Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

Grandpa blames religion, and in particular veneration of cows, for India's problems bringing modern advantages to the majority of its people (stopped traffic, maximum 15 mph trains). I laugh at this, but it's a reminder to me that I surely overemphasize economic root causes, when clearly religion and culture are powerful forces in their own right.

I'm still sure the underlying problem is inequality, and the unwillingness of people with power, wealth, and privilege, and the government that tends to represent them, to share any significant power while pushing modernization. That is, not having better transit, for example, is more due to it not being offered, and outright resistance to allegedly good things is at root because the costs are being pushed onto the people more than the benefits.

I also hear the bureaucracy is absolutely frightening and I'm not sure what to attribute that to– except in the broadest sense being one of the many parts of daily life people do not have enough power to change. Yet.