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. Continue Reading This Post

This Sunday evening was a welcome respite from the usual Delhi summer. The dust storm lowered the temperature which allowed all of us a pleasant heritage walk in Lodi Garden. We were a group of about 20 enthusiasts which included architects, lecturers, lawyers and two very very young children. These heritage walks are also a great opportunity for people to interact. In fact, two of the walkers found that they lived within 50 yards of each other for past 20 years, never knowing about each other until they met on this heritage walk !

Lodi garden is actually an early 20^th century British creation, who called it the Lady Willingdon Park. Post-independence it was re-landscaped under Joseph Allen Stein. Stein also designed some of the important buildings in the neighbourhood: the IIC, the Ford Foundation are the most well known. The name Lodi Garden was also given post-Independence & comes from the fact that the most monuments belong to the reign of the Lodi kings. In the 20^th century, before the British built a new capital in Delhi, this area was a village called Khairpur. People were living in an around these very monuments. Continue Reading This Post

Lodi garden in the heart of the capital is one of the best parks in Delhi. A nice place to walk around, exercise, peep inside tombs and observe birds. The Saturday evening heritage walk covered the monuments in this park. ‘Lodi Garden’ itself is a British creation. In the beginning of the 20^th century, Delhi’s landscape would have looked like a vast necropolis…miles and miles of space dotted with massive ruins. Creation of this park was part of colonial initiative to beautify their new capital, so that the monuments stand out as singular objects of beauty. Starting out as Lady Willingdon Park, it got its present name post-independence because most monuments in the park belong to the period when Lodi’s were ruling. We started our heritage walk at Mohd. Sayyid’s tomb. It is a typical octagonal tomb, which has recently undergone conservation. One can see the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pics of the tomb pasted below). Continue Reading This Post