What makes a city uniquely itself? Is it its geography, history, location? Is it its leaders, aspirations, demographics? Or is it a palpable spirit, wrought of a combination of all these, that seeps intothe soil over centuries, and charges the air, infecting residents and visitors alike? Two decades of exploring her hometown - and reading, writing and talking about it - has convinced Roopa Pai that the last is cities are neither born nor made, they become. In this collection of evocative essays, she trawls the city's history to tease out bits of the Bangalore jigsaw - a scientist's quest for excellence, a maharani's foresight, an entrepreneur's vision, a chief minister's ambition, a writer's pride inhis language, and more - in an effort to trace the genesis of the liberal soul of the metropolis and its ability to offer inclusive, creative, laid-back spaces amid its frenetic growth. What emerges is a fascinating mosaic that reveals how a little sixteenth-century settlement on a hill became India's most charismatic city.