Around thirty-six rehabilitation colonies were created as emergency projects in Delhi, which shape the city as it is today. The great influx of population in the capital meant its definition and extension beyond Shahjahanabad and Lutyens’ New Delhi. In the context of spatiality, the area of the city grew from 42 sq kms in 1901 to 445 sq kms in 1971. Out of 47.5 lakhs refugees who migrated to India, around 4.9 lakhs came to Delhi and of the total population of Delhi in 1951, refugees made up 28.4 per cent. Majority of the refugees were from West Pakistan, including Hindu Punjabis from West Punjab, non-Muslim Pathans from North West Frontier Provinces, and Sindhis from Sind. According to Gyanendra Pandey, Delhi truly gained the character of a ‘refugee-istan’.

The refugees’ whereabouts took up every conceivable space, and for some period of time, the binary of private and public mattered less in the face of colossal losses: of both materials and relations, the home and homeland. Camps, although, were reminders of grave privations and cramped spaces but were also windows for rekindled conviviality, and often we find narratives replete with yearning for mohallas of camps. When the transition from camps to colonies occurred, the attempts to recreate old lives continued through language and culture, if not the actual physicality of their original homes.