Mountains beyond mountains: Gurgaon

I'm glad I finally got a few photos of Gurgaon! Since the first time I visited, this city outside Delhi really... well, "charmed" isn't right, nor "transfixed"... well, it intrigued me. It's modern and only modern, like something you'd see in Thailand or Singapore but you might not think of in India. But tech is booming, and with money comes development, and India goes big and not home.

It's built on a big flat area, which makes every building seem all the bigger.

The streets are wide, to make room for everyone's new Maruti, Toyota (the new SUV model is popular), or Honda.

"Over there are maybe six or seven malls", said Gaurav. Each one looks like four spaceships glued together.

And the apartment buildings! Epic! Monoliths of housing rising from the earth, stretching as far as the eye can see.

I guess this happens in places like Bangkok too, but it's city everywhere there, so the contrast is not so stark.

But not everyone is living the high-rise flashy Batman lifestyle. My friends Hemant, Mohan, and Ama live in Maruti Kunj, a colony built by the Maruti company maybe 20 years ago. It's on the outside of Gurgaon, and actually rather peaceful.

I guess the attitudes there are a bit more conservative (and more than America; e.g. maybe it would be bad form for a guy to be seen talking to a girl. and we think it's hard to meet people here!) Hey, away from the city, can't get anywhere without a car, conservative thinking, peaceful, good schools: it's a suburb!