Delhi Metro Walks - Rajiv Chowk and Connaught Place

Delhi is a huge and sprawling city of almost 19 million people, more than the population of many small countries. However, today it is easy to explore Delhi through its wonderful metro network.

This post is about an exploration of Connaught Place area of central Delhi around the Rajiv Chowk metro station. Rajiv Chowk station has two entrances, one near Pallika Bazar and the other in front of B block.

There are two more metro stations in this area - Janpath and Barakhamba Road stations. This walking tour can also be carried out from these other stations.

The image above is of a Buddha statue at the Cottage Industries Emporium on Janpath. CP was built as a commercial and business centre in early twentieth century under the British rule. Apart from some old and famous shopping areas and restaurants, a walking tour of CP also provides some cultural opportunities.

HISTORY OF CONNAUGHT PLACE

In 1911, the capital of India was shifted from Kolkata to Delhi. At that time, the city of Delhi was mainly limited to Shahjahanabad (area around Chandni Chowk).

Rest of the area which today comprises Delhi was composed mainly of Aravali hills with its forest. Towards its south, there were certain isolated inhabited areas - around the Dargah of Nizamuddin Aulia, around the water tank of Hauz Khas, around the ruins of Tughlakabad and in Mehrauli near Qutab Minar.

Different areas of New Delhi were built by clearing the Aravali hills right upto Reading Road (now known as Mandir Marg). Today, a small strip of that ancient forest land of Aravali hills still remains between Reading Road, Dhola Kuan, Panchkuiyan road and Rajendra Nagar.

The new areas built in 1920s included Connaught Place, Gol Market, Gol Dak khana, Viceroy house (now known as Rashtrapati Bhawan), India Gate and surrounding areas. On Reading road, the British had built the Harcourt Butler school (located next to Birla temple) for the children of the British officials, which used to shift to Shimla during the summer months.

The Aravali hills, in the area where Connaught Place was built, included different villages and two famous temples - a Hanuman temple and a Jain temple. Both these temples are still present, close to Baba Kharag Singh road.

Connaught Place was built in 1929-1933 as a series of buildings laid out in a circle around a central park with roads leading out like the spooks of a wheel. Names of many old roads of CP were changed after independence - for example, Kingsway became Janpath, Queensway became Parliament street, Curzon road became Kasturba Gandhi road while Irwin road became Baba Kharag Singh road.

The civil contractor who had built Connaught Place was Shobha Singh, the father of well known Indian writer Khushwant Singh.

The old shops in CP included Keventers and Wengers in A block. Wengers run by a Swiss couple, was famous for its chocolate cakes. In B block, Galgotias had a famous book shop. Mahatta, the celebrity photographer during 1940s to 1970s, had a shop in M block. The image below shows some of the celebrities photographed by Mahatta.

After independence till the early 1960s, the area now known as Pallika Bazar, had a circular row of wooden shacks hosting the emporiums of different Indian states, while in its centre was the famous United Coffee House of Delhi where writers and artists of Delhi got together in the evening. As a child, I still remember an evening there with the well known artist Maqbool Fida Hussein.

Later, the shops, emporiums and the United coffee house were shifted to new buildings on Janpath and Baba Kharag Singh road, while an underground parking and Pallika Bazar had taken their place. Across the road from Pallika Bazar, the iconic Jeevan Bharati building had come up in that area in 1980s.

In the same period, a big fountain was built in the centre of the circular park in CP, with lights of different colours, and bathrooms underneath. During the summer months, this was a popular place for people to sit around and eat ice creams. Later this fountain was removed when the construction of the Rajiv Chowk metro station was started.

CENTRAL PARK

The central park continues to be an important part of CP for the cultural performances. Because of the bomb threats, today the entry to the park is regulated through two entry gates and thus crossing the park as a shortcut to reach different parts of CP is no longer possible.

Since 2014, the central park is also known for the giant Indian national flag put up across the entrance to Pallika Bazar. More than 60 metres high, the flag can be seen from far away and serves as a beacon for people in this area.

BABA KHARAG SINGH ROAD

Coming from the central park towards Baba Kharag Singh Road (BKSR), you can see two iconic buildings of this area - Regal cinema and Khadi Gramoudyog Bhawan. Standard restaurant at the first floor above Regal had opened in 1957, and for a long time, was known among the old-timers for its cuisine.

