Developing India 2447: The Taxpayer Toll

di Chintan Bhagat (Autore)

Chintan Bhagat, 2025

In the shimmering sprawl of 2447's India, the promise of a "Viksit Bharat" by 2047 has curdled into a kaleidoscope of synthetic light and shadow, where dreams are both currency and cage. The air, thick with the smell of ozone and recycled water, hums with the electric, high-pitched whine of digital billboards. Their holographic promises flicker like dying stars over a city that never sleeps, casting a restless, nervous light on the streets below. Sirens wail in the distance, their doppler-shifted cry a modern dirge evoking the memory of a recent stampede outside Mumbai's Grand Unity Stadium—a tragedy that left thousands crushed, the coppery scent of blood mingling with the dust under the weight of desperation for a glimpse of a state-sponsored spectacle. Neon blues and a sickly, jaundiced orange paint the skyline, each hue a coded message: progress is a performance, and every citizen is an unwilling actor. The city is a sensory assault, a collision of brilliance and decay. Digital notifications pulse in sharp-edged cerulean and aggressive crimson, their alerts slicing through the stale, metallic-tasting air of hermetically sealed apartments. The synthetic sunrise, a subscription service for those who can afford it, casts an epileptic, stuttering glow that mimics hope but delivers only reminders of unpaid dues. Below, the streets throb with the static-laced drone of bureaucratic mandates, their coarse urgency drowning out the whispers of rebellion that smell faintly of illicit spices and damp alleyways. This is a nation where progress is measured in deductions—fiscal, emotional, and human—each transaction a pixelated warning that freedom comes at a cost, its arrival announced by the cold, impersonal chime of a completed transaction. Yet, beneath this orchestrated chaos, a counter-narrative stirs. This introduction is not a hymn to ambition but a gauntlet thrown to the dreamers who once envisioned a radiant future. What if the systems built to liberate have become the chains that bind? The textures of sound—the crystalline ping of alerts, the low thrum of recyclers—and the clash of colors—vibrant neon promises against a smog-choked, grey reality—form a cinematic collage. Each flash of light, each tonal shiver, is a testament to a nation caught in perpetual development, where hope is both a beacon and a trap.

• Autore: Chintan Bhagat
• Anno edizione: 2025
• Editore: Chintan Bhagat
• Formato: EPUB2 con DRMFREE
• Lingua: Inglese
• Compatibilità: Tutti i dispositivi (eccetto Kindle)
• Layout: Reflowable
• EAN: 9798231926145