Travelling is always fun. But, to travel all alone is very boring. I ended up doing exactly that over the weekend to attend the annual rathotsava at hulugundi. The rathotsava is a colorful cultural and religious congregation of all people whose roots are linked to the small village hulugundi. After quite a while I was travelling alone in a ksrtc bus. As I did not find any rajahamsa or airavat buses I had to settle for the normal one, though these newer rainbow ones are better than the older red boxes I used to travel when I was a kid they aren't great given the fact that the bm road to Hassan is still under construction.
Good roads are very much essential for the progress of a nation, more so in India. A robust road network could be a starting point to solve many of the nations age-old problems like illitracy, poverty, casteism and etc. With connectivity fewer people would move out of villages and smaller towns. It would then be mucch more cheaper and efficient for companies to set up their factories in smaller towns. This would in-turn reduce the load on bigger cities if fewer people migrate from small towns and villages. I don't think my dad or others in his generation would have moved to bengaluru if they had found decent jobs in and around hulugundi. Ironically, this beautiful village still does not have good roads, this after my dad and others moved out and can now afford swanky cars. Either people are faster at moving to places if opportunity or the governments have been so slow in realizing the importance of roads or both. With better connectivity I hope well wducated people using scientific methods get into agriculture. It is very much essential to revive the green revolution of yore to feed the billion people.