Bicycles from the city's own factories roll beside auto-rickshaws, scooters and cars, and it can feel as if everyone is heading to Chaura Bazaar at once. In the old market lanes, carts stacked with woolen sweaters squeeze through the traffic, because much of India's winter knitwear starts its journey right here.
Beyond the market, the green campus of Punjab Agricultural University keeps a museum of the village life it helped transform, and the Nehru Rose Garden opens up lawns and fountains. Summers are scorching, the monsoon rains arrive in July, and winter nights turn properly cold. A Local Friend keeps the plan loose, so a jammed road can become a detour into a neighborhood you had never heard of.
