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New Ayodhya!
I am ashamed of our capital city of New Delhi.
Delhi was the city built and rebuilt by the muslims who subjugated and ruled over us for 600 years. It was the city from which first Sultans ruled over us for 400 years and then the Moghal Shahenshahs ruled their empire from it. Their capital is now our capital? The buildings were built by Indians and so there is glory in the red fort and the Qutab Minar. There is also the shame of foreign rule, of slavery, of invasion and conquest.
New Delhi was built by the English, to show to the Indians that the new British Empire that subjugated India was grander than the Moghal Empire that enslaved us before. They specifically came to Delhi for this purpose, and designed the buildings specifically to overawe the Indian people.
Today our independent govt rules from this city and from the very buildings and parliment and secretariat that the British built to exploit us.
Shame!
Nothing good has been built in Delhi after independence at all except some dry and lifeless buildings of no beauty or magnificence. Everything good in Delhi is either Muslim or British.
Shame!
We must build a new capital city to prove to ourselves that we can be the creators of as much magnificence after independence as before it. A few ancient temples in some far away corners, centuries old, are not enough for us to feel good about our creative talents and energies.
I think Ayodhya is the perfect site. Water is there, coal for thermal plants is there, the area is backward and could use development. Otherwise, let New Ayodhya be built elsewhere, maybe in the south which is the heart of India now that the cow belt is withering.
A new capital makes more sense than just pride. It makes tremendous economic and civic sense. Moving all those people out of Delhi would decongest it. Govt land in Delhi could be sold off to private developers. Pollution will come down, water and electricity scarcity will go away. Traffic snarls would be a thing of the past.
The old govt buildings can become museums, hospitals and colleges - centers of learning. Delhi would continue to be a center of manufacture, commerce and the distribution center for the whole of north India. Maybe the Yamuna will recover.
The new capital will be truly glorious! I was playing a game called simcity in which I built a cross shaped city with the center of the cross formed by railway lines and roads. New Ayodhya could be like that, with the center of the cross being the city center. It will have the tallest building in the world, which would house the Ram temple at the bottom , a Sanskrit university above and a television station on top. In front will be the main square, with the other 3 sides being formed by the secretariat, the parliament and the federation parliament (having the new south asian federation of India, Nepal, SriLanka, Bhutan, Independent Tibet, Democratic Burma and maybe Bangladesh. No Pakistan!)
Surrounding will be a full circle of parks and lakes. The next tier will form a circle outside the parks, with entertainment, shopping, businesses, banks, schools, colleges and the rest. Then will come the second circle of parks and lakes.The Sarayu can be diverted to fill some of this. (The city should be on non flooding high land!). The rest of the city would radiate out in a linear fashion on the four spokes of the rail/ road cross, with 2 spokes being residential and the other 2 being industrial, mainly infotech and telecom. These would be away from the city center and resedences. All commuting will be by train to the city center and in the institutional areas, along with cyclea and jazzed up cycle rickshaws. No motor vehicles in side the park radius!.
Having such a program will stimulate the cement, steel, coal, power, and other basic industries in a tremendous way. Our economy would boom. And other such cities should be built to urbanise our rural illiterates. That is my vision for economic boost and glory in ourselves and our achievements.
What do you think? Do not quote Daulatabad, think Washington, Ottawa, Canberra, Bonn! And Petronas Tower beating the Sears tower!