I first visited India over 20 years ago. When I first stepped out of the plane in Bombay (now called Mumbai), I had a culture shock. I felt that I’d just come out of a “time-machine” into the past. Everything around me – the airport, the cars, telephones – reminded me of the things that I’d seen in my childhood.
I was born and bred in colonial Singapore. In my childhood, Singapore was a sleepy hollow. The only “industries” that we had were our port and the Naval Base (for the British Navy). After our independence in 1965, Singapore developed at a furious pace to become a modern city-state. When I made my first trip to India in mid 80’s, Singapore was already modernized. In fact, whenever I travelled to most other Asian countries during that time, there were many adjustments to make – there was the need to bring packs of tissue paper, worry about the availability of clean drinking water, forget about having any contact with family for most of the duration of the trip, etc.
A few months ago, when I was invited to visit India I knew that there was absolutely no need to worry about all these things – after all, even in the remotest villages of Cambodia I know that I can get a signal to call home on my auto-roam cell phone, and have a wide selection of chilled bottled-water to buy at bargain prices.
However when I landed in Hyderabad Airport, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that not only were my expectations met but that they were completely exceeded. Yes, there were still signs of “old” India around but there were also signs that “new” India had all the potential to surpass us.
The airport was new. It was well designed. It was well maintained and run. Frankly, it was better than almost all the airports that I’d been through in the West. A quick look at the prices in the airport, also informed me that one needn’t have to pay and arm and a leg for food or transport. I’ve always marvelled at how people complain of pick-pockets in other countries and forget that the biggest “pick-pockets” that empty our pockets on most trips are not the one-off criminal but the legalized, systematic, over-priced services that we have to pay for in the “developed” countries!
As I entered my host’s Korean car at the airport and took the smooth ride into the city on the longest fly-over (overpass) in Asia into the city of Hyderabad, I realized that the world is indeed small. As I dozed off to sleep in the car, I hardly felt that I’d left home!
I believe that if we leave our prejudices aside, the whole wide world is now really just our backyard. The barriers that we had to cross to visit other countries are now only those that are found in our minds!