ABSTRACT
This chapter makes a study of the general sociological history of the freshly independent democracy of India and regards the city-space as an extension of the striated, overcrowded, unplanned scenario nationwide during 1950–60. “Realism” is the central theme of this chapter, tackled through two sociological strands with appropriate case studies—the bourgeois upper class’ struggle to adjust to the grimy urban sphere full of commoner migrants looking for work, and the displaced settlers from rural as well as underprivileged ‘Dalit’ background. There are even further sub-themes—namely, the city as a gender-empowering agent and a stiflingly casteist habitat behind the liberal facade. I have five case studies here from a variety of socio-economic and gender backgrounds, backed by an overview of Nehruvian urban planning, its inherent problems and rising political awareness.
