URBANISATION OF THE RURAL INDIA

Where are the villages of yore? Driving on the short stretches of smooth roads, shorter patched of mirror smooth roads and long stretches of road sections under utter disrepair we hit the Chutmal  Pur Mohand section on way to Dehradun and soon come to a grinding halt at the tail end of a massive traffic jam.

Long wait and no progress possible Ranjit turns the car off the road and to a track leading to the village on the side, with high hopes of bypassing the Jam.

Surprised in find missing the villages of Yore: no mud house, replaced with brick ones, cars parked in the courtyards where once the pride of place was generally occupied by the two wheeled carts, the water logged lanes with paved ones, in much better state than the N H we had just left behind and the ubiquitous DTH dishes adoring the rooftops of every house..

We hit into a marriage party: with the local beauties decked in the latest fashion, thanks to the access ads on TV and wonder of wonder even a mobile repair shop, possibly doing good business, with a mobile in each hand.

Prosperity has come to the villages in a big way following progress.

We did manage to by pass the traffic jam by a circuitous but good track. and after an hour's drive hit the Chaos of Dehradun Thanks once again to progress and prosperity.