With a good monsoon this year, the weather is excellent these days and a heritage walk in Lodi Garden is always a treat for the senses. The monuments, the trees and the birds… & one can add people, if one likes observing them exercise, talk & socialize. Our heritage walk started at gate no. 1 on Lodi Road. Right ahead is the imposing Bada Gumbad. But, our first stop is a royal tomb a little ahead on the left: Muhammad Shah Sayyid’s tomb. The Sayyids are not very prominent in out political history. Very few people have even heard of them. Delhi, in fact, has two prominent tombs belonging to Sayyid dynasty. The neighbourhood of Kotla Mubarakpur near South Extension is named after and houses the tomb of Mubarak Shah Sayyid. The tomb in Lodi Garden is that of his successor. Close to Muhammad Shah’s tomb is Lodi Garden’s tallest tree, called Buddha’s coconut. It is native to rainforests in north east & south India. Our walking trail meanders through the well laid out tracks in the garden. On both sides on can see grave platforms which are almost totally covered by vegetation now. Continue Reading This Post

This year’s ample monsoon has added a new element of joy to our heritage walks. It is a treat to walk around imposing ruins of medieval cities, lush green parks dotted with peacocks, pleasant breeze and soft drizzle adding to the charm. This is how one would sum up this heritage walk at Hauz Khas village and Deer Park. The monuments in Hauz Khas are one of the most impressive in Delhi. The reservoir, Hauz I Alai was built by Alauddin Khalji for his capital city of Siri. A few decades later, Firuz Shah Tughluq found it ‘encroached upon’. The tank was silted up and people were selling of water from wells dug for their own private use. Firuz Shah has decided to fill it with water again, called it the Hauz Khas and built a madrasa along its edge. His own tomb stands at the junction of the two wings of the madrasa. In the 14^th century, the madrasa was one of the most prominent centers of learning in the Islamic East. Timur who camped here during his invasion in Delhi, was impressed by the scale and grandeur of the madarsa. Today, what we see is the bare structure which has survived over centuries. It is impressive none the less. Continue Reading This Post

For us the 1857 heritage walk at Kashmiri gate has become synonymous with rain. For the last three months, on the day of Kashmiri gate heritage walk, it rains! Thankfully no walk has been cancelled because of it. Rather, the rain added to the charm of walking around the city, exploring its heritage. So once again we were out with our umbrellas, walking around Kashmiri Gate

For me, leading the walk is a new experience every time:it is a great opportunity to meet people with similar interests. Their enthusiasm is infectious. For this particular walk we had people coming in from NOIDA & Gurgaon in the rains! Nicholson’s cemetery, our starting point was like a mini pool with water rushing out of it as we entered the gate. After looking at Brigadier General John Nicholson’s and Master Ramachandra’s graves we walked towards Kashmiri gate hopping and skipping around puddles & sometimes wading through water! This walk was as much a trek as it was about heritage. Continue Reading This Post

(Photos by Chhavi Sharma, team member, Delhi Heritage Walks and Alok Saxena, a regular at our walks)

The month of Ramzaan is a very exciting time in the old city: for locals and visitors alike. The noise, the lights, the crowds and chaos of the old city has to be seen to be believed. Add to it the excitement of Ramzaan and you have an electrifying atmosphere!

So this Friday we headed towards purani dilli for a food walk and to soak in the festive ambience of Ramzaan. For our very first food walk, we invited the noted food critic, Rahul Verma to take us around the lanes in old Delhi and sample its food. Our first stop was chaat at Ashok Chaat corner near Chawri Bazaar metro station. Continue Reading This Post

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. Continue Reading This Post