Colonial rule brought about major changes to Indian cities

The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the corners of the streets, the gratings of the windows, the banisters of the steps, the antennae of the lightning rods, the poles of the flags, every segment marked in turn with scratches, scrolls, indentations...
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities.

Cities are rooted to their past. The seeds of their growth or, alternatively, decay have a bearing on the circumstances that led to their formation in the first place. We have had in the past, cities that bespoke of the planning and design acumen of a bygone civilization, Mohenjodaro; those that have hugged and revered religious virtuosity, Benares; those that were odes to splendour, Lucknow, Murshidabad, Vijayanagar, Mysore; temple cities of the likes of Dwaraka, Puri, Ujjain, Haridwar, Kanyakumari, Badrinath-and then again those that died a premature death, having been denied life-support systems, such as Tughlakabad, Fatehpur Sikri. Guaranteeing perpetuity to a city may be an elusive proposition, and yet some cities have withstood the ravages of time to stand out as metaphors to factors that have proved timeless in content.

Today's living cities were established for various reasons, political, commercial, administrative, military, and education. That they will continue to flourish for the same reasons may not be true as history testifies. Most ancient Hindu cities have been lost to time, though their relics are sometimes found in parts of the country. In the Muslim period, many ancient cities fell, others underwent change, and few managed to preserve their traditional characteristics.

But it was the advent of European colonial rule in the 18th century that brought about exceptional change. New commercial and administrative cities got established and rose to prominence as centres of raw material export and foreign goods import. Foreign rulers further encouraged the setting up of new administrative cities, education centres, and military outposts at several strategic locations to carry out their political functions. Cities thus established facilitated the movement of labour and capital, and created the impetus for the industrial revolution in India.

The factory system (1880-95) and railways together helped in processing cotton, jute and other raw materials, further added to the formation of new cities and re-oriented existing ones. This was particularly true in the period following World War II. The genesis for the growth of India's giant cities (Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, and Madras) was provided by the era popularly known as the Raj.

The British successfully launched commercial cities with proven utility even long after their withdrawal. They understood the political and economic significance of a location-decision on a well-informed basis; they covered their initial risks by establishing their base in well-defended fortifications. They carefully consolidated, controlled, and managed their gains. They installed infrastructure for both business development and city development on modern scientific basis, creating a win-win situation. They retained exclusive monopoly over their durably created assets. History tends to repeat itself, though the processes may change. There is a lot of learning to do from the past.