To the left of my laptop, as I write this, is a notebook filled with impressions of the election campaign from the various states I travelled through: Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. To the right of the laptop are the manifestos of our two main national parties: the BJP and the Congress. Both my notes and the manifestos make dismal reading. My notes remind me how little life has changed for the average Indian since I covered my first general election in 1977. The manifestos remind me how little our political leadership has changed in the 20 years that have gone by since then.

Let me begin, though, with the good news. With the improvements I noticed in the towns and villages I travelled through. Among the best things that has happened is the revolution in telecommunications. Not only do mobile phones work in some of the most unexpected places, but the STD-ISD booth has become ubiquitous. Also, if you want to use this facility, it is not unusual to find yourself standing in a queue behind veiled village women who are there to ring their sons in Delhi or Mumbai.

In 1977, such a sight would have been unimaginable. Travelling into rural India was a bit like being incommunicado until you could return to a biggish town. Even when you got there, it was very difficult to get through to your office, leave alone succeed in filing copy over the phone. Now, the fax machine has become almost as freely available as the telephone.

The other visible change is the availability of television. During this campaign I did not visit Bihar, Orissa or the more remote parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, I can report I did not go through a single village that did not have at least a half dozen television sets.

There is not much of cable television in rural parts but nearly everyone seems to get their news from Doordarshan. Some even succeed in getting the Metro Channel occasionally. The spread of television is now so impressive that it seems quite extraordinary it has not been used seriously by a single government for literacy or healthcare projects. Ah, but let me deal with those two subjects in the bad news section.

What other good news can I report? I can tell you that people seem more aware of real issues. But when they vote, alas, they continue to be guided by factors like caste and charisma. Many told me they were very impressed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee (this in Madhya Pradesh), but when I asked them what it was they liked about him they merely looked surprised. Others said they thought Sonia Gandhi was good news but were unable to tell me why. Some said her family had done a lot for the country but, again, were unable to explain what it was they thought had been done for them.

Perhaps the bad news section should have begun before I wrote that. In any case, it begins now. I played a sort of quiz game on my travels. I started asking people in the villages what they would wish for if I could grant them three wishes. Across the country, jobs, water and schools featured most commonly -- and almost in that order. Everywhere, even in supposedly rich Punjab, there would be these clusters of idle youths sitting around doing nothing. Most of them, sadly enough, were literate if not educated. They said the only work available was manual labour which most seemed to think was beneath their dignity.

Every manifesto talks of unemployment being perhaps India's biggest problem. Not a single one lists what the party would like to do to change this. The only thing that can change the situation is massive investment in agro-industries and rural infrastructure. This hasn't even begun to happen. Manmohan Singh's vaunted economic reforms appear to have overlooked agriculture.

By far the most depressing feature of rural travel in India is the standard of living. I have not yet come across a single village -- except in Punjab -- which can be considered to have anything close to a decent 20th century standard of living. Our villages are insanitary, unattractive and generally unfit for human habitation.

Even when they grow into small towns they continue to be so -- with the additional disadvantage of vehicular pollution. There is not a hint of planning or municipal responsibility. No political party seems even slightly interested in this issue. How can India dream of becoming a developed country in the 21st century when most of its people live without basic modern amenities?

We come then to literacy and healthcare -- and family planning, which is inextricably linked to healthcare. The change in these areas has been so marginal over 20 years as to be almost invisible. Again, we have fine words on these subjects from our political parties. But they sound like the usual lip service, with far more attention being paid to lofty ideas like secularism and swadeshi. It is as if the people who constitute the think tanks that write the election manifestos of our political parties have never seen the inside of an Indian village. It is also as if these think tanks, like our political leaders, have remained largely unchanged for 20 years.