Cochin, the queen of the Arabian Sea, in Kerala is my hometown and I have always loved this place. It had places to have fun, to relax, movie theatres, the people are nice and the bus rides and travelling in your own vehicle were an experience in itself. In the last 12 months, I have spent only 3 months in this place as I started my college life at BITS-Pilani, Goa Campus. I missed this place a lot as I could come only during Divali for 5 days. But in the 5 days that I stayed in Cochin, something started telling me there was a lot happening in my hometown. I thought it was because I was coming home after 2 months and these where only the inevitable changes that happen to everything on this planet as I believed that change is the only constant in this world although I have had difficulties accepting these changes.
It was christmas when I came home again, another 50 days or so after I had left and this time, I was convinced that Cochin is not the old town that I had known. There was a building spree, which involved residential complexes, shopping malls and several other projects. Infact, during this stay, I met several people, conversing in hindi, of which I initially took no notice as in my campus, I am very much used to it. But then I realised that this was Cochin and the fact that this happened close to my house got me thinking. What is happening? Since the vacation was only for 20 days or so, I spend it trying to meet my old friends and keeping in touch with my new ones and could not linger over that question.
Now, this summer vacation lasts for 80 days and this gave me ample time to mull things over and find an answer to the question that I raised above. An important development was the signing of an agreement between the Goverment of Kerala and a Dubai based company for the establishment of software, Internet and IT related township in my hometown. Along with this, there were several other changes. An International container terminal was going to be built and the inaugration of the project had already been done sometime ago. Both these projects have been hanging in the balance for well over a year, due to political wrangling, protests over land acquisition and the obvious delays in the working of the politicians and bureaucracy accompanied by the fact that
Kerala was a state that had strong communist feelings, which had earned it the tag of an investment unfriendly state.
Cochin has long been the economic and Financial capital of the state of Kerala, something which came as a result of the natural Harbour, where a commercial port along with a navy command post has been established and also boasts of an International Airport, the first private ariport in the country. The two projects that I mentioned in the previous para had the Government playing some part in it, whereas several other changes came about as a result of private players. A software technology park was built in the Cochin Special Economic Zone, christened Technopolis and the biggest office building in Kerala was coming up at Kaloor, the work for which is nearly over now. There was also an explosion in Internet penetration, satellite television channels and Mobile phone connections across my state.
The last one had already happened two years before which now has come to a situation where even 14 year olds had mobile phones which means that there were 3 to 4 mobile phones in each household! If it was for parents to keep in touch with their children, they needn't have used some of the latest models available, which were also costly! I was more than amazed as even now, at the age of 19, I have a basic handset with no Bluetooth, Radio or Camera, something that my juniors do not even consider as a mobile phone! There are now more flats and shopping malls in the city and it is definitey becoming a 'Chotta Mumbai', or 'Little Mumbai'.
More people now own cars and their purchasing power has increased greatly which is clearly evident from the presence of international brands in various outlets across the city. There has been a rapid shift in the culture of the city and the landscape is also changing day by day. The mall culture, until now an unknown quantity is going to spread rapidly as construction of around half a dozen malls are under way and more and more people are living in high-rise apartments! The development has rewritten the concept of Keralites about owning a home as people are moving to flats due to varied reasons like security, no hassles of maintenance and amenities as it is taken care as a common facility, which grants some freedom to those with little time for themselves. The youth are now more exposed to the western world then ever before and they are very much familiar with Hollywood stars and Pop musicians, hang out regularly with friends and have more freedom these days than those in their age had until a few years ago. There has been change in the attitudes, aspirations, dressing style and their outlook.
I do not attribute these to the gradual changes that must take place, but the city is changing at a pace that not many of its residents are realising and with this, the problems that come with development are also on the rise and since the people don’t realise how fast development is happening, they are also unaware of the problems that can come with development and become aware of it only when they experience the difficulties. A small example is the garbage disposal in the entire district, which has been paralyzed and now the stench is spreading. I do not know whether this is the city that I want to live, since it is no longer the city that I loved. With these developments, I am going to loose it to a metropolitan city, with higher aspirations driven by modern technology and modern economy, a city chasing big dreams, big money and bigger oppurtunities where the people will live in apartments kissing the sky.
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