Walking
down the steps of the baoli in the now dried up mausoleum of Ghyas ud din
Tughlak, Sohail Hashmi pauses. As do the dozen odd people in the motley group
accompanying him. Sohail starts talking about the taste of the sweet water from
this well – which he has himself tasted as a teen – and everyone listens in
rapt attention to the real life history lesson taking place. The well at one
time used to be located inside the lake that surrounded the mausoleum and was
the only sweet water well for miles.
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Welcome
to Delhi Heritage Walks with Sohail Hashmi, a weekend activity that has become
a must for all those in love with Delhi, its past and its present. Started in 2004,
these heritage walks are the result of Sohail’s irrepressible love for his
Delhi which was nurtured by his father. Sohail’s father dabbled in archeology
and showed him the seven different Delhis in chronological order when he was
still a child. He would explain how the architecture of the Arch, the Dome and
the Minaret had evolved over several centuries, from the 12th century
onward.
Needless
to say Sohail was hooked. In 1968 Sohail ran away from school with five of his
class mates to spend an entire day at Tughlaqabad. The place has had a magical
hold on him since then. He grew up to document these fascinating bits of
history in stone in films that he scripted. It was indeed a pleasure for him
that the discovery of the kitchen area, and a stepwell by archaeologists, in Tughlaqabad,
was made while he was shooting for a documentary inside the fort. These
structures had been buried under rubble and silt for hundreds of years and were
revealed when archeologists began clearing up the rubble of collapsed
walls.
He
read about Delhi through a number of authors like Syed Ahmad Khan,
Bashir-ud-Din Ahmad, Maulvi Zafar Hasan, and Lucy Peck. College professors like
Prof. Percival Spear and Professor Narayani Gupta also influenced him. He
always loved to walk and with a college friend he explored the many lanes and
by lanes of Shahjahanabad and gradually picked up tidbits of information that
were enriched later through the reading of some of the books by authors
mentioned above and other sources, both written and oral.
In
2004 Sohail was running a creative activity centre for children called
"Leap Years", started by Rahul Bhandare, an entrepreneur, who wanted
to create spaces for children where they could engage in extra-curricular
activities to help them explore their creative talents. Sohail realised that
these children, given the kind of emphasis that is placed on rote learning,
were growing up in this city ignorant of its shared heritage and history. So he
started fortnightly excursions for them called “Discover Delhi". Very
soon, he started receiving requests from parents who wanted to join in these
walks. Time Out magazine carried a story on the walks, NDTV used one of his
walks to hang some stories for a breakfast show and the word spread and soon the
walks developed into what they are today.
A
typical walk with Sohail takes about two hours and covers an area of about 2km.
The pace is leisurely and allows you to imbibe the historical surroundings, as
Sohail brings alive the old building with stories from the past. There are
close to16 walks to choose from, including old Delhi, Kashmiri Gate, Mehrauli,
Hauz Khas, and Lodi Garden to mention a few.
Did
you know that the current New Delhi sits on the ancient ruins of at least 7
older cities? The oldest is referred to in the ancient Hindu text of the
Mahabharata as Indraprastha. This
was the city was said to have been constructed by the Pandava brothers, but
there is little archeological evidence to support this theory.
Others
which are better documented include -
Quila Rai
Pithora
(Prithivi Raj Chauhan)
Mehrauli (Qutubuddin
Aibak)
Siri (Alauddin
Khalji)
Tughlakabad (Ghiyasuddin
Tugluq)
Firozabad (Firuz Shah
Tugluk)
Shergarh (Sher Shah
Suri)
Shahjehabanad (Shah Jahan)
Shahjahanabad
including Lal Qila and Chandini Chowk was built in the 16th century
by the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan. This is referred to as old Delhi today, while
Lutyen’s Delhi built by the British is called New Delhi and includes gems such
as Rashtrapati Bhawan, North Block and South Block.
Contact Sohail Hashmi through his Facebook Page
Besides
Sohail, there are others who offer heritage walks. These include the Salaam
Baalak Trust (Salaam
Baalak Trust website),
Masterji Kee Haveli (Masterji
Kee Haveli website), Delhi Food Adventure in Chandini Chowk (Delhi
Food Adventure website), Old Delhi Bazaar Walk (Delhi Magic
website),
Delhi Heritage Walks (Delhi Heritage
Walks website),
The Trail of Nizam Piya (1100
Walks website.)
The cost usually depends on the walk and the company organizing the walk. The
cost ranges between Rs.300 for a regular walk, to over Rs.3000 for a customized
one.
