Day Four (Final Day) in Delhi: Seeing and Doing Bits and Bobs of the Capital Before Departure. Connaught Place, Janpath, Safdarjang's Tomb, Chandni Chowk, Red Fort, Chaat at Greater Kailash

CTuesday, February 4, 2025:

Delhi:

Day Four (Final Day) in Delhi: Seeing and Doing Bits and Bobs of the Capital Before Departure.

Connaught Place, Janpath, Safdarjang's Tomb, Chandni Chowk, Red Fort, Chaat at Greater Kailash

Our last day in Delhi (on this trip) would be as hectic as you can imagine as we tried to cover all the unaccomplished bits and bobs that were on our To-Do and To-See List. We awoke and after showering and getting dressed, we packed up our backpacks and kept them ready for pick-up, at the end of the day, when we would head straight off to the airport. But first, there was breakfast to be enjoyed.

Breakfast and Off to Connaught Place:

As Llew has awoken with a dodgy tummy and I wanted to look for a Benarasi-style silk table runner in off-white with gold tassels, we decided to have breakfast and make a beeline for Janpath which a shopper’s haven, reportedly. Last night, my friend Anita had mentioned that the Indian Cottage Emporium at Janpath would be the best place to find exceptional Indian handicrafts under one roof and with fixed, reasonable government prices.

Hence, after eating a hearty breakfast in our Fulbright Residence cafeteria (I had scrambled eggs today with buttered toast (and jam for Llew), plus cornflakes and hot milk, a plate of apples and hot coffee, we made a short visit to the Fulbright office to meet Neeraj whom I had missed yesterday. We had a lovely visit together as Anupam joined in too and after catching up for awhile, we set off.

Shopping at Janpath:

Janpath is very easy to reach from our residence as it is the second stop on the Violet Line which serves our metro stop (Mandi House). Once there, we found the India Cottage Emporium soon enough as Anita had mentioned that it was just opposite the Tibetan Market—which is simply a series of sidewalk shops selling items from Tibet.

However, our foray into the emporium did not glean results as they did not have what I was looking for. Instead we decided to take a look at the shops on Connaught Place which is one of Delhi’s best-known landmarks and another fine achievement of Lutyens-Baker as architects.

Exploring Connaught Place and Connaught Circus:

Everyone knows Connaught Place. It is a popular hangout but also houses many private companies such as airline offices and travel agencies. The place is also known as Connaught Circus as it is designed and constructed in the shape of concentric circles that are created through the use of open-air shopping arcades punctuated by Greek Doric columns in white. The closest we get to such a structure in Bombay is Horniman Circle.

As we were essentially looking for a pharmacy, we did google it and found one in a place about a ten minute walk away. Using Google maps, we found our way there at a place called Apollo Pharmacy from where we bought some Dolo which Llew took immediately. It is clear that Delhi’s notorious pollution had gotten to him and despite the fact that we wore masks throughout, his chest became affected by the poor air-quality, his nose was leaking and his chest felt congested. We hoped that the medication would make a difference.

At this point, we began to look for the state emporiums that seem to be clustered in this area. A young man came up to help us and told us to take a rickshaw to the place where we could find it. Miraculously, a rickshaw driver appeared and told us he would take us there for Rs. 10! Unbelievable! We ought to have smelled a rat at that point. He said he’d take us to a place called Dilli Haath—a series of handicraft shops. Of course, he hoped we would shop vigorously and he would receive a cut from our purchases. But in this place too, we could not find what we wanted. The same rickshaw driver was waiting outside to take us to the next handicrafts shop—called Indian handlooms. But we were done with shopping and told him to take us to Safdarjang’s Tomb instead. He agreed to take us for Rs. 50 which was also a steal. We got in and soon realized that he was bent on taking us to the Handloom Stop. Once there, when we did not get out of the rickshaw because we were not interested in looking any further, he make a U-turn, but then just five minutes later, he complained that his rickshaw was not working well and dropped us off at a corner! Clearly, these touts are only interested in attracting people into their vehicles who will shop hugely and give them a cut (for bringing customers to the stores). He did not want to drive too far away from the shopping circuit—and, therefore, deserted us!

Fortunately for us, we were able to call an Uber Rick that then took us to our next destination, Safdarjang’s Tomb and Mausoleum.

Visiting the Tomb of Safdarjang:

You cannot miss Safdarjang’s Tomb when you are cruising through the streets of Delhi. It is en route to the Lodi Colony on Aurobindo Ghosh Marg and I was intrigued by what I had seen of its entrance on at least three occasions that we passed by it. Getting off at the gate from our rickshaw, we made our way to the entrance to purchase a ticket to enter.

As in the case of all Mughal monuments, this one too is approached by a huge gate or Darwaza that frames the magnificence of the building concealed behind. It was built in 1754 and is considered the last ember on the dying flames of Mughal architecture in India.

