Delhi was pleasantly surprised by showers for a couple of days and we decided to carry on with our heritage walk at Lodi Garden since it is a comfortable terrain to walk in all seasons. The park has well laid out pavements all through our heritage trail. And we happened to be the only ones in the park, which is an unusual sight. The park is always full of people, joggers, people reading, children playing, lovers spending a quite time here.  ‘Lodi Garden’ happens to be a modern, post-independence name. (more…)

Tughluqabad is one of the most popular heritage trails on our calendar & we conducted it twice this winter on popular demand. The massive fortifications of the city of Tughluqabad are visible from the Mehrauli Badarpur Road, but nothing prepares you for the sight inside. The Tughluqs built like giants-& this is evident in the remains of this city. As far as the eye goes, it is a landscape of bare, (more…)

This heritage walk in old Delhi includes sampling some of the street food. We started our walking tour at one of the biggest and most popular mosques in Asia, Jama Masjid. It was built in mid-seventeenth century by the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan. It is built on a hillock, high above rest of the ground & gives an excellent view of the surrounding busy market streets. The trail follows the main street of Chawri Bazaar. (more…)

This Sunday, a cloudy but pleasant winter morning, our heritage walk was organized at Mehrauli Archaeological Park.  The Park has around 70 odd monuments, scattered around one of the oldest inhabited areas of Delhi, Mehrauli.  History of Mehrauli is many layered & covers a long time span. It was first ruled by a couple of Rajput rulers in 11^th and 12^th centuries and towards the end of the 12^th century, these were defeated by Turks from central Asia. The victors set up a dynasty which came to be called ‘slave’ kings. And then this area saw settlements throughout the ‘medieval’ period of Indian history & is now an urban village. (more…)

Hauz Khas village is both, one of the most well known, happening place and a neglected on at the same time. HKV as the popular jargon goes has become famous for its cafés & designer shops. But not many would know of the history of the area. It is true that the ruins here have become increasingly popular with photographers, musicians & people simple hanging around, still, there is much that is not quite well known. Our heritage walk in Hauz Khas focuses on lesser know aspects of this area’s history.  (more…)