Friday, October 09, 2020

The Dream City of India


 

It was around 1966 that my dad's friend from Jain Soda Factory in Ambala Cantt, lent us his driver and ambassador car to take us around the city of Chandigarh. Neelam and Jagat were the plush theatres, and vast market place of Sector 17 was enchanting.

There were hardly any cars at that time on road. A few scooters and cycles.

No one wanted to come to the new city. The then Chief Minister of Punjab S. Partap Singh Kairon brought in people from different parts of the country with attractive offers to own land and populate it.

We shifted ultimately in 1969.

Famous author and journalist Khushwant Singh described the city as a place of "Hariyaan Chariyaan, te Chitti Daariyaan" (the city of green hedges and white beards, referring to it as the city of retired people. 

Today it is the most sought after beautiful city  


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