New Delhi Attractions

A fitting memorial to India's war dead

Advantages: It's a real gathering point and well worth a visit
Disadvantages: You'll get more out of your visit if you've done a bit of reading beforehand

India Gate has the rare distinction of being one of the few attractions in Delhi that benefits from being visible from a great distance, rather than being crowded in by surrounding buildings. If you stand outside the Presidential Palace at the far end of Rajpath with the government buildings around you, you can look straight down this regal artery and see the 42m-high India Gate standing proudly in the distance, looking a little like an Asian Arc ...
...originally known as the All India War Memorial but is now widely referred to as India Gate. Lutyens was the architect and planner behind New Delhi and he brought a degree of order and structure to the streets that few Indian cities had seen before. The great boulevard of Kingsway - now known as Rajpath - ran West to East from what was then the Viceregal Palace (now the Presidential Palace or Rashtrapati Bhawan) to the India Gate. The second great ...

koshkha 05.05.2009 · Read full review
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Review of India Gate, New Delhi

A Memorial to a Remarkable Leader

Advantages: A great mix of the public and private woman
Disadvantages: The crowds can be overwhelming

...of whom much is expected; Indira Gandhi's place in Indian social and political history would have been ensured even without her own remarkable achievement. Indira was the first - and so far only - woman Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy. Her election in 1966 made her only the second woman to serve as president or prime minister in modern times. So much for the idea that India was a backward place - she took power 13 years before the ...
...In a BBC online poll Indira Gandhi upstaged the likes of Queen Elizabeth the First to be named as 'Woman of the Millenium". Whether you love her or hate her, praise her achievements or despise her heavy-handed treatment of social and political issues (for example her 'transistor radios for vasectomies' campaign and sending troops into the Golden Temple at Amristsar) it's hard to deny that Indira Gandhi was a phenomenon. Like millions of people around ...

koshkha 20.12.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum, New Delhi

Rajpath, the central avenue of Delhi

Advantages: Peacefull atmosphere
Disadvantages: none

...known as the ceremonial Kingsway, Rajpath, which is 2.4 kilometer long, was planned as the central avenue of Sir Edwin Lutyen's New Delhi. The street is so well designed that even after more than six decades, the central vista of Delhi offers a very open feel to its visitors. It is lined with beautiful ponds, large green lawns and trees on both sides, which makes the environment cool and pleasant. To further extenuate the summer heat, carefully chosen ...
...the street. The other thing worth noticing in the planning of the city and the arrangement of the streets is that all the main streets have beautiful vistas or views at each end. Rajpath has the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the two Secretariat buildings at its western end and India Gate - the arch of triumph and Purana Qila to its eastern end. Though due to the National Stadium, which was built on the insistence of the wife of the Viceroy, the view of ...

jyotika123 19.02.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Rajpath, New Delhi

His widow chose a beautiful spot for his mausoleum

Advantages: A building of major architectural interest
Disadvantages: Expensive by local standards

...now it's the turn of Humayun's tomb. It was an exceptionally hot and humid day - the monsoon was overdue and predicted to break at any moment and the skies were overcast and threatening. The temperatures were touching forty degrees and the air was saturated. After visiting the Red Fort and the mosque we had sweated our way across the city in a badly ventilated minibus. The final stop on our tour was feeling like altogether too much effort. As we ...
...which are as expensive as Humayun's Tomb and the prices have increased after recent work, funded by the Aga Khan foundation was carried out to improve the site. The site is open from sunrise to sunset. Who was Humayan? ****************** Humayan was the son of Babur and he became the second emperor of the Mughal Empire in 1530. Unfortunately like so many leaders throughout history he liked the high life and spent too much time living it up in ...

koshkha 23.10.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Humayun's Tomb, New Delhi

One of my favourite museums - completely rewritten

Advantages: A nice little museum full of goodies
Disadvantages: A tad old-fashioned perhaps

A National Treasure One of the first reviews I wrote when I joined ciao was about the National Museum in Delhi. As an early review it was, quite honestly, pretty awful. I hadn't got the hang of ciao at that time and looking back, I'm pretty embarrassed about the stuff I wrote. However, I can't let my own vanity get in the way and I want to update that first review because I believe that this museum is a little gem and should get more tourist attention ...
...Where is it? *********** The National Museum is on Janpath, the main street running south from Connaught Place, it's down at the 'quiet end' of this famous street, just past the intersection with Rajpath and a block and a bit from the India Gate. It doesn't seem to attract the attention that I believe it deserves. I've had several city tours with various holidays in Delhi but nobody has ever included the National Museum, or for that matter, even ...

koshkha 11.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of National Museum, New Delhi