Member-only story
When I Visited the Other Side Of The City
On the perils of unsustainable urbanisation.
It was a beautiful day in Delhi — the AQI was better than most days, the cold was mild, and the sun’s rays were bright enough to cheer my mind (but not too bright to make me blind). I decided to go out with a friend.
I got ready, made my hair, and decided to go to a restaurant around 30 kilometres from my hostel. It was a new route, and the inner child in me wanted to see what this part of Delhi looked like. I jumped from the metro seat and stood at the window.
The scene outside changed from tall buildings, well-maintained parks, geometrically designed malls to tiny buildings on the roads, crows in the sky, and smoke in the background.
Then there was a huge mountain of garbage — but that isn’t what shocked me. What shocked me was the houses built right across from it. People standing in front of the huge pile of garbage.
The open stalls and the dirty stream of water.
I felt as if we were on the wrong route. Isn’t it surprising how life in a city can change so fast on just one short train journey?
Sometimes you see houses that look like monuments and other times you see houses that can not even fit humans.
