India's Urban Past, Present, And Future

The history books tell us that “great kings are builders of great cities.” A book excerpt in Mint, from a new volume on how New Delhi was built by the British, only serves to underscore this popular saying. British India was an urban success story. Madras, Calcutta, Bangalore – these were all built from scratch. Madras has just celebrated the 370th anniversary of its founding. Bombay had Portuguese origins, but under the Brits it became one of the greatest cities in this part of the world. New Delhi was different from all the rest: it was built as a government city, an Imperial Capital. And it was the last city to be built, in the 20th century. The older coastal cities were all commercial cities. Bangalore and Poona were retirement cities, where the weather was kind. And then there were the 80 or so “hill-stations” – for holidays, for an escape from the heat of the plains.

After the British left, all our great cities and each and every one of our glorious hill-stations have been destroyed. Only three new cities have been built – Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar and Gandhinagar. All three are government cities. The entire focus of our The State has been on “rural development and panchayati raj.” But not a single “ideal village” exists throughout India. This is what happens when your entire theory is wrong. But our The State is at it even now: Here is news that they have reserved 50 per cent seats on panchayats for women.

I do not see India’s future as a village utopia. I see her as a totally urban civilization. Hundreds of brand new cities on the coast, thousands of new hill-stations. Thousands and thousands of satellite towns around all the cities. All linked together by a hub-and-spoke transportation network – road, rail and air.

I don’t see panchayats. I see Mayors. I see “company towns.” I see New Public Management.

I see this as a desirable future because it would be cheaper to build entirely new cities than to fix the existing ones. I do not think New Delhi can be easily “fixed.” Ditto the other metros. Alternatively, undeveloped land is cheap. It makes sense to abandon these destroyed cities and build new property in new towns.

Dilli Chhoro.

Abandon Mecca and build a New Medina.

Exodus! Movement of The People!

I have long ago written about a future for Delhi if The State were to move out of this city. I still stand by that view.

But then again, Delhi is not a suitable location for a “great city.” It is landlocked, for one. And the weather is terrible: too bloody hot and too bloody cold. Mass settlement in such a location means huge expenses in climate control – air-conditioners, heaters etc, almost throughout the year. On the western ghats, you don’t have to use air-conditioning much – and there is lots and lots of land just lying there. You never need heaters. The summers are mild, the winters are mild and it rains a lot – so there are no problems with water supply, which is a headache in Delhi.

Of course, some environmentalists will object. They will ask what will happen to the wild birds and animals who will be displaced.

The book excerpt in Mint quotes Edwin Lutyens, the architect who designed New Delhi, describing his tour of the empty scrubland on which this city was to come up:

… ‘fauna of all description, buck of all sorts, baboons, monkeys, jackals, hare, porcupine, water snakes, great fish, great tortoises which eat babies, snakes, bats, flying fox, vultures, weird birds and many lovely ones, a lizard of sorts, yellow and dry and three feet long. The elephant. Tigers at Jeypore, fresh caught and angry, a black panther, hyena and then a host of tame birds and animals.’

Human beings build cities because they do not want to live with all these wild and dangerous species. Cities are the ant-hills of human colonists.

Let us build more brand new cities please. The ones we have today are unliveable. And unfixable as well.

And as for the wild animals: there's the Jungle out there.