Raahgiri Day - Taking Back Streets from Cars ....by Car Owners?
Mid-November last year Raahgiri day opened in Gurgaon. A core group of socially minded institutions and individuals active in the Millennium City were successful in convincing the government agencies that manage Gurgaon (the municipal corporation and the the police, which are mutually exclusive) to organize a Sunday activity wherein they would shut down select streets for cars, and have residents free reign to walk, jog, cycle and pretty much do any activity that didn't include a car or motorized vehicle. Their objective is to expose the car-owning residents to the necessity for pedestrian/bike infrastructure in Gurgaon. This is probably the first Ciclovia type event organised in India (if you don't count the wedding seasons' random blocking of streets for dancing). While this is commendable for any city on either side of the North-South divide, it was particularly astonishing to me that it was happening in Gurgaon. I have often, (and relatively accurately) visualized muc