Fifteen years have passed since I last stood before a gathered school audience and spoke on the Independence day about the great Indian freedom movement. It was the Golden jubilee year of independence and coincidentally my last year in school and the timing wouldn't have been any better. And like all speeches in school, mine mostly centered around stating the obvious and remembering the sacrifices of the freedom fighters and spelling out a hope for a bright future. I was just starting to see the world through my own eyes then..
Fifteen years later, now, when I try to recollect what I had dreamt of as a student and compare it to what transformation I have seen in these years, an accident that happened a couple of days ago comes to my mind.
I was on my way to Hyderabad from Hanamkonda in a bus and an hour into the journey, our bus hit an auto and the auto went topsy-turvy into the bushes by the road, in the process injuring the passengers in the auto. The bus driver fled the scene while the concerned bus passengers got down immediately to assess the injured. One of them called for an ambulance while others gave water to the injured. Everything was okay in a moment.
What followed impressed me the most. The ambulance arrived in less than five minutes. Considering the place wasn't near any town or village, it was a huge surprise, a great one.
And what followed later, disappointed me. We, the deserted bus passengers, had to wait for an hour for a replacement bus driver but never got one. Disappointed, we had to get into other buses plying in that route, but had to travel standing all the way to Hyderabad as there weren't any empty seats.
This dichotomy is probably what would summarize our nation of today. One, of an inspiring nation that made connectivity to each and every person possible and essential services available to the last mile. The other, of an aspiring nation trying to overcome the lack of infrastructure facilities and catering to the rising demand on limited resources.
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