Back from future or is it back to future ???

Last three years has been amazing with all aspects and quality of life I have been living here in Gulf while on Job assignment. With my relocation date nearing which is just a week from now I am steeling myself to the life back home in India for there is immense change between here and there in the basic amenities such as infrastructure, power, water and so forth. Indeed it is a pleasure to be back in India for all the near and dear ones are there, but then I would really miss living here.

Potholes on roads a common thing seen in India

The first thing that comes to my mind is the sorry state of Roads in most parts of India which is pocked with holes which magically appears during each monsoon because of poor quality of materials being used while construction of the same ( each year the roads are rectified by the municipal corporation in bits and pieces..How else would they be able to earn their share of the bribe if contracts cannot be awarded year after year?). Another common scene you come across in India is that roads are dug up for some utility and then there is no repair carried out by the company or the municipality for a very long time creating chaos to traffic. One incident I would like to share here is that the roads in front of my house was done using concrete and all was well but four months later we had an excavator digging up this road in the center for laying drainage lines to the locality and now they have laid the pipes and filled up this trench with the excavated material..So either side of the road is concrete and in the center it is just mud ,and this settles down during the rains making the roads unusable. No amount of complaint to the local municipality is heeded and the residents are suffering the consequences of development. 

Roads in Gulf countries

At Chennai  when I think of driving 38 kilometer through the pot holed roads with unruly traffic to go and see my father , it gives me jitters… this drive would take me around hour and half to reach destination and would be totally mentally and physically exhausted in spite of an air conditioning in the car. Here in gulf this drive would just be 15-20 minutes because of good road conditions and orderly traffic (though you do get few unruly drivers on the way here in Gulf.)

Next thing is constant power cuts which make life quite unbearable at home especially while at home (Most offices have backup generators running during power failures). Here in Gulf in the last three years I have witnessed only one power cut and that too a scheduled one for maintenance just for 30 minutes…..Further i have never had my taps run dry during my entire stay of the last three years here...

I guess having lived there before I came here made me appreciate the benefits of working here but then most of us would have to turn back one day or the other to our country. Well I need to recalibrate my thinking as I return back to India and I am sure it is going to take a while to adjust to the bustling life there with all these shortcomings.