Friday, October 16, 2015

In Conversation with Surekha Narain, Founder, Delhi Metro Walks

Excerpts from my interaction with Surekha Narain, Founder, Delhi Metro Walks.

Please talk a little about your endeavor - Delhi Metro Walks.
Delhi Metro Walks is known to create historic tours that are specialised, imaginative and creative. Our objective is to add new walks as the Metro network expands to bring about an awareness and concern for our built heritage by designing walks of well-known as well as lesser-known areas of Delhi and its surroundings.

What would you say is unique about your initiative?
We, at Delhi Metro Walks, combine the built and natural heritage. And to bring history alive, we make use of visual aids in the form of old maps, entertaining anecdotes, unique itineraries, exotic shopping and much more. Our experience of more than 20 years is reflected in a quick understanding of our clients’ needs, plus meticulous research and planning, with timings carefully chosen to be appropriate for the area, weather and traffic. 

What are the areas and walks offered?
We offer over 30 walks for Delhi as well as short trips outside Delhi. We arrange many walks highlighting the historical and cultural aspects, as well as the architecture, textiles, street foods etc. along with river walks & tours to regular and off beaten track and places. 

Image Courtesy: Delhi Heritage Walks
We also have spiritual & sufi walks, and cover Sultanate Delhi, Mughal Delhi & British Delhi, and we have created the 7 Cities, Mutiny tours and bazaar walks. Tours like the Shahjahnabad & Chandni chowk unearth hidden treasures in unexpected places for the visitors. 

We also cover art, theatre and culture around Mandi house, architecture, markets & cafes around Lodi Estate. Also included in our walks is the Qadam Sherrif in Paharganj & Jor bagh, 1911 British Delhi in Coronation Park & Civil Lines, Missionaries in Tiz Hazari & Civil Lines. We arrange river walks around the Samadhis, burning ghats and beyond Wazirabad. We cover theses areas, the North, Central & South Delhi by metro, walking as well as rickshaw rides, thereby providing a much more authentic experience of the regions. 

We also organise short trips outside Delhi, to Lucknow, Varanasi, Srinagar, Landour, Dehradun & Rishikesh, Agra, Jaipur, Vrindavan & Mathura.

How are these walks offered? 
We offer group walks on weekends and weekdays for adults, institutions as well as children. Private and customized tours are offered on any day to suit poeple's schedule and need.  Besides the walks for schools, we also conduct ‘Moms, Dads and Kids’ walks where all the family members participate in puzzles and quizzes, and essentially ‘take the walk home’.

Tell us about your clientele.
Our clients include individuals without any age bar, family groups, institutions, corporate groups, schools, embassies, expats, foreign universities, ambassadors, foreign professors and more. 

What about safety?
Our walks are suitable for all individuals or groups and they are safe for women. We even arrange female friendly personalized tours that are affordable, with value for money, in an effort to provide an unforgettable experience, esp. keeping in mind the safety. 

About Surekha: The founder, creator and conductor is passionate about Delhi’s Heritage and has been exploring the city for over 20 years. She founded Delhi Metro Walks in 2009 and leads Heritage walks in and around Delhi. She is a hard-core dilliwala, who has grown and evolved out of Delhi’s unique heritage. She is constantly exploring and coming up with new and imaginative walks.

Meet the organizer, explorer, creator and conductor by joining Surekha on one of her walks and experience her passion first-hand.

For more details, please visit their website, Heritage walks with Surekha Narain 

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