India's ability to imagine a beautiful world is incredible. In so many ways there are glimpses of the India that people wish existed - the India in the television commercials, the films, the pictures, the websites. It is a markedly cleaner, more orderly and shiny India than the one we all live in.
Evidence of this tendency is the picture above. It was found on a website I saw that depicted Hyderabad after the May blast (Mecca Masjid, not the park blasts from when we got here).
Although this yet-to-be-built tower is talked about in conversations, I have not really read anything about it officially. It is reputed to be the future "highest tower in Asia", right here in Hyderabad. Currently, that distinction is solely for the Patronas Towers in KLuala Lumpur.
I find it interesting that this skyline view of our city (a view that cannot be found) was put into a website news story about how communal harmony (essentially, Hindu/Muslim relations) are taking a turn for the worse in the city. As if this glistening place would harbor the ill will of anyone....... How could "Cyberabad", a nifty nickname for Hyderabad which emphasizes its tech boom, be the source of anything bad?
In reality, the only major lake in the city is so toxic that there is an official advisory that tells people not to sit on the benches around the perimeter for too long due to health risks. Not that this stops people from bathing in it, dumping bodies in it, bathing water buffaloes next to swimming children, or chucking trash in it.
Now, check out below the building standards from a prior post on this blog. I have rarely seen things vastly better than this, although here in HITEC there are some significantly better building efforts underway. I show this to illustrate that I am skeptical of any building effort that says "the highest tower in Asia" will be built in Hyderabad.
Remember, a bridge collapsed here during a heavy rain in September.
I guess I have a bit of frustration because I both want to see the India that is depicted in this picture and I don't want to see the India that is depicted in this picture. It's a confusing set of impulses.
Anyway, there you are - confusing, no? I love the Hindi movies and yet get frustrated by the irrational optimism in the culture that makes those movies so great.
Maybe I am learning to feel like an Indian, finally.......
