Delhi - Old, New, Italian

It is said that Delhi is in its ninth incarnation as a city, it has been continuously inhabited for at least 3000 years. Delhi has reinvented itself many times during its history, and it is plain to see that it is in the midst of another revolution now. Delhi is a complex and layered place with over 22 million citizens.

Richard Blandy and I were there with the Jamie’s Italian team to discuss the restaurant groups first foray into India, to visit the site and to meet our local architectural partners. Spending five or six days there can only scratch the surface, and we spent our time in three very different cities: Old Delhi the ‘seventh city’ of Shah Jahan, the British imperial Delhi of Lutyens (the eighth city), and the rapidly modernizing suburbs to the south of Delhi. The contrast between the three could not be starker, and it vividly illustrates both the reality of life in the modern city and its recent history.

Old Delhi is dominated by the Red Fort. It was built in the 17^th Century on the banks of the river Jumuna by Shah Jahan, the Mughal Emperor who built the Taj Mahal at Agra for his third wife. Its scale is mind boggling, and despite the loss of a great deal of the original fabric in the 19^th Century, (courtesy of the British who ransacked the place and turned it into an army base after the Indian uprising) it still evokes the majesty and ritual of Mughal court life. Outside the ramparts of the fort lies the old town, although the city lost its walls some decades ago, the density of the centre defines the place, and the extraordinary spectacle of human life that pulsates through its narrow streets both shocks and amazes the western eye.

In one of the most extreme contrasts I have seen in a city, the “Lutyens” expansion of Delhi is different in every way. Tree lined boulevards radiate from roundabouts and are lined with verdant plots that originally contained around 1000 bungalows for the civil servants of the British Empire who worked in the government buildings of Lutyens and Herbert Baker. It is a spacious green and airy garden suburb, still very European in feel. Around 10% of the plots are in private ownership and understandably they command values equivalent to premium real estate in London and New York.

The recent southern extension is in stark contrast to both, it is a traffic dominated landscape of construction work and malls, slowly replacing the former low rise suburbs. Like most developing urban centres there is a generic quality to the architecture and the retail brands that occupy the air conditioned malls. However there are pockets of creativity, Hauz Khas has a youthful mix of bars shops and restaurants beside a beautifully landscaped C18^threservoir, the proximity of the Fashion School unlocking its potential.

There is an extraordinary charity that offers street children a home, education and direction. The Salaam Baalak Trust (www.salaambaalaktrust.com) helps over 6000 boys and girls from 5 or 6 years old to late teens. To get their message out and to help raise funds the older ones tell their stories during guided City walks through the alleys and backstreets of Old Delhi. It is a humbling yet inspirational experience that will live with me for a long while.

At the other end of the scale India has a huge middle class, approximately 250 million, (it was 25 million in 1996). The demand for cars, homes, and luxury products, has generated investment in infrastructure and development at breakneck speed. The first thing one of my colleagues said to me when we arrived in Delhi was that the city is a palimpsest, this is true at all levels, the buildings, the spaces and the people all exhibit a complex layering of history, change and all of the challenges that brings. Delhi feels like a place that needs time to unravel, in truth, probably a lifetime.