New Delhi: India's capital is a cosmopolitan city drawing people of all races and colours. The bustling metropolis has an amazing mix of modernization and carefully preserved antiquity. Sprawled over both sides of river Yamuna, it is one of the fastest growing cities in India. New Delhi was built by a British architect Edward Lutyens in 1912 as the new capital of the British Raj. The Victorian architecture now intermingles with the city's high rise buildings. Concrete flyovers built to ease the growing traffic are interspersed with well laid gardens, Mughal tombs, forts and monuments. The city traces its history to Mahabharata, the great epic tale of wars fought between estranged cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas for the city of Indraprastha. Historically, the city has long since been the foremost in political importance with successive dynasties choosing it as their seat of power, between the 13th and the 17th centuries. Old Delhi was founded by Mughal rulers who ruled the city in succession starting from Qutab-ub-din to Khiljis, Tughlaqs each, under a different name given to the city. Delhi was made the capital of Independent India after independence and it was declared a National Capital Territory in 1992. Since then, Delhi has changed tremendously in terms of architectural buildings, infrastructure, technological advancements, etc. Let's have a look at what Delhi was then and how it has been transformed now. 1. Chandni Chowk One of the oldest and busiest markets of Delhi, built in 17th century by the Mughal emperor of India Shah Jahan and designed by his daughter Jahan Ara, the market was once divided by canals (now closed) to reflect moonlight, and it remains one of India's largest wholesale markets. Dr. Rajendra Prasad arrives on a horse carriage in Old Delhi, horse carriages were used as a mode of transport before independence. Now, rickshaws are the most common mode of transport in Old Delhi area. A busy street of Chandni Chowk, comparing it with today's times, this would be a rather quit lone street. 2. Connaught Place Fourth most expensive business center in world.The heart of Delhi is one of the largest financial, commercial and business centers. Named after H.R.H. Field Marshal the 1st Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, the construction work was started in 1929 and completed in 1933. The Inner Circle of Connaught Place was renamed Rajiv Chowk (after the late Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi) and the Outer Circle was renamed Indira Chowk by the then Union Home Minister S.B. Chavan. Prior to its construction, the area was a ridge, covered with kikar tress, inhabited by jackals and wild pigs, where residents of Kashmere Gate, Civil Lines area visited during the weekends for partridge hunting. The only other visitors to the area were the ones who came to the ancient Hanuman Temple, who came from the walled city on Tuesdays and Saturdays and that too before the sunset as the passage back wasn't considered safe during those days. Villages like Madhoganj, Jaisingh Pura and Raja ka Bazaar were evacuated to clear the area for the construction of Connaught Place and the development of its nearby areas. 3. Kashmere Gate Northern gate to the historic walled city, built by Military Engineer Robert Smith in 1835. It used to start a road that led to Kashmir. Today, it is an important road junction as the Red Fort, ISBT and Delhi Junction railway station lie in its vicinity. The Maharana Pratap Inter-state bus terminus or ISBT is the oldest and one of the biggest Inter State Bus Terminals in India, operating bus services between Delhi and 7 states. ISBT It opened in 1976. Kashmere Gate was the scene of an important assault by British Army during Indian rebellion of 1857. Kashmere Gate metro stationAfter 1857, the British moved to Civil Lines, and Kashmere Gate became the fashionable and commercial centre of Delhi, a status it lost only after the creation of New Delhi in 1931. In, 1965, a section of the Kashmere Gate was demolished to allow faster movement of vehicular traffic, since then it has become a protected monument by ASI. 4. Karol Bagh Gaffar Market in the 1950sIn 1920s, residents of villages like Madhoganj, Jaisingh Pura and Raja ka Bazaar evacuated to build Connaught Place and nearby areas, were relocated in Karol Bagh to the West, then a rocky area populated by trees and wild, bushes. Gaffar Market nowA mixed residential cum commercial neighbourhood, known for its shopping hubs like Ghaffar Market and Ajmal Khan Road. Yesteryear's Gaffar Market in central Delhi was built in 1952 at the cost of R5.3 lakh. In the 1950s, it wasn't the congested place that it is today. Over the years, it has become one of the city's well-known grey markets for electronic goods to which several products find their way much before they are launched in India. 5. Central Secretariat The Secretariat Building or Central Secretariat is where the Cabinet Secretariat is housed, which administers the Government of India. Built in the 1910s, it is home to some of the most important ministries of the Cabinet of India. Situated on Raisina Hill, New Delhi, the Secretariat buildings are two blocks of symmetrical buildings (North Block and South Block) on opposite sides of the great axis of Rajpath, and flanking the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President's House). After the capital of India moved to Delhi, a temporary secretariat building was constructed in a few months in 1912 in North Delhi. Most of the government offices of the new capital moved here from the 'Old secretariat' in Old Delhi, a decade before the new capital was inaugurated in 1931. The Old Secretariat building now houses the Delhi Legislative Assembly. The nearby Parliament House was built much later, and hence was not constructed around the axis of Rajpath. Construction of Parliament House was begun in 1921, and the building was inaugurated in 1927. Today, the area is served by the Central Secretariat station of the Delhi Metro.
