Rajahmundry …compare and contrast

Model of Venkat’s Royal Construction Project

In the evening after I had gone to see the kids at the school and the orphanage, my cousin Moses and I went over to see the building site our cousin’s husband Venkat is developing.  He owns a construction company and had mentioned I should come by and see it, as it was near the train station.  I got in late the first night, and so tried to go over to see him before he headed back to Hyderabad, where he normally lives with my cousin Indu and their kids.  Still, India being what it is, we didn’t arrive til twilight.

On the Roof with Venkat

Nonetheless, we were able to look around the site and see the model of what they’re working on.  I was shocked to see the sheer scale and magnitude of the project!  It’s not so much a building as it is a complex!  And it’ll be a luxury one, at that, with a clubhouse, greenery and open space in the center, squash courts, etc.  We went up to the roof of one of the six buildings to see the view over the train station and over to the Godavari river.  It was spectacular.

View of the site

With the split of the state of Andhra Pradesh, there should be some growth in the eastern part of the state in the next decade, as the new state decides where its new capital and centers of commerce and government will be.  Rajahmundry has been growing lately, and looks to do so in the future.  It was very interesting to see the growth occurring in India, and also great to see the growth of my cousin Venkat’s business.  Last time I was here, he was mainly working on a single building at a time, but this site shows how his business has grown!  It will be fascinating to see the new developments over time.

Full moon in Rajahmundry

I’ll be swinging by Vishakapatnam on my way back to Kolkata.  Also called Vizag, this town is right on the ocean and is probably in the running for capital of the new state as well.  My other cousin Prashu has another building site with his construction company just outside of Vizag that I’ll go to see too.  It’s great to see my family doing so well, building their lives!  I don’t think we could have imagined any of this when we were together as kids, playing in the village during my family’s visits to India.

When I came to India during my childhood, I remember sharing one bicycle between all of the cousins as we took turns riding around the compound.  We played endless games of Uno – my cousin’s kids now could play video games endlessly.    We used to have power cuts, where the electrical current would go out unexpectedly, for who knows how long.  Now, all across India, it seems, there are power cuts.  Here in Andhra, the current goes off for two hours each morning, each afternoon, and each night – six hours a day, no power!  (And no A/C here in hot Rajahmundry!)  Now, many of my relatives have at least one car, and most of my cousins kids – boys and girls – assume they will learn how to drive.   Then, we could count the number of cars in the village on one hand!  India has changed a lot since then, but much still remains the same.   During this time of election campaigns and promises for a better future, I wonder what will happen in the years ahead…