Cosmopolitanism is not a foreign expression to India or to Indians. A country harbouring such diversity does develop a sense of cosmopolitanism without trying too hard. India with its vast geographic extent has been welcoming to various neighbouring refugees and expatriates and its urban centres have been the epicentres of this flux. After gaining independence, in 1947 India aspired to establish itself on the global arena. The Leaders were driven by the excitement of a free India, a state promoting the idea of secularity and equality without any discrimination. The Indian Urban centres became the place for earning a living. These were a few in number and had no prior arrangements to cater or facilitate the huge immigration. Cities like Calcutta, Bombay and Madras became sites of massive population influx. People did not have the luxury to discriminate as all strived to earn a living. The urban centres developed into a true cosmopolitan state as it needed to cater to the diverse population that had taken shelter. After the globalization in the 1980’s, the emergence of the technological advancements transformed the jobs in India. The new jobs entailed one to be highly skilled and specialized with higher accountability. The populace was required to develop new skills such as numerical, analytical, communication and interactive skills. As a result more job opportunities were created. The 1991 liberalisation of the economy which facilitated the ease of doing business also added to the cities ever growing population. By the 1990s the Indian city had entered a new, post-nationalist stage. The established cities had deviated from what had been anticipated of them. Bangalore is a fine example where the liberalised economy has allowed the incoming of foreign capital and re-shaping the Indian urban fabric. Cities like Ahmedabad, I feel, is an example of a unique city which was not been affected by colonisation and succeeded to preserve its roots. Ahmedabad’s response to the commercial challenge of British rule was unlike that of other commercial cities. It always had a very strong mercantile and artisanal corporations and guilds. The city’s Mahajans used their commercial power to constrain interference by external political authorities in the management of city’s affairs. The city always maintained a high level of social trust which enabled them to reject British patronage and this helped the people to sustain a sense of an urban identity. The elites of the city helped to develop a strong institutional base which obviously attracted the youth from all parts of the country. But the city seems to be oblivious to the need of cosmopolitanism and thrives in community living. The city, for me, has not yet achieved the sense of cosmopolitanism in its true state. The concept of cosmopolitanism in Bombay often focused on the strategies of Communal tension and violence. In 1990, the city witnessed a horrific communal riot and bombings which marked a decline as a cosmopolitan city. The city claims to have undergone a social transformation since the 1990s and needs to be annealed by the multiple forms of cosmopolitan ingenuities and practices. The profound film industry based out of Bombay has portrayed the constant changes of the city through its films. The Bollywood cinema is an exaggerated depiction of the different ethnicities and lifestyles of India and even the world that imposes on India. If one studies the popular classics then one would get an insight on the Indian modernity at its rawest, its simplicities laid bare by the fate of traditions in contemporary life and arts which is nothing but the caricatures of ourselves. The author Sunil Khilnani in his book” the idea of India” states that the Shiv Sena imagines India not as a land of cosmopolitan miscegenation, but as a hierarchical grid that contains internally homogenous communities, each insulated from the others. This idea seeks to obliterate Bombay's cosmo­politanism, to wing its modernity and distribute the benefits of it to one, closed community. Bangalore, the ‘Silicone valley of Asia’ as it is famously known as, has also witnessed this influx of population from various parts of the country and the city has done a fairly good job at providing for this diverse populace. Bangalore does have its share of incidents on racial discrimination but in the recent past the city has managed to maintain a more humane decorum. Cosmopolitanism has always been a trait of Indian cities as the city has to accommodate the population due to the vast diversity of the nation itself. Kolkata, the city I hail from, in the1960s and 1970s, has suffered severe power shortages, shortage of foods and shelter among the lower portion of the societies created different political ideology in Kolkata and the rest portion of Bengal. The constant flow of refugees again hit Kolkata in 1970s during the Bangladesh Liberation War, which made the situation more chronic. Due to instable socio-political conditions and central government policies, different industries left the state. During this period Kolkata suffered worst and most due to huge migrants from Bangladesh and ignorance of central government to east India. Urban infrastructures of Kolkata had become insufficient for this extra population and city encircled by unplanned suburbs. During the mid-1980s, Mumbai took over Kolkata as India's most populous city. Lock out and shut down of industries were becoming regular events in those days. Jute based industries also lost their legacy. Poor infrastructure of Kolkata port led the situation more critical. After introducing of the LPG (liberalization, privatization and globalization) policy by the central government the economic recovery of the city gathered momentum after the 1990s. Kolkata is similar to Bombay with its colonial past but the way the city has progressed since then is very different from Bombay. Kolkata has been an attraction for its neighbours like Bihar, Odisha and Bangladesh. Migrants from these places have come to the city in search for jobs. The literary exchanges between India and Bangladesh takes place through Kolkata which allows and facilitates the idea of cosmopolitanism. The city celebrates art and this brings together people from different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. The city takes pride in its artists and sportsmen and is home to some of the renowned artists and athletes the country has seen. Kolkata, a city still living in its past glories, have not identified itself with the rapidly changing urban centres of India. The demand of the urban centres is ever increasing to provide public amenities to embrace the cosmopolitan change. The constant influx of Carpenters, plumbers, masons and other daily wage labours from Bihar and Odisha has added to the city’s diverse milieu. A large number of Bengalis have moved out of the city in search of better job and education, leaving behind a vacuum. The city has embraced the ‘Marwadi’ community who prosper with their trades. In my opinion, the city has not done justice to the potential of growth it began with and this is being reflected as the youth of the city is abandoning the city for better prospects. The city is divided into North Kolkata which is the oldest part of the city with its colonial past and the after-independence extension of the city in the south, comprising of the elite and intellectuals. In recent years the city has expanded and tried to accommodate the rise in its working population by creating new residential urban centres namely, New Town (Rajarhat) extension of the city away from the river Hooghly to the north east of the city and commercial urban centre at sector V Salt lake. The city is still going through massive physical transformations with real estate prices soaring through the roof. The newly constructed urban centres of the city are dead spaces waiting to be used and inhabited willingly. The city is a unique blend of past and the present and requires much richer sensibilities in order to sustain as a Cosmopolitan. The cities in contemporary India have been rather open towards accepting the inbound population and have become the home to millions. I believe India’s strength as a nation lies in its city’s ability to nurture the existing and transform as and when required to cater to the fluctuating population. The administrative bodies of these urban centres cannot live in denial of the cosmopolitanism that has encompassed our society and I believe true measures needs to be taken to accommodate the changes, for a better and healthy functioning of the modern society.