Going Home

In seven days i go to my real home country and for the first time in 6 years i am not very excited to go back. I do not want to sound like a man holding on to a romantic notion of the past but i guess i am one. My home has changed, my home i guess has evolved and i am very happy that it is being talked of as one of the prime locations in India to work, live and study but at the sametime the Puneri Panaa (marathi) is dwindling. I see the same old infrastructure in place in terms of roads and transportation but the average punekar now owns a indica/accord/ford instead of the old luna. The lifestyle has changed to reflect the growing economy of the city. Software engineers who work at the new STP make gazillion rupees in salaries and those dollar allowances on thier trips to the US.
This is a big step for punekars, but as someone once said, "with great power comes great responsibiltiy". The political environment in Pune and to an extent all of India has not changed in the last 20-25 years. I have not in my lifetime met a collegue who confessed to wanting to be a politician or even hold government office. The old brigade is just that, old. Solutions to traffic problems are not building flyovers. We need something to change there but i am not sure how and what that would be. Also one thing i have noticed in the US for 6 years now, that is a little short in India is civic pride. The populace should want to have a better city, better state and better country. Spending Rs. 150 at a Cafe or Rs. 500 at a pizza parlor does not make a influential society person.
I came across a couple in thier late 20's who owned a honda accord walking with thier young son out of a theater in Pune. The little guy wanted to go to the loo, the dad in all his class, instead of walking the kid back to the restroom in the theater, pointed him to the nearest tree and had him go there. Sir, where is your civic pride?
I was once at a traffic light that was red in my dad's car. The traffic in the other direction was light, I was yelled at, honked and cursed at by the stylish kid in the car behind me because i didnt break the signal and let him do the same. It is a traffic light, a simple rule taught to students in the 1st grade. The only person who should break that rule is a doctor rushing to his patient to save his life or a patient rushing to the hospital. But this person had the choiciest curses for me. Sir, where is your civic pride?
My point here is that if the populace can break the laws they will. The whole world saw that during the devastating floods at New Orleans where the entire law and order broke apart. But in everyday Pune, Cops do not consider it a crime to break traffic signals. If someone is pulled over, they can get away with offering a bribe. I have at a time gotten away with bribing as little as Rs. 10. I felt bad for being an enabler but i felt more ashamed that i could buy a mans pride for Rs. 10. The Cops themselves will tell us that they are extremely underpaid and also have to answer to a lot of "fathers".
At this point the discussion rounds back to the politics and the general apathy of the common man. Our men in uniform have to be respected, they should make enough money to decline bribes and should be allowed to hang up on the phone call from the minister or even hike the fine for someone who has the gall to ask "Do you know who i am?".
I get extremely angry at such behaviour and feel the urge to ask the person to behave with some class but who am i to demand such a right. Every person should expect it out of themselves, thier spouses and thier kids.