Developed, But Is It?

I wrote before briefly about my uncle's remote village in Tamil Nadu.  There was no electricity.  There was no phone.  You have to cross a river to go to the village. There is no bridge and therefore you have to walk through the water to go to other other side.

Here are some more details.

There is a special street where only rich people live.  How many houses in that street?  Just one.  My uncle's house.  One has to cross that street to go to the other streets where poor people lived.  The unwritten rule is bullock carts can go thru that street from 6 am to 6 pm.  And, that too the people who are sitting in that bullock cart should get down and walk until crossing that street.  After 6 pm and until 6 am next morning,   no bullock cart can go thru that street because our family is sleeping in the middle of the street on our cots.  (There were only 3 weather patterns there.  Hot. Hottest, Murder)

My uncle had few servants.  They were  not allowed to come inside the house.  They came thru the side doors to clean the house, clean the dishes, milk the cows, and take the cattle and cows for grazing.

This was long time ago.

Now that village has electricity, bridge over the river, so many phones, high rise apartments, and even a high school.

Couple of years ago I went to India and visited that village where I used to go every summer vacation.

Unfortunately, my uncle's wife (aunt) died.  She was sick and not having good health.

Two incidents I noticed.

The daughter of my uncle's servant who used to milk the cows is now a prominent doctor in the nearby town.  My cousins called her to come and check up my aunt.  She immediately came to our village in a driver driven car.  She was hesitant to come into the house.  My cousins insisted she come inside the house and check my aunt.  The doctor came inside.  She was hesitant to touch my aunt,  Finally, she took out a silk cloth, put it around my aunt's wrist and checked her pulse.  Same thing with stethoscope.

With tears in her eyes, she said my aunt's life is only a few hours away.  And, she left.  I have never seen a doctor gets emotional in any country in the world about a patient.  I have lived in 5 countries.  (Doctors never show any emotion.)

My aunt passed way.  The next day my cousins were arranging a funeral for her.  

The body was inside the house.  There came a fancy car.  Who comes out of that car?  A prominent lawyer who is also the "Leader of the Bar" in the nearby town.  A few of his juniors were also with him.  Who is he?  He is the son of the servant who took care of the cattle and cows for grazing.

He came to pay his last respect to my aunt.  My cousins asked him to come inside the house to pay his respects.  He refused and stayed outside the house with his juniors.

Finally, the body came out.  The lawyer fell on the floor in the street in front of the body. Got up with tears in his eyes, got into the car and left. 

Are we developed or not?  You tell me.

PS: My wife used to make fun about these villages all the time. That remote village was my mom's where there was only one house in the agraharam.  But my dad's village, which was 3 miles away, had 24 houses in the agraharam.   My wife used to tell everyone that compared to my mom's village, my dad's village is New York City.