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| A view of an express way of Greater Noida |
When I first landed at the Indira
Gandhi International Airport on August 4, 2013, I was amazed to see how India
had developed in few years of time. Over the past few decades, India seemed to
have concentrated its developments heavily on infrastructures; roads and
telecommunication, which eased access to the local people.
Two buses from Sharda University
which was to take the international students to the college premises waited
outside the airport. On the way, I realized the pace of development despite the
scorching heat where I sweated. Coming from a country which is surrounded by
hills, and where rainfall is a blessing during heat, I lamented and continue to
lament the weather of excessive heat without rain.
The weather here is extreme heat.
Once in a while, I noticed, that rain does fall. However, it does not last for
more than 10 minutes. Even despicable is the fact that the rain is hot and not
cold like Nepal, the country blessed with the world’s seven highest peaks.
After almost two hours of the
long bus ride, I reached Sharda University. The University is located in
Knowledge Park 3, one of the four knowledge parks in Greater Noida. After a
day’s rest, I went to see around, and with my background in journalism, with
every person I met, I tried to find out more about the city, the place where I
would be living for the next two years.
One thing that particularly
stroked me was the way the areas were given Greek names—Alpha, Beta, Delta,
Zeta, Eta. The city, around 30 km away from Noida was first built as an
extension to the latter. However, during its planning, it was seen to it that
the settlement were better off than Noida, one of the first two residential and
industrial areas developed by the Indian government in order to reduce the
crowd of Delhi in the early 80s.
When I queried some local people
about the city, they said that before the Mayawati government, it was huge
forest and swamp area. For this reason, I could see wetland bird species like
the gulls once in a while. The infrastructures, as they say, were developed by
her government. However, it was much late that the construction of houses began
to build. One man, pointing at Sharda University, said that the current
building was built in the last three to four years and expressed that the
buildings that now are seen at the city were built not before a decade. The
Gautam Budhha International Circuit which hosts the annual Indian Grand Prix on
October is one of the attractions and pride to the city.
On retrospect, so far, Greater
Noida, with its big lanes and planned settlement is a good place to live in
except the weather. However, the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority
which looks after city needs to be cautious with the inflow of population
willing to live in the town. While it is impressive for the city to grow so quickly
in a decade, it also blares out a red signal of quick growth like Noida, a
place which was supposed to hold the population for 25 years, but, was
overwhelmed in 15 years.
