This monsoon, forget walking past rain-washed monuments and stop at a roadside tea stall to enjoy a hot cuppa and wonder what else this season has to offer. A monsoon visit this year is very interesting and offers you a chance to paint your tongue purple, trace the rain through medieval Mehrauli, turn your attention to the royal procession and raise questions on how the capital’s infrastructure can be better developed over the next few decades.
Blending cultural traditions, heritage, meticulous photography and speculative design with the familiar format of a guided path, four different groups are turning heritage walks into a more immersive exercise. It is here that a seasonal fruit will become a gateway to oral history, historic water systems will reveal how Delhi once celebrated rains, a festival will turn into a lesson in observation, and an everyday neighborhood will become a laboratory for imagining the future of urban infrastructure. So, buckle up and bring out your curiosity with a little quirk!
taste the monsoon
A Purple Turn: When Fruit Becomes a Cultural Storyteller
Purple-stained tongues and a specially designed card game will come together to cherish the monsoon’s favorite berries in The Purple Tongue Chronicles, which aims to be a cultural experience centered entirely around this simple monsoon fruit.
“This is not a heritage walk in the traditional sense,” says Gunjan Joshi, a Delhi-based independent heritage professional and UNESCO ICH facilitator, who has organized the walk as part of her Living Traditions project. The experience looks at how a seasonal fruit can carry intangible cultural heritage (ICH), ranging from childhood memories and oral histories to traditional medicinal and ecological knowledge.
Explaining how the outdoor edition will start with a brief walk around the jamun trees before participants settle down for a mini picnic, Joshi says, “The idea is to connect with the fruit through taste, stories and history. Jamun is also a marker of the monsoon, and there is a whole bundle of traditional knowledge associated with it. Participants will also get to play the only jamun card game you will ever see, which I have created especially for the sessions. And we are going to be part of this outdoor Hand fans will be provided during the experience.”
And if you’re wondering, what if rain puts a halt to outdoor plans or you just don’t feel like braving the humidity? In that case, select an indoor segment of this walk that offers equally tactile and sensory exploration, allowing people to experience the fruit with equal enjoyment. “You’re not just walking away with a bag of berries. You’re walking away with memories, cultural knowledge and a completely different way of looking at a fruit you might otherwise eat without thinking,” says Joshi.
catch it live
What: purple tongue history
Where: NIV Arts Centre, IGNOU Chowk (for indoor); Lodhi Garden (for outdoor)
When: 18 and 25 July (indoor); 19 and 26 July (outdoor)
price: ₹900
Registration: Whatsapp 9810395464 or DM @thelivingtraditionsproject
pay attention to monsoon
In frame: Shahi Teej procession
As soon as the monsoon arrives, the old city of Jaipur fills with elephants, artists, festive decorations and thousands of spectators waiting for the Shahi Teej procession. The spectacle offers a lot for Delhi Photography Club founder Virendra Shekhawat, as his club prepares to organize its first photobus trip dedicated to the Royal Teej festival.
“We will be taking a small group of photographers to the Pink City for an intensive three-day experience,” shares Shekhawat, “The festival comes from the story of Shiva and Parvati, but in Rajasthan, Teej has become a festival celebrated in practically every household. The royal procession in Jaipur is a completely different experience. The markets around Chhoti Chaupar and Badi Chaupar are closed, vehicles are not allowed, and the entire town comes out to watch the procession.
Instead of sending participants straight into the bustle with their cameras, the first day will be spent understanding the festival, exploring the city and reconnoitring the procession route. The next day will focus on documenting this, while the itinerary will also include local markets, heritage architecture and night photography of Jaipur.
Ranging from smartphone photographers and beginners to experienced camera users, the group will be kept small to allow for personalized advice. “Our focus is on careful observation,” explains Shekhawat. We want photographers to connect with the traditions and stories behind what they’re capturing, rather than simply collecting cute photos.
The two-day, one-night all-inclusive trip will include travel from Delhi by tempo traveller, accommodation and meals at Mahal Khandela.
catch it live
What: DPC Photobus Trip: Royal Teej Festival
Where: Jaipur, Rajasthan
When: 14 to 16 August
price: ₹16,000
Registration: whatsapp 8826712162
find monsoon
Glory of Rain: Trace the Monsoon through Medieval Mehrauli
Long before monsoon walks became a seasonal city trend, Delhi’s rulers were building water reservoirs, planning for a return to the rainy season and celebrating the rains through architecture, poetry and public festivals.
“Our specially curated walk, Where the Rains Came Alive: From Hauz-e-Shamsi to Jahaz Mahal, takes participants through Mehrauli to explore how the monsoons shaped one of the most remarkable cultural landscapes of medieval Delhi,” says Anushka Jain, Founder, Enroot Indian History.
Starting at the Hauz-e-Shamsi and moving towards the Jahaz Mahal, this trail looks at the historic water systems that sustain the region and the engineering that has allowed the city to capture and manage rainwater. “The experience will also be based on the poetry of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, whose poems offer a nostalgic look at Delhi’s changing landscape and fading cultural traditions,” says Jain.
catch it live
What: Where the rains come alive: From Hauz-e-Shamsi to Jahaz Mahal
Where: From Hauz-e-Shamsi to Jahaz Mahal, Mehrauli
When: 1st August
price: ₹600
Registration: WhatsApp 9667218424 or DM @enroute Indianhistory
rethink monsoon
Back to the future: Design Delhi in 2050
Will the streets of tomorrow continue to prioritize cars over pedestrians? Can admission tickets make some public parks inaccessible? Which parts of the old market should be preserved, and what should be changed without disrupting the livelihoods built around it?
These are the questions design researcher Vidit Jain and designer Mayank Jain want people to ask during the Delhi 2050 Futures Walk.
Rooted in the future of design, speculative design and art-based research, this walk encourages participants to look at a small, familiar part of the city and imagine how it might function decades from now. But rather than predicting a fixed version of Delhi, it brings together data, observations and experiences of people from different backgrounds to explore multiple possible futures.
Mayank explains, “Delhi is chaotic, complex and culturally rich. As designers, we wanted to use the tools we learned to examine the city and ask what could be improved. The idea is to encourage people to look beyond what they usually see.”
For example, a grocery store may seem normal, but the interaction and seamless connection it enables cannot be replicated by digital platforms. Similarly, ticketing a public park may aid its maintenance but may also exclude those for whom ₹50 entry fee is non-refundable.
Participants are asked to consider who a place serves, who it leaves out, and how it can be changed without erasing its existing social fabric.
“We talk about participatory futures because there is no single future,” explains Vidit, adding that data can be used to identify trends in forecasting, but people’s narratives offer many possibilities. Someone with an urban-planning background may notice one thing, while a resident, vendor or regular visitor may imagine something entirely different.
From fire-prone markets to planned streets without adequate pedestrian infrastructure, this walk turns everyday urban frustrations into signs of collective problem-solving.
The two hope to eventually develop an open-source toolkit that organizations and communities across the country can use to conduct similar walks in their neighborhoods.
“You should be able to use it wherever you want to imagine the future of your city or community,” Mayank says.
catch it live
What: Delhi 2050 Futures Walk
Where When: August (date to be announced)
price: ₹350
Registration: Email everything.terrestrial@gmail.com or Insta DM @something.terrestrial or @minky.business
Follow for more information @htcity.delhijunction
