Delhiwale: Final frontier | Latest News Delhi - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Delhiwale: Final frontier

ByMayank Austen Soofi, New Delhi
Aug 09, 2022 04:20 AM IST

The Yellow Line of Delhi Metro goes all the way from Samaypur Badli in the north to Green Park and Mehrauli in the south, to HUDA City Center in Gurugram. Now, the fiercely individualistic Gurugram has its own metro service.

Big cities are like a sentence with lots of commas but without a full stop. You just don’t know where they might end. Check that out by driving through Delhi. Like Covid’s ever-transmuting virus, the metropolis first transmutes into a succession of suburbs. These suburbs transmute into Ghaziabad/Noida/ Faridabad/Gurugram. These cities transmute into their suburbs, which, in their turn, transmute into other cities, other suburbs.

Delhi metro.
Delhi metro.

Where is that place to exclaim, “Yes, here is our megapolis’s last point!”

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

Ding dong, here is that place.

The Yellow Line of Delhi Metro goes all the way from Samaypur Badli in the north to Green Park and Mehrauli in the south, to HUDA City Center in Gurugram. Now, the fiercely individualistic Gurugram has its own metro service. Rapid Metro originates from Cyber City and culminates at the evocatively named Sector 55–56 metro station.

The rail’s overland track however stretches beyond this final stop. It goes upto the intersection of Golf Course Road and Rajesh Pilot Marg where it drops into… nothingness. Here is your destination to experience the end-of-the-world thrill. The last pillar of the track is marked P 266, painted in black against a yellow square. (Anybody with Amitabh Bachchan’s height can pout beside the sign for a clickbait selfie.)

This afternoon, the monsoon sky is a clear blue, with white cumulus clouds scattered like hundreds of boats sailing along a sea. The calming scene fails to calm the restlessness evoked by the metro track’s abrupt end.

The immediate expanse ahead of this drop is a maze of electric poles and towers. One of the high-rises is crisscrossed with hundreds of windows, multiplying the sky into hundreds of smaller skies. These windows are without panes. The building appears to be uninhabited.

Meanwhile, the 3pm road traffic is heavy. A sari-clad woman is pedaling on a bicycle. A woman in lehenga is wading amidst the cars, hawking white flowers that she is holding in both her hands. A few women are sitting on the dusty pave, beside a cigarette kiosk. They intermittently call out to passersby to treat them to chai (and laughingly hurl friendly abuses when the passersby pretend to ignore them).

Now, a baby goat appears. And disappears.

One day the metro track might be extended. Its last point would then end at some other far-off point. We’ll go there, too.

Unveiling 'Elections 2024: The Big Picture', a fresh segment in HT's talk show 'The Interview with Kumkum Chadha', where leaders across the political spectrum discuss the upcoming general elections. Watch now!
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Friday, March 29, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On