“They have entered urban society but still behave like villagers. You cannot share a common platform with them without being embarrassed,” says Ankur Mittal (name changed).
“We don’t want to be like them at the cost of our value system. Ostracism is better than mingling with them,” believes Datta Ram.
NEW DELHI: There is an urban Gurgaon — touted as India’s Millennium City and a rural Gurgaon — largely seen as a cluster of villages.
And though the stark divide between the old and new Gurgaon as represented in these two voices may appear to be nothing new, the recent killing of a 14-year old boy in an upscale Gurgaon school by his own classmates has brought the underlying tensions of these two Gurgaons into the open.
The fact that the victim and the two accused hail from rural but well-to-do families has given Gurgaon’s more “urban” residents a chance to vent out their true feelings about their rural counterparts. “Rural” Gurgaon- represented by Ram, a well-off farmer from Bijwasan village has to learn to live in close proximity with the Gurgaon represented by Mittal, a software professional. But the coming together is frought with uneasiness.
The lure of skyrocketing property prices made big land owners from nearby villages of Gurgaon sell their land and move to the city to give their children a “better life”.
But the “urban” residents say they have also brought along with them their own ‘regressive mindsets’. “They may have a lot of money but have no idea how to spend it,” said Sunita Desai (name changed), who lives in the upmarket Sun City locality.
Sitaram Yadav, who shifted from his ancestral village says he did so for his children’s education. I want them to study in good schools,” said Yadav.
But as Avinash Batra who works with GE Capital says: This city is not just about the malls and clubs, it’s also about those who live on the outskirts. We need to be an inclusive society. If government develops these remote areas, it will help bridge this widening gap.”
