Gurugram Water-Logging Sparks Viral Debate: Is Noida Better Than the Millennium City? Journalist Shiv Aroor Has a Hot Take

ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT corporate and tech hubs in the National Capital Region (NCR), Gurugram, found itself caught in the middle of a viral internet debate. With the recent incident of water-logging in Haryana’s corporate city, the image of Gurugram, formerly known as Gurgaon, has quite literally gone down the drain. Amid this chaos, a debate took the internet by storm, where users argued whether Noida is a better place to live in NCR than the so-called “Millennium City.”

The question soon caught the attention of prominent journalists, authors, online commentators, and professionals. Shiv Aroor, Managing Editor, NDTV, first gave the controversial comment, proclaiming that there is not really any comparison between the two cities, as Noida beats Gurugram anyday in terms of standards of living.

While acknowledging that the millennium city is better at the social scene like the “nightlife, restaurants, corporate glitz,” Aroor believes that Noida is far superior in the “boring stuff” that affects your daily life like the “roads, drainage, planning traffic, public spaces, connectivity, basic infrastructure and general liveability.” Other prominent names took note of the NDTV reporter’s comments and gave their own opinions on the topic.

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People Question Whether Gurugram is Worth Living Anymore

Joining Shiv Aroor in his tirade against the millennium city, Hindol Sengupta— author, historian, and co-founder of Global affairs analysis startup— shared an article by The Indian Express, and quoted, “Gurgaon is simply not worth living in anymore.” The article documents a Gurugram resident’s struggle to bring his daughter home from school due to waterlogging. The quote from the article shared by Sengupta further reads, “We don’t want to live here. My family goes through this hell every single year despite the high taxes we pay to the government and the hefty rents. We are now seriously mulling moving out of Gurgaon.”

Sushant Sareen— Senior Fellow at Observer Researcher Foundation (ORF)— also argued against Gurugram’s superiority while reposting Sengupta’s comments on X. He believes the greed and the incompetence of the state government, bureaucratic hurdles, and mafias have turned the city into a “swanky slum.” 

Sareen writes, “Gurgaon is a case of killing the goose that lays golden eggs [...] Optics of the [Deputy Commissioner Gurugram] making rounds is so cringe because everyone knows its just for camera, not to fix things. Trust these guys to destroy a brand and turn gold into shit. They cant control traffic, cant stop wrong side driving, cant make sensible roads, hell they cant make roads, they don’t understand the concept of drainage. That's why I call it a swanky slum.”

Amid these claims of Gurugram being the inferior NCR city, it was natural that opposing voices would also emerge.

“Noida is Soulless”: People Come in Defense of Gurugram

Sparsh Sehgal— Investment professional at Dalmia Holdings— said, “Noida is soulless,” while replying to Shiv Aroor’s post on X. However, he also acknowledged that Gurugram is also void of soul but “it has enough materialism and hedonism to create an alternate vibe.” On the other hand, according to Sehgal, Noida is “so bland that it lacks both soul and vibe, just sad offices along with sad housing.”

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Amit Kilhor— online educator, Youtuber, and social media commentator— considered Aroor’s remarks amusing. He replied to the NDTV reporter on X, saying that Noida is just urban planning without any city. He came in to defend Gurugram, writing, “Gurgaon is chaotic, flooded too, overpriced, held together by Cyber hub and optimism.. still people wants to live here.”

Kilhor further said that he might consider taking a flat in Noida at 75 for retirement. “Kutta paalo, Dinosaur paalo, but yeh veham na paalo ki Noida is superior (Keep a dog, keep a dinosaur, but don't harbor the delusion that Noida is superior). Noida is a pitstop used while going towards Agra and UP,” he said on X.

The Haryana-based YouTuber doubled down with a short video responding to Aroor’s post on X. In the video, Kilhor said that Noida people rejoice when it rains in Gurgaon just to show that their city is the “superior” NCR area. In his near three-minute long rant, Kilhor didn’t even consider Noida a city and remarked, “The city has very broad roads but the people don’t have any reason to get out on that road. People still want to live in Gurgaon only.” Turning Aroor’s comments on his head, the online educator believes that Gurugram is held together with the social life that Aroor disregards. “The human elements like night life, jobs, startup culture,  is only in Gurgaon. Noida aspires to be Gurgaon but will never be.”

Kilhor continued his ranting video, saying that “Noida wins the Monday morning, but Gurugram wins the Friday night. And we know that Friday night’s PR is superior than Monday mornings.” Shiv Aroor took Kilhor’s video as amusing banter and just replied, “I love this (crying with laughter emoji)”

More users came in speaking in favor of their residential areas, or in some cases with their work cities. As the friendly (or not-so-friendly) never-ending debate between the two NCR cities continues online, the serious question over accountability of the cities’ development remains an important one.

(This is an updated version of the article)

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