I have to agree with u I'm not a big mui fan myself I would like to see a really stable twrp it looks like progress is being made on that.i tend to feel that has been the biggest hold up for custom ROMs and such.The A1 had the January update first because Xiaomi messed up its LTE bands, so they had to prioritize it.
With respect to the pure Android/MIUI controversy, this is an Android One phone, I don't understand why there are so many people asking for a MIUI port. I bought it exactly because it doesn't have any bullshit on top of Android.