New Delhi, India
Modern India
August 3, 2013
Tomorrow is just an excuse away
- Smashing Pumpkins
Like Mumbai, New Delhi surprised me. The city was much more modern and green than anything I had expected. Old Delhi was just as similar to other parts of India but that was to be expected. The well laid out streets of Connaught Place, the well-kept exteriors, and more civilized nature was enjoyable. Entering the city from South Delhi the extent and sprawl of the city was enormous; as a friend said, Delhi is very much a horizontal city, and the 16 million plus residents need the space. Delhi even has a new and modern metro system that services a large part of the city providing cheap, easy, and reliable transportation. While it is crowded, I don’t think any transportation system could comfortably accommodate that many people.
Due to recent terrorist threats the popular Gate of India was cordoned off by police. Elsewhere in the city I noticed a much more visible police presence. This has likely been due to the recent issues of violence and rapes in the city but to me it didn’t seem any more dangerous than any other Indian city. Perhaps the high profile and media attention of these few events has tainted the views of many people and misrepresented their statistical prevalence.
There are a few important sights spread out in New Delhi. Qutub Minar in the south is the tallest of its kind in India and is surrounded by other ancient ruins. Humayun’s Tomb also has some interesting buildings but after seeing similar buildings over the last few days these made much less of an impact. The successive days of dragging myself through the hot and humid air had also taken their toll. The summer heat and humidity in Delhi was fierce and pushes a lot of locals to stay indoors in the comfort of air conditioning, a place I was greatly looking forward to after shuttling from sight to sight.