By now she must have left. After living for almost a decade in an exclusive gated condo in Gurugram’s Golf Course Road with two young daughters, artist Shalini Bahadur has quit our baggy megapolis for Chandigarh. The day before the departure, she explained in an interview that just how it is like for a citizen to wrap up life in her city. Excerpts.
Things you will miss?
Driving on the Golf Course Road, and on the NH-8, steering my silver
By now she must have left. After living for almost a decade in an exclusive gated condo in Gurugram’s Golf Course Road with two young daughters, artist Shalini Bahadur has quit our baggy megapolis for Chandigarh. The day before the departure, she explained in an interview that just how it is like for a citizen to wrap up life in her city. Excerpts.
Things you will miss?
Driving on the Golf Course Road, and on the NH-8, steering my silver Honda towards Gymkhana Club, the only place in Delhi I care to drive to. I’ll also miss driving through Dhankot and Basai villages, through the scenic sarson ke khet, past the Chandu Bhudhera water treatment plant, over the Sahibi river to catch the KMP (Kundli–Manesar–Palwal Expressway) at the Badli interchange. I will also miss the Aravali Biodiversity Park and the Wazirabad-Chakkarpur bandh develped by iamgurgaon (a citizens’ initiative)—both have been entwined in my life in Gurgaon for walks, for Shinrin-yoku, for sharing coffee flasks with friends while overlooking the spectacular vistas. Gurgaon is old and new, rustic and modern, beautiful and dirty. Lke life itself.
Will you miss this super-high 26th floor apartment?
Of course! Look down and you see the peacocks and neelgai in the forest below. Look ahead and the city spreads out for you, with the Golf Course Road, and the Rapid Metro tracks running along the length of the road. The golf course next door is close enough for me to zoom in and see players taking their shots on the 7th and 8th fairways, as well as the iconic 17th green and the very long 18th fairway. All around it to the north and east stretches the forest, unending and green. On a clear day, one can see planes approaching the airport, as well as the Delhi Metro line (along MG Road) glinting in the sun. Sometimes even the Qutub Minar in distant Mehrauli graces us with a view. During foggy winter days, this house is cocooned in cotton wool.
Can it be possible to feel a part of the city within this gated world?
We consciously made a choice to live in such a place for several reasons—security, safety, convenience of amenities and the lifestyle. You literally have everything that you need inside the gates. Maybe our part of the city is different than other areas, but it is the setting of our lived experience, and is as real as any other part of the city.
Your apartment appears to be surrounded by light and air, and nothing else.
Since my bedroom faces west, I get a lovely cool light in the morning. As the day progresses, the sun streams all the way in. On windy winter days, I sit on my Nanaji’s mid-century modern chair to read a novel, and at times fall asleep in the soothing sunshine. As if I were in one of those charming glazed verandahs!
What will be your house like in the city you are going to?
It is a bungalow. The new bedroom will face the same direction as the bedroom here, so the rhythms of the sun will be similar. Yes, I’m looking forward to my life in Chandigarh.
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