On the day of separation from you in helplessness and loneliness, nothing consoles us but the sorrow we feel for you.

O Jamali! Resort to the door of the friend, for our refuge is the door of the beloved.

These are lines by poet & traveller, Sheikh Fazlullah, who went by the pen name Jamali. And his name lives on today…the park where our heritage walk was organized is locally known as Jamali Kamali. Officially, the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, very few know it by that name. The Mehrauli Archaeological Park is a minefield of archaeological remains! Everywhere the eye goes, there are remains of historic settlements, some almost devoured by vegetation. Close to the entrance is a clearing, beyond a gateway, which is a recently excavated archaeological site. I shared some of my surface finds with the group: a small clay toy shaped like a horse, bits & pieces of pottery! (more…)

The Kashmiri Gate route is one of the more unusual trudges among our heritage walks. The landmarks covered in this heritage trail are no picturesque monuments. Rather, these are places which are constantly being lived in & thereby altered.  Some places are ill kept, others under government control where the caretakers go into hiding, locking up their buildings as soon as they see a curious visitor. (more…)

There are many a stories of cities of Delhi; how many people came, made it their home, only to be replaced by a new bunch. Today, their remnants are most visible as monumental heritage of Delhi. And south Delhi happens to be one of the densest in terms of these remains. After all, this is where the story of urban Delhi started, this is where the first cities of Delhi came up. Even when the capital moved up north & closer to the river Yamuna, this area was never abandoned. As a result, Mehrauli sees a continuous settlement for a 1000 odd years, which is an incredible trail back to the past! (more…)

(photos by Heritage & Food Walk in old Delhi, by Henri Laniece, a regular at our walks)

A large part of our city’s monumental heritage is invisible…hidden behind massive malls, residential colonies. This is the first realization to strike anyone who begins exploring Mehrauli Archaeological Park. Our first thought is ‘we have driven past this road a hundred times, but never realized all this lay behind it!’ Our heritage walk in Mehrauli weaves its way through some of the most interesting monuments in Delhi. Mehrauli being the area where the first cities of Delhi came up: the Tomars, the Chauhans, the Turkish slaves had their capitals here; the Lal Kot, Qila Rai Pithora and the Qutb area. Even when the capital shifted this area continued to be settled. So today we find remains from different time periods in this region. Our first stop is a clearing which was created by archaeological work here, about a year ago. It revealed a stone floor, some foundations, rooms, graves. Continue Reading This Post