Kolkata part 3

Things that have change in India after 25 years (as best I remember)

* The smell. Don't get me wrong, Kolkata still smells, but it's no longer sickly-sweet and cess-based. Instead, it's industrial smell of metalwork, oxy-acetylene, burning substances (rubber?), with an overlay of spice.
* Much less poverty. Yes there are shanty towns and they aren't deluxe - but the inhabitants appear to have enough food and newish clothes and an air of busyness that suggests full employment for those who want it. The beggers have all but disappeared. I've seen a few, yes, mostly disabled, mostly ignored. But no more than you see in London these days. And none at all in Gangtok.
* Very few mopeds and scooters - and in Kolkata, the drivers and (occasional) passengers wear helmets.
* The potholes have vanished from Kolkata entirely. And while the road from Siliguri to Gangtok is a disaster, it is the back end of the monsoon season, and they are re-laying it as fast as they can, with a mix of manual labour and steamrollers (which causes major traffic gridlock, but it's in a good cause)
* Traffic jams. Everywhere. In Kolkata, for about 14 hours a day. In Gangtok at morning, evening, and lunchtime rush hours the place grinds to a halt. I know Delhi had trouble spots but now they seem much more pervasive.

In summary, the changes all seem to suggest prosperity, which is very nice to see. That Indian economic revolution...? It's not the future, it's right here, right now!

19 Oct 2007