Comments on: Delhi Steps Towards the Future http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2010/02/26/delhi-steps-towards-the-future/ Exploring urban life through word and photography Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:47:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Christopher Szabla http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2010/02/26/delhi-steps-towards-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-327782 Christopher Szabla Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:24:49 +0000 http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/?p=6584#comment-327782 This is a wonderfully written piece. "Is India going to go in the same direction as Hong Kong?" is obviously the central question, and I'm glad you don't necessarily make assumptions about the answer. Still, while the metaphor is salient, I don't tend to think that there's necessarily a this old/new dichotomy between Delhi's streamlined metro and its chaotic streets. Cowherds and religiosity are vital building blocks of modern India, and the juxtaposition between them and the mallscapes of Gurgaon may only really seem contradictory to outsiders. It might be the case that India defies the traditional, deterministic model of development propounded by economists since the 1950s. Other places certainly have. There hasn't been much of a decline in religiosity in Saudi Arabia, for all its wealth. Even the cows may stay on the streets indefinitely; authorities have never been able to eradicate the dog packs that roam even the most "modern" neighborhoods of Istanbul. Locality has more power to assimilate modernity than is typically assumed. This is a wonderfully written piece. “Is India going to go in the same direction as Hong Kong?” is obviously the central question, and I’m glad you don’t necessarily make assumptions about the answer. Still, while the metaphor is salient, I don’t tend to think that there’s necessarily a this old/new dichotomy between Delhi’s streamlined metro and its chaotic streets. Cowherds and religiosity are vital building blocks of modern India, and the juxtaposition between them and the mallscapes of Gurgaon may only really seem contradictory to outsiders.

It might be the case that India defies the traditional, deterministic model of development propounded by economists since the 1950s. Other places certainly have. There hasn’t been much of a decline in religiosity in Saudi Arabia, for all its wealth. Even the cows may stay on the streets indefinitely; authorities have never been able to eradicate the dog packs that roam even the most “modern” neighborhoods of Istanbul. Locality has more power to assimilate modernity than is typically assumed.

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