Connaught Place, C. 1930

The imperial city of New Delhi was only a little over two decades old when this aerial photograph of an incomplete Connaught Place was taken in the early 1930s. Eighty years ago, the carefully planned hexagons, circles and straight lines of Lutyens&rsquo Delhi were far from the finished article. The residents of Dilli still lived in Shahjahanabad (top right of the photo) and the area around CP was little more than a collection of lavish colonial bungalows and offices.

It&rsquos sobering to realize just how much these erstwhile empty tracts of land between Shahjahanabad and Mehrauli have been built up. As for CP, here&rsquos your guide. The road running lengthwise is Barakhamba Road (south) continuing as Panchkuian Road (north) beyond CP. At right angles to this is Parliament Street, continuing as Minto Road towards Shahjahanabad. The rest, as they say, is history.