Have you ever noticed how often the same place keeps popping up in the stories of successful people around you? One Delhi resident says he did, and surprisingly, the answer kept pointing towards West Delhi. Gajendra Jangid, Cars24 co-founder, took to X to share an observation that began with a simple curiosity about the number of accomplished people around him who seemed to share the same pin code.
"I keep running into the same pin code - West Delhi," Jangid wrote. He listed people from his professional circle, including a founder whose products are part of his daily routine, a person leading GenAI at Cars24, a product leader and someone who built an NBFC. Even his gym trainer, he noted, is from West Delhi. At first, Jangid wondered if he was simply experiencing selection bias and noticing West Delhi connections because they happened to exist within his own social circle. So he decided to look beyond his immediate surroundings.
Then he noticed it outside the office
His curiosity led him to some familiar names from the world of sports and entertainment. Jangid pointed out that Virat Kohli grew up in Uttam Nagar, while former cricketer Virender Sehwag is associated with Najafgarh. Singer Neha Kakkar, too, hails from Uttam Nagar.
"Here is the part that got me," he wrote, before putting the numbers into perspective. According to his post, West Delhi is home to around 25 lakh people across 129 square kilometres. That's one district among Delhi's 11, yet Jangid felt the area seemed to keep appearing in places where people were building businesses, careers and creative pursuits.
That observation prompted a bigger question: Is there something about West Delhi that makes its people particularly entrepreneurial?
Could the answer lie in 1947?
Jangid's theory takes the story back to Partition. He pointed to neighbourhoods such as Punjabi Bagh, Rajouri Garden, Patel Nagar, Kirti Nagar and Tilak Nagar, many of which were shaped by the resettlement of families who came to Delhi after Partition.
Punjabi Bagh, for instance, was initially known as "Refugees Colony" before being renamed in 1960, according to Jangid's post. His larger argument is that generations grew up in households where business wasn't simply a career choice, but part of everyday life.
"The shop is downstairs. Dinner is customers, credit, margins, the guy who still hasn't paid. A kid absorbs a P&L before he knows the word," he wrote. It's an evocative way of describing a culture where children could grow up watching parents and relatives run businesses, negotiate with customers and manage finances from an early age.
The safety net theory
Jangid also offered another possible explanation: home ownership. He argued that many families who settled in these neighbourhoods eventually owned the homes they lived in. While that didn't necessarily make them wealthy, he suggested it could provide a degree of financial stability. And that, he believes, can matter when someone in their twenties decides whether to stick with a secure job or take a chance on starting something of their own.
"Not wealthy, but not fragile. That is exactly the floor a 25-year-old needs to say no to a safe job," he wrote.
So, is West Delhi really more entrepreneurial?
That's where Jangid leaves the question open. Rather than presenting his observation as a definitive explanation, he asked people from West Delhi to weigh in: "What did I miss west delhi folks - what makes you so entrepreneurial? Or I am just hallucinating." The post has sparked curiosity because the theory combines neighbourhood pride with a deeper question about how family history, migration, property ownership and exposure to business can shape ambition across generations.
And then, because this is West Delhi, Jangid ended his serious investigation on exactly the right note: "Also, somebody please tell me what exactly they put in that chole bhature."
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