On BKSR, on the right side of the road, you can visit the United Coffee House and the emporiums of different states of India full of handicrafts, clothes and other things. Each emporium is like a museum.

On the left side, you can see Rivoli, another old cinema of this area and visit the old Hanuman temple which predates the construction of CP.

The building between Rivoli cinema and Hanuman temple is Mohan Singh Palace market, famous for its tailors specialised in stitching of jeans. If you are looking for jeans made specially for you, this is the place to visit.

The open area around Hanuman Mandir is a popular place for persons looking for a place to rest. Astrologers and those who predict your future by looking at your hands, sit here waiting for the clients. In front of Hanuman temple is an underground passage. Decorated with art, the passage hosts different handicrafts shops and an occasional exhibition. In the evening, I have seen parts of this passage used by young volunteers to teach the street children.

PARLIAMENT STREET

The most famous group of constructions on Parliament Street (Sansad Marg) is Jantar Mantar, built in 1724 by Jaisingh Sawai II, the king of Amber in Rajasthan, who is also credited with the building of Jaipur. He had great interest in astronomy and astrology. Different constructions of the Jantar Mantar were built to study the movements of stars and planets. Similar complexes were also built in four other towns - Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi. It has six constructions in brick and mortar, of which the biggest is known as Samrat Yantra.

Across the road from Jantar Mantar is the new building of Pallika Kendra of New Delhi Municiple Council. It is an imposing building but is grey and anonymous looking. I think that it is a missed opportunity for making a building that could have been an icon for Delhi as well as a tourist attraction.

The stretch of Parliament street after the crossing is used for staging marches and rallies. Free church at the corner is the meeting place for Alcoholics Anonymous. Being in the city centre, rallies here usually bring photographers and videographers from the newspapers and TV channels. The image below shows farmers at a rally in Parliament street.

If you are interested in checking who all are doing sit-ins, protests and asking for their rights, turn left after Jantar Mantar on the Tolstoy Marg and take the Jantar Mantar lane on the right side. This whole stretch of road is reserved for people protesting against/for something. There was a time when Irom Sharmila was here. At another time, it was the site of anti-corruption protests out of which Arvind Kejriwal appeared as a political leader. Here are a couple of images about the protesters on Jantar Mantar road.

JANPATH

Janpath is the road for shopping, from clothes to handicrafts. It has the Janpath metro station at the Tolstoy road crossing. Across the street from the Janpath metro station is Sarvanna Bhavan, the best place for south Indian food in CP.

An important building in the same area is the Cottage Industries emporium (CIE) that is a treasure house of exquisite handicrafts, jewellery and clothes from different parts of India. It also hosts specific exhibitions regularly.

Outside CIE, its lawns also host some statues linked with the exhibitions, like the sculptures in the image below.

SHANKER MARKET

This old market is opposite E block in the outer circle of Connaught Place, on the left side after the crossing with Barakhamba Road. Once upon a time, this area had the first supermarket of Delhi called Super Bazar.

Shanker market has literally changed colours over the past couple of years by asking local artists to colour its walls with beautiful designs.

UGRASEN KI BAOLI

Legends say that this step-well was first built in the Mahabharat times. The present step-well was rebuilt by some Jain traders in the 14th century. In style it looks similar to the 13th century Rajon ki Baoli stepwell in the Mehrauli archaeological area. Later a small mosque was added to the area. It is a beautiful, even if a little neglected building. Many films have been shot here including Rang de Basanti.

During the times when the whole CP area was a rocky forest of the Aravali hills, this stepwell must have been a well known resting place for persons walking along the hilly trails.

The ancient stepwell is hidden in a jungle of modern highrise buildings. To reach it, take Barakhamba road and then turn right on Hailey road, and again turn right inside Hailey lane.

CONCLUSIONS

As a child, I had loved eating Dosas at Madras Hotel on Panchkuiyan road. Literally Panchkuiyan means "five wells". That name also refers to older times when this area was Aravali hills. Further down this road, closer to Karol Bagh, there are some old medieval ruins in the forest.

