I guess it depends on where. I watched a docu that air pollution is very high in Delhi, alarming and dangerous to the health and of Course there is the Ganges pollution and there are slums. But this woman who is from Norway and Roma moved to Punjab to a village and she wrote that it is a "beautiful village and clean and that the air is fresh and healthy". Who lives in India or lived there and can tell more about his experiences?
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Originally Posted by Tradra
This is Oslo Norway.
Yeah I do not know the person or the background just saw the story on Facebook I might be wrong and mistook something
My AncestryDNA autosomal results [yes it is a link click on it] "For wise and good men always feel disinclined to hurt those that are of much less strength than themselves"
"Truth and Virtue do not necessarily belong to wealth and Power and distinctions of big mansions"
"To abuse and insult, is inconsistent with reason and justice"
- The Prophet of Indian Nationalism Raja Ram Mohan Roy
Assuming you asked about condition of Indian cities in general :
Spoiler!
Big cities/metros usually have a multi-tier society and generally divided into areas based on that structure , namely -
1. Residential areas :
a) Upper , upper-middle , middle classes - largely clean,green & well maintained , most of them have been thoughtfully planned with full layout approval by govt. authorities divided into sectors or blocks
b) Lower class including slums - range from bad to outright unlivable and are mostly illegal i.e. no layout approval,no map approval by govt. authorities with slums being inhabited mostly by poor migrants of UP,Bihar,JH,Bengal etc.
2. Commercial areas ranging from clean & modern complexes to unkempt older parts / bazaars & with thoroughfares ranging from largely clean & orderly to plain anarchy
However , now the catch here is due to large middle class & less so upper-middle class now , 1 a) usually forms a major part of the residential city , areawise (and with lesser population density than crammed lower / slum areas) . Which , for most part , is quite the opposite of the image that seem to have been made out by West media i.e. largely slum & paltry better , mostly due to geopolitical reasons especially cold war & getting perpetuated now by many foreigner bloggers too regardless innocuous or not . The way is plain & simple - overplay dirty/slummy areas ad nauseam while downplay / hide the better chunk (but which is so glaring that even some foreigner bloggers are calling this out while forcing former to show around some Cybercity or CP) . Some of their fav. hotspots are Dharavi , Old Delhi , some cow belt areas etc. .
Well....unsure if that^ alone would suffice , you might get me wrong . Let me illustrate :
Spoiler!
Pick urban Delhi city for eg. the shaded MCD + NDMC areas with following social figures :
Spoiler!
Being connected to this city , I have almost a complete picture of it which , to my surprise , have come to be stereotyped as slummy filthy . But why not when , as I paid attention , similar part of Delhi getting overplayed by these bloggers ad nauseam regardless innocuous or not , namely - Old Delhi i.e. Chandni Chowk , Sadar Bazar & Paharganj which* are lying just next to each other . Some eg. :
Paharganj --> Chandni Chowk --> Sadar Bazaar --> Paharganj....just merry go round in these trashy areas and thats your Delhi . When what is noteworthy is that it is barely 1% of the city , areawise ! Even more amusing is that the upper class & upper-middle class mixed areas (no middle class at all) alone overshadows the said^ areas + all the urban slums , combined ! These :
Farmhouse belt (Sainik Farms , Chhatarpur , Mehrauli etc.)
Lutyens
Maharani Bagh
Jor Bagh
Sundar Nagar
Panchsheel Park
Niketan - Anand & Shanti
Green Park
Vasant Vihar
Defence Colony etc.
Goes without saying these areas are largely clean , green , well maintained etc. with tens of thousands of households , each priced not less than $1 million usually with avg. price higher & touching $50-60 million - https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/s...w-delhi-dl-ind
Some glimpses of these areas :
Spoiler!
Farmhouse belt
Lutyens Zone
Maharani Bagh
Jorbagh
Sundar Nagar
Vasant Vihar
etc.
- mind you that they^ aren't even your ordinary middle & upper-middle class mixed Delhite localities which , given their enormity , I cannot list down . With houses relatively smaller in size & often touching upto $1-2 million , these areas usually are less greener & bit crammed than above neighbourhoods but still decent enough to live for the most part . Some glimpses :
Spoiler!
Model Town
Punjabi Bagh
Preet Vihar
Saket
Mayur Vihar
Janakpuri
Sarita Vihar
etc.
- city drives covering major part of urban Delhi :
Aggregate such areas . And that would be majority of urban Delhi after setting off the old trashy bazaars/settlements , lower/slum areas etc. that would come out ~15-20% scattered all across proper city (Shahadra , Okhla , Ambedkar Nagar , Sangam Vihar , Patel Nagar , Vikaspuri etc. all the areas pics. of which does rounds on net) .
