Gujarat Rocks
The two day investor summit has realised MOUs for investment worth 450,000 crores. This investment would generate 12.7 lakh jobs. This is something really amazing and is a testimonial to the enterprenuial spirit of Gujratis.
I had thought of Gujus as money minded people, not interested in education , not sophisticated over a large period of time.The last 8 months that I have spent here has totally changed my perspective about Gujus.I now know them as people with vision, hard working nature, dedication, compassion, great spirit, sense of community, charity.
I was in Surat during when the whole city was flooded with water. This was the result of a mistake made by two governments. The whole of the city was flooded with some areas under 20 feet of water. I was lucky to be in a place which was totally dry.
The people of the township here contributed half of all the supplies that they had and dropped them in the city with the two choppers that the have.This when the township was under real threat of bieng submerged. No one knew how long it would take for the water to drain.
After 4 days the water partially subsided. We took the first possible transport out of Surat. I believe this is something very cowardly that we did (people would call it bieng smart). The scene that I saw when we were travelling to the station on the dumper is something that I shall never forget in my life. The to the city road was covered with dirt and caracasses of animals. There was a really bad stench. As we entered the city we saw people distributing whatever food/medicined they had to others. People were going around in their cars paasing Theplas. These were not people who were from other places but Surtis themselves who had suffered for four days. People provided without any discrimination. Everyone at that point was a Gujrati. After passing through the city I noticed that there were more vehicles comming into the city than going out. The other side of the road was filled with Tempos. People from Navasari, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Bharuch, Valsad , Vapi even from places as far as Jamnagar, Porbandar were carrying relief material into the city. These were not people from any NGOs, religious organizations. These were just people like me and you who had done whatever they could to help their fellow Gujratis. When I reached the railway station, I noticed that most of the restaurants were open. What I also noticed was that the restaurants were not charging people money. People were free to pay of they could. The same with the Auto people. They did not insist on people paying money. One Rickshaw driver told me it was his time to provide 'Seva' to his fellow people.
I returned back 2 weeks after the water had resided. There was dirt on the roads. There were people cleaning the roads all the time. Most of these people were not from the civic administration. These were students from in and around Surat who had taken it upon themselves to rid the city clean of dirt so that no epidemics may arise. This time was around Dusshera. People had lighted their houses/buildings with colourful lights. No one could think that this place had been devastated 2 weeks back. Work, business was in full swing.
This place has a slight amount of communal tension. This place is loaded with diamonds. Yet there were no cases of violence or theft. The city of New Orleans was under the same situation that Surat was under. There was wide spread violence, loot and arson in that city. Nothing of that sort happened in this place even though this place is loaded with money.
The true nature of a person/community is seen when it is under great distress. I now understand that this is the state that is going to lead the progress of this nation (as it is already doing). May be not politically, but then politicians never lead anyone.
I had thought of Gujus as money minded people, not interested in education , not sophisticated over a large period of time.The last 8 months that I have spent here has totally changed my perspective about Gujus.I now know them as people with vision, hard working nature, dedication, compassion, great spirit, sense of community, charity.
I was in Surat during when the whole city was flooded with water. This was the result of a mistake made by two governments. The whole of the city was flooded with some areas under 20 feet of water. I was lucky to be in a place which was totally dry.
The people of the township here contributed half of all the supplies that they had and dropped them in the city with the two choppers that the have.This when the township was under real threat of bieng submerged. No one knew how long it would take for the water to drain.
After 4 days the water partially subsided. We took the first possible transport out of Surat. I believe this is something very cowardly that we did (people would call it bieng smart). The scene that I saw when we were travelling to the station on the dumper is something that I shall never forget in my life. The to the city road was covered with dirt and caracasses of animals. There was a really bad stench. As we entered the city we saw people distributing whatever food/medicined they had to others. People were going around in their cars paasing Theplas. These were not people who were from other places but Surtis themselves who had suffered for four days. People provided without any discrimination. Everyone at that point was a Gujrati. After passing through the city I noticed that there were more vehicles comming into the city than going out. The other side of the road was filled with Tempos. People from Navasari, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Bharuch, Valsad , Vapi even from places as far as Jamnagar, Porbandar were carrying relief material into the city. These were not people from any NGOs, religious organizations. These were just people like me and you who had done whatever they could to help their fellow Gujratis. When I reached the railway station, I noticed that most of the restaurants were open. What I also noticed was that the restaurants were not charging people money. People were free to pay of they could. The same with the Auto people. They did not insist on people paying money. One Rickshaw driver told me it was his time to provide 'Seva' to his fellow people.
I returned back 2 weeks after the water had resided. There was dirt on the roads. There were people cleaning the roads all the time. Most of these people were not from the civic administration. These were students from in and around Surat who had taken it upon themselves to rid the city clean of dirt so that no epidemics may arise. This time was around Dusshera. People had lighted their houses/buildings with colourful lights. No one could think that this place had been devastated 2 weeks back. Work, business was in full swing.
This place has a slight amount of communal tension. This place is loaded with diamonds. Yet there were no cases of violence or theft. The city of New Orleans was under the same situation that Surat was under. There was wide spread violence, loot and arson in that city. Nothing of that sort happened in this place even though this place is loaded with money.
The true nature of a person/community is seen when it is under great distress. I now understand that this is the state that is going to lead the progress of this nation (as it is already doing). May be not politically, but then politicians never lead anyone.