This research examines how Indian literature uses the city as a layered space where memory, migration and identity are constantly shaped and reshaped thoroughly. By comparing three major novels in English by Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and Arundhati Roy besides renowned and influential Urdu short stories by Saadat Hasan Manto and Ismat Chughtai, the study looks at many sides of urban life. It shows that cities like Delhi, Bombay/Mumbai and Calcutta/Kolkata are key places for working through not just national history and personal trauma, more than that it is also about community ties. It is observed that Rushdie’s Delhi and Bombay reflect post-colonial nation building while Ghosh’s Calcutta and Dhaka highlight fragile borders and memories whereas, Roy’s Delhi offers a haven for those on the margins unlike, Manto’s stories of Partition-torn Bombay and Delhi and Chughtai’s focus on domestic urban life give a regional perspective on gendered and lived realities. The study finds that, across languages and time periods, the city stands out as the main setting for expressing India’s complex and diverse identity.