2012-12-05

Gurgaon: Looking beyond the towering height

The Gurgaon-Delhi tollway in the afternoon
What comes to your mind when you think of Gurgaon? Industrial city, business boom, luxurious malls and five star hotels mushrooming in that part of North India..well, you are right about Gurgaon. Gurgaon is the perfect place for business trips, work adventure and business-related meeting and is an upcoming and growing market in the industrial and financial centre in the state of Haryana.
Business complexes and malls are booming in Gurgaon which is located some 25 to 30 minutes away from Indira Gandhi International Airport. If you are visiting Gurgaon for the first time like I did once month back, you can visit the city biggest mall Ambience which is 10 minutes away from Oberoi/Trident mall by walking. However, if you take an auto or car, it's hardly three minutes trip. Shopping in Gurgaon should not be a problem since you will find all the well-known brands such as Louis Vitton, Marks & Spencer, Levis, West Side at Ambience. You gonna shop for groceries, you can just pay a visit to the department store, Big Bazaar where you will get everything under one roof.
I visited Gurgaon for brief work trip from October 28 to November 4 and stayed at the plush and wonderful five star hotel Trident. It is a very peaceful place located at Udyog Vihar and is in itself a world of its own. The hotel crew is well-trained, very hospitable and the best thing about Trident is that there is lot of space inside the main lobby, entrance towards the main restaurants Konomi, Cilantro and The Pool Bar. It is a place that you feel at home and where you are greeting with a traditional 'Namaste' at every end by the wonderful and smiling faces.
However, if you are looking for places to visit in Gurgaon for a gateway, look far away coz will will end up being disappointed. It is an industrial and financial city, considered to be second biggest in the state of Haryana and beyond buildings, you will not be treated to lush greenery. However, the city is well connected and you can take a rick from Udyog Vihar towards nearest stations such as Guru Dronocharya, Iffco chowk and Sikanderpur, which is the nearest. So, if you wanna run away to Delhi, just take a rickshaw and head towards the nearest Metro station. The Metro through Delhi to Gurgaon and may I add Noida is well connected and as you get on the elevator and frisked by the 'jawans' get your ticket and Delli door nahin.
The only hitch is the rickshaws is not run by meters and there is no meter tampering. No! Nooo! You will not be offered a free ride even if the auto-wallah is a distant relative of yours but you have to take a price imposed by them! It's their laws and the rest depend on how proficient you are with your persuasive power.
Never mind the hitches and glitches in Gurgaon, you can stil head towards NH 8 off the national highway to catch a glimpse of DLF Tower, Ericsson Building and Belvedere Park which is a commercial and business premises where the towering building is quite interesting. The roads are well maintained and state-of-the-art infrastructures makes the city live up to its name. Down north, you head to Jaipur and Haryana. Every city has its silver crowd and moving towards Udyog Vihar in the vicinity of Trident/Oberoi, you can talk a walk in the afternoon in a quite peaceful atmosphere. As you turn towards the lanes, you will find the chai-walla and get on-street food which is a rarity in the town of Gurgaon.
Eight days is very less to know about Gurgaon and perhaps, I have not seen interesting stuffs and this is the reason as to why, I have limited myself to say that it's all about buildings. If anybody has something to share about the city, please educate me. I would love to know more about this part of North India. Nevertheless, I would say that it's been interesting to visit the complex city of Gurgaon and next time, I shall try to remove the google and look beyond the buildings sprouting its nest everywhere.

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