Indore as a city has evolved like the other cities of the nation, albeit in a different way. The city earlier was not so well known for it's education prowess, but it was since 1995 that some inroads began into the city for the education industry. This was esp. possible because the city began to have a better connectivity to the North and West by rail and road.

It was a fact since a long time that Indore produced some very talented people in the media industry. Some very familiar names are Lata Mangeshkar & Kishore Kumar(who studied in Indore, though he came from Khandwa) from the music industry, Vijayendra Ghatge from the acting field, Salim Khan, the script writer of Salim-Javed duo who wrote for Sholay (dad to the most popular Khan - Salman) and in the last decade names in the National News presenters - Akash Soni and Siddharth Sharma.

So the city has created an image for itself of being a city of opportunities. Indeed the opportunities have emerged and along with it, have people. Pouring in from the smaller cities, the city has seen exponential population growth though infrastructure has been slow to catch up, as usual.

The changes that the city has seen have put pressures on several aspects. One is safety and security.
- of vehicular traffic drivers
- of Senior citizens
- for children being ferried to/from schools
- of houses from burglaries

Pressure is there on infrastructure development at the cost of losing the green cover.
Impacted by the loss of green cover is the increasing levels of air pollution, heat levels, decreasing water content and impacts on the psyche to develop related diseases.

So also with increasing number of people from the nerby cities, when they come to the mini metro, they come with a set mindset that the big city will give them all the freedom to live and exist the way they want to - away from the pressure of family control.
It is this attitude that needs a huge change.

Unfortunately, it has been seen that the mindset of the people who come from the rural areas is initially very much self oriented. They do not understand the complexities of living in a city life compared to the small rural life they had. As a result of this notional belief, very often the city life is very disillusioning. This kind of an attitude leads to inflated ego levels.
People think they have a right on everything and anything.

Indore suffers from this attitudinal inflation in a huge way. Most often you will find that people want to show off themselves in a lot of ways. They get into fights in the smallest of incidents, they try to ensure that they are in the center of the limelight by adopting shortcuts in life.

It is this that makes people very vulnerable and also very dangerous.
The need of the hour in the city and in the state is sensitization.
Sensitization towards all the above problems and their associated side-effects and how individuals need to have a broader perspective when they live in a city.


Unfortunately, in this age of rapid fire progress, people can't stop for a minute. People are in a rush to live and make it better than they were. In the process they lose more than they gain. But they do not stop to think.

It is the importance of this Pause that is very much needed to be 'taught' to the people in a variety of ways. the media is one such agent. But the media itself in such cities needs to first grow up and over their smaller interests that they had earlier.

The media and the law of the land have to be the first participants in this change by being abreast of all impacts of change and ways to handle this impact.
They should then become guides to people who are experiencing and causing the changes in their individual and collective city lifestyles.

Not sure if people in these times still understand the tradition and concept of 'city elders' but it is the city elders who have to change for the better, First.
The movie 'Happy Feet' depicts beautifully, what I am alluding to;
Maybe something of a change can come in slowly in the outlook of this city from such media.

Giving thought to my connection with Indore again, I see, given the current situation that though th city has created an aura about being an 'educational center', the mentality of the locals is still not as progressive as they are teaching through the institutions.
And hence I am not able to decide, that as an IT professional, where in Indore can I really fit in with my experience and outlook that I have developed in a cit like Bombay.

the current issue there with communal riots, an indefinite curfew and the recently unearthed terrorist links puts the city law and order situation in quandary and also puts the image of Indore as a 'global outsourcing destination' into deep dire straits.

The city has an IIM and the city is expected to get its IIT also shortly.

For educational institutions to meet their goals and the students to get the most out of them, basic law and order is a must. Students need to attend classes regularly. Given the fact that IIM and IIT students live on campus, the impact might be less. But nevertheless, the fear factor will always be there.

Given this, and the growing number of cases of burglary, murders and inability of the police system to even identify a pattern, leave alone the culprits, is a huge lacuna in the overall governance system which has in a way left the residents in fear, in several areas.

Senior citizens are the most prone and it has actually caused a lot of stress for me to try and keep myself from being carried away with my parents' welfare there. There are several families there where the old parents live by themselves. Imagine how a curfew like situation will affect such people. Does anyone for that matter think about such impacts?