Comments on: Hamilton Court: Gurgaon, the New York Times, and us (again)

By: Abhigyan

Abhigyan — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 05:36:50 +0000

Couldn’t agree more the following lines:

In fact, I think it’s one of India’s strengths that the rich can’t remain ignorant of the poor, unlike America where our poorest live out of sight and out of mind. (Although seeing dire poverty every day DOES quickly desensitize one to it.)

By: the stench of winter delhi « Our Delhi Struggle

the stench of winter delhi « Our Delhi Struggle — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:12:26 +0000

[...] Just over a year ago, we spent our first night in Delhi in my company’s guest apartment at Hamilton Court, twenty-three stories above Gurgaon’s potholed streets. Of the three available bedrooms, our [...]

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:07:39 +0000

Thanks for commenting on my blog post! I don’t know technology well so I am a little amazed you found it… there must be some way to search for pages linking to that NYTimes story.

Your points are well taken, and I think the case of Gurgaon is a bit tougher than São Paulo, where the government has a lot of money to work with. It is easier to summon righteous indignation and claim failures of democratic redistribution when there is plenty of publicly-funded advanced infrastructure going up, just mostly to serve the needs of richer citizens. And in fact, lots of investments are being made into upgrading slum services here, but it is being done with a heavy hand that requires a lot of evictions.

But if private industry is so far ahead of the public sector that it must depend on itself for basic infrastructure (roads, power lines) without the checks of regulation and health codes… well where do you start?! Tough indeed. Start taxing those businesses I guess, and when they are foreign owned, find ways to skim off the top as the profits leave the country.

By: Russ

Russ — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:32:05 +0000

You know, I read this entire article on my train ride this afternoon. And a year ago I probably would have skipped it, thinking I didn’t need to read about India’s poverty problem. But today I decided to learn more about the home of Dave & Jenny–completely unaware that it was, literally, their home.

This site has helped me understand a great deal about India’s culture, its charms and its failings. Thank you for that.

By: Tomorrow Museum » Archive » Hamilton Court, another Indian Gated Community

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:34:54 +0000

[...] to have a walk, they can walk inside. It’s a different world outside the gate.’” More here, “Gurgaon itself is a miserable cancer of construction dust, gleaming shopping malls, and [...]

By: Neil

Neil — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:02:11 +0000

One good thing about India is poverty is not hidden in certain inner city neighborhoods like in US. The downtrodden areas in US are not much different than the slums. One other good thing about India is there is not much of gun related crime considering the 1 billion population.

By: natalie

natalie — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:35:51 +0000

i agree with your observations. my family and i recently moved to mumbai, and the situation described — glittering buildings (at least on the outside) right next to swaths of unspeakable poverty — abounds in Mumbai. I am always torn over what is worse: being up close and personal with abject poverty while enjoying relative opulence, or remaining physically and emotionally distant from the reality of most people’s lives. I have come to think that it does not matter much, as one can become inured to the situation or fired up about regardless of proximity. It depends largely on perspective, though I do fear that one remains sane in that situation, by blocking out the many horrors witnessed on a regular basis.