Cut and Paste

Veronica Walrad B2

  Urban vs. Rural  

   India sometimes seems as though someone at one point went through time, cut out the bits they liked from each century, and haphazardly pasted them together into a country.  One of the most glaring contrasts in this pattern of technology and development is that between urban and rural India.  Rural India is still for the most part firmly rooted in tradition, while urban India is beginning to drift away into the grasp of western ideas and civilization.  Part of this is simply because of things that are not available to rural areas, such as reliable electricity and in house running water, which make development impossible, and parts of it are that larger groups of people just provide more opportunity for companies and notions from the western world to set in.

This map of India shows where the population density is concentrated, and illustrates how little of the geographic area of India has a high population density.

 

This picture of a rural farmer with a cell phone demonstrates how rural India is becoming part of the modern world more quickly than people unfamiliar with the topic would think

 

This slum located at the outskirts of Calcutta is a side of urban India that most people do not see or think about.

 

The political differences between rural and urban India are glaring.  This is a video about the government's approach towards developing rural india, and people's reaction to it.

 

                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBFR3Qg5Jrs

 

 

Skit

Urja:  Hey Roshni, will you help me pack my stuff?

 

Roshni:  What for?

 

U:  I'm running away to start my career in Mumbai.

 

R:  That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.  How do you expect to get a job?  You have no training. Do you honestly think your life will be any better there than it is here?

 

U:  Yes, I do.  Thousands of people  move to the cities.  They are booming!  Everyone here is stuck in the past.  The future lies with technology and marketing, and all I see here is dirt.  Anyway, I can get a job.  I am determined enough to leave everything behind and go in search of new opportunities in the big city!

 

R:  Well, I'm sure your steadfast determination and grit will land you a job with the fanciest rickshaw, and that you will live in the wealthiest, most hygienic of all the slums.  That's the most idealistic, dim-witted thing you've ever said.

 

U:  I could work my way out of the slums.  Anyway, you're the one who's idealistic.  Every year you hitchhike to the city to vote for another politician who will never care about us, and every time another is elected, you are sure that they will be the one to bring change, electricity, health care, and they never are.  At least I'm doing something about my situation, all you do is sit and wait for someone to help.

 

R:  You could work your way out and I'm Superman.  Hope is no reason to act rashly, our lives may not be the best, but at least we have certainty.  If change comes slowly that is okay, but hasty decisions can stop it from coming at all.  Remember Uncle Apu, and how he really liked shiny things?

 

U:  Yes, and his running in front of a train to get a ring does not compare with my moving to Mumbai to get a job.

 

R:  Yes it does.  Splat.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Khasunaveesu, Sreeranjani. "Religion & Politics in India" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The Midwest Political Science Association, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, Illinois, Apr 07, 2005                <Not Available>. 2009-02-05 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p86581_index.html>

"Dams and Development in India." History in Dispute, Vol. 7: Water and the Environment Since 1945:      Global Perspectives. Char Miller, Mark Cioc, and Kate Showers, eds. St. James Press, 1999.     Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale.           <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/History/>

 

Images

 

http://www.sunmediaonline.com/indiachronicle_nov2006/ic_images/modernindia

 

http://www.agricultureinformation.com/mag/wp-content/uploads/2009/01

 

http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/wdc/downloads/maps/population

 

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images

 

http://fotservis.typepad.com/photos/mother_india_calcutta_var