The images of vehicles stranded for hours on Gurugram’s highways after Monday’s rains were not just about one evening’s chaos. They were a mirror to India’s most glaring urban paradox: the co-existence of futuristic corporate skylines and crumbling civic foundations. What unfolded was not a natural disaster but an urban planning failure. A downpour, foreseeable during monsoon, brought one of the nation’s richest cities to a standstill. Tens of thousands of commuters spent six to eight hours trapped in their cars, some contemplating sleeping in offices, others joking they would reach faster on foot.

This was not mere inconvenience; it was a collapse of confidence in the idea that prosperity automatically translates into liveability. Gurugram has long projected itself as the “millennium city,” a hub for global corporations, luxury apartments, and gleaming malls. Yet, beneath the glass facades and multilane expressways lies an urban skeleton unable to withstand........

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