Top Indian Cities

[logistopath]

Except Ahmedabad, I've been to every other city mentioned in the poll, albeit as a visitor on a trip to Kolkata, Noida and Jaipur. The rest, I've stayed and experienced the way of life in each place for at least a few weeks - months, to comment on. IMO, each city had it's own charm in a way, although this is a thing of the past. In the name of development, each of these cities and the rest of India is just turning into a concrete jungle.

Tall buildings and malls - you will see in every Tier 1 and most Tier 2 cities in India.
Poverty and slums - you will see it in every city, town and village of India.
Horrible traffic and rampant corruption - again, it is the norm in every town and city.

What differs is the local culture and the people who add to the mix. That way, I like all the cities mentioned in the list, and hate each one of them too. There was a time when I loved my home town (Pondicherry), but that town is right now only in my memories. People still think Pondicherry is only about the Auroville and Ashram and the peacefull beaches, but that is only in the eyes of the tourist.
@haris5sani - Bhopal is really a beautiful city.

 

[sabby]

Kolkata has the worst roads specially in Rainy season. Entire city is dug up and jams are quite frequent. And it has gone down since I came here sometime back.

I travel for 90-100 minutes everyday from North to East via Paroma. Its not the best time of my day.

The first two points regarding big cities and being close to Bangladesh are excuses and WestBengal is solely responsible for the financial mess that it is in. If it attracts so many people, which it does, then there is no reason why such a small section is developed.

And low cost of living does not mean its developed and std of livings high let's be clear about that.

I've stayed in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi for extended periods of time. Every city has its pros and cons, but Calcutta is losing out because everybody is satisfied with what they have right now. I think you will agree with me that a lot of Calcuttans, born and brought up do tend to leave because of lack of opportunities here.

The same ppl who are earning x amt of money will goto Bangalore or other cities and earn a greater amount. Standard of living, opportunities are much higher in other cities.

Laid (Bengali) is the bane. Salt Lake city should be renamed extortion city as far as prices are concerned. Newly developed areas north of that are expensive too but atleast they are well planned and liveable.

Gumtis and Night life were the things that were absolutely awesome, but recent events and the way it was handled by the CM have left the city with a 12am curfew.

Infra wise I found Chennai to be better, I haven't really explored the city, but I would get bored there. I really want to visit Pune and Bombay, though. Hopefully IronMaiden will play Mumbai in 2012.

Can't agree for the worst road part mate. You probably haven't seen much of Chennai and Bangalore. Chennai actually has pretty good roads compared to the other metros in India, but water logging problem is unbelievable. Apart from the Bellary road and Hosur road (which are highways anyway) and outer ring road, all the roads are pathetic here in Bangalore - either very narrow or dug up. 90% of the roads don't even have proper pavement.

While it is true that WB is solely responsible for its financial mess, we mostly have our political condition and illiteracy rate to thank for that.

I didn't say that low cost of living implies Kolkata is developed. That was regarding the poverty and the standard of living.

I do agree with the lack of opportunities there. I also agree that people are really lethargic and hot headed which creates many problems in daily life.

I want to make it clear that I am not defending Kolkata. I used to bash Kolkata for its problem too, in fact I still do in some occasions. But as they say, we do tend to think that grass is always greener on the other side. Problems are everywhere in India, only the types vary.

 

[agupta02]

I think its a very relative poll as the metrics are very relative. Every city has a very unique culture, charm, attitude etc which may or may not appeal to everyone hence very difficult to find the top city.

AFA as infrastructure goes, I would say Delhi wins on this hands down mostly because of the development it has witnessed in recent times due to the Commonwealth Games.

But in the end most would find the city they belong to as the top city simply because its their home town. They might not like it and would rue about the various problems it has but in the end, if asked to choose where they want to live they would inadvertently choose their own city.

 

[quixand]

@sabby I agree.