In the six decades since the creation of New Delhi as the capital of British India, the city has undergone a sea change. Made in initially to cater to a population of 70,000, the total urban population of Delhi now exceeds 10 million. The city has exploded in all directions beyond the confines of Lutyen's wide, tree-lined avenues, with an exuberance that is characteristically Indian.
Several factors have contributed to this breathless pace of growth. For North India, especially, Independence also meant Partition. In 1947, many Muslim families of Delhi migrated to Pakistan while many Hindus and Sikhs from west Punjab sought refuge in the city. They were given land west of the Ridge and south of New Delhi. Many of these refugees also built their houses across the Yamuna and north of Shahijahanabad. Since then, the influx into the city has not ceased. The manpower required by the government in the capital is itself staggering. Industrialists, entrepreneurs and migrant labor from all over India have turned to Delhi in search of livelihood and success, and made it a commercial capital as well. The cultivated fields which till recently could be seen on the outskirts of the city have been developed into residential colonies and commercial complexes. High-rise buildings now stand check-by-jowl with Delhi's 1300 monuments. Villages such as Khirkee, Begumpur, Hauz Khas, Sheikh Sarai and Nizamuddin, which grew around medieval Delhi's, shifting capital "cities", have now been engulfed by the urban sprawl. Many of them, however, retain their old-world characteristics.
