I got down from the bus once at around 9 pm and got lost in the bearings. It was quite close to sec. 53 but since I had been dropped on to a cross-road, I didn’t know where to turn. The roads quite deserted, except the traffic that moved.
I asked 20 people, one after another about the location of a very big market which is a landmark for my flat. Some security guards of factories. The cycling people. The few shopkeepers. None of them knew anything. I later found out that it was a five min walk away.
Miles upon miles of tarmac, perfect street lighting, and you cannot distinguish one locality from another. Faceless, nameless circles, hundreds of malls, thousands of adverts, no-one watching.
Is this a city?
Noida makes me extremely uncomfortable with the supposed trappings of a city life, in the end just offering you a drive-in.