So here’s a word about Safdarjang (from Wikipedia):

Safdarjung, Nawab of Awadh, was made prime minister (Vazir) of the Mughal Empire (Wazir ul-Mamlak-i-Hindustan) when Ahmed Shah Bahadur ascended the throne in 1748. As Vazir, he usurped all powers under his control as the king was only a puppet, a figurehead, who was into enjoying life with wine, opium, and women. But his control over the emperor's family was so cruel that the emperor called the Marathas to rid of their Vazir. The Marathas drove Safdarjung out of Delhi in 1753. He died soon after in 1754.

After his death, his son Nawab Shujaud Daula pleaded with the Mughal Emperor to permit him to erect a tomb for his father in Delhi. He then built the tomb, which was designed by an Abyssininan architect. It was built by Bilal Muhammad Khan, at the cost of three lacs of rupees. When you come to think of it, considering that he was so reviled in his lifetime, his son is fortunate that the Emperor permitted him to build the mausoleum at all.

It is a stunning monument and definitely worth seeing, especially if one is on a tour of Islamic architecture in India and wishes to trace its evolution. If one goes chronologically, then this monument would come last in the line as it is an 18th century monument, representative of the achievement of the Mughal empire when in its dying throes and just before the Battle of Plassey (1757) would end Mughal supremacy on the Indian sub-continent and make way for imperial British rule in India.

Just past the entrance gate, where we stopped to take pictures, we arrived at the picture postcard-perfect spot which is highly reminiscent of the Taj Mahal in Agra. The mausoleum is built entirely of red sandstone with slight marble inlay embellishments to define its contours, But its most striking aspect is its gigantic marble dome—truly the Mughals had mastered the art of creating domes that rivalled Brunelleschi’s dome in Florence, Italy, in terms of size and style. Unlike Humayun’s Tomb, which is older and larger, this has minarets at the four corners—in imitation of the Taj Mahal—but they are attached to the main building and not separated along the periphery of the plinth. There is something gloriously poetic about these Islamic mausoleums that bring out deep excitement in me. I was really thrilled to see this place as it has been at least fifty years since I had last seen it—I am certain I had seen it as a young teenager on a family trip to Delhi. This time round, I could completely appreciate its architectural details and its interior embellishments.

Safdarjang’s marble cenotaph lies right in the center of the structure. It is well decorated with carvings. The marble floor around it is decorated with pietra dura (such as one sees at the Taj)—so the Taj clearly inspired this decoration. We circumnavigated the cenotaph and looked up to find it rather stark in its lack of embellishment. The terrace, like all such Mughal monuments, has a low latticed wall. The place is exceedingly peaceful, unlike all the other monuments we had visited, because so few people come here. The Mughal gardens spread all around, in the Persian Char Bagh deign, featured well-manicured lawns that were a cool delight to the eye. But after taking the mandatory pictures, there was really not much to do and we made our way out towards the main entrance.

Off to Chandni Chowk to see the Red Fort:

By this time, it was well past 12 noon and we were beginning to be conscious of the paucity of time. We wanted to see Shah Jehan’s Red Fort as it is the only significant Mughal monument that we had not yet glimpsed on this trip. However, we would not have the time to go inside (this takes almost an entire morning and we have toured it a couple of times earlier). Hence, we decided to get an Uber auto to take us to Chandni Chowk so that we could take a few pictures of the imposing, towering red sandstone walls before moving on to the next item on our agenda.

The ride by rickshaw was long as the place was quite a distance from Safdarjang’s Tomb. Once we entered Chandni Chowk, our progress was also very slow as traffic made it very difficult to move ahead. But, eventually, we reached. Our driver let us off and we walked for about ten minutes around the corner of the main road, to get some pictures of the ramparts of this glorious Fort before we went out in search of the Jama Masjid Metro station (which we had passed) to get to the next stop on our agenda, Lunch at Great Kailash.

Can’t Leave Delhi Without Eating Chaat:

Of course, you cannot leave Delhi without eating the Northern Indian street-food known as Chaat. So off we went to Greater Kailash, one of the large colonies on the outskirts of the city, where my friend Sangeeta had suggested we eat chaat. For the uninitiated, Chaat is a very unique aspect of North Indian cuisine that is a cross between a snack and a meal. It is composed entirely of fried items that look like crackers, very thin noodles, etc. that are then eaten with mashed potato, chickpeas, mung bean sprouts, etc. and then heavily doused with a variety of sauces including runny yogurt, date sauce, chilli sauce, etc. The combination of sweet-sour-salty-umami flavors is what makes this so interesting and so delicious. No two chaat stalls serve exactly the same combo and no two plates of chaat ever taste the same. Everything lies in the proportion of sauce and spice to base crackers. It’s really hard to describe. A word of caution here: Novices find this rather difficult to digest—the stomachs of the uninitiated find it too much of a shock to deal with so much strangeness. This is, therefore, the most notorious cause of Delhi Belly and I have grown wary of eating it myself as I seem to have lost my immunity.

