United Coffee | Blue Lapis Road

DAY 10 (3/3): NIZAMUDDIN BASTI, Delhi, India, 2018.12.03

Before dinner, the last activity of our Indian journey 2018 was a guided tour in Nizamuddin Basti, a 14th century community centered around the shrine of the Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. Despite located just ten minutes of walk from the UNESCO World Heritage site Humayun’s Tomb, the Muslim neighborhood is relatively under visited. From online research, we learnt about the local charity organization, the Hope Project, offers tour of the community for anyone who is interested in the Nizamuddin Basti neighborhood. Found by Sufi teacher, Pir Vilayat Inyat Khan, the Hope Project runs a community health centre, a school, vocational training classes, credit program, etc in Nizamuddin Basti. Through email, we arranged a guided tour of the basti with them. Unfortunately, we were running late by the time we left Humayun’s Tomb. We weren’t sure if our arranged tour was still available. After entering the neighborhood, it took us quite some time to locate the office in the midst of busy lanes. Gratefully, the staff there were willing to take us for a walk, despite the mosques had closed. After the walk in Nizamuddin Basti, we took the metro to United Coffee House at Connaught Place for dinner. We had also dined there on the last day of our trip back in 2016.

The first thing we encountered was the outer wall of Kalan Masjid, also known as Kali Mosque or Large Mosque. The mosque was built in 1370.

We passed by the entrance of the Kalan Masjid, but were unable to enter the complex.

All the lanes in Nizamuddin Basti were busy with people and motorcycles.

Basti residents can find everything they need in their historical neighborhood.

Many locals smiled to us while we toured around the 600-year old neighborhood.

Through the historical gateway, we entered to the forecourt of Chausath Khamba, the tomb complex built by Mughal noble Mirza Aziz Koka in 1623 at the time of Emperor Jahangir.

The forecourt of Chausath Khamba was recently landscaped by the Aga Khan Trust.

The forecourt of Chausath Khamba is frequented by children coming to meet friends and play cricket.

The actual Chausath Khamba is a square shape marble building supported by 64 columns.

The marble hall is divided into 25 bays and covered by 25 domes concealed in the roof structure.

Chausath Khamba houses the tomb of Mirza Aziz Koka, his father Ataga Khan, and other unidentified people.

Adjacent to Chausath Khamba stand the Ghalib Academy and Mazar-e-Ghalib, the tomb of Ghalib, a famous 19th century Persian poet. Our tour with the Hope Project ended at Mazar-e-Ghalib.

On our way out of the neighborhood, the street eateries reminded us that it was almost dinner time.

The monumental and modernist Nizamuddin Markaz Mosque is the centre for the Tablighi network. It was busy with evening prayers as we left the basti.

Due to the Sufi request for divine love, rose is popular among locals.

We followed the main road out towards Mathura Road, where we could walk back to the metro.

We then took the metro to Connaught Place for dinner.

Just like two years ago, we sat down at United Coffee House for their local Indian cuisine.

We sat down at a table on the ground floor and took our time to enjoy the meal and ambience of the restaurant.

Another night flight to return home, another wonderful Indian journey completed. We returned back to the Airport Express Station to pick up our backpacks and hopped on an airport bounded train. This concluded the record of our India 2018 trip.