Just back from a 3 day trip to Gurgaon (for the Internet Retail Expo 2013)... and must say, I have kinda grown fond of it (maybe due to our amazing hosts, more on them later!).
For a first time visitor, the place looks like a dusty desert, featureless and boring.. stretching for miles in every direction, each block exactly the same as the next. It's dusty, there're still pigs roaming around, electricity cables hang ugly from hurriedly installed poles, footpaths need serious attention, and harried Haryanvis are ready to pick up a fight at the slightest provocation.
But it's really a city in the making, construction at a fast pace, villages quickly transforming into huge malls, commercial complexes and swanky residential areas. The roads are broad, spread out, and represent most American cities - no friendly neighbourhood bhaiyya, no paanwaala, no hawkers. Take the exit, pull over into a mall's parking lot, and get your job done. We ran into cops with breathanalyzers and interceptor vehicles. The Metro rails zoomed past steel and glass edifices, with huge neon lights. Toll stations with dozens of gates struggled to cope with the thousands of vehicles taking weekend revellers to the malls, shopping plazas and theatres.
The weather was awesome, 7 degrees at night, with fog and a chilly wind ensuring everyone carried woolens and business suits even in the late afternoons.
Give it a couple of years, and this city has the potential to be among the world's best.
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