Sitting in a hotel room in Beijing, with a view of construction
cranes, concrete slabs that are apartment complexes, and as I try to
make out the mountains in the background through the haze of
pollution, I think back to Laos, where, less than twenty four hours
ago, I was in a country that was still ‘unspoilt’ by development.
I am in two minds about development. It is easy to go, as a tourist,
with a fistful of dollars in hand, into a poor, under-developed
country like Laos, and live large, and enjoy the nature, and friendly
people. Its easy to come back to the modern world, sit at a fancy
restaurant, or in the air-conditioned comfort of your home, and wax
eloquent about your trip, sipping a pinot noir, and talking about how
you enjoyed a place like Laos because it still hasn’t been developed,
and then, as a rejoinder, you sadly mention how you feel its all
going to get corrupted, as the country is opening up its economy. To
me that feels hypocritical. Who am I to deny a country the chance of
improving the lives of its people just so that there is a place that
still has its “charm” for me to return to when I want to get away
from all the luxury that development has bestowed upon me. I see the
modern International terminal in Vientiane airport, managed in co-
operation with the Japanese, and think about the jobs its created,
and think whether its right for me to say that progress such as that
is wrong, because its changing something that in my modern,
westernized mind I find “quaint and exotic”.
Development is good because it provides an opportunity to improve the
quality of life of the people in the region. However, the unfortunate
aspect of development is corruption- both in the conventional form,
as well as social corruption, where, blinded by dollars, people lose
their basic moral fibre, history and culture, and pander to tourists,
or switch to aping the West. If development can be achieved without
such corruption, then I think a healthy balance for both the people,
and the visitors, as well as the environment, can be achieved.
I don’t want the Laos I saw to change. I want to be able to go to
Luang Prabhang and walk the streets without being harassed by
shopkeepers. I want to be able to walk into a village and have a
conversation with the local villagers without being expected to throw
money at them, such as in Tonle Sap in Cambodia. I still want to
retain my faith in the basic genuineness of people. And if this can
be achieved while having better roads, schools, airports, and maybe a
couple of ATMs here and there, then I have no issues with
development. I think its possible, and not just in Laos, but also in
say India, which is probably at a stage that’s early enough so that
development can be channeled in the right way, without unduly harming
the environment, culture, and corrupting the people.
