Chandigarh, the city beautiful, is the only city in India having the distinction of being the capital of two of the most progressive and prosperous states of India, Punjab and Haryana. The states, together, can be called the food bowl of India. The icing on the cake is provided by the fact that Chandigarh is a Union Territory governed by an administrator appointed by the central govt. This independence is reflected in the attitude of the people of Chandigarh who are easy-going, relaxed, enterprising and talented to the core.

The Vision
“Let this be a new town symbolic of the freedom of India. Unfettered by the traditions of the past……..an expression of the nation’s faith in the future.” said the great Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru when he envisioned Chandigarh as the new capital city for the state of Punjab in the beginning of the independent era of India’s history. At that time the state was undivided and comprised of the present-day states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and the present-day Punjab. At a time of crisis due to the partition of the country, Chandigarh was conceived as the first planned town of India. Although the building of this town was a compulsive decision (as Lahore, the capital of Punjab in undivided India, went to Pakistan), it became the symbol of a modern and sovereign India.

The site
In 1948, a committee was appointed by the Punjab Govt. with Mr. P.L. Verma, the chief architect, as the chairman for the construction of a planned capital city. After examining all the significant factors like safety, the distance from the Indo-Pak border, potable water, the climate and the location in terms of distance from all the major towns of North India, a site was selected by Dr.M.S. Randhawa, the then Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, in consultation with the committee. The site was approved by the central govt. in March, 1948.

The site that was finally chosen was spread over 24 hamlets and if one were to take into account all the small and big villages, the count comes out to be 59. It had two seasonal rivers running through it. The site had farms and mango tree groves all over its area of 114.59 sq. kms. Almost 9000 people were the original inhabitants of the place.  It lies in the foothills of the Shivalik range of the great Himalayas. The climate was mild with a temperature that enhanced the beauty even further. What better place can you find for the construction of a dream city!?

The Historical perspective of the site
The site chosen was earlier a lake surrounded by marsh all over and it has been discovered by examining the fossils at the site that it was a centre of the Harappan civilization that existed around 8000 years ago.

Through the medieval and modern times, the site was a part of the prosperous Punjab province as a part of the erstwhile Ambala District (as per the 1892-93 gazetteer of District Ambala). At the time when it was selected as the site for the new town, it was a part of the Ropar district of Punjab.

The name
Of the 24 hamlets that were situated at the area selected for building the city, one was called Chandigarh, named after the goddess Shri Chandika. A temple dedicated to the goddess was also there, so Chandigarh was decided upon as the name for the new city.
The Master Plan and the masters themselves.
The first master plan of the city was prepared by the famous American firm of that time, “Mayor, Whittleslay, Glass & Nowicki”. But the projected suffered a setback as the firm pulled out of the whole plan after the sudden demise of one of the partners, Nowicki, in August, 1950.
This setback actually proved to be a blessing in disguise for the project as the team then engaged the Frenchman Le Corbusier, perhaps the greatest architect of modern era, in 1951. He was renowned the world over for his immense contribution to the urban design theory since the 1920’s.
Chandigarh gave Le Corbusier the chance to put his great ideas into practice. He headed the team of architects that included great names like Maxwell Fry, Jane Drew, & Pierre Jeanneret. The team worked as a cohesive unit and the so-called conflict of ideas emanating out of such a scenario seems to have worked positively for the city. The city beautiful stands testimony to this.
The plan that was followed was such that the city was to be built in two phases with a total of 46 sectors to be constructed to accommodate a population of 5 lakh people on an area of 15000 acres. The first phase included construction of 29 sectors, each spread over a piece of land measuring 800 X 1200 meters.
Emphasis was laid on factors like the demography, the pollution, the regulation of traffic, the influx of tourists apart from the beauty of the whole design. The roads now known as Madhya Marg, Jan Marg, and Sarovar Path etc. were initially distinguished in seven categories and were named with V’s i.e. V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, and V7.

The architecture
In one paragraph, it can be summed up by stating that Le Corbusier equated the city with a living organism. It had a clearly defined head (i.e. the Capital Complex, Sector 1), a throbbing heart (the City Centre, the Plaza, Sector 17), lungs (the leisure valley, the gardens and the green belt in general), the intellect or the brain (the cultural and educational institutions), the circulatory system and the veins and arteries (the network of roads, the 7 Vs), and the viscera (the Industrial Area)
Another remarkable feature of the city is that no railway-crossings or highways interrupt the flow of the traffic. The life is as smooth as the traffic. And still, Chandigarh is one of the best-connected cities of India both in terms of railway and road transport.
The uniformity of design, the modern structures, the precise planning and the silky-smooth flow of life makes Chandigarh what it is, a gem in the crown of India!

The landscape
The height above sea-level ranges from 305 to 366 meters and has a moderate grain of 1 per cent providing adequate natural drainage. Towards the north and the northeast lie the foothills of the Himalayas, the romantic and captivating Shivalik Range. It rises to a height of more than 1500 meters and provides a charming natural backdrop to the city.  Of the two big seasonal streams, one, the Patiali ki Rao, lies on the western side of the city and the other, the Sukhna Choe, lies on the eastern side. Another, smaller seasonal stream flows through the heart of the city. A series of public gardens (called the Leisure Valley) has been developed along its banks.

The culture and the people
Chandigarh is a boiling pot of many cultures as it has attracted people from throughout India. Most of the people in Chandigarh belong to the service class. Residents of Chandigarh were accustomed to and known for their casual and leisurely lifestyle. But with the passage of time, it has gradually changed to a fast and busy city slowly moving towards becoming a metro. This is reflected in the fact that Chandigarh has now become a trendsetter in fashion.
People are peaceful, very friendly and extremely broad minded. People of Chandigarh are secular by nature. They believe in celebrating almost all the festivals of all the religions with no bias at all and with proper rites and rituals.
In Chandigarh mainly all the North-Indian languages are spoken. People of Chandigarh speak in Punjabi or Hindi or English - or combination of all of these. This mixture is the trademark slang of the people of Chandigarh. However, as people from nearly all parts of India come to Chandigarh, all kinds of languages can be found in Chandigarh.

The promising future…
With many new plans like the building of malls and diversification of the education sector, Chandigarh is slowly climbing up the development ladder. It has maintained its unique and distinct position as a trendsetter throughout its brief history and there are quite a few reasons to believe that it can only go further up from here. The city beautiful lives up to its name, both in terms of the physical beauty and the beautiful minds and hearts of the people residing in the city.