Chandigarh

Modernism and urban design are not terms that leap to mind when thinking of India. So when I learned that a town designed by Le Corbusier was just a 3 hour train ride away, I was determined to go and check it out. I studied urban Utopian design in college and was familiar with images and philosophy behind Le Corbusier's tall buildings, large public spaces and wide boulevards. However, what I did not expect was the lack of emotion in the practical implementation of Le Corbusier's design.

If you look at the pictures, you will see empty streets, cool modern fountains and large plazas with just a few people loitering around. These pictures were taken in the commercial district of Sector 17 (the city is built on a perfect grid) during the afternoon; the space should have been a buzz with commerce but it appears to be totally dead. In the US and in Europe, I tend to appreciate this type of design however, in all manners of speaking, this is TOTALLY DIFFERENT from the rest of the cities in India . The irony is that for most my time in India, I have craved linear structure and order but as soon as it was presented, the logical presentation felt empty and sad. To be fair, it's really hard for me to separate my emotional connections to the chaos of India (I have accepted chaos as part of the way things are and therefore, chaos is normal). So, when presented with a city plan that agreed with my mind but not my heart, I felt a huge disconnect.

Aside from the city plan, Megan and I checked out a really cool (back to chaos) rock garden/maze built by a transportation engineer from Chandigarh. While inside the garden we played on some swings and rode a camel. I could not stop giggling while on the camel....totally hilarious experience! Megan does a better job of describing our time in Chandigarh but I'll add one comment which is that I never want to cut it that close with a train again...we stepped onto the train as it pulled out of the station. Whew!