Among the many cities in Delhi one counts, our heritage walk this Sunday explored one of the lesser known of all these. The Tughluq king, Firuz Shah built a new capital city for himself, along the banks of the Yamuna and called it Firuzabad. This is present day area around ITO and Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. It is believed to have been almost twice the size of Shahjahanabad (Shahjahan’s capital, the old Delhi of today) extending from Pir Ghaib in the northern Ridge to Hauz Khas in the south. Today only the inner citadel of this massive city survives, known by the name Kotla Firuz Shah. Continue Reading This Post

(photos by Vinay Kumar of the heritage walk covering landmarks of 1857 uprising. He is a photography enthusiast and a regular at our walks)

The year 1857 is of great significance to the city of Delhi. It changed the life of the city and its people like perhaps, never before. The Mughals were gone, the city was witness and victim to tremendous violence and it was shorn of its status as a capital. The neighbourhood of Kashmiri Gate still carries the traces of the rebellion of 1857. This is where the most bitter battles were fought between the rebels and British armies. The British who emerged victors, marked these sites with memorials to their heroes. Our heritage walk this Sunday looks at some of these. It is remarkable that the city was the central to the events of 1857 and also in our imagination today, does not have a memorial which might try to represent the point of view of the rebels. Continue Reading This Post

Chandni Chowk or ‘moonlight square’ is the main thoroughfare in old Delhi. So much so, that the name is sometimes used synonymously with purani dilli or for the entire old city. The heritage walk in Chandni Chowk starts from the Digamber Jain Lal Mandir, the oldest Jain temple here. The shrine is contemporary to Shahjahan’s time but most of the temple building dates to mid-18^th century. Right next to it is the Gauri Shankar temple, which was a small shrine to start with, in the 18^th century, but now is one of the most prominent landmarks in the area. On the other side of the road are flower shops selling dhatura (a poisonous weed) and bel (fruit with a hard outer shell) which are especially offered to Lord Shiva. Continue Reading This Post

The Mehrauli Archaeological Park reflects the changing colours of season. The time around the bougainvillea was in full bloom and lent a splash of bright colour on a landscape which is almost wild. Our heritage walk started from the clearing near the entrance. This patch was recently the site of archaeological excavations. The stone floor, foundations of rooms, graves were some of the things which were revealed. There were many surface finds too: shards of pottery, a clay horse, part of a cheelum (smoking pipe) with soot stuck to it still! Balban’s tomb stands right ahead, one of the most important buildings in India, architecturally speaking. Continue Reading This Post