PoV Lecture 22: Kya Aapke Sheher Mein Gaon Hai?

#lecture22: Kya Aapke Sheher Mein Gaon Hai?

What happens to a village when the city slowly grows around it?

Delhi often feels like a city that never stops expanding. Flyovers stretch further each year, glass towers climb higher, and neighbourhoods appear where fields once stood. Yet hidden within the city are places that seem to follow a completely different rhythm. Step off the main road and the lanes suddenly narrow. A buffalo might be tied outside a home, and a centuries-old mosque appears quietly between tightly packed buildings.

These are Delhi’s urban villages.

For this lecture, Dr. Ekta Chauhan takes us into these neighbourhoods through stories, humour, and lived experience. Born and raised in Khirki village, she brings a rare insider’s perspective to places where ancestral settlements and rapid urban development collide every day.

Drawing from her book Sheher Mein Gaon and years of research, the talk explores how migrants, heritage monuments, cafés, speculative real estate, and old village homes all end up sharing the same streets. It asks a deceptively simple question: when the city arrives, what becomes of the village? Does it disappear, adapt to urban life, or slowly transform into something entirely unexpected?

Join us for an evening that invites us to look at Delhi a little differently, through the lanes, histories, and everyday negotiations of its urban villages.

About the Speaker

Dr. Ekta Chauhan is a researcher of cities, cultures, and communities and an Assistant Professor at the Jindal School of Design and Architecture, O.P. Jindal Global University. She holds a B.A. (Hons.) in History from St. Stephen’s College, a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, and a PhD in World Heritage Studies from BTU Cottbus, Germany.

Born and raised in Khirki village in Delhi, her work explores the rural–urban dynamics of the city and the everyday lives of communities negotiating rapid urban change. Her recent book Sheher Mein Gaon traces Delhi’s history through the stories and transformations of its urban villages.

Her engagement with storytelling began in 2016 when she started leading heritage walks in Khirki village. Over the past decade, she has hosted more than 5,000 visitors including tourists, students, locals, photographers, and researchers, guiding them through heritage sites such as Satpula and Khirki Masjid as well as the village’s lanes, homes, and cultural landmarks.

📌 Note: Alcohol will be served only to guests aged 25 and above. Non-alcoholic options will be available. Attendance implies consent to being filmed for event documentation.