messy wanderings in panipat
i landed in panipat and tried to find a spot to sit while the city hums around me i just checked and it's a bit chilly but the sun is peeking through the smog there right now, hope you like that kind of thing the air feels thick like it's been filtered through a cloth factory and i can hear the distant clang of looms some old rumor says someone told me that the battles of 1526 1556 and 1761 still echo in the dusty streets if you get bored, delhi and chandigarh are just a short drive away and ambala too with its own vibe you can hop on a train or a bus and be there in an hour or two the food here is simple but hearty i ate a bowl of rajma with rice and it was warm enough to make you forget the pollution i walked past the textile markets where piles of leftover fabrics look like colourful hills someone told me that the city is known as the cast off clothes capital of the world and that makes sense when you see the mountains of scraps outside the workshops the map below shows where i am standing right now
i snapped a few pictures of the old battlefield markers and the weavers at work i think these shots capture the weird mix of history and industry
the weather here swings from hot to humid so i always carry a bottle of water and a hat the evenings can be surprisingly cool especially in january when the fog rolls in and the temperature drops to the low sixties i just checked and it's...there right now, hope you like that kind of thing the locals seem friendly but they are used to the constant hum of factories and the occasional cough from the air i guess they have accepted it as part of life the city’s vibe is a strange blend of old battle stories and modern textile waste i felt both the weight of history and the smell of chemicals in the air it’s not a typical tourist spot but it has a gritty charm that keeps you glued the people here celebrate diwali and holi with a lot of enthusiasm even if the streets are lined with plastic bags and smoke the festivals light up the night and you can hear fireworks mixing with the distant rumble of trucks the real estate rates are cheap and that attracts a lot of workers who come from surrounding villages and stay in cramped rooms the rent is low but the noise never stops you can hear the clatter of machinery even at midnight the city also has a reputation for being one of the most polluted places in india with a cepec index of 59 in 2009 i read that and thought wow that’s heavy but the locals just keep going about their day i guess they have built a resilience that comes from being surrounded by history and industry all at once if you ever need a break from the usual tourist spots panipat offers a raw unfiltered look at a place that never sleeps i just checked and it's...there right now, hope you like that kind of thing maybe one day the city will clean up its act but for now it lives in its own messy rhythm
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