The foundation takes time. The building will be faster.

One year back Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, was elected Prime Minister with absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, securing 281 seats. Depending on who you ask, he has made many changes which, although small, will cause accelerating economic growth in the coming years while others think that he has achieved almost nothing, mocking his campaign rhetoric of a 56 inch chest. Curiously, they rejoice in the opposition blocking his bills in the Rajya Sabha, where Modi does not have a majority, not seeming to notice that the opposition's actions are cynical, narrow minded and damaging to the nation. That the BJP indulged in the same blocking tricks while in opposition is no excuse and reinforces our belief that all politicians in India are selfish, dishonorable crooks, seeking election to enrich themselves and their nasty brood. Modi's greatest achievement maybe that he has cut down on the rampant corruption that marked the 10 years of Congress rule. That was perhaps the easy part. It is comparatively simple to supervise the auctions of telecom spectrum and coal mines, making them transparent to scrutiny from journalists, but to improve the quality of our lives he has to eradicate the expectation of chai-pani from millions of minor officials, their sense of entitlement and their disinterest in their work, as though serving citizens is an affront to their exalted status as government officials. For us, as Indian it is most shameful that our country is perhaps the dirtiest in the world. There seems to be a collective blindness in our politicians, civil servants and business fellows. No one notices or cares that every street has piles of dirt. There are boulders strewn around at random. Roads are regularly dug up and filled up with earth. When building a flyover or the Metro roads are not repaired once a phase of work is completed, probably to save money. Everywhere you go there is a sense of chaos, with no order. Computers do not work in banks or post offices. " The system is down," we are told gleefully while fellows sit around drinking tea. Shopkeepers never seem to have any coins so customers lose out on every transaction. One rupee may not seem much but with billions of transactions taking place everyday all over the country we must be losing hundreds of billions every year. The Congress is agitating about the poor. Rahul Gandhi has suddenly discovered a cause - farmers. It does not bother Mr Gandhi that farmer suicides are less common than in housewives. No one is asking why farmers are so poor 67 years after independence, of which the Congress was in power for 54 years and, except for Mr Vajpayee and Mr Modi, all non-Congress Prime Ministers started life in the Congress but left it for personal gain. Perhaps Mr Gandhi is not being cynical, perhaps he just does not have a clue. Modi has a long way to go because the whole country is in a shambles. Happy birday, as they say in Delhi.