The winds that blew still blow the same, but the smells are different,
The roads that were still remain the same, but the places they lead to are different,
The sky that was still is, but the vastness has changed.
The trees have changed, the people have changed, the celebrations have changed, and the reasons for joys and sorrows have changed. What has still not changed is the soul - the body like any other of its ilk, has put on various clothes. Yes, the city of Vadodara has also been a part of this new trend that swept across the nation or rather the country – globalization. Sweeping changes is what we associate with globalization and not for unjustified reasons. But when I look back at the city that was and the city that is of Vadodara, I still can’t term it as “sweeping”. There have been changes in the city as has been in the rest of the cities of the country, but then it is very difficult to see the huge change as far as the tangible signs of globalization go. But it would be very unfair to say that the city has escaped globalization. The changes have been more in the psyche of the residents, social norms, accepted way of behaviour etc. Once we complete this retrospect, only then will we be able to make a somewhat safe assumption on whether globalization has been good for the city or not.
Vadodara’s identity as a cosmopolitan city has been mainly due to the patronage of its erstwhile rulers, the Gaekwads. Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad who took the throne in 1875 was responsible for the modernization of Vadodara. I have been living in Vadodara since 1982 and I had never really looked into the different changes that have taken place ever since. It’s true that it’s only when one stays away from their hometown for a period of time and then when they come back that they tend to notice many things that have changed in that place. The city of Vadodara according to me has developed leaps and bounds as far as the infrastructure is concerned. The buildings that have come up are sleek and modernistic, a far cry from the buildings of ‘the Raj’ era. The typical houses of Vadodara of the old were one storey houses with good amount of garden space. But now they are being replaced by the smaller, efficient, modern houses that try to utilize every inch of the space at their disposal. The quintessential element in every Gujarati household used to be a “hinchko” – a big swing for the members of the household to sit and swing on. This swing or “hinchko” has suddenly disappeared from most of the household maybe due to space constraints or due to the more modernistic choices of the members.
Alkapuri, one of the oldest and most affluent residential areas of Vadodara had the rich and the influential persons as the residents till some time back. But now that area is full of offices of banks that have either rented or leased the big bungalows and converted them into plush offices. The whole area which once had a quiet look has now turned into a very busy business centre in the city. The past 4-5 years has seen the opening of a large number of restaurants and eateries all around the city and all of these are doing very well. To add to this, the variety of restaurants has also come up to very good standards with theme based, ambience based and cuisine based restaurants being the flavour of the season among the masses as well as the glitterati. It’s as if the whole city is giving testimonial to the fact that they love eating out and were earlier deprived of it.
Since 1962, the year which saw a spurt in the industrial activity in the city, the city’s people have always had a special relationship with the big companies and industries like ONGC, IPCL, Gujarat Refinery, Alembic, Sarabhai etc. The big townships that surrounded the city were a symbol of pride for the residents. But now there has been a steady moving away by the employees of these companies from these townships to private houses in other parts of the city. More and more people want access to the ‘happening parts’ of the city and prefer staying in the busier areas rather than the outskirts. There has been a shift from the reliance on the big companies to the smaller and more efficient ones as far as the employment sources seeking youth are concerned. Hence the big companies like Sarabhai (which used to employ thousands of employees in its heydays) have practically closed down. There is more influx of the skilled professionals into the city and this has added a more than ever cosmopolitan flavour to the city’s population. The city was always know for its diverse population and the refined tastes of the citizens, but now since most of the companies and firms have started having serious offices in the city, the spectrum has broadened. The buying behaviour of the customers and consumers has also changed to a more aggressive approach. By this I mean that the consumer will spend a considerable amount to get the desired product or brand. The brand consciousness has increased and this has been evident in the large numbers of branded products’ showrooms that have opened up. The opening up of multiplexes and shopping malls has been a welcome trend according to the masses.
Another interesting observation can be made about the medical facilities. Earlier the government hospital used to be the only multi-specialty hospital in the whole of the district. But now the city is home to at least 5 multi-specialty hospitals with a good listing of specialist doctors who are very well versed in their respective fields. The confidence in the doctors of Vadodara is so high that there have been even instances of patients from the developed countries like the UK and USA coming to Vadodara for treatment and surgeries. The globalization has helped the city doctors to fulfill their dreams of a thriving practice right at home. The fantastic education provided by the Medical College is a very good contributor to this and the standard of the education in the city colleges has been very well maintained due to the access to the cutting edge education tools and instruments.
The city is widening at a rapid rate and there are fears of it growing bigger than it has capacity for. Already the roads have started becoming congested and the pollution levels have gone up considerably. This is destroying the basic inherent strength of the city of being a developed but peaceful city. The people of the city used to be very humble and polite and were very peaceful in nature, but now it’s been reversed. With the riots that happened a few years back, the city’s reputation has taken a beating in the country. The people are visibly more aggressive and extreme in their views. My friends who are normal guys and gals usually get very animated and extreme when issues such as Hindutva, religion and riots come up. I never had experienced such bitterness in the past. There has been a tectonic shift in the ideals, ideas and perceptions of the people for the past 5 years or so and this is a very disturbing sign. The politicians blame globalization for this and those in favor of globalization blame the inability of the politicians to cope up with globalization for this. All in all, although the people are happy with what is happening to Vadodara in terms of development is concerned, yet the ghosts of the past do tend to rear their ugly heads every now and then.
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