It happens only in India!!

After a long hiatus on the blog, I thought I should post something.. A lot of my Indian colleagues and friends are back from their trip to India over the holidays, and it has been interesting to listen to their tales.. Ofcourse, besides the usual " India has become so polluted,dirty"etc, type of comments the " India has changed so much, consumerism,fat paychecks,fancy cars are the norm of the game" type of comments are now common.
One of my friends had another complaint, the lack of public bathrooms.. Most of us living here take if for granted that we will find clean ( most of the time) toilets with water,toilet paper,wash basins with running water to wash hands,etc. She was pregnant and was appalled at some of the restrooms that she was forced to use..
Sudha Murthy, wife of Narayana Murthy of the "Infosys" fame has written a few collections of short stories,some of which are supposed to be anecdotes about her various experiences. One of them is about how the "Sulabh Shouchalaya" concept began.. She says, appropriately, that while most people will happily donate thousands of rupees to Temples, few will think about spending money on a charity that will benefit the society, especially to build public toilets, because us Indians are hesitant to put money into something that does not have "Punya" associated with it! Gosh! Now, please don't get me wrong, I am not criticizing those who donate to Temples, after all, its their money. I am merely musing as to how as as a society in India are so conscious about accumulating "Punya".
Ajji and Thatha, on my annual trips to Mysore ( and sometimes more often than that!) would often tell us how the whole concept of Madi, and Punya came about only go help guide people to be clean, pure hearted,etc. Haven't we distorted these concepts totally now? If only there was some "Punya" associated with donating money to poor children's education or any other social service related activity,the "haves" in our society can do so much more for the "have-nots". Wonder how long it will take for that kind of a psychological revolution in our society..
All the talk about India INC makes us feel proud of the way our country is progressing,but the flip side of the coin is that, there is little that has benefited the poor and the have-nots.. Granted, with many more jobs available,the middle class society is growing,but there is still a vast majority of our population who leave us with depressed thoughts as to how our country still has a long way to go!
The current economic revolution is great for those that are working in the IT/Finance/High Tech type of an industry, but the sky-rocketing inflation levels are affecting the common middle class family in all walks of life..
If only we as a society can work united to help each other regardless of caste,creed and social strata,we as a country can emerge as a much more powerful super power!
Any thoughts here?