Well.... the distortion that city is 'largely slum' is so glaring that even some foreigner bloggers are calling this out while serving as content for local ones :
- mind you that it is only the Delhi city & not the greater Delhi/NCR region that comprises of various satellite cities which , being recently & thoughtfully carved out , are only better than urban Delhi overall despite having their share of flipsides . Aggregately , their good localities are not any less in number than their Delhite counterparts . Few glimpse :
Note that all that^ is just a plain recount of what I had observed first hand about the city & is appended as illus. towards well meaning query of TM , no ulterior for lowlife trollers . Nor advisable to hold their mental pus back , this is the place not markets . And with copious stuff available .
Some generalizations :
Spoiler!
- In smaller cities & towns , society is usually more of a levelled one than large metros . For eg. the smaller city I inhabit had been more than 90% slum free but there ain't any billionaires row either . Mostly , it is middle class alongwith its said variations & lower/blue collar ones . And so are the corrosponding areas (like my middle class area in pic.1 here ) . Life is overall relaxing than metros . Though not flawless either (mentioned later) .
- Cities/areas towards South I visited found only better than North overall barring Mumbai (though not technically South India) . Some reasons - lesser poverty , better garbage disposal , negligible migrants from Bimaru belt except some metros like Chennai , Bengaluru (where anti-UP/Bihari sentiments have risen of late) etc. . Most surprising to me were the villages . Generally , villages in northern plains especially in & around UP,Bihar etc. are simply trashy - dismal infrastructure , shoddy houses (no architecture) , dirty etc. . Whereas in stark contrast , good infrastructure , big homes , classical architecture , clean & lush green surroundings is what I was shocked at first to see in many South villages in a pleasant way . So much that I began looking land for a holiday home right after arriving back though later had to put the idea on backburner .
To sum up , India is no utopia & from 2014 , it has only taken a u-turn in wrong direction with signs now getting visible but cities are still fine enough if one belongs to right class & region . Issues then aren't some slum or food hygiene but :
a) traffic issues especially in thoroughfares (often feels like simulating midtown madness for real)
b) pollution especially in many large North cities (pristine blue sky uncommon sight now therein)
c) some public places like govt. hospitals , courts , main thoroughfares etc. often not squeaky clean varying from city to city (though govt. hospitals mostly lower class visits due to dirt cheap rates)
d) additional issues specific to different cities for eg. in mine :
- increasing migrants & settlers from UP,Bihar,Nepal etc. ever since city was elevated as capital resulting in unplanned settlement , deforestation especially disappearing Litchi orchards , increased crowd & traffic chaos in thoroughfares
- increasing stray animals especially dogs , monkeys , cows etc. & once in a while , man-eater
- last but not least - Bobby Katarias in touristy places
These^ are trivial issues in general varying in degrees from city to city , the more concerning ones in general are :
a) red tapism , corruption & high horse mindset among govt. functionaries including police
b) almost dysfunctional judiciary ( don't get me started on this)
c) the kleptocrats , putting on saffron robe , burning the social & economic fabric of nation so as to retain throne perpetually
d) the inflation , oil prices , record unemployment , underemployment etc.
*
Spoiler!
Paharganj , Chandni Chowk , Sadar Bazar all lie next to each other spread across 10 km˛ with former as a backpackers ghetto while latter ones older part that existed since pre-independence . They usually stay at cheap hotels & partake at cheap eateries in these areas , often those that are meant chiefly for the blue collars . Only to later announce about Delhi belly . And all this when there are literally thousands of high end or decent enough eateries all across the city . Which I don't think they can't afford them considering high dollar value & low dining prices relative to West because of low living costs .
I once visited Paharganj to an eatery on yt recommendation only to never come back despite the food being really delicious . And apprised same to the manager to take care of surroundings .
Btw not every foreigner roam around in & eat trash unlike on yt . I have come across foreigners putting up at premium hotels & Airbnbs from Aerocity to GK , roaming in South ex & fine dining at plush restaurents (visit any high end restaurent in South Delhi and you are highly likely to come across atleast a foreigner relishing somewhere in the vision like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y87bA7xW43Y
Assuming you asked about beauty of touristy place in general :
Spoiler!
Well , this is usually subjective . To me , there are captivating places all across and with almost every kind of landscape - high glacial mountains to deserts to pristine blue beaches , Alpine grasslands to deodar & tropical rain forest . And volcanoes .
Spoiler!
Approaching 40 and still not seen 40% . Thankfully , I might not have to go through hassles of procuring tourist visa in older years .
India
Originally Posted by Mortimer
I guess it depends on where. I watched a docu that air pollution is very high in Delhi, alarming and dangerous to the health and of Course there is the Ganges pollution and there are slums. But this woman who is from Norway and Roma moved to Punjab to a village and she wrote that it is a "beautiful village and clean and that the air is fresh and healthy". Who lives in India or lived there and can tell more about his experiences?
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