, it does not mean that u are trying to be polite. It means that u are weak and lack confidence. So if u are trying to make a point or convey the urgency of ur request; SPEAK LOUDLY. Else you will be ignored.

6) The STARE; the great Indian Stare. It lasts for more than a few seconds; as if Jolie and Aniston are walking together -- naked. One ends up feeling very uncomfortable; and yet people do it shamelessly. Only way to end their stare is by responding with a straight look into their eyes. Eventually they blink.

7) The NOD; the great Indian Nod. People say yes for everything. Even when they don't know what the request is. Infact even when they do not understand ur language. Saying No is just not a part of the Indian psyche.

8) When an elevator opens; folks try getting IN while others are still trying to come OUT. No, we can't wait. The country does not have enough resources for all and everybody has been brought up on the famed Darwinism "Survival of the Fittest".

Have u heard the BSNL ringback tone lately ?

So today morning I wanted to check who is going to be the teacher for my son's nursery class. I called up the school and heard a fresh, refreshing voice. No, it wasn't the receptionist. It was actually BSNL's latest ringback tone. It went something like this: "When u have to say, something to someone far away; BSNL paves the way..........say it the BSNL way". I was surprised; it was actually pleasing to the ears. Far far better than those expressionless jaded "Aap katar mein hain.........prateeksha kijiye" lines.

As I heard that, my mind wandered 20+ years back. And I remembered how excited I was to see a bunch of guys hooking up the telephone connection at our place. I could see that the neighbours were jealous. After all, in the entire apartment block housing 16 apts, we were the only folks who now had a phone. The phone connection had now put us among the "privileged class". Next day, I walked into the school with a sense of pride and announced our phone number to anybody who cared to listen.

Such were the days of "License Raj". A mere landline required a wait of several years; simply because there was a fixed quota that was supposed to be allocated every year. The 1991 economic crisis changed all that (a great example of how a crisis can become an opportunity; though it is unfortunate that India needed a crisis to move to a capitalist economy). Liberalisation happened. India opened its doors; first hesitantly and then confidently. And since then some things have changed for ever. On the communications front there really has been a revolution. Both Landlines and cellphones are available in a day or two and have become so cheap that literally everybody has it. The advent of private players in the telecom industry has forced BSNL to change. People still complain about their customer service; but they have surely come a long long way.

As I hung up the phone, I chuckled and offered a big thanks to Dr. Manmohan Singh (the then FM) and Narasimha Rao (though he was the then PM of India; people conveniently forget him) for making this happen.

Post #1: It HAPPENS only in India !

This incident dates back to Jan 2011 -- about 5 months back.


My three year old son (Shubh) had become sick in the evening. As we went to bed, we checked his temperature. The mercury meter said 100; we thought we can hold on before giving him some Calpol. Three hours later, my wife was shaking me. Startled, I woke up and saw her pointing to the thermometer reading. It said 104. I immediately rang up the Cradle Clinic, the place in Bangalore which we used to frequent for all issues related to kids health. The attending doctor recommended a particular medicine and also advised us to start doing cold water sponging. He strongly believed that doing these two things will bring down the temperature and then in the morning, we can come for a check-up.

As I started my "Activa" (a popular two wheeler in India) in pursuit of a 24 hour Pharmacy shop, it was about 2 in the morning. I had been in Bangalore for barely 4 months and did not have a good handle of the area surrounding my place. But I still believed that I will be able to get my way around. After roaming around unsuccessfully for half an hour, I realized how wrong I was. Twiddling my thumbs, I was standing near a medical college trying to figure out what to do next. Just then I saw a few auto-rickshaws near the gate of the medical college. I went upto one of them and enquired about the pharmacy shop. He said that it is nearby and gave me directions. But with me being unfamiliar to B'lore, I was completely confused. The rickshaw driver realized this. And offered to be my pillion rider and show me the way. For a minute, I hesitated. For one, it was barely 4 months since I had relocated to India after spending 11 yrs in US; a place where something like this was completely unheard of. Secondly, I had come across a few cases of B'lore taxi drivers robbing and even murdering folks who were travelling late in the night. I was a little anxious. But soon I remembered my son's face and accepted his offer.

With the auto driver as my pillion, we reached the medical shop in 5 mins. I asked for the relevant medicine and as I was paying the bill, the auto driver came upto me and suggested a different medicine (something he used all the time for his children). I was really touched by the guy's selfless approach. He seemed so genuine. I wanted to keep his heart. And so,though I obviously had more faith in the doctor than him, I still went ahead and bought this other medicine as well. Rejecting his idea would have seemed mean and rude; and I did not want to do that.

After dropping him back to the medical college (where his auto rickshaw was); I shook his hand, offered a few words of genuine gratitude and drove away.

As I neared home, I wondered what would I have done without him. What would the world do without such folks ? Thank God for them; for it is people like these who make me believe that humanity is alive and kicking !

The incident also highlighted how different the US and Indian societies are. US society prides itself in being fiercely independent. Had I been in US; I would have fired up my laptop, searched for 24hr Walgreens, called and placed an order for the medicine and then driven there to fetch the medicines. In India, this approach just does not work. It is a more "people-based" society (for lack of a better word). Whether u like it or not; everybody is dependent on everybody. And though that dependence leads to all kinds of issues, it also provides (at times) joy and genuine warmth !