India is undergoing a period of extraordinary urban transformation. For the first time in modern Indian history, the rate of urban growth is higher than that of the rural. Material transformations -- freeways and tollways, malls and gated communities, changing work patterns and new forms of consumerism -- are, however, also accompanied by social and cultural changes. What is also of enormous significance is that accelerated urbanism is not just a facet of life in large metropolises. It is also transforming lives in the towns and cities across India beyond those cities that have been the usual focus of scholars of urbanism.