Chandni chowk, is like a second home to me. Yet every time one visits the old city there’s a freshness to it. 29^th was last of the Sundays’ that August could offer to us and it was like cherry on the cake when it’s designed for a visit to Chandni Chowk. A bunch of 11 people, some our regulars, others new, looked get-set-go for the walk. Walk started with Digambar Jain Lal Mandir followed by Gauri Shankar temple. Being a bunch of enthusiasts everyone wished to visit inside each of these places. However in a 2 hrs heritage walk it becomes difficult to do so. Still there were quite a few places we managed to explore. I tried to give maximum facts and details about the same. The group already looked very keen to know more as a lot of questions were being asked about the history of these landmarks.

This time, I decided to also focus on by-lanes of Chandni Chowk by by discussing various wholesale markets one can visit to on weekdays including for bicycles, electronics, spectacles, camera, saris etc. The upcoming food walk by Delhi Heritage walks also motivated me to further talk about the variety of foodstuffs one can savour in old Delhi. It is interesting to know that some of these sweet shops present( Ghantewala shahi halwai)  had also served in the royal Mughal kitchens.

Gurudwara Sisganj was bustling with activity as usual not only because it was a Sunday but also of some special prayers which were being offered at the fountain chowk where Guru Teg Bahadur was martyred along with his three disciples.

After looking at Sunehri Masjid  we stopped at Chunnamal’s haveli passing through the Paranthewali gali. It was a new experience and Photographers’ delight as we walked through merely few feet wide wide interior lanes of old Delhi. Thankfully it was a weekend or one cannot even imagine to find a place to keep his/her foot down, with people, rickshaws ,  fruit sellers, pedestrians, porters carrying goods all competing for space.Lala Chunnamal’s haveli always become the most fascinating of all land mark when one starts to imagine the number of rooms (more than a 100) it has. It is still a residential place continuing from mid 19^th century today owned perhaps by the great great great (keep adding)…grandsons of Chunnamal.

Townhall looks sleepy on Sunday morning…until one knows that here once stood gardens and sarai of Mughal princess Jahanara. The chowk was an octagonal pool reflecting moonlight which gives the street the name Chandni Chowk or moonlight square.After visiting a shivalaya (Lord Shiva’s temple) and Fatehpuri Masjid we came to halt at the highest and again a very fascinating spots which was our last at this journey. The  rooftop of Gadodia market –a warehouse for spices , gives a spectacular view of our Dilli 6 . From Metro line of Kashmere gate to minarets of Jama Masjid  to far as Turkman gate one can look and can only imagine the numerous histories buried underneath. I hope we were able to uncover some of it in our heritage walk in old Delhi.

(posted by Chhavi Sharma, member, Delhi Heritage Walks)

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Pic by Rupa Gandhi, heritage walk enthusiast

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CWG and Delhi’s monsoon are not on friendly terms. The more the CWG curse the rains, the more it pours. For the locals though it is a blessing. The trees and the buildings and the air have a clean look. The grass looks green and the monuments very very clean. This was our first impression as we took a heritage walk in Lodi Garden. The garden is a creation of the British, when they were trying to incorporate Delhi’s ruins in their plans of building a new capital for themselves. They called it Lady Willingdon Park; Lodi Garden is a post-independence name. The first stop on our heritage walk was Muhammad Shah Sayyid’s tomb. There were very few people about because of the rain and as the picture above shows the monuments looked nice and clean. The light coloured stone of the tomb presented a beautiful contrast with the lush green grass. The trail then leads along the butterfly conservatory to the Bara Gumbad complex. Built in the 15^th century, the Bada Gumbad probably acted as a gateway to the mosque, tomb and assembly hall to its north. The Bara Gumbad mosque is one of the most beautiful structures in Delhi with delicate plaster decoration covering most of the interior. Right opposite to Bara Gumbad stands the Shish Gumbad with its blue tile work. The interior is badly damaged now but there are traces of decoration which still remain on the walls. The next stop was Sikander Lodi’s tomb. The lawns around the tomb have been redone and the complex looked much cleaner. The conservation work on the entrance arches is an eyesore. The artificial lake just outside the tomb was full of rain water. The lake too is a post independence phenomenon. In the 16^th century, on the same location, there existed a stream flowing into the river Yamuna. A noble working under Mughal emperor Akbar built a bridge over it. It is called the Athpula. Further ahead along the path are a couple of late Mughal monuments, a mosque and a garden pavilion. The last stop on the walk was a standalone turret with a jharokha, which probably is the oldest building in Lodi Garden.

