This Sunday morning we marched out for a walking tour of the city of Shahjahanabad. The focus of the walk was the main street of Chandni Chowk, which runs perpendicular to the Red Fort. I started with a brief introduction about the history of what is today called old Delhi. The first landmarks of interest are two very old temples: the Digambar Jain Lal Mandir, the oldest Jain Temple of the city & adjacent to it was a Shaiva temple called Gauri Shankar Mandir. Braving the chaos and traffic we reached State Bank of India building which is built on the estate of Begam Samroo. (more…)

Our heritage walk in the Kashmiri Gate area covers some of the sites where the rebellion of 1857 played out. Through this trail we try to weave the story of the revolt, the lives of people around involved in it & memorials left by them.

We begin the heritage walk from Nicholson’s Cemetery. Brigadier General John Nicholson had quite a reputation, as a strict no-nonsense chap who was fatally injured in 1857. The cemetery is named after him. (more…)

This was the last walk of the year & it gets colder every day! Still, there is nothing like walking through the ruins of Delhi to get warmed up. Our heritage walk this weekend was at Lodi Garden. Originally known as Bagh-i-Jud, it was a selected by medieval kings for the royal burials because of its close proximity to a dargah of a revered Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. The garden came up as a part of re-landscaping done during colonial rulers who named the garden as Lady Willingdon Park named after the wife of then Governor General. (more…)

Our heritage walk in old Delhi covers the main street of Chandni Chowk. Starting from outside the Red Fort we cover a distance of about 2 kms till the famous spice market in Khari Baoli. On the way are some well known & some not so well known landmarks which are of historical interest. In most cases, even though the landmarks are old, the buildings standing to commemorate them can be quite modern. (more…)

 

A heritage walk to Kashmiri Gate this Sunday morning was a different and a special experience for we got a chance to know and explore one of the busiest areas of the Delhi City. The area which is frequently visited yet less ‘known’, the area which hides various traces of Indian history but is only termed as congested and filthy.

 We all know how rapidly urban spaces change. It was seems incredible, but our first stop, Nicholson’s Cemetery, was located in the area which was a battleground for British and the Indian rebels during the 1857 revolt. (more…)