Village life reflects the rural lifestyle and city life shows the urban lifestyle. Life in both rural and urban areas has its own plus points and problems. One is quite different from each other. Traditionally, India is a predominantly rural country as Mahatma Gandhi had said, “The real India lives in villages”. Though India is mainly a land of villages, there are many cities as well in the country. Life in these big cities is quite different from life in a village. Let us consider, in brief, life in a big city and point out some of its important advantages and disadvantages.
In big cities, there are good arrangements for education. The big college even universities are available. There are also a very large number of school both government and private in the big city. These arrangements do not exist in small towns and villages.
Cities also provide sufficient medical facilities. Almost in every city, there are good hospitals in which the poor get free medicines and treatment. Many qualified doctors are also there to serve the sick and the suffering. Indeed lack of such medical arrangement is the main drawback of villages.
Cities also provide many opportunities for amusement and recreation. In every city, there are a number of cinema houses and multiplexes, where we can enjoy with family. Also, a number of restaurants and hotels are available for better food of variety. There are also many parks and gardens where we can enjoy the best natural beauty. Villages are always lacking such facilities.
The most important advantages of cities are the availability of huge opportunity for employment. They are centers of trade and commerce as well as offices of many multinational companies. Persons with different qualifications can easily find jobs to suit them. In villages, employment is available mostly in farming. Due to farming, only seasonal jobs are available to a large population in villages.
Cities are having a variety of people from various cultures. But real India and its customs are highly visible in villages.
It is fact villages are always natural due to be their self-creation by nature. On the other hand, most cities are manmade. Hence the natural environment of villages is their main attraction. In villages only we may have the charms of birds and flowers or the beauty of the day-dawn.
City life is extremely unhealthy due to air pollution, water pollution, and noise pollution. The people are not getting fresh air to breathe or the clear sky to enjoy the sunshine. Also, food in the cities is dirty, unhealthy and adulterated. The villages are very much away from such drawbacks.
In city life is very costly. People have to live with a lot of pomp and show. A simple life as in the villages is almost impossible in the city. Besides, the cities are over-crowded and it is very hard for people to get suitable accommodation. People in the city do not have much sympathy with others even with neighbors. The sympathy and close interdependence which is marked in the village’s life is entirely lacking in the city.
Thus, life in villages and in cities presents two contrasting pictures. There are positive as well as negative aspects of both. Therefore it is up to the individual to make the most of it irrespective of the rural or urban setting that one lives in. I, myself, like to live in a village in the close vicinity of a modern city so that I can enjoy the pleasures both of the city and the village.