A barren piece of land shot to fame all of a sudden due to its proximity to national capital. When private development was banned in Delhi, DLF acquired a vast land in the vicinity of Gurgaon town and very wisely turned it into Cyber city. There are scores of other developers too in the city but still DLF is synonymous to Gurgaon. Other than DLF, a few other brands like Maruti, Honda represents the city and thousands of skilled and unskilled laborers are dependent on these giants and their vendor firms. Skyscrapers, malls,, call centers and flashy cars is what firstly meet the eyes in the bustling town.
The city has a complex and conflicting character, though there is a class divide everywhere in India, but being a new entry to fame , class divide is quite apparent in Gurgaon. Migrants form distant states like UP, Bihar and South -West Haryana sprinkle like aliens among the herds of high salaried professionals. Rocketing Corporate towers are ever glistering and roads leading to them are full of potholes and mud. Natives sold their golden landscapes and are fully covered up with gold chains and rings. They have adopted a hip lifestyle and trying hard to get rid of their 'Desi' tag. I always hear from envious migrants that Gurgaonwallas got all the money but they can't buy class, which i think is partially true. Its quite natural that an unexpected flush of money with little efforts can spoil anyone. Authentic Chinese and Japanese restaurants co-exist with roadside dusty snack vendors. Often @9am and @5pm city bears a look of yoga academy with scores of salesman hanging out of the crowded autos and mini-buses in artistic positions. M.G.Road gives a tag of 'City Never sleeps' to Gurgaon, even @3am you will see youngsters jamming on iffco chowk and Sahara Mall in sozzled state .@2am Youngistan is as always busy in nagging Americans with fake semi-polished accent, bars and discs are crowded with cheap hookers, somewhere in dark near sector 55 goons and thieves are planning to rob yet another victim, patrolling police is wasting too much of petrol to trap soft targets like chaiwala, paranthewala.
The recent incident of 'Gang Rape' is yet another snooze by persisting alarm which administration always tries to turn off. Height of apathy and callousness is that now administration has banned female workers from working late night. In their view this can save women from getting molested, its as absurd as banning team India's Australian tours to avoid shameful defeats. Gurgaon without a doubt has a potential to become a world class place but lack of good governance and basic amenities make it a bitter place to survive. Hope things will improve soon and Gurgaon will be as charming as Vienna..
PS- This blog lacks focus and is just a curious attempt emerged out of my perception about the city. No offence to the city dwellers.
Good approach in describing an emerging city, really like any city which is going through the transition phase from underdeveloped to developed faces such kind of problem.You raised point nicely
ReplyDeleteOld Gurgaon will have to learn mixed up with new.,Hariyana govt. will have to save this boon from curse and mango man always face reality so corporate & Gvt. should see Gurgaon thrgh the lens of common ppl.
Sunil Good piece of writting...keep it up by including some fact & figure..thanks Anand