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The monuments in Hauz Khas are one of the most interesting sites in Delhi. Built around a reservoir the madrasa complex is impressive even as a ruin. Today’s heritage walk covered these monuments in Hauz Khas village and those in the Deer park. The Hauz Khas complex is in disarray these days because of undergoing conservation work. The complex is littered with stone chips, piles of cement & mounds of dug up earth. One hopes that this is wrapped up soon so that one can truly enjoy the scenery. The tank was originally constructed by Alauddin Khalji for his capital city, Siri. By the time Firuz Shah Tughluq assumed throne, the tank has silted up and people were cultivating on it. Contemporary accounts report that people has dug up private wells and were selling off water. Firuz Shah did what is he is best known for, restoration &repair of existing monuments and building water works for publics. He re-excavated the tank and built a madrasa along its edge. In the 14^th century, this madrasa would have been one of the centres of excellence for Islamic learning. Firuz Shah’s tomb stands at the junction of the 2 wings of the madrasa. As we walked into the tomb, we saw scaffolding in its interior which is actually good news. It means that the long due conservation of the interior of the tomb was finally underway! The lower storey of the madrasa has remains of single-cells like compartments. These were probably rooms for students. The lawns of the complex have a number of pavilions which are actually tombs. These probably were erected as memorials for officials or teachers associated with the madrasa.  The next part of this heritage walk covers monuments in Deer park. The first structure one comes across on the path here is the Bagh I Alam ka gumbad. It is an impressive Lodi period tomb. The interior has very nice plaster decoration, but it is difficult to find this building open. Adjacent to it is a wall mosque which has a number of graves in the courtyard. Towards the north is a single rooms hut like structure, which has turned black over the centuries. It is aptly called the ‘kali gumti’. The last stop on the heritage walk was Tuhfewala gumbad, a Tughluq period tomb with impressive cenotaphs.

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Pics by Nirmal Dayani, heritage walk enthusiast

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(photos by Chhavi Sharma, team member, Delhi Heritage Walks & Vinay Kumar, a regular at our walks)

The ‘walk of the month’ for August was Kotla Firuz Shah: a 14^th century citadel built by the Tughluq king, Firuz Shah. A group of about 20 heritage enthusiasts braved Delhi’s summer to be part of this walk. For some of us it was a trip down the memory lane…those who had lived in the neighbourhood of Kotla and spent their childhood frequenting the ruins here, bunking classes and hiding away from home. Kotla is relatively lesser known among the historic cities of Delhi for most Delhiites. But for the locals it is actually a shrine of great significance. The locals believe that the ruins are inhabited by jinns. People come here in hoards to offer prayers to jinns and have their wishes fulfilled. These are written down on paper and left among the dark niches in walls. One can see threads, incense sticks and flowers as marks of worship on the ruins. This is the place referred to by William Dalrymple in his ‘City of Djinns’.

The ruins we see today was the citadel of Firuz Shah’s new city, Firuzabad, built along the river Yamuna. If we can believe contemporary descriptions, it was more than double the size of Shahjahanabad. And for the people of Delhi in those days, the new city soon became a popular resort. People used to travel from Mehrauli and Siri to Firuzabad, for pleasure!

The citadel today is in a much ruined state. As we enter from the west gate, we can see single rooms on the ground floor which probably acted as guard houses. On the south side of the citadel there existed a series of gateways leading into courtyards which probably were assembly points for various official purposes. On the eastern end were riverside apartments, which were probably living quarters. Some have been identified as zenana chambers. The Jami Masjid is one of the impressive monuments surviving now. We walked north from the royal chamber thought the vaulted chambers under the mosque courtyard and entered the mosque from the elevated northern porch. This must have acted as the main gateway to the mosque.

Next to the mosque stands the Minar I Zarrin or the ‘Golden Column’. This 4^th century BC, Ashokan pillar was found in Topra (Haryana) by Firuz Tughluq who decided to bring it to his own capital and erect it as a monument for future generations. He built the pyramid for the pillar and called it the ‘golden column’. It was a wonder of the age..no one had seen anything like it before and no one could decipher what was inscribed on the pillar!

The last stop on our heritage walk was the circular baoli. There are series of subterranean apartments around the well and each has water receptacles, probably for ornamental display of water. It must have been a breathtaking sight when fully functional…a truly wonderful setting for concluding our visit to Firuz Shah’s citadel.

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It was a lovely morning when the students and teachers of Delhi Public School, Gurgaon joined us at the Qutb complex for a heritage walk. They were students of humanities from class 11 and 12 accompanied by their Principal, Ms Aditi Misra and two senior teachers, Ms Lisa and Ms Sapna Dhawan. There was slight drizzle and breeze which made it fun to walk around the monuments. There were 4 of us from Delhi Heritage Walks: Chhavi, Divya, Kanika and Vijaya to interact with the students.

