Not that diary

Just as Meerut links me to my naani (maternal grandmother), Mathura links me to my daadi (paternal grandmother). This spring, as I travelled through northern India I saw both small towns and large cities crying for infrastructure. However the cities of Delhi, Mathura and Agra have less  reason to complain as just a handful of cars zoom on the three-lane Yamuna Expressway connecting these towns.               Aligarh and Mathura, both once-renown centres of learning and spirituality, appear to have lost some of their sheen amidst dug-up roads and mushrooming shops and houses.             These street scenes below are again reminiscent of anywhere-in-India. I have yet to come across a town in India that doesn't have a tangled mess of wires in a public space!           ...

First some background: Uttar Pradesh continues to be the most populous state of India and comparable to Brazil in terms of total persons residing (in 2014 at least).  Over the centuries this state and its numerous cities saw Buddha gain enlightment, saw the Turks come and go, became the home of the Nawabs in the Mughal era and changed the course of British colonial rule in India. Today this fertile land is mired in class-related politics and struggling to move ahead as other states in India leap forward. The towns of Meerut and Mathura, hugely important historically, have shaped me through ancestral connections. I spent many summers in Meerut. Less so in Mathura where my visits were shorter but always interesting as the family dynamics played about. As the next generation of my extended family has started moving out, their ties with these cities and in turn mine have become more tenuous. On my recent visit I ...