Most people like to live in a neighbourhood of the similar and the familiar. In India we took it a step too far. In an Agraharam only Brahmins, often of the same sub-caste, would live. Dalits in a village were told where their place was. Moving into urban spaces, people continued to live among people they were familiar with. In my home city of Hyderabad the Maharashtrians from regions that were part of the erstwhile Nizam’s kingdom tended to live in and around Kacheguda. Tamilians, who came with the British-Indian army, lived in Marredpally. When Muslims moved out of the Old City they tended to live among their own in and around Masab Tank.
As the nation’s capital expanded, people arriving from different parts of the country found comfort in living among their own. Punjabi Bagh, naturally, had more Punjabis. Ramakrishnapuram had more South Indians. Bengalis felt more comfortable living among their own in Chittaranjan Park and in Bombay (Mumbai), the Tamils congregated around Chembur. As urbanization spreads new neighbourhoods come up but the effort is always to find neighbourhoods where one can live with the similar and the familiar.
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