Gurgaon is an egalitarians wet dream. There is so much equality. No matter what sized person you are, male or female, whatever economic strata you are from and whoever your biological or otherwise father is, no one here can be bullied and everyone is bullied. Kalu, my shady blanket clad rickshaw wallah for the first week literally popped his neck out to abuse everyone alike without discrimination. From Audi's to pedestrians, no one was spared. The other day, a car nudged a Gol Gappa Laari, and almost nonchalantly the Laari walla demanded the car owner to come out. Very lazily, as if it was a day to day thing for him. A simple lazy causal prelude is all that the lanky Gol Gappa man worded, ' I don't care who you are, call anyone you want, but you aren't going anywhere. Come out'. Chill.
It has been two weeks here. All I have seen about Gurgaon is more or less summed up in the first paragraph. Gigantic buildings? Yes and meh. You had a lot of concrete and you put it all together. I really don't hold any likings to that. I am sure there are similar malls for indulgence and opulence. Meh again.
What stuck me from the terrace of my work place though is worth mentioning. Disclaimer, after passing through all the huge ass buildings on my first day I learned my office building was away from the highschool cool kids table. But I could see them from my terrace eating and giggling on their inside jokes with their perfect smiles and bodies. I remember going up to the terrace on the first few days trying to comprehend the change and adjusting to it. It used to be very foggy and cold back then which I really miss now. I could see one of those mammoth DLF buildings vaguely from my terrace. But
what stuck me the most was the glaring red light banner they had on top of the building and how it diffused through the fog painting a shabby picture. The red banner blinked, and loaded from left to write and did some other effects none too visible through the mist. But it was programmed to be sequential and repetitive. Sipping tea while shivering to the cold and staring at the banner surrounded by the cacophony of horns in an instance reminded me of
Bladerunner's set. Huge buildings, a lot of people and the neon lights. To be honest I wasn't really happy the first two days, which changed later on. But this scene added to the dystopic lens with which I saw Gurgaon.
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| The Red Banner |
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To add to that, when walking back to home there comes this patch of road where there are no streetlights. So when walking back, against the flow of traffic you see a lot of silhouettes walking the same road in either of the directions. Each person visible only temporarily, a dark silhouette all the time, with only its dark solidity increasing with the approaching yellow headlight. And then in the moment of maximum proximity, the silhouette solid as ever, still black, almost as if glowing in the yellow aura of the headlight vanishes until another car passes by. Watching each one of them going through this cycle for the 5 minutes depressed me. Each one of us just a shadow in hurry to get home. Now it is different, I relish the walk back home. I like that part of the walk. It is a release from the noise and lights. For me the visual is going to be something I will never forget.
Another thing which amazes me about Gurgaon is the cars. Not not the fancy models and the
hooha. But the traffic sense. Coming from Gujarat and especially after 4 years in Gandhinagar, walking in Gurgaon is hazardous to life. If you survive you first day, just look up and thank your guardian angels. It took me a couple of near-death encounters to realize that I cannot walk the way I always walked. You cannot walk in your own world or at your own pace. And trust me on this one, if you are new to this place stick to the sides. The extreme sides. Crawl on them like spiders. Another protip, don't get lost in your own world especially if you decide to listen to music while walking back. Reminisce those memories later on or become a memory yourself. You decide. Don't assume that the cars will stop for you. You see, the number of pedestrians on the road is way greater than the cars. You are an abundant resource. Don't for a second assume that the car will stop for you if you start crossing and pretend to not look in the cars direction. Just don't. I am grateful, I wasn't hit this once. My mind's prediction model is trained on Gandhinagar traffic. Trying to use the same model to predict a car's behavior while crossing almost turned fatal for me.
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| Be anyone you want, but not this red car's driver |
One thing good about Gurgaon is, that they put their SUVs to use instead of just buy bigs cars for the sake of them being big. They test those cars.
For example, the other day I was walking back home when all of sudden a Sumo instead of taking a U-turn from the intersection ahead, just rode over the divider. It almost seemed like an impulsive
Fuck this I am not waiting decision. Sumo going slowly,
la la la, sounds of screeches and brakes and suddenly the Sumo is on the other side of the road. Imagine driving on the other road. Thank god I am not. I have to wait till my brain models all these anomalies. And no, this didnt happen just once. I saw it again a few days later.
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| Divider? Plish-Plosh. |
More about Gurgaon later, if I am still alive.
