what does the metro mean to the indian city how does it change a citys mental landscape or condition the way people behave inside this crucible of modernity rashmi sadana an anthropologist with a phd from the university of california berkeley and a postdoctorate from columbia has spent the last three years journeying along various metro lines across delhi in search of answers at a time when the metro is making rapid inroads into both metropolitan india and tier ii cities her insights prove significant for the country and its capital sadana says the metro map has given a new shape to the city with delhis hinterlands becoming part of an everexpanding and mappable city all of a sudden places like shahdara jhandewalan dwarka rohini and rithala have become places that exist as people are seeing those names reproduced on map after map new outer suburbs have emerged and old places such as karol bagh chawri bazaar and chandni chowk have become new she says in her research paper while many people may not know that mundka exists the fact that its on the same map as cp and qutub minar gives it a newlydefined identity in addition to providing places like jehangirpuri a new identity the metro has helped liberate women from lowincome houses in the area who feel safe venturing onto the metro alone and for the first time are confident of travelling to india gate without their husbands sadana cites the instance of a divorcee in her fifties who didnt know driving and was entirely dependent first on her husband and then on a hired driver who gushed about how the metro had changed her relationship with delhi giving her a new kind of confidence the glittering infrastructure has imposed its own social order as well people mostly sit quietly they do not eat or drink or spit most noticeable is what is missing heat sweat food smell trash says sadana women in mumbai where the metro is in progress already enjoy more freedom and mobility than their peers in delhi and may not need a metro to liberate them but the metro will change the dynamics of the city in other ways by providing the much needed eastwest connectivity people whose daily commute is between the east and west of the city usually have to backtrack along train lines to reach their destination suddenly their commute will get a lot shorter says mahesh vijapurkar lead writer for mumbais human development report 2009 in fastpaced mumbai less time commuting translates into more time for family and a social life kolkatas metro the first in india helped shrink the city bringing the north and south closer together no other mode of transport gets you from the northernmost point to the southernmost point of the city in 49 minutes claims protyush ghosh dgm kolkata metro before the advent of the metro a female journalist from dum dum in the far north rarely traveled to south kolkata