Georgetown!

Reading Rash's blog a few weeks ago, I was amused with her post describing Gurgaon. Present-day Gurgaon, that is.

This week, I experienced it myself. Visiting Gurgaon after a gap of nearly four years, I was struck dumb by the transformation it has undergone. The last time I was here, I only remember a couple of residential complexes that were still coming up. DLF City at the time, was largely nonexistent. I remember driving down the Gurgaon-Mehrauli road which had large tracts of forested land on either side. Now, I couldn't recognise the same road.

Right from the time I got off the airplane and travelled to my office in Gurgaon, I was amazed by the number of - ostensibly - international hotels that lined either side of the Delhi-Jaipur road. Of course, quite a few of these hotels were there even four years ago, but now they had upgraded themselves...they looked agreeably chic.

The heart of Gurgaon is now a number of swanky highrises, replete with utilities like key-pad security doors, guards, intercoms, backup power and, I daresay - CCTV surveillance in some complexes. The soul of Gurgaon, however, is a series of glitzy malls and shopping arcades. If Bombay is proud of the number of Imax, Adlabs, CR2, Crossroads, Big Bazaar and (Malad) then it should quietly give up the ghost and hang its head in shame. MG Road in Gurgaon has at least seven malls on either side of the road. HUGE malls, complete with two levels of underground parking, one parking lot at street-level, security barricades. And oh, of course, don't forget the blue mirrored facades.

The insides of the malls however, are almost identical. Shops with glass walls, selling every conceivable brand. Shoes, clothes, restaurants and coffee-shops, electronics, vehicle showrooms, the now-ubiqituous - omnipresent? - PVR. Roti, kapda aur makaan. Aur vahan.. And there's more malls to come. My friends - who stay in one of the posh high-rises - told me that as many as 32 malls have been planned by one chain alone. In Gurgaon. 32?? 32!! So now we've got branded malls! Chain malls, chain molls, what-have-you!

The other face of Gurgaon is the number of business houses that have set up offices in an equal number of business complexes - which, like the malls, are ready and others that are under construction. From my office, I could see the Qutab Minar in the distance - across a expanse of glimmering glass edifices. My company is HQed in one of the newer corporate parks and shares space with names like Nestle, Huawei, Lucent, Avaya, IBM, Fluor. Ericsson has an ultramodern building a few minutes drive away. Microsoft's new office is also in an upcoming building - this one partially burned down a few days ago - which is in line with and across from other business and residential complexes.

From what I could tell, Gurgaon has been largely bought over by two construction giants, DLF and Unitech. And the Rahejas also announcing their entry. Even when I was in Gurgaon the last time, DLF had its signature tower, something that closely resembles the Burj-Al Arab in Dubai. Now, there's vast tracts of land under development by both Unitech and DLF - DLF City, Unitech City, South City - with a variety of options to suit every lifestyle. Multi-storey apartments - Multi-tenant Dwelling Units - MDUs, row houses, independent bungalows. And with it goes infrastructure development. At many parts along the Delhi-Jaipur road from Delhi to Gurgaon, construction for flyovers is underway. Widening of the Delhi-Jaipur highway is going on at a rapid pace. Townships with well-illuminated, wide, sweeping roads and avenues, traffic lights and high-visibility signage.

Given the penchant for Delhiites to ape the Western world, it won't be long before someone starts lobbying to change the name to Georgetown! Wishful thinking or not-too-distant-reality?