Life Lessons

Aero City: A Place With A Difference

The International Cross-Cultural discussions at Aero City

What is Aero City?

Aero City is a city by itself. Spending one day is not enough. It is a large expanse of about 10 km of space with many beautiful architectural buildings, fountains open spaces, and places to eat. It is a place for rest. People from all over the world come here. People from India come and spend relaxation time and it is popular for staycations as well.

The Aero City has been widely acclaimed as a place where the East meets the West. There are a lot of foreigners who change flights or who have to spend a night coming and staying at the New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (India) till they hop on to another flight. With this purpose in mind, it was considered to be a peaceful haven adjoining New Delhi and near the international airport.

I had never been there as I always thought it is too far away to drive. Also, I was never sure of the directions and no one was too keen to accompany me. One of my peer group friends Sandy is equally curious and interested in discovering these places and not afraid of what will happen there.

We decided to book a day cab and be adventurous to find this place. The cab driver came to pick me and I told him that I had never been there. He assured me that two women were perfectly safe with him and we would be fine.

I picked up Sandy from her residence. Two hours later we arrived at a beautiful place with a lot of hotels well spaced out. It seemed a beautiful place. Then we saw Metropolitan Mall1 as signage.

He asked us where do you want to go? Having seen Google we said we wanted to go to the Mall. He reached and said your destination has reached. This is the Mall. We went a little ahead and we saw Metropolitan Mall 2. We then went ahead and it said Metropolitan Mall 3. We were confused. He told us that he would drop us at the parking lot and we should take the lift to go in.

When we went up to the Mall we were greeted by a person who handed over a coupon. We were reluctant to take it but he persuaded us saying we might win something. So I asked Sandy to pick one coupon.

We also got the opportunity to find out about the other malls. We were told this is a mall with a difference. It was interconnected through the building. It was not a shopping mall and just had a few shops for the needs of the international visitors. One of the ushers said-

“Enjoy the architecture. Have fun meeting people from all over the world. There are lovely places to eat. Also, there are Pre Christmas celebrations which you will enjoy”.

At The Aero City

We were struck by the beauty, neatness, and architecture of the huge Mall. Everything around was full of Christmas cheer. Christmas was still far away. It was two weeks away but the music and dance shows over there showed us that Christmas had begun.

Around the Mall, there were several hotels from reasonable to expensive. From ordinary to classy and we discovered that we could not see all in one day. We decided to spend time making friends restricted to the Mall and that was fun and a day well spent. We would have to come again to explore more parts of Aero City.

Making International Connections

We met lots of international visitors and we had fun taking pictures with them. They asked us about Indian sweets. what was a laddu? Then they asked about Gulab Jamun and where they could get it? What was burfi? The picture below is of a laddu

The foreign visitors were surprised that we celebrated Christmas in India in a big way. We sang some Christmas carols with the singers over there and then saw some beautiful dances.

There were many questions about Indian festivals, marriages, education, dress, customs and so many more.

While we were chatting away we suddenly heard Sandy’s name blaring on a speaker. When she presented herself over there, she was told that the coupon that we had received was a lucky number for a free meal for two people. What a delight it was for a restaurant called ‘Plum By Bent Chair’, as an unusual name but with international cuisine especially catering to international guests.

We made friends for life with Swedish, Canadian, and Australian visitors. We also met Indians who are now Canadians and were visiting home. Everyone loved the Christmas tree and the lucky shoe and the reindeer that was specially created in the Mall for Christmas.

The takeaways

#1 Be adventurous: Everyone should visit new places as they may be filled with surprises. A place like Aero City must be cherished as it is a safe haven for people looking for beauty and peace.

#2. Make International Connections: If you are open to meeting people you may be able to make friends for life. The world is a small place it has become so globalized. You can meet like-minded people everywhere.

#3. Learning cross-cultural values: You always have a lot to learn about people from different countries. You will be able to understand how people live, their food habits, dress, and festivals.

#4. Importance of peer group: It is important to have a peer group that will be ready to experience new things in life. Sharing ideas is fun. Two people together can see and experience and understand many things together.

#5. Discovery of beautiful places: Discover new places and enjoy the fun and surprises that you get over there. We landed up to find a lot of Christmas cheer and made friends for life.

To conclude

Don’t shy away from experiences in life. Enjoy them fully. There are several lessons we learn from meeting people from different parts of the world. After all the world is now a globalized village.

Life is all about communication and connection. Connect with each other for a positive and happy world.

I would like to give a shout-out to Marcus who wrote a very emotional poem on his mother’s 80th birthday.

©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2021.

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