Since Holi I have been scrubbing myself of industrial-strength green powder — I think I am finally looking like myself again.
On Sunday, I ventured to my family friends place in Visant Vihar, a posh neighborhood. They had their driver come pick me up (the concept is still foreign and odd for me). Basically, he waits outside their house, all set to drive them where ever they need — for the most part this is common amongst most households inIndia.
They took me to a couple sites throughout Delhi: Qutub Minar, Bahai Temple (shaped like a lotus), Select Citywalk Mall, and at the Vasant Intercontinental for dinner. Everything was interesting and awesome to see; however, the most interesting was the Select Citywalk Mall.
I couldn’t help but be fascinated with how nice this mall was compared to any mall in the US (that I have been to). I had the opportunity to see the famous Barista which is far more elegant than Starbucks. All major name brands we are used to seeing could be found at the mall, but there were a multitude of Indian name brands. My family friends were saying that these Indian name brand stores were beginning to pop up in Paris. Not to sound cliche, but it totally sounds like something from “The World is Flat.”
On any given evening there are teenagers hanging around the malls — window shopping, going to movies, etc. As more of these show-up throughout Delhi andIndia, it sounds increasingly like the typical suburban-American teenager entertainment. Given that American suburbs really don’t have much to offer but homes and some shopping centers/malls, I am worried what will happen if and when small Indian cities begin to develop in such a way.
My family friends own a very large company that focuses on infrastructure, energy, real estate throughout India. Their company is developing an expressway (6 to 8 lanes) between Delhi and Agra, this will cut the journey in half from 4 hours to 2 hours. (I would compare it to what happened for NJ, when the NJ Turnpike was created and gave quick and fast access to NYC for a multitude of NJ towns.) Alongside the expressway towns are being developed.
I think these expressways that are being developed throughout India are the best example of the change. I presume the success of these towns revolves around the value of the land – the key ingredients being: accessibility (easily accessible by some transportation medium: train or car), convenience (i.e. malls, grocery stores, etc.), education, recreation, and health/safety. If all these small cities emerge and have the same exact ingredients, I worry that the exciting aspect of India – originality and culture of each area/city or village – will get lost in the “Standard Operating Procedure” for creating a “successful” City.