With a metro population of roughly 33 million people… (pause for dramatic affect)… Delhi is the largest city in the largest country on earth. In the overall world rankings, it is 2nd only to Tokyo, but it’s gaining ground fast! In the average Delhi day, there are ~837 births and ~360 deaths, which gives us a natural increase of ~477 people per day. On top of that, there are an additional 200–275 migrants that arrive here per day, mostly from neighboring countries, or rural parts of India. Meanwhile, Tokyo is actually shrinking.
With a population of ~4.3 million, Jaipur is the largest city in the magical west-Indian state of Rajasthan. It is also the capital of Rajasthan, and thusly is the center of political and economic power in Rajasthan. Jaipur was not built until 1727, which is relatively late in the grand scheme of India. Indeed, it was constructed from scratch to replace the previous Rajasthani capital, Amber, which—having been a center of power since the 11th century—was apparently getting crowded and having issues with water availability.
Jaipur was the first city in India to have been planned from scratch, and as such, it has some unique features. To me, the most striking of these features is that it adheres to a very strict grid system, like Chicago. In older cities that evolved over centuries or millennia, in India and elsewhere, you will find no such geometric uniformity.
I had gone back and forth about whether or not I would actually visit this shrine to tourism. Was it really worth my time? At that point I was leaning towards skipping it. Maybe it was a genuine change of heart, or maybe it that thick southern accent triggering my American nostalgia, but I decided that this guy was preaching the truth. As much as I hated it, I was pretty much obligated to go.
