What makes a city uniquely itself?Is it itseography, history, location? Is it its leaders, aspirations, demographics? Or is it a palpable spirit, wrought of a combination of all these, that seeps into the soil over centuries, and charges the air, infecting residents and visitors alike? Two decades of exploring her hometown – and reading, writing and talking about it – has convinced Roopa Pai that the last is true: cities are neither born nor made, they become.In this collection of evocative essays, she trawls the citys history to tease out bits of the Bangalore jigsaw – a scientists quest for excellence, a maharanis foresight, an entrepreneurs vision, a chief ministers ambition, a writers pride in his language, and more – in an effort to trace theenesis of the liberal soul of the metropolis and its ability to offer inclusive, creative, laid-back spaces amid its freneticrowth. What emerges is a fascinating mosaic that reveals how a little sixteenth-century settlement on a hill became Indias most charismatic city.
