Liberalization

I remember the first time i returned back to india after 5 years of living in US continuously to obtain the green card, i was not surprised or amazed at seeing the lack of change that had occured except for the metro line was constructed. But when i saw the people in the morning, i noticed one thing that has since stood out: cellular phones; everyone had them, rickshaw-wallas to the chole-kulche wala whom i could now call and place an order with, my juice walla, and especially and conveniently my murga (chicken) wala, whom i could instruct on how to prepare the days dinner personally. Even more surprisingly the entire thing was really affordable, calls cost about 1 rupee a minute! That is when i noticed the greates social and economic liberalization and upward mobility that india had experienced whilst i was gone, from 1999-2003. Now Brand India was golbally known and well integrated for back office and outsourcing projects, with most of the companies like Tata, Reliance, Godrej becoming world class renowned rather than indian icons. It was amazingly coincedental and amusing that this change occured almost simultaneously with the change in my self, my attitudes, my opinions and my behavior--- changes a teenager goes through usually, but in my case due to my migration from India to the US. And in both cases, country and myself, I cannot opininate whether it was for the better or worse, but I am truly glad and optimistic that change had finally come where there was no hope before. And at the same time, just as inevitably, there were few things that have remained exactly the same, some facets of life that have refused to morph like cement rather than clay...lets just find out if those changes will lead to more satisfaction and progress, rather than regret and nostalgia........