Till 1970s and 1980s, Connaught Place was the real centre of Delhi. It was at Nirulas restaurant in L block where I had first tasted Triple Sundays, Pizzas, Hamburghers and Uttapams. I am sure that all the persons of my generation who had lived in Delhi, will have their own memories of CP.

Today, Delhi extends to Noida and Gurgaon, on a grid that is more than 60 km long. Each area of the city has its own shopping centres, malls and multiplexes, while CP is known more for Rajiv Chowk, the metro station where you can change the metro lines.

I am happy to take this trip down the memory lane to show some significant places of Connaught Place.

Update 2024: Cities keep on changing and Connaught Place is no exception. During my last visit there a few months ago, found something new there - a new museum. It is the Charkha Museum or the spinning wheel museum. Mahatma Gandhi had popularised the idea and ideals of Charkha, in terms of self-sufficient village communities which spun their own clothes. The industrial revolution has taken India in a different direction but the romantic image of Charkha continues. It is a nice museum and interesting for people interested in Mahatma Gandhi. It is located at the corner of Pallika Parking, just opposite Khadhi Gramoudyog Bhawan on the outer circle.

***

Delhi Metro Walks: Pragati Maidan

“Delhi Metro Walks” are my way of discovering the city places around the metro stations. This post is about the places to visit around the “Pragati Maidan” station on the Yellow line of Delhi Metro.

Delhi Metro network must be one of the fastest growing metro networks in the world. It came to Delhi only about 10 years ago and is already a complex web of lines covering large parts of the huge and growing city of 16 million persons, to which new lines and stations get added every year. It is a convenient way to discover hidden corners of the city.

1 PRAGATI MAIDAN METRO STATION

The Blue line is one of the longest lines in the Delhi metro network – it connects Dwarka in the south-west part of Delhi near the international airport to NOIDA and other satellite towns in the north-east. NOIDA in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh is part of the New Capital Region (NCR), the metropolitan area of Delhi .

So let us start our walking tour from the Pragati Maidan metro station. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes and keep a wide-brimmed cap or an umbrella to cover your head from the strong sun light. This is a long walking-tour and if you wish, you can spend many hours for this visit. As you come of the station, turn left and follow the boundary walls of the Trade Fair grounds on the Mathura Road.

The map below shows the different places to visit during this walking tour. The path on Mathura Road is shown in blue dots, while the sites are marked in red numbers.

2 PRAGATI MAIDAN (DELHI TRADE FAIR GROUNDS)

The trade fair grounds of Delhi called “Pragati Maidan” (literally the words mean “Progress Grounds”) give the name to the metro station. If there is an on-going trade fair, be prepared to tackle huge crowds at this station.

As you walk along the walls of the Trade Fair grounds, on your left you will encounter different entry gates. Pragati Maidan has different eating places, theatres and open-air cultural places that function only during the different trade fairs that take place throughout the year, especially between October to February.

I personally prefer the trade fairs concerning books and traditional crafts of India, though the fairs dealing with electronics, furniture, etc. and especially the international trade fair, attract a lot of visitors. There are numerous opportunities to see plays, films and dances during the trade fairs, especially in the evening. The quirky modernist architecture of the buildings is also an attraction.

MATKA PEER KI DARGAH

If you continue along the outer walls of the trade fair, near the crossing with Bhairon Singh Road, on your left you will find the dargah of Matka pir. “Dargah” denotes the prayer place of a Sufi pir (saint). Sufi pir are Muslim holy persons in the syncretic religious traditions of India and usually have followers from different religions. Usually the saint is buried in the same dargah and people visit it to ask a mannat (favour).

In this dargah, persons asking for a favour offer a matka (a round terracotta vase, traditionally used for storing cool water) to the saint. Thus on the different trees around this place, you will find hundreds of these vases hanging from the branches. Because of them, the saint is known as Matka Pir.

The earthen round matkas are used to offer roasted grams and jaggery at the dargah, because there is a story that the saint had once transformed iron balls and mud into these edibles. At the dargah you can also listen to qawali prayer songs.

You need to remove your shoes/sandals and cover your head with a scarf or a handkerchief to enter the dargah. Persons wearing shorts or skirts should not enter the dargah.

