~By Anu Anand Hall
Ten years ago, Humayun's Tomb in central Delhi, was a wondrous wreck. The 'Red Taj Mahal' easily surpasses in its geometry and scale India's best known monument. And yet Humayun's Tomb lay off the tourist map, a decaying structure stinking of bat guano. The 16th-century Mughal gardens had long ago turned to dust. Well-meaning but ignorant government officials had slathered the exquisite lime mortar alcoves with tons of cement. Touts didn't even bother to sell postcards inside, since the majority of visitors were local residents on their morning walks.
Today, the sight greeting hundreds of tourists as they approach the majestic gateway which perfectly frames the tomb's white marble dome, is a vision apart.
Stone channels and fountains trickle water along the lush lawns. Kites circle among the mighty tamarind, neem and palm trees. The white dome has been cleaned. Tons and tons of damaging, ugly concrete are being removed, and an army of artisans trained in ancient techniques is painstakingly repairing archways, stone-latticed screens and alcoves by hand.
What a marvel! Walking all the way around the tomb a few days ago brought tears to my eyes. This is what all of India might look like one day: a country investing carefully in its past and carrying centuries of learning and achievement into a brght future. The crowds thronging the tomb on Christmas Day were a fabulous mix of European and Asian tourists, Indian villagers, Delhi-ites and their families, students, grandparents. The pride of being hosts to such a unique and beautiful structure was evident on many faces. 
And Humayun's Tomb is just one, albeit the grandest, structure that is being lovingly restored.
All around the area known as Nizamuddin, The Aga Khan Trust for Culture has been leading a major regeneration. Nizamuddin village is named after the 13th century Sufi saint, Nizamuddin Auliya, who preached love, equality, humility and kindness as a way of embracing God while alive. His disciple, Amir Qusro, is credited with inventing the Qawwali, or devotional music which mixed Persian and Indian musical styles.
Today, Nizamuddin is a teeming area, home to Nizamuddin's shrine, a 13th century step well, thousands of homes, the Neela Gumbad (Delhi's first Mughal monument), Humayun's Tomb, and Nizamuddin Railway Station.
The 70-acre Sunder Nursery, a government owned and run plant nursery, is being developed into an arboretum and bird sanctuary. Across the road, the step-well is being restored and the Aga Khan Trust is leading historical sight-seeing tours, as well as training poor slum women in tradition crafts, like paper cut work.
And recently, we were treated to a night of story-telling, known as 'Dastangoi', that I will not soon forget. Against the backdrop of Mirza Ghalib's tomb and the exquisite 64-pillared Chaunsath Khamba, Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain held the audience spellbound as they recounted, in Urdu, tales of Partition, loss, injustice, bureaucracy and innocence.
What a thrill to stand before a coal brazier on a chill night and witness the revival of an art that died with the last Dastangoi in 1928. Mahmood Farooqui (right), an Oxford scholar and co-producer of the recent film, Peepli Live, is behind Dastangoi's revival. He's recently updated the ancient Persian story-telling tradition by adapting and re-telling the real-life stories of Partition refugees, soldiers and women. If you want to see, here's a link to a video performance.
So that's my new neighborhood in a tiny nutshell! Apart from being beautiful, green, serene and friendly, it's also one of the most compelling historical and cultural repositories in New Delhi!
