Metro.
On our return ,after visiting an ailing relative ,his son who was at the wheel and who had left this metro of his childhood a couple of years back to another metro for livelihood ,found it foxing to maneuver through the various one way traffic routes that has become the norm these days owing to a large sections of the roads right in the middle of the city , dug up for facilitating the construction of the metro rail project
.
The conversation naturally touched the on going metro project and notes were compared with the progress with that of ,at his metro .
As i wiped the thin mist formed over the glass of the car window caused by an overactive AC to have a passing look at the machinery's doing the job,my pride at the project plunged downwards as i remembered reading somewhere that the metro rail in Russia, USA and UK are more than 100 years old!And i blurted sthis out loud and clear to the quick stiffening of others listening in at this unintended prick to our nations pride.
I too had blistered in similar fashion when my aunt [by marriage] on one of her yearly visits to the land of her birth and education , from the US had observed much to my indignation and dismay that US was way ahead by nearly 50 years .
As a patriotic teenager i refused to believe her and dismissed it as a case of sour grapes reasoning that since they couldn't get a good job here to keep them ,where they longed to be , she was deliberately putting us down .Wasn't the developments in my country one of the best in the world? So i blindly believed then ,That was 40 years back.
My recent readings of articles etc clearly justifies her claim .Massive skyscrapers with huge underground drainage systems, metro rails crisscrossing the nether regions of huge cities were all built nearly a 100 years earlier over there!
In such as well as in several other areas the lag is now nearly 100 years an century!Hmm i was stuck in my teens for an inordinate extended period of time.
Despite this gloomy comparison ,the pride in one's country , never dies,does it? Since it does stir up whenever a new project is announced[ supposedly latest and world class] and a rocket [though yet to carry a human ,no not even a cat or a dog ] is shot off to the space.
.
.
The conversation naturally touched the on going metro project and notes were compared with the progress with that of ,at his metro .
As i wiped the thin mist formed over the glass of the car window caused by an overactive AC to have a passing look at the machinery's doing the job,my pride at the project plunged downwards as i remembered reading somewhere that the metro rail in Russia, USA and UK are more than 100 years old!And i blurted sthis out loud and clear to the quick stiffening of others listening in at this unintended prick to our nations pride.
I too had blistered in similar fashion when my aunt [by marriage] on one of her yearly visits to the land of her birth and education , from the US had observed much to my indignation and dismay that US was way ahead by nearly 50 years .
As a patriotic teenager i refused to believe her and dismissed it as a case of sour grapes reasoning that since they couldn't get a good job here to keep them ,where they longed to be , she was deliberately putting us down .Wasn't the developments in my country one of the best in the world? So i blindly believed then ,That was 40 years back.
My recent readings of articles etc clearly justifies her claim .Massive skyscrapers with huge underground drainage systems, metro rails crisscrossing the nether regions of huge cities were all built nearly a 100 years earlier over there!
In such as well as in several other areas the lag is now nearly 100 years an century!Hmm i was stuck in my teens for an inordinate extended period of time.
Despite this gloomy comparison ,the pride in one's country , never dies,does it? Since it does stir up whenever a new project is announced[ supposedly latest and world class] and a rocket [though yet to carry a human ,no not even a cat or a dog ] is shot off to the space.
.
posted by K.C. Sujata at
5:24 AM
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