The character of Gurgaon is drawn from its rural roots

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₹30 crore; those buildings have their own spas. As a result, many people were surprised, or maybe amazed, when mobs in Gurgaon burnt a mosque and several vehicles. They saw this as a contradiction—that shiny real estate for global companies and home to some of the highest paid Indians could also host religious riots.

But then, in real life, contradictions do not exist. That is the very nature of contradictions—they cannot exist. Many things that people consider contradictions are not: Sari-clad women who work as space scientists, urchins gawking at a restaurant or riots in the shadow of a mall are not contradictions.

Their co-existence is natural. Gurgaon is perfectly suitable for violence. The true character of a new town is never in the ‘new’ part; it is in the nature of its original population.

They are the base. I live in Gurgaon, which is less than 50km from Nuh, Ground Zero for the spate of violence that spilled into Gurgaon. Schools shut and people did not venture out.

Household helps who do not wear sindoor have fled, and those wearing vermillion have been filling in. A high proportion of helps, delivery boys, air-conditioner mechanics and drivers are Muslim migrants. Many of them have fled to Bihar, and it occurred to me that I now live in a place that some people would flee for Bihar.

How did I get here? Actual Gurgaon, which is mistakenly known as Old Gurgaon, emerges from a pastoral way of life and is even today rustic, and mindful of caste and religion. It has a history of communal tension, and is also one of the worst regions in India for women. Its mother ship, Haryana has a gender ratio of 879 females to every 1,000 males.