Diametrical Opposites

Delhi has had the Metro now for over a year... yesterday was the first time I went on it.

It is done beautifully... big, spacious & definitely at par with any other international rapid transit system. It actually might be better than the London Tube or New Yorks' Subway. It for sure is cleaner and more spacious.

I went from Connaught Place ( Metro stop - Rajiv Chowk) to Chandni Chowk.. the culture shock is extreme ..walking into a modern granite subway station, exiting from a similar modern structure into the sprawl & confusion of Chandni Chowk.

The Metro is large, new, modern, clean, spacious, sharp edged.
Chandni Chowk is cramped, suffocating, smelly, dirty & weathered with age.

The Metro & Chandni Chowk are diametrical opposites. Yet, they exist side by side and fuse into each other... alot like our everyday lives. Up-to-date yet so entwined with our history & culture.