Delhi Or New Delhi - Are These Places Different?

National Capital Region of Delhi (NCR) comprises of Delhi and the neighboring satellite towns of Faridabad & Gurgaon in Haryana, NOIDA and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Many foreigners get confused as to whether Delhi or New Delhi is the capital of India? Are these two different cities or they are one and the same?

To understand this, lets delve into the history of Delhi.

From times immemorial, Delhi has been the called as Delhi. Delhi has been the center of commerce of Northern part of India and made the capital by the then Emperor, Shah Jahan.

The British Empire decided to shift the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi in the year 1911 and named it New Delhi - to differentiate it from the Old part of Delhi.

The "New Delhi" was to show the might of the British Empire and therefore the task of building the capital was delegated to a leading British Architect and designer Edwin Lutyen. Lutyens designed New Delhi to showcase the Empire's might and as a testament to its imperial pretensions. The decision to shift the capital was not only strategic but also political and to show the world that the Empire had arrived and is in control of the Indian Sub-continent.

The measurable, geographical difference between the 2 - might not even be 100 yards, yet the architectural difference is enormous. No one knows where "Old Delhi" ends and where "New Delhi" begins and yet when the roads widen and are lined by tress in a row - you will know that you have arrived in Lutyens Delhi.

To summarize, "Old Delhi" and "New Delhi" are the same place!

Abhishek Arora is an associate editor of Bed and Breakfast in Delhi, India Delhi Inn is based on the Delhi Homestay concept, offering quality Bed And Breakfast accommodation.

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