Abstract. − Taking inspiration from M. N. Srinivas’s autobiographical writings and his writings on Bangalore, this article by an author, born and brought up in Old Delhi, is concerned with the impact the city exercises on the consciousness of a person. The article submits that the Old Delhi was far from being homogenous; each of its lanes (or neighbourhoods) had its own characteristics. This is substantiated by comparing two neighbourhoods, one where the author was born and had his primary socialisation, and the other where he grew up to be a man. On this basis, a distinction is made between “material neighbourhood” and “social neighbourhood,” the former corresponding to the Chicago model of urban life as being anonymous and segmental, and the other which is like a face-to-face, kin-oriented rural society. An account of different occupational groups, some of which have now almost disappeared, is also provided. That Delhi is multicultural and multiethnic, with no hegemony of any lifestyle, gives it the reputation of being the most sought after places in India. [India, Delhi, caste, kinship, neighbourhood, socialization, mobility, memory ethnography]