4 min readAug 25, 2026 05:30 PM IST First published on: Aug 25, 2026 at 05:18 PM ISTIs Gurgaon worth living in? Or, for that matter, is a fancy apartment in Koramangala or a gated colony in South Delhi? For much of the time, most of the year, those who have done well enough – thanks to circumstances, inheritance, luck and, of course, hard work – to buy their way out of the tribulations that the majority of Indians suffer through don’t even really ask the question. We can go from an air-conditioned private vehicle – Ubers and Olas included – to an air-conditioned office, looking at the heat, sun and those who live on the street through tinted sunglasses. Our children do not need much from the state – their school is private, their care and that of the home often outsourced, wholly or in substantial measure, to the “help”. Healthcare can be afforded and availed in private hospitals that rival hotels in their swankiness.Lives of luxury that would be unfathomable to most of our counterparts in the West, made possible by being well off in a poor country.AdvertisementWe complain, of course, but deep down, are bound to realise that for all the whingeing about bad roads and poor systems, life isn’t all that bad. Sometimes, though, this island of privilege is breached, if even for a few hours or a day or two at most.The harrowing tale of Siddharth Kasid will resonate with many. The 39-year-old resident of Uniworld Gardens, Gurugram, who works at an investment bank, was forced to wade through waist deep water to all but rescue his daughter and other children stranded on the highway. Their schoolbus, among several others carrying children as young as four and five years old, was not moving for hours – thanks to the flooded roads that are a consequence of Gurugram’s poor civic infrastructure. Hazarika summed up his ordeal with the following conclusion: “Gurgaon is simply not worth living in anymore. 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 once this academic session ends.”The parent’s anger is understandable. Like so many of us, he faced the brutality of life in India not as routine but as a rupture. He was shocked at the fact that “In my professional life, I manage a team of 45 people, and we make sure there is basic courtesy and communication; here, the authorities showed none.” How many of us, though, treat everyone in our lives with the same dignity that we expect? How many of the colonies in Gurugram, Noida and all over the country have “service lifts” for workers whose collars aren’t white?AdvertisementHis colony, like many others, is green, well-constructed and has many an amenity within its gates. But sewage and stormwater drains, roads and public infrastructure are not private goods. For the many who live on the roads that are now flooded, traverse them in public buses (even the Metro is sometimes too expensive for working people in NCR) and shared rickshaws, and walk the terrible footpaths, the monsoon havoc is just a different degree of what they face every day. Their children, too, are stuck in more ways than one.you may likeNone of this is to say that the government should not provide basic infrastructure or not be held accountable. For that, though, people with a voice and privilege will have to stop walling themselves off. Or just move because we can afford to.The writer is associate editor, The Indian Express. aakash.joshi@expressindia.com