Flaneur of

today
Gurugram is a city located at the border of Haryana and Delhi National Capital Region (NCR). It
is one of the most advanced and developed city of India. The city itself is a hub for Multi National
Companies and is the second largest Information Technology hub after Bengaluru. The skyline of
Gurugram is made of up high rise buildings for both residential and as office buildings. This
attracts a lot of the working class and students to the area. Many of these people take residence
here and some just come here for work and return back.
In such a city, the city life experience is very different from a city in the 19th century. Some of the
common things of the time are alien to us now and some of the common things of today will be
considered absurd in the earlier times. Now, comparing the urban experience of a flaneur of the
20th century, more things start to look similar however, one can still notice huge differences. The
most obvious changes can be observed in the style of architecture and fashion. These are the visual
aspects which define a certain era. The style followed in the 20th century was that of modernism.
This was due to the industrialization and urbanism where people from rural areas started moving
towards the urban areas.
Moving around in Gurugram, one major thing to notice is the bunch of individuals who are passing
by or travelling with you in case of public transport. That is a new thing. In the 20th century, a
flaneur surely will see a a group of strangers passing by travelling with however, they would not
be individuals. The modern era had a great sense of uniformity. Now in the 21st century, each
induvial has his/her own story and his/her own little world. These strangers live in their own little
world while strolling or travelling. They are trying to live in their own world by trying to exclude
as much of the environment as possible. Everyone engrossed in their smartphones, some listening
to music, some talking to someone else over the phone or some even enjoying a movie. These
behaviours might seem absurd a century ago where one was although keeping to himself / herself,
was also a silent observer. They were more aware of their environment and a part of it.
 Cyber city
All the crowd walking towards specific destination but sharing the same path. This statement was
true a century back, now however, Gurugram seem to have almost no one walking to reach a
destination. Walking feels like a bizarre activity when you are one of very few people doing it and
the majority is either on some sort of transport. This can be observed in the architecture as well.
The walking pavement is only present for a specific distance but cars can reach anywhere. The
total opposite from a century back. This leads the shops and cafes to be constructed and located
only on specific areas. These areas will have a hub where such spaces take up the space and where
one can experience the walking in the city. The very few smaller private shops are drowned by the
big malls and shopping complexes.
Areas in Gurugram doesn’t have names but numbers. This nomenclature represents how the life is
Gurugram is. It is a system of a non stop fast machine where each car and every human and every
building is a part which run every day. This can be thought as a negative and also a positive. Back
in the 20th century, people were being exposed to new experiences and they stopped to appreciate
them. Now this current Gurugram have had enough exposure that rarely a part of the machine
stops to experience and appreciate. Every marvellous sky kissing building is just another part of
the machine. So the flaneur has to observe according like a silent detective.
Travelling in a metro, one can travel with another person for hours yet it is very common to not
utter a word to him or her. A century ago, this may seem rude, mannerless and asocial and would
be rare site but now it the new normal. Now “minding one’s own business” is the unspoken rule
which is universally accepted and expected. Making conversations with a stranger is a very rare
event. Conversations with strangers are limited to questions about the path or the metro to take to
reach a certain destination.
 Metro
Since Gurugram is an Information Technology (IT) hub, it attracts people from all over India and
even internationally. This makes it a polycultured place with sharing and experiencing the same
city. Anyone who stays here for a month gets used to the fast-paced life and in no time is a part of
the city. A flaneur need steadily sitting and observing at the same place cannot experience the city,
he needs be a part of this fast-paced life to be able to understand it.
People used to remember the directions to places, and this was their limitation. Now one cannot
know any direction but can gain the direction from his phone and his knowledge in this matter is
limitless. The city is so complicated with its so many systems that one is led from one place to the
other. One cannot choose his path to a certain destination but needs to follow the path. From a
distance, they all look like a flock of sheep following each other. The same can be seen in the 20th
century, a flock of sheep, however in the 21st century the flock of sheep are of different colours.
References
Benjamin, W., 2006. The writer of modern life - Essay on Charles Baudelaire. s.l.:The Belknap press of
Harvard University Press.