DELHI TRAVEL GUIDE
India's sprawling capital seems to have a hole in its heart - just where you'd expect tile densest urbanisation you find an antiurban leafy core. This is due to two events that occurred within decades of each other. The first was the decision in 19II by the country's then British rulers to create their own imperial capital, New Delhi - a purpose-built garden city located on the southern outskirts of the old Moghul city. The second was the partition of India in 1947, and me mass transfer of millions of people. Delhi was flooded with Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan, doubling its population overnight. Many ended up staying, surrounding the old and new cities with hastily built neighbourhoods.
The centre of India's cultural and political gravity, today's Delhi is home to artists, writers, civil servants and politicians. At me same time, it is a place of excess. The old money blames Delhi's Punjabis, who they portray as brash, bustling and nouveau, though without them the city would have considerably less fizz, not to mention fewer restaurants, nightspots and shopping malls.
Like me rest of India, Delhi is furiously upgrading itself. New roads, flyovers and a metro system are under construction for the. 2010 Commonwealth Games, giving the city the appearance of a giant building site. Yet despite this, and me dust clouds it creates, me overriding impression Delhi creates is of a green, stately city, attributes of which its 14 million inhabitants are fiercely proud.
OLD DELHI
One hundred years ago, the walled city was Delhi - the imperial capital of 17th·century Moghul emperor Shah Jahan - famous for its richly decorated mansions and splendid public buildings. Echoes of its courtly life still reverberate through India's culture and cuisine. though today Old Delhi is a shadow of its former self. Many mansions were subdivided, and while some beautiful buildings remain, the area is better known as India's largest wholesale market.
CONNAUGHT PLACE
The city's former hub has fallen out of favour in recent years, as Delhi's centre has moved decisively south. But it is
still popular with tourists, who are drawn by the Jantar Mantar observatory (see poio), the plethora of state handicrafts emporia and The Imperial hotel (see p026), a colonial gem. The streets to the south
of the hotel are lined with one of the few concentrations of trigh-rises in the city.
INDIA GATE
This is the heart of Sir Edwin Lutyens' New Delhi. The cluster of imposing government buildings that he designed around India Gate must surely rate as among the most magnificent in the world. In particular,
the perspective along the Rajpath, the processional way linking India Gate to the Secretariat, is jaw-dropping. By the time these buildings were finished, India was well on its way to independence.
CHANAKYAPURI
One of Delhi's newer districts, this area
is dominated by embassies and the large hotels that service them. Constructed at a time when Delhi was a prestigious posting, the embassies provide some of the finest examples of mid-centurv modernism in the city, including Edward D Stone's glorious American Embassy (Shantipath, T 2419 ' 8000) and the fabulously Stalinist Russian Embassy (Shantipath, T 2687 3802). Broad avenues ensure traffic is never a problem.
THE SHAPE OF THE CITY SKYLINE
Rome was built on seven hills. Delhi is commonly said to have been built on seven cities, although sticklers would probably place that figure closer to 16. Either way, it has had many incarnations. Few of them carried the city's name, and many left little behind. Of Indraprastha, the first proto- Delhi, only pottery shards remain, as the site was reused by reth-century Moghul emperor Humayun for his citadel and is now home to the exquisite remains of Pur ana Qila (off Mathura Road). Others left a visible imprint too, mostly religious buildings, tombs and palaces. Safdarjung (Aurobindo Marg), Lodi Garden, Qutab Minar, the historic structures on Chandni Chowk - the relics of Delhi's past are scattered all over.
The bigger sites are wrapped in a protective belt of park, though most have simply been swallowed up by the city's growth. In a few whimsical cases, such as the Sabz Burj (Dr Zakir Hussain Marg), they have become the centrepiece of traffic roundabouts. The 'graveyard of empires' or, as Lord Curzon once called it, the 'dead seat of Muslim kings', Delhi has always been known for its architectural bones. Curzon thought the new capital a colossal waste of money and vehemently opposed it, but wasn't ultimately able to do more than object. In that, we are fortunate, for it was the British who left Delhi some of the most impressive bones of all.
Qutab Minar
Begun in 1202 and probably finished around 30 years later, this extraordinary red sandstone tower was said to I ink the earth to heaven. The 72.5m structure has a rather disproportionate bulge to its lower levels, but it is easy to appreciate the awe it must have inspired at the time. Fluted and divided into five sections by filigreed balconies, the heavily carved surface is
a synthesis of Indian decorative elements
and inscriptions of Koranic verses. It seems to have been built more to commemorate the Moghul victory over the Rajputs than as a minaret, for which it was simply too high. The top was destroyed by lightning in 1368 and replaced by two smaller sections, built mostly from white marble. The base of the even larger but never-completed Alai Minar is located a little to the north.
Jama Masjid
Built by Shah Jahan as the mosque for Friday prayers, the 17th-century Jama Masjid is one of the jewels of Old DelhL The domes are clad in white marble, but the main prayer hall and the delicate open arcades are carved out of a pinkred sandstone that gradually changes hue throughout the day, from a dun colour at noon to a deep rose at sunset.
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