PURANA QILA OR THE OLD FORT

Just across the sanctuary of Matka Pir, on the other side of Bhairon road, you can see the walls of the Purana Qila or the old fort of Delhi, built in the 16th century.

Many kings of Delhi had preferred to built their own forts, shifting each time the imperial city that settled around the king’s fort. Since 1000 AD and over the next 500 years, the imperial city of Delhi had been in Mehrauli, then in Hauz Khas, then in Tughlakabad and finally to the areas around Lodhi gardens. In the 16th century came the Mughals from Western Asia – in 1524 arrived Babar who defeated the Lodhi king and became the new king of Delhi. However, Babar’s reign lasted only a few years and he died in 1530. Hamayun his son became the king but in 1540 he was defeated by Sher Shah Suri and forced to go back to West Asia.

After becoming the king, Suri decided to build a new fort, that is now known as the Purana Qila, some kilometres to the east, in an area known as Indraprastha, where the legend said that the ancient city of Pandavas from the Hindu epic Mahabharata was situated. Hamayun came back and attacked Delhi in 1555 and defeated Suri. Hamayun decided to live in Suri’s fort and constructed some new buildings inside the fort, including a round library.  A year later, Hamayun died, falling down from the stairs of that round building, and his 14 year old son Jalaluddin Mohammed (Akbar) became the king. As Akbar grew up, he decided to shift to Agra and along with him the imperial city also shifted. Suri’s fort was abandoned and was covered with plants and trees, and a village came up inside it.

For the next 100 years, the Mughal kings - Akbar, followed by Jahangir and Shahjahan continued to live in Agra. In 1658, Shahjahan’s son Aurangzeb became the king and he brought back the imperial city to Delhi, where his father had built a new fort to the north-east of the Delhi (Red Fort).

With this glimpse of the history of Delhi, you can visit the old fort. Its outer walls are surrounded by a small lake, a popular place for paddle-boating during summers. Inside the fort, some buildings including a mosque and the round shaped library of Hamayun are in good condition.

The old fort is the venue of some important cultural activities. For example, each year in November, the Ananya dance festival is held here.

KHAIR-UL-MANAZIL

Just across the road from the old fort is Khair-ul-Manazil (literally “The most beautiful building”), the house of Maham Angah, the wet nurse of prince Jalaluddin Akbar. This building was built in 1561-62.

Maham Angah was supposed to be a very powerful figure for many years in the court of the young king Akbar. However, for conspiring against the king, her son Adham Khan was killed and she was exiled, while Akbar shifted to Agra. If you have seen Ashutosh Gawarikar’s film “Jodha Akbar”, you will certainly remember Maham Angah, played wonderfully by Ila Arun.

The mosque of this building is quite well preserved, while the ruins of other buildings of this complex (probably a madrassa or an Islamic school) are worse off.

DELHI ZOO

The Delhi zoo is next to the old fort and is one of my favourite places in Delhi. It has wide open spaces where most animals are housed. It includes a small lake where a stable colony of painted storks, grey necked storks and cormorants lives. In February when the baby storks are there, it can be a really noisy place. The zoo also has lot of peacocks flying around.

The gardens of the zoo have a wide variety of trees and each tree is labelled with a short description. Thus, the zoo is an excellent place to learn about Indian trees.

Unfortunately, the persons visiting the zoo, especially adolescent boys, can be very noisy and thus, probably the animals are very stressed. Weekends are usually very crowded here. The zoo also has some antiquated laws regarding cameras so you are supposed to pay extra if you are carrying a camera, even if it is an old simple camera. However, you can take pictures or even shoot videos with your smart phone without paying anything extra.

CONCLUSIONS

After you finish the zoo visit, you can take an auto-rickshaw to take you back to Pragati Maidan metro station, because it can be a long walk (around 2.5 km)!

There are two more places to visit on this tour - both are on Bhairon Road, close to the Dargah of Matka peer - the crafts museum and the Bhairon temple. However, I did not visit them this time because I was too tired!

I like this walk because it provides very different kinds of experiences – historical, cultural, culinary, sacred and nature.

You can check the Travel page of this blog to see the other walks around metro stations of Delhi. I hope that you have enjoyed taking this walk with me.

***