Development Comes at a Price

Having been in the IT channel space for a while now, I fancied writing for channel partners was fun. Most of their vendors, if I may repeat the jargon they often used, wanted to 'explore' the B and C cities in the country, and 'penetrate' the markets there:). Most of my stories and that of my colleagues would be full of these aspirational 'X opens India office and forays into top ten cities and eyes 50 more' write-ups. I wrote on, mindless of what a B class city may be looking like. Little did I know the vendors may have had a point in eyeing their favourite 'A and B class cities' till I actually went there to the A and B class cities myself and took a good look. My visits to places such as Mysore, Mangalore, Cochin, Thiruvanthapuram and Vishakapatnam have been eye-openers in more ways than one. For starters, the infrastructure in these cities - be it roads and traffic regulation are infinitely better than in some of the bigger cities.. sorry, population in the metros cannot be an excuse for badly laid roads, potholes, open drains and the like. Then, they have virtually everything that the citizens can enjoy in terms of lifestyle- malls, coffee shops, restaurants, pubs, and zillions of others. The availability of transport is not an issue either. Other essential services are on par with the so-called metros - the power cuts in the bigger cities would amount to the same! :). Postal and courier services, banks, schools, colleges, provision stores, medical stores... so what does a consumer lack? Practically nothing, besides he has the luxury of a lesser polluted environment, well, atleast for the moment... till the IT and the real estate sharks decide to milk their spaces dry. My point is development is welcome.. its good to see villages turning to towns, towns becoming town-cities (Mandya in recent times is a beautiful example), and the cities becoming bigger with all the state of art facilities in place. But, many a time all this comes at a very heavy price... peace and tranquility of the place are the first casualties and of course, poor greenery does not stand a chance. Why are these places taxed beyond their capacity to withstand? I can very well see that the 'penetration' and 'forays' of the IT and lifestyle corporations are likely to make these hitherto peaceful cities burst at their seams five years down the line. Little surprise, havent you already received an SMS from your service provider about some plot available some 50 kms from Bangalore enroute to Mysore? Well, this is what I am talking about...development at a price.