India, Sept. 19 -- Malls, multiplexes, housing towers, sleek bungalows, and those posh offices of multinational companies. That's Gurugram.

And yet, until 2016, Gurugram was called Gurgaon; the "gaon" in the name translating to village. Farm fields would spread out as far as eyes could see-says an elderly Gurugram citizen. Until decades ago, he recalls, here was a village. Over time, it quickly enlarged into a town, then into a cosmopolitan city, ultimately transforming into the so-called Millennium City.

Here's the recreation of that vanished world, summoning how a typical year looked like to earlier generations of Gurugramwale; they mostly being farmers. The precious information, including certain terms and phrases, are sourced from t...