The Government of India Tourist Office is at 88 Janpath and is open from 8 am to 7 pm in summer, 9 am to 7 pm in winter. The office has a lot of information and brochures on destinations all over India but none of it is on display you have to know what you want and ask for it. They have a good give-away map of Delhi and New Delhi. The Tourist Office can also assist you in finding accommodation. At the airport there is a tourist counter which is open around the clock for domestic and international arrivals. Here too they can help you find accommodation.
There is also a Delhi Tourism Corporation which is located in N block, Connaught Place. Most of the state governments have information centres in Delhi. The offices for Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujrat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab and West Bengal are all located in the State Emporia Building on Baba Kharak Singh Marg. The offices for Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are in the Chandralok Building, 36 Janpath.
In the Imperial Hotel the Student Travel Information Centre is the place for obtaining or renewing student cards and they have excellent air ticketing services. When it's time to fly home they're the people to see. There are many other cheap ticket specialists operating around Connaught Place — they leap out and grab you.
Banks & Post Offices
There are major offices of all the Indian banks and overseas ones operating in India. As usual some branches will change travellers' cheques, some will not. American Express have their office in A Block Connaught Place and although they are usually crowded their service is very fast. There is a post office at 9A Connaught Place but the GPO and New Delhi's efficient poste restante is in the centre of the traffic circle at the junction of Baba Kharak Singh Marg and Ashoka Rd, some little distance from Connaught Place. Note that poste restante mail addressed simply to 'Delhi' will end up at the inconveniently situated old Delhi post office. Some people also (tend mail to the Tourist Office on Janpath or the Student Travel Information Centre. Of course Amex has their client mail service.
Bookshops
There are a number of excellent bookshops around Connaught Place — a good place to stock up with hefty paperbacks to while away those long train rides or to look for Interesting Indian books. Some of the better shops Include the New Hook Depot in A Block Connaught Place, the English Book Depot and the Piccadilly Book Store.
Libraries & Organisations The US Information Service is at 24 Kasturba Gandhi Marg and is open from 10 am to 6 pm. The British Council's Library is open from 10 am to 7 pm and is in the AIFACS Building; Rafi Marg. Sapru House on Barakhamba Rd is an institution devoted to the study of people of the world and has a good library. The India International Centre beside the Lodi Tombs has lectures each week on art, economics and other contemporary issues by Indian and foreign experts.
Delhi Architecture
The various periods of Delhi's history can be traced in the many historic buildings around the city. These can be roughly divided into early, middle and late Pathan periods followed by early, middle and late Moghul periods.
Early Pathan (1193-1320) The Qutab Minar complex dates from this period
which was characterized by the combination of Hindu designs with those
of the Moslem invaders. Domes and arches were the chief elements they
brought in.
Middle Pathan (1320-1414) The Tughlaqabad buildings date from the beginning of this period.
Later buildings include the Feroz Shah Kotla mosque, the Hauz Khas
tomb, the Nizam-ud-din mosque and the Khirki mosque. At first local
stone and red sandstone was used, later giving way to stone and mortar
walls with plaster facing. Characteristic design elements include
sloping walls and high platforms for the mosques.
Late Pathan (1414-1556) The Saiyad and Lodi tombs and the Purana Qila
date from this period. The impressive domes and coloured marble
or tile decorations are characteristic of this period.
Moghul (1556-1754) During the early Moghul period buildings were of red
sandstone with marble devils, Humayun's and Azam Khan's tombs are
typical examples. During the middle period much more use of marble was
made and buildings had bulbous domes and towering minarets. The Red
Fort, the Jami Masjid and the Fatehpuri mosque are all good examples but
the supreme building from this period is, of course, the Taj Mahal in
Agra. In the later Moghul period the style became over elaborate, good
examples of this decadent Moghul period are the Sonehri mosque on
Chandni Chowk in old Delhi and the Safdar Jang tomb, probably the last
notable Moghul building.
Old Delhi
The old walled city of Shahjahanabad stands to the west of the Red Fort and was at one time surrounded by a sturdy defensive wall, only fragments of which now exist. The Kashmiri Gate at the northern end of the walled city, was the scene for desparate fighting when the British retook Delhi during the Mutiny. West of here, near Sabzi Mandi, is the British erected Mutiny Memorial to the soldiers who lost their lives in the events of the uprising. Near the monument there is another Ashoka Pillar. Like the one in Feroz Kotla it was brought here by Feroz Shah Tughlaq.
The main street of old Delhi is the colourful shopping bazaar known as
Chandni Chowk. It's hopelessly congested day and night, a very sharp
contrast to the open, spacious streets of New Delhi. At the east (Red
Fort) end of Chandni Chowk and north of the Jami Masjid there is a Jain
temple with a small marble courtyard surrounded by a colonnade.
Next to the Kotwali (police station) is the Sunehri Masjid. In
1739 Nadir Shah, the Persian invader who carried off the Peacock Throne
when he sacked Delhi, stood on the roof of the mosque and watched while
his soldiers conducted a bloody massacre of the Delhi inhabitants.
The west end of Chandni Chowk is marked by the Fatehpuri Mosque which
one of Shah Jahan's wives erected in 1650.
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