All that said, in Greater Kailash I, is a place called Prince Chaat which is known strictly by reputation alone. Every auto rickshaw driver knows this place. So, once we got off the metro at Greater Kailash (a very long journey that took more than 45 minutes from the Red Fort), we hopped into a rick whose driver took us there.

To my utter astonishment, this place is only a road-side joint. You cannot sit inside and eat your chaat in peace. You must stand on the road and partake of these treats at the corner of a busy traffic intersection. Not to be daunted by the location or setting, we ordered gol gappe (known as pani puri in Bombay)—4 of them to a plate. And believe me, it was as much as I could handle, They are large and could barely fit in my mouth! They were ice-cold and the pani (cumin water) used was kept frigidly cold. This did a number on my very sensitive teeth. I have to say that my struggle to eat these treats took the pleasure away completely. Next, we ordered Delhi’s famous Paapri Chaat—this is a combination of items and flavors as I have described above. It was just superb—no question, Prince’s reputation rests on these concoctions.

By this time, it was almost 4.00pm and as we wanted to be at the airport at 7.00 pm for our 9.00 pm flight to Bombay, we had to get a move-on. We called for an Uber Rick to take us back to Greater Kailash (known colloquially as GK) metro station from where we hopped into the Violet line (no changes necessary) and arrived at our destination—Mandi House. From there, it was just a ten minute walk to our residence. Without wasting any time, we used the facilities, checked out, handed the key over to the watchman and called for a Rick to get us to Shivaji Stadium. We were running half an hour behind schedule as we had hoped to leave our residence at 5.00 pm. It was actually 5.30 pm when we left.

Journey to the Airport:

From Shivaji Stadium, we easily found the Airport Express Line station entrance and bought our tickets (Rs. 50 per head) to get to T1 at the airport. The journey took about twenty minutes with a stop in-between (Daula Kuan). We hopped off at Aerocity from where we found the shuttle (Rs. 40 each ticket) to get us to the Terminal for our Indigo flight. We were there exactly on schedule at 7.00 pm—which means that it takes 90 minutes to get from the airport to the Fulbright Residence (something to keep in mind for future travel).

Of course, from this point it was smooth sailing—or so we thought. We checked in one bag (as we were carrying a bottle of wine), received our boarding passes and made our way to the gate—I looked for something to eat as the chaat was not filling enough and our meal on the aircraft would only be at 9.30pm. At leisure, I skirted around the Food Court and picked up Chicken Chalupas from Taco Bell with a mango milkshake for Llew and chocolate milkshake for me before I also picked up a Chocolate Truffle pastry from Theo Broma.

By the time I came back to the gate, I discovered that almost an hour had passed (service at the Food Court was that slow) and a gate change had been announced on Llew’s phone—not on the PA system. So, we had to move from Gate 8 to Gate 41! This involved taking an elevator and finding our way there and eventually eating our meal while waiting for boarding to be announced.

Both of us then carried our airplane meal (Chicken sandwiches) home with us as we were really full. The flight was short—we had blue masala tea on the flight—and eventually reached Bombay at 11. 30 pm. We took a rickshaw back home and reached at 12. 30 pm. It was well past 1.30 am before we actually went to bed after what had been a very long journey home indeed.

Conclusion:

We had a truly rollicking time in Delhi. My visits to this city are too few and far-between for my liking and I always forget how beautiful it is and how much I love it. On this visit, apart from being present at the birthday party for which we were invited, Llew and I made a thorough study of Islamic architecture from the 11the century (the Aibaks at the Qutb Minar) to the Lodis (12-13th century at Mehrauli and the Lodi Gardens) to the Great Mughals (Humayun—his tomb, Shah Jehan—his Red Fort and Jama Masjid—14-15th centuries) and finally to the last phase of this glorious reign (18th century—Safdarjang’s Tomb). It is truly fascinating how much the Mughals achieved in terms of architecture and garden landscape design and how many influences they incorporated into their monuments: Persian, Rajput, Florentine Renaissance, etc.

We also ate our way through the capital’s offerings by enjoying upscale, Michelin-quality restaurants such as Ego and Cho, charming French-style tea-rooms such as Laduree and Elma’s that reeked of Parisian elegance, renowned and historic kebab places such as Karim’s and modest street-side eateries such as Azam’s and Prince. In the process, we took in a grand gastronomic tour of food offerings and enjoyed every bit of them.

I do not know when we will have occasion to return to Delhi. But it is comforting to know that it is only a two hour flight away from Bombay and that the Fulbright Residence is always available for my use to offer quality accommodation in the very heart of the city. Delhi is endlessly fascinating and, no doubt, on another visit, there will be other places to see and other things to do. I very much look forward to that day.

Thanks for following me on these armchair-travels. I hope you have enjoyed living vicariously through my adventures as much as I enjoyed penning them for you.

Until next time…may the road rise up to greet you and make the wind be ever at your back.