Shashti Poorti (completion of sixty years) is a very important
day in the life of a Telugu. This is the age when according to the Vedas, a
human attains 50% of one’s full life (the assumed life span being 120 years).
If you delve deeper into the Telugu almanac, every year is
given a name. The year that is on now is called the “Durmukhi Nama Samvatsaram”,
meaning the Durmukhi year. Each year
starts on Ugadi which is between March and April. Ugadi, possibly an evolved
version of Yugadi ( the beginning of a Yug/ Era) announces a differently named
year each year, till after 60 years, the same cycle of years repeats – heralding
the end of an era and the beginning of another. Effectively, at 60, a person has had the
privilege of seeing a complete era and is getting ready for another era.
If the undivided Andhra Pradesh had remained, well,
undivided, this would have been the year it would have celebrated its Shashti
Poorti.
Possibly, the celebrations would have been unimaginably
magnificent.
But, to quote Robert Burns - the best laid plans of mice and
men often go awry, and this was one story that changed course before an era
ended. The state got divided before it entered another era.
A combination of mitosis (where the split happens from
within) and fission (where external forces split an atom) split the Undivided
state into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
On a philosophical note, fission and fusion are what life is
all about. If there were no fusion, no child would be born. If there were no
fission, there would be no growth.
If you turned the clock three years back, there used to be
two absolutely divergent views of what would happen if the state were to split.
The “No Split” supporters felt that the break up would result in massive exodus
of people from Hyderabad. It felt that the jobs would become scarce and there
would be a set of people who would become second class citizens in Hyderabad.
The “Split” supporters felt that this was their legitimate right
to statehood. A demand that had been simmering for about five decades.
And, then the inevitable happened. The state split, bowing
to the power of nature.
Two and a half years later, if the parent AP were to see its
two progeny, it would be with a feeling of immense satisfaction that the split
happened. That nature took its natural course.
Let us start with Telangana, a state where apart from
Hyderabad, most towns and villages relative obscurity.
And, Hyderabad, Oh Hyderabad. One of India’s most livable,
cosmopolitan cities that literally moved from the back of beyond to a
millennium city during Mr Naidu’s regime, the agitation for a separate state
pushed this city into a shell.
But, Hyderabad 2.0 is looking like a far more formidable
entity than Hyderabad 1.0. As Bengaluru struggles with its infrastructure issues,
Chennai with its leadership vacuum, Hyderabad is rearing its head again and
this time forging ahead of its neighbours.
Initiatives like T- Hub, News that Apple is setting up its
second largest tech hub in the world in Hyderabad, new manufacturing facilities,
abundance of power are just some samples of the transformation that is
happening in Telangana.
Interestingly, it is a father son duo that is helping drive
this. The father, a master politician strengthening the current, winning
elections and the son, the visionary, looking ahead and planning and executing
the future.
No wonder, the speech given by the son when Tim Cook visited
India was the one of the most viewed speeches by a state leader.
As one travels across the new Andhra Pradesh, the horn
shaped state with the second longest coastline in India, one can only marvel at
the grandness of its leader’s design.
In the south is Sri City, on its way to becoming a
manufacturing hub that could rival the Sriperumbudur belt of TN. In the North
is Visakhapatnam, the city of destiny, finally getting its due.
A city that was
battered by HudHud doesn’t show any scars of the damage done and is now propelling
itself into a tech and a manufacturing base.
In the middle is Amaravati, possibly the most ambitious
capital India will get to see. If Mr Naidu’s dream does get realized, we could
see a city that could rival many global cities.
It is no small wonder that the two new states Telangana and
Andhra Pradesh have jointly topped the latest and most coveted “Ease of doing
business” rankings in India. A proof, if ever it was needed that the leader’s
ambitions will take these two states places.
On the auspicious occasion of its Shashti Poorti, the United
AP can retire into oblivion, its heart and mind resting in peace that its
progeny are carrying the best genes for a great future.
