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New Delhi Orientation
Delhi is the capital of India, and it's also the travel
core of northern India. As well as being an excellent base
for visiting wonders like the Taj Mahal, New Delhi is the
commercial and cultural heart of India. With its unique
attractions, exquisite culture and busy streets, very few
capital cities in the world can match Delhi in terms of
diversity. Delhi is a relatively easy city to find your
way around although it is very spread out. The section of
interest to visitors is on the west bank of the Yumana
River and it is divided basically into two parts - the
tightly packed streets of Old Delhi and the spacious,
planned areas of New Delhi.
Old Delhi is the 17th century walled city of Shahjahanabad,
'with city gates, narrow alleys, constant traffic jams and
terrible air pollution, the enormous Red Fort and Jama
Masjid, temples, mosques, bazaars and the famous street
known as Chandni Chowk. Here you will find the Delhi train
station and, a little farther north, the main interstate
bus station near Kashmiri Gate. Near New Delhi train
station, and acting as a sort of buffer zone between the
old and new cities, is the crowded market area of
Paharganj. This has become the budget travllers hang-out
and there are many popular cheap hotels and restaurants in
this area.
New Delhi is the planned city of wide, treelined streets,
parks and fountains, but still with the Indian touches od
doe-eyed cows calmly ignoring the traffic and squatter
hoveks on twaste land. It can be further sub divided into
the business and residential areas around Connaught place
and the government areas around rajpath to the south. At
the eastern end of Rajpath is the India Gate memorail and
at thewest end is the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the residence of
the Indian President.
The hub of New Delhi is the great circle of connaught
place and the streets that radiate from it. Here you will
find most of the airline offices, banks, travel agents,
state tourist offices and the national one, more budget
accommodation and the several of the big hotels. The Regal
cinema, at the south side of the circle, and the plaza
cinema, at the north, are two important landmarks and are
useful for telling taxi or auto-rickshaw drivers where you
want to go.
Janpath, running off Connaught place to the South, has the
Government of India tourist office, the Student Travel
Information Centre in the Imperial Hotel and a number of
other useful addresses.
South of New Delhi government areas are Delhi's more
expensive residential areas. with names like Defence
Colony, South Extension, Lodi Colony, Greater Kailash and
Vasant Vihar. Many of the better (more expensive)
cinemas and shopping centres are found here. The
Indira Gandhi International Airport is to the south-west
of the city, and about halfway between the airport and
Connaught Place is the Chanakyapuri, the diplomatic
enclave. Most of Delhi's embassies (and the prime
minister's house) are concentrated in this strikingly tidy
area and there are several major hotels here.
Across the Jamuna River lie many new industrial and
residential areas, as well as some of the grimmest slum
areas.
New Delhi City Facts
New Delhi Population – 11,680,000 (Source: UN Population
Division 2000 estimate)
India Population – 1,006,770,000 (Source: UN Population
Division 2000 estimate)
Currency – Rupee (INR)
Time Zone – GMT + 5.5 hours
Language – The official language is Hindi spoken by about
30% of the population, English is also widely used. The
Constitution recognizes 17 regional languages. |
