Most populous country

We have not had a census since 2011 (another critical area where the government has been inexplicably dragging its feet for years), but global authorities say this year we are finally going to outstrip China to become the most populous country in the world. It may have actually happened already. 

Before some Indians start celebrating even that as another 'great achievement', let me remind everyone of a few sombre facts:

India is still, in per capita income terms, among the poorest countries in the world (see the ranking list here), and likely to remain that way in the foreseeable future. Leave alone the really rich countries, she is miles behind even China. Coupled with extreme inequality, that means most of the poorest people in the world live in India - think remote tribal villages, think of the vast slums alongside railway tracks in and near all the metro cities.

Also to be remembered is that with 1.4 billion squeezed into such a (relatively) small landmass - as compared to huge countries like Canada, China, the US and Australia - we suffer every malaise that arises from extreme overcrowding. And although the growth rate is slowing, that number is projected to rise to at least 1.67 billion before the graph flattens off or heads downwards, post 2050.

A lot of Indians get themselves drunk on excitement, telling one another that we have been making huge technological strides in all spheres lately, but everybody who knows anything knows what a sad joke that is. Even if one maniacally focuses on the IT industry, remember that the full $100 billion it brings goes out again to pay for our oil import bill alone. As for BharOS, it is likely to become a quickly-forgotten damp squib like Mangalyaan and Vande Bharat...

So far as cultural riches are concerned, I can only weep. Yes, we are the land of the Upanishads and Ajanta and Aryabhatta and Susruta and the Taj and Tagore, but you simply have to look at the average Indian swearing filth and peeing by the roadside. That of course includes millions with college degrees and driving cars, too.

World's most populated country, yes. Alas.

Sometimes you can only laugh

We live in a world where on the one hand, people are constantly exulting over how fast everything is 'progressing' or 'advancing', and on the other, most people, including particularly the (formally-) educated and well-heeled, are constantly complaining about so many things that are going awry in their lives. We seem to be happily living with this cognitive dissonance: how can people grow continuously more dissatisfied, more agitated and unhappy, where everything 'advances' all the time? Unless we have chosen to forget what 'advancing' ought really to mean - nothing except what conduces to increased human happiness can be called real advancement?

And people will complain, but they will not do a thing to change things, even within the limits they can. Poor scores in exam after exam, but they won't study regularly according to a routine. Obesity - they won't exercise and gorge less on junk food. Pollution related diseases, but they will keep littering, ignoring rules of hygiene and buying more motor vehicles. Loneliness and misunderstanding, but they won't reach out to make friends, even with those who try, remembering that you must give if you want to receive. Marital discord, but they won't compromise. Unsatisfactory careers, but they won't seriously search for better alternatives. Neck deep in debt, but they won't learn to live within their means. Boredom, but they won't try out good hobbies. Every day ends with irritation, confusion and misguidance ensuing from social media involvement, but they won't sign out...

Sometimes you can only laugh, especially when you recall the proud belief that 'man is a rational animal'. Except when you remember that you have some of these defects yourself, and then you must try hard not to cry!

Desiderata, far beyond reach

I was born in Kolkata, but I was brought over to Durgapur when I was less than two years old. Since then, barring the eight years in Kolkata after school, I have spent all my life in this town. Maybe this is where I shall spend the rest of my life, too. So I guess I can now call myself an old-timer here, most of my seniors having already passed away or reached senility. I sometimes wish it were a nicer place to live in. Here are a few improvements I'd have liked to see in my town:

Footpaths along all major thoroughfares.

Much sterner policing of traffic. 

Good, reliable, reasonably priced public transport round the clock.

Several more fully equipped hospitals, both public and private, competing to provide the best possible service. Also hospices and at-home nursing services for the old and permanently ill.

Many more parks scattered around the town, and shady trees along every road, Delhi style.

Much stricter curbs on noise pollution, whether it is being caused by weddings, fairs, pujas or just plain drunken revelry.

A municipality and police force which actually listen to and act promptly and effectively in response to public complaints and demands (at present that's a joke. I have tried, and not once, to provide feedback on their websites, and been silently ignored).

Twice daily flights to all major cities around the country from the new airport.

Civilized and informed people between 20 and 70 with real interests, with whom you can have conversations beyond shopping and children's exam scores or salaries and the latest cars and phones, and whose social attitudes have evolved beyond the 1950s.

Good job opportunities aplenty, which would encourage well-educated as well as talented people to come back and settle here: and I am not talking about doctors and engineers. I'd have liked to see many artists and writers and sportspersons and competent, idealistic teachers, too.

I know, it goes without saying, that I am destined to die dissatisfied. Who knows but Durgapur will have become another overgrown shanty town or ghost town by the time I die. Thank God Dr. Bidhan Roy didn't live long enough to see which way his dream new town had gone...

Vivekananda's birthday again. Mercifully he is long dead, too. How far away his work and his vision seem now, how remote and irrelevant! He had wanted India to eradicate poverty and ignorance and modernize materially without losing her soul, her great spiritual riches ... do these things even mean anything to millennial Indians any more?