Andhra Pradesh witnessed an unparalleled explosion in 1995.

Unparalleled, because this was an explosion of new ideas -- a commodity that, with probity, ranks tops in the 'extinct' list in Indian polity.

Electronic governance. SMART (simple, moral, accountable, responsive, transparent) government. Glittering economy. An Indian Silicon Valley...

Catch phrases all, each heralding a new idea, a fresh initiative. Flying in all directions, like shrapnel from that initial explosion.

And Nara Chandrababu Naidu -- the politician who had dared to think, to play visionary -- became the new messiah. The observed of all observers. The sought after king-maker. The king in waiting.

The future of Telugu-land was etched in the cursive script that flowed from his Mont Blanc pen. The world media focussed on the emails that streamed out of his IBM ThinkPad.

Today, four years later, the echoes of that original blast can still be heard, faintly, in the paid advertisements inserted by the government's department of publicity in various newspapers and periodicals.

Qualitatively, however, little has changed. The economy totters, the digital dream fades like dew at daybreak, the agrarian sector rumbles with discontent, the lower middle class plunges deeper into its apathy...

But there is yet the silver lining. In the form of the middle class, and the elite, direct beneficiaries of the Naidu dream. Excellent roads, improved power situation, a blossoming computer industry with its concommitant of job opportunities...

For four years, Naidu has worked hard. And the results are like the proverbial curate's egg -- good in parts, not so good in others.

In a bid to fathom the extent of Naidu's impact, J S Sai toured the length and breadth of the state for three weeks. And came up with this analysis, laced with facts, figures, and candid interviews.

Andhra Pradesh in the time of Naidu