Mayur Vihar

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Mayur Vihar is a residential suburb in East Delhi. It is situated across the River Yamuna or the Trans-Yamuna or Jamna-Par of the main city of Delhi. Mayur Vihar as the name suggest is the dwelling (vihar) of Peacock (Mayur).

The new upcoming CommonWealth Games village is also very close by. The proximity to Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station, Connaught Place and Southern Parts of Delhi make it an attractive real estate. This is also boosted by the fact that a greater part of Mayur Vihar is to be connected by Delhi Metro Rail. Mayur Vihar is a relatively recent suburb of Delhi. It has been developed in three phases.

[edit] Mayur Vihar Phase I

It is situated between NOIDA, Old Patparganj, Trilokpuri, Chilla Village and River Yamuna. Mayur Vihar Phase-1 is used to refer to the main DDA flats, Housing Co-Operative Society Buildings, East-End Apartments, Samachar Apartments and nearby Ashok Nagar across the Hindon 'nallah' which drains itself into River Yamuna.

The DDA flats here are organized as Pockets of which there are Five named numerically from One to Five. Mayur Vihar Phase I houses the famous Uttara Guruvayoorappan Temple which is built on the exact lines of the most famous shrine[1][2] of Kerala. This is the landmark which on its own lends the colony a unique character. People from all over the city visit this temple. But some parts of Mayur Vihar Phase I have been crassly commercialised. The most popular market area is the 'Acharya Niketan' market which houses brands of various commodities.

[edit] Mayur Vihar Phase II

Mayur Vihar-II situated in East Delhi, is adjacent to Vinod Nagar, Sanjay Jheel Park and KalyanVas Janta Flats. It was set up in 1984. One characteristic about flats in this area is that each is planned to face a park or green belt.

Sanjay Jheel Park increases the aesthetic sense of this complex. As you travel from Delhi towards Ghaziabad, about two kilometers past the Akshardham Temple, you take a right turn to enter this locality (the turn is marked by two adjacent petrol pumps). The whole area is divided into Pockets Alphabetically named A, B, C, D, E and F. There are markets and commercial complexes too for everyday shopping. One speciality of this place is that it has ATMs of almost all banks. There are several nursing homes and clinics too. Many schools of Delhi operate buses so that students from here can be picked up.

The Place has acquired a cosmopolitan character over the years. It has a sizeable population of South Indians like Tamilians, Malayalees, Kannadigas, Telugus, and also others such as Oriyas and Bengalis; in addition to the staple Punjabi population of several Delhi colonies. Because of this cosmopolitan mix, it has places of worship for all communities. There is a Karunya Mahaganapathi Temple which is visited by South Indians from all over Delhi and is highly popular. It hosts Carnatic Classical concerts throughout the year. Over the last few years, the real estate value of properties in Mayur Vihar Phase II has more than tripled and it is considered one of the best localities in Delhi, considering its proximity to the City centre, safety and security, attitude of the residents, abundant parks (over 30 in number in addition to the Sanjay Lake Park), cosmopolitan character, connectivity etc.

Mayur Vihar II has been so neglected by DTC, the Government-owned Delhi Transport Corporation, that people here have to depend on taxis and autorickshaws to travel out. The DTC has taken up a plot in this colony to construct a depot called the East Vinod Nagar Depot but operates buses to remote villages in Uttar Pradesh from here. It may be shocking to note that there is no bus from here to any of the major landmarks in Delhi. In fact the other two phases of Mayur Vihar are not connected by buses so that residents have to shell out huge amounts to autorickshaws to reach Phase I or Phase III. Noida is another country altogether. It is easier to reach Lahore from Mayur Vihar Phase II than to reach Noida. Another problem with this place is the lack of eateries, especially good south Indian eateries considering that a large percentage of the population here is South Indian (although some sweet shops cum modest restaurants have recently sprung up). If one is hungry, one has to cook food or else take an auto or taxi to travel far away for food. Another problem is that the Sanjay Lake Park, the pride of this area has been taken over by hoodlums and the Municipal authorities pay little attention to what could become a prime tourist attraction (although the park is fairly green and lots of families do walk here in the mornings/evenings). Also the arterial road connecting the locality to Central Delhi, NH24 is so clogged by traffic that commuting becomes a nightmare. Another serious problem is the monkey menace.

Monkeys are known to enter houses, threaten inhabitants and destroy property. They have also bitten people. There is also a stray dog menace. But everything said and done this locality is a pleasure to dwell in, one of the best residential colonies to the east of the Yamuna.

But sadly, while the commonwealth games are to be held very near Mayur Vihar Phase II, and as we are led to believe, the Asian Games and the Olympics too, no developmental plans are in place for this locality. The Delhi Metro has bypassed Mayur Vihar Phase II,which must be one of the very few Delhi localities that will not be connected by Metro. So have all other transport facilities, malls, shopping complexes, hospitals, so much so that residents of Mayur Vihar Phase II feel that they have been deliberately excluded from the goodies that other regions of East Delhi have been getting in the name of Commonwealth games. The ongoing MCD sealing threat has spread such a terror in this area and destabilised it that safe living and real estate costs have once again started plummeting.

[edit] Mayur Vihar Phase III

Mayur vihar phase III is located close to NOIDA border on one side, Kondli and Kalyanpuri on the other side .The Pockets here are named A -1 , A- 2, A- 3 and so on.

One characteristic of Phase III is that it boasts some of the good schools in Delhi (Ryan Inernational, St. Marys, Salwan, Andrews Scott and Kerala School are few of them). The ambiance and the surrounding areas of Phase III needs a lot more attention.

The real estate price here has been on the rise and in fact has doubled within a year's time. It is an attractive destination. The recent addition of Mini MIG flats made this place much more popular. Availability of a number of Schools within the residential pockets makes it an attractive area for the middle class. It is home to a lot of Keralites. Because of the multi-lingual composition of the population, this colony wears, to some extent, a semblance of metropolitan accommodation of difference of toungues which is uncharacterestic of Delhi, practically a monolingual city.