The Qutb Minar needs little introduction, so we tried to discuss the lesser known details about the complex. What is today the entrance to the site is actually part of a serai dating to the late-Mughal time. Our first stop was the Quwwat ul Islam mosque, built from material taken from temples. Some of the students had visited an active mosque earlier, so they were familiar with Islamic religious practices; others were quick to note how the sculptures were disfigured. The Iron pillar in the courtyard of the mosque is a favourite with all visitors. Now it is surrounded by metal grills but earlier one could stand with one’s back to the pillar and try to put one’s arms around it. It is popularly believed that those who can make their hands touch will have their wish fulfilled! Next was the prayer screen and Iltutmish’s tomb. A tehkhana is always a source mysterious and the one which is inaccessible, even more so. J. All of us wanted to get down to the basement in Iltutmish’s tomb and check out the actual grave! We sauntered around Alauddin’s madrasa and tomb, finally approaching the Qutb Minar. No visit to the Qutb Minar or the Taj Mahal is complete without getting one’s photograph with the monument hanging from our fingertips. And sure enough, some of us were bending all angles trying to get that perfect shot! A couple of students narrated their previous visits to this place and the stories they heard from guides. There was never a dull moment in the walk: we talked about Hindu princesses worshiping the sun from the Qutb, the British and their follies…there was no end to our anecdotes. The Alai Darwaza was admired by all and Smith’s folly was greeted with great amusement. They all shared their ideas, some profound others not quite so, but the best part was that they were deeply interested and keen to share their thoughts. Sometimes they answered each other’s questions.

The volley of ideas and questions did not stop till we were out of the complex and they were back in their school bus. The enthusiasm of the students, with a little help from Delhi’s monsoon, made this heritage walk a great fun!

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It was a cloudy Sunday morning when I woke up just in time for my heritage walk.  I had been very excited for a couple of days now, as this was going to be my 1^st walk as a leader. Confidence remained intact, partly being a Historian n partly because I BELONGED TO Place we were going to visit or say Chandni Chock resides in ME…

More or else everybody reached on time and met on the very first stop-Digambar Jain Lal temple. We have 8-9 stops in the Chandni Chowk heritage walk n I had to be thorough with each; its history and much more as one always expects intellectuals, educators, foreign delegates, inquisitive students ranging from class 5^th to university level to join us .Being a leader it becomes my utmost duty to be prompt to every question coming my way. Today’s group looked interested in knowing details about every place with lots of questions coming up and I tried my best to explain n solve their queries. This particular walk had 2 American ladies, 2 people from Pune and rest from Delhi and NCR comprising a good 15 in all.

Being a Sunday the main street looks dull at least to me who crosses it every single day but thankfully for group it was a better situation as they could freely move around the place unlike weekdays when you don’t find an inch of space. Some of the major eateries were also not open being it a Sunday yet the History and Place remains.

In our heritage walks one of our main focuses is to show how the past still continues as monuments and old structures remain in function like the SBI bank or the Town hall being converted to MCD headquarters post Independence. Along with that, the very distinguishable Mughal & British architecture which still survives; the Chunna mal haveli or the Gauri Shankar temple which constantly changes with renovation work now and then.

Being my very 1^st walk, I now feel that I missing out a lot of points: information, interesting facts I knew, but did not share with others….but, hoping to improve with practice J… the old Chunna mal’s haveli comprising around 145 or 195 rooms, the shivalaya (shiva temple) in Katra Neel which had striking resemblance to the aesthetics of Fatehpuri masjid’s: the dome, arches and baluster columns..

Our last stop was the spice market in Khari baoli. It was surprising with only 1 sneeze among so many of us as we walked along shops displaying freshly ground chilly, turmeric & black pepper. We walked op the Gadodia market in Khari baoli. Even after climbing 4 floors, everyone’s eyes just brightened looking at the astonishing sights this building offers! There are offices, warehouses which store spices in bulk, people living in small rooms…he Gadodia market building itself has some very pretty remains of colonial architecture. And from the roof, one could see nearly all of walled city, the Jama Masjid, Chandni Chowk all way to the Red Fort, people flying kites on their rooftops….It was just one plain road from Red fort to Fatehpuri Masjid and it continues to sustain millions of stories…this is what we tried to convey in our heritage walk through old Delhi

(posted by Chhavi Sharma, team member Delhi Heritage Walks)

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