Went to Gurgaon the other day. First the auto wallah refused to take me. Said, it's unsafe to loiter around border areas, traffic police constables are major irritants. They routinely check for identification and registration papers and ask for money. Took a bus instead. The ride lasted for an hour. Got down at arcus square, near the arcus mall. It was interesting a landmark was named in lieu of its proximity to a shopping mall. Asked around for Green valley condominium complex. An old man with wrinkled face and hollowed cheeks wearing a white button down cotton shirt with black trousers sitting, on a folded news paper by the footpath told me that it was around two kilometers from there. Auto charges for ferrying a passenger were 'eik patta', a hundred bucks. Decided to walk instead.

Walked straight down the road for a kilometer. On my left were high-rise apartments. Office complexes were on the right. Shinning steel and pane glass, landscaped greens within fenced walls. Trudged half a kilometer more then left the main road. Took the second left and entered what appeared to be residential colony. Stood beside a board. It was the plan of the area. Arrows indicated the direction. Somewhere on the top the location where I stood was marked 'YOU ARE HERE'. Colours indicated the divisions-houses, roads, and trees. Scale proportionately divided the meters into inches. I read the map and started walking on the territory. Well-laid roads divided the colony into plots of various sizes. The plots were cut, demarcated and enclosed within raised boundary walls and fences. Saplings guarded with iron casing were planted on either side of the road. The mud around the plants was wet. Some men on a tractor with a water tank on its trolley were treading ahead. Stopping now and then resuscitating a flora back to life.

Wandered around for another twenty minutes in the colony without houses. Took a few rights and a few lefts. Reached the condominium complex. Green valley was neither green nor valley it was something else. Two towers, two gates, road on three sides, uniformed, armed security guards, CCTV cameras, razor wire fences, metal detectors, electromagnetic access cards, opti golf, swimming pools, gym, billiards, pool tables, studio apartments and penthouses-the works. Inhabitants include, employees-all outsourced, few owners and many tenants.

Waited for half an hour to get through the security check. Maybe there was something in my approach that triggered caution, unsolicited sweaty pedestrian wearing floaters, jean and T-shirt, and a bag on the shoulder, being in Gurgaon I think that the South Asian male in mid twenties-bit was given a go.

Winked at the aggressive supervisor while going through, he winked back and smiled. Met Sheeba Kanwar, the estate manager at Green Valley.