The Building…

I happened to watch an episode on the Discovery channel today, about the ultramodern Beijing International Airport – one of the largest airport terminals in the world. The airport, apart from serving to increase the capacity to handle passengers and flights, also served one more important purpose – that of showcasing China’s growing economic might and its arrival into the global arena.

Thinking about it, every country, which has truly developed or is developing, has some sort of structure – a building, a bridge, a megaproject in short – to exhibit to the outside world. The Taipei 101 in Taiwan, The Petronas Towers in Malaysia, The Milau Bridge in France, the Burj Dubai in UAE – these are a few examples of how a structure doesn’t satisfy not just the purpose it was built for, but ultimately projecting to the outside world, that they are to be taken as serious partners in the global economy.

To quote from the movie V for Vendetta, ” The building is a symbol. Symbols are given power by people “. When a country builds a megastructure, sometimes it not just serves the purpose it was built for, but infuses a sense of confidence into its people. Every building is a symbol, and just as symbols are given power by people, people are empowered by symbols. And this is exactly the reason why the WTC was targeted.

And then I think about India. And realise that there is nothing that we can proudly display to this world, except the Taj Mahal, a monument that was built centuries ago. Why don’t we have even a single megaproject in our country ? Inspite of boasting a swelling forex reserve and a booming GDP, we are yet to announce something as spectacular as the Beijing Airport or the Shanghai Financial Center.

After all the talk about growth and development, are we still not confident enough of ourselves at the fundamental level, to achieve something on a mega scale ?