A public space should be an open vista, accessible to children and lovers and tramps and preachers and old people, because everyone has a right to the city. And the working classes have special stakes in them. While those who can afford it devise their own entertainment in fancy movie theatres or restaurants, city commons are vital for those who want to hang out somewhere without spending money merely to occupy a space. A place like India Gate, where multitudes gather just to watch a child chuck a ball or buy a string of jasmine, eat ice cream and hang out in the open, socialise and gawk at the world, is an eloquent statement on how badly our lives need room for spontaneous, free-form fun.

Perhaps it stands to sense that a society of stark partitions will produce a civic arena just as shrunken and joyless. But then again, cities are the places we transcend petty divisions and learn to relate as impersonal, equal citizens despite them. That’s the grand ethical project at the heart of city life — to be urbane is to be civilised, at the deepest level. It is the tragedy of our towns that they resist this urban adventure, and choose to remain hemmed in rather than living in difference.

amulya.gopalakrishnan@expressindia.com