Chandigarh -- The Wonder City

Hi Friends,

I never told you people about my short but very pleasant visit to the best planned city and cleanest city in India, Chandigarh. The architecture and urban planning has been done with utmost care that it really leaves a mark on your first visit to the city.

The capital of Punjab & Haryana (now I can say I’ve visited both the states at one go) this city was actually Lahore before partition.. OMG did I go into Pak... lol.. Yep in a way I can say...

Thanks to my colleague for inviting me to his home and giving me a glimpse of this unique city. We started our day out from the Panjab University (no i didn’t do a typo .. it is spelt as PANJAB) where my friend lives.. A huge campus with loads of greenery it sure is a treat to spend your days of learning. Chandigarh as what i know is very popular for its quality of education..Affiliated to prominent universities it is one trying to jump deep into the IT world. The infrastructure of the city and its close proximity to the capital may be I assume the reason for its quick rapid growth in all fields. Well now coming back this city I must say is filled with most people having lots n lots of paper posing the Father of the Nation (Well I just meant money). Youngsters coming to college in nothing less than sedans was quite amazing to watch. Most of them involved in local politics as well so the inflow wouldn’t be a issue at all.

Stepping into the road will give you a shocker especially if you are from a city like Bengaluru. Gosh !! Which country are we in ??  Lush green lawns on either side of a 4 lane road with a divider in between.. and also an extra cycle lane on both sides... and traffic !! Ooopsies wait .. Now that must be a new term for the local population. No jams, No horning, Nobody rushing. Helmets are compulsory for even the pillion rider which is followed with utmost responsibility(Look whose talkin abt the helmet rule :D)... Being in UP past few months, i too had actually forgotten that RED in a signal means u gotta stop.. I was reminded about that...:-O .. Only hope such discipline will get implemented in our city sooner if not later it’ll be a great achievement.

I must tell you friends about this place called the Rock Garden. A 40 acre sculpture garden it is. The story goes that Nek Chand who is the creator collected materials from the demolition sites around the city (partition --> Pak --- > lots of things to break maybe ... :P ) and is supposedly built the garden illegally later made legal due to public demand... Hard to explain but marvels have been created from materials like broken bangles, odd shape stones, broken glass, bricks and even bulb holders.. Lesson to learn that nothing actually goes waste after use...

The whole place can be explored in a day n a half.. Smartly speaking not more than a day is really needed.

Hangouts are quite popular in the place just like ours .. though I’d say we got a better line of hangouts.. I just got a glimpse of one of the high profile ones in one particular colony... but wait I just had lunch at the restaurant and walked away.. The night-life was not that great though...Hardly any takers even without the 11:30 shutdown notice... Finally we just went for a drive to a hill station nearby and back post mid-night..

Coming to the malls.. Thumbs down. These are just forgettable structures compared to the ones in NCR.. But the insiders are just incomparable to any place. THE PUNJABI KUDIS !!?? Fashion clothes stitched to cover or to uncover. A BIG QUESTION MARK?? Some native of Chandigarh only must answer this.

Chandigarh is completely smoke free, plastic free. Buy anything from a shop and you will get it in a cloth or paper bag. I had heard of this before and its actually true. So many imported cars.. Man!! BMW's,Porshe,Lexus,Audi... name it and you will surely find it parked or zooming somewer.

Oh yes the Gol Gappa was tremendously delicious and so was the kulfies and so was the well I forgot all those Punjabi names... Unique varieties of snacks.. Not a great relief from aalu & paneers but Punjabi's have their own touch of enjoyable cuisines...

I couldn’t make it to Mohali and Patiala, however hoping I can go there sometime again... A memorable first time experience to one of the corners of India... As of now a rough road ahead with deadlines at work looking like demons approaching... Signing off .. Ciao till the next blog...