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Friday, May 16, 2014

Travel Diaries: Hauz Khas Village

Since I love travelling and exploring new places I decided to start a series on my blog where I will share about all the places that I will be visiting. I will start off with Delhi itself. I am exploring the city like no one else’s business. I have made it a point to cover entire city by visiting different places every week and share the experience with you all.

Important Advice: Wear your most comfortable shoes when exploring the place as there will be lots of walking involved.

I started off with Hauz Khas village. It is a beautiful place which has an old world charm to it and it reminds me of Goa. The old buildings have been converted into bars, hotels and restaurants, all of which are quite different from one another. Some of them have quirky interiors while some have luxurious decor. You will get good choice of restaurants/bars.




From Wikipedia:


“Hauz Khas Complex in Hauz Khas, South Delhi houses a water tank, an Islamicseminary, a mosque, a tomb and pavilions built around an urbanized village with medieval history traced to the 13th century of Delhi Sultanate reign. It was part of Siri, the second medieval city of India of the Delhi Sultanate of Allauddin Khilji Dynasty (1296–1316). The etymology of the name Hauz Khas in Urdu language is derived from the words ‘Hauz’: “water tank” (or lake) and ‘Khas’:“royal”- the “Royal tank”. The large water tank or reservoir was first built by Khilji {the plaque displayed (pictured in the gallery) at the site records this fact} to supply water to the inhabitants of Siri. The tank was de–silted during the reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351–88). Several buildings (Mosque and madrasa) and tombs were built overlooking the water tank or lake. Firuz Shah’s tomb pivots the L–shaped building complex which overlooks the tank.
In the 1980s, Hauz Khas Village, studded with domed tombs of Muslim royalty from the 14th to 16th centuries, was developed as an upper class residential cum commercial area in the metropolis of South Delhi, India. It is now a relatively expensive tourist cum commercial area with numerous art galleries, upscale boutiques and restaurant. Swans and ducks are among the attractions at Hauz Khas Lake - which is part of the attraction to visitors.”


Image Courtesy Google


Image Courtesy Google 



Image Courtesy Google

We reached the Hauz khas metro station by metro of course and then took an auto (Rs. 40) to Hauz Khas village.





We were really tired by the time we finished exploring the place, so we just went into the very first eating joint we could see on exiting the madrasa. It was a place called “Desiya”. It is a 2 storey building with a take away counter on the ground floor and a small eating space on the first floor. The place is small but nice. Since it is adjacent to the madrasa, hence it gives a beautiful view of all the tombs and the lake. This place has a funky-desi-quirky decor which was a welcoming change from the regular decor of the Delhi restaurants. The menu was ok, nothing extra ordinary. The food tasted fine and was priced economically. 
















I would highly recommend you to explore Hauz Khas village when travelling to Delhi.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Amazing pix dear and you look very pretty....xoxoxo....^_^

http://mariahussain.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Maria: thank you dear

Lisha B. said...

Hauz Khas is one of my favorite places to hang out though more at restaurants :p
You look drop dead gorgeous. Casual and cute <3