By TIM ROSENKRANZ, 7/08/2014. Since Sunday evening, I am New Delhi. It is hot here. Actually when I looked at the global temperature map, one could think this is the hottest place on earth right now. What I celebrated as the coming of the monsoon in Mumbai, has clearly not reached the north (nor did it actually last in Mumbai). So while I am sweating, while I try to meet as many informants as possible, a few quick subjective notes on “my” New Delhi:
“New Delhi is one big round-about,” a friend of mine recently told me. That is probably one good way to describe the experience of India’s capital, especially coming here from Mumbai. In Mumbai, the place of finance and business, traffic squeezes through narrow streets or along way too small overpass-highways. In New Delhi, the seat of power, streets are wide (almost too wide) and instead of chaotic intersections, even these mentioned round-abouts make you spin in circles between the Parliament, India Gate, and so on.
Space is something that (at least in certain parts) New Delhi has in abundance. Wide streets, vast public gardens and sprawling mansions dominate here. This space to me feels weirdly closed off though. Walls and blinds break the line of sight and shield the powerful from the streets. This is one of the other interesting contrasts to Mumbai. While in Mumbai extreme wealth lives only steps from poverty, fancy apartment buildings share a wall with slums, in New Delhi the rich and poor, powerful and powerless are strictly separated.
Another difference is the presence of international tourists. They do not roam the streets in hordes like in New York or Rome, but in proximity to the many sides, one can always see a tour bus, a guide with a small group. In Mumbai the presence of tourists instead always came as somewhat of a surprise. I will be leaving to Agra and visit the Taj Mahal tomorrow. So I guess the visibility of tourist will only increase from here.