IN 1997, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture stepped into a part of Delhi that was sandwiched between a busy railway station and a large urban slum, Nizamuddin. As a microcosm of the city, the area presented a slew of challenges. Seven hundred years of continuous habitation had by now included a Muslim ghetto with no sanitation or water, a ghetto that spilled over into the most visited pilgrim site in the city — the dargah of the 14th century Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. It’s also the place where qawwali was invented and where its creator, poet-philosopher Amir Khusrau lived and died. Very close to the dargah was the tomb of the second Mughal emperor Humayun. Parts of its fine red sandstone were chipping and even with a lofty status of the World Heritage Site, the tomb looked like a bedecked bride jilted by time. The Aga Khan Trust decided that if this part of Delhi’s heritage was to be brought back to life, it could not be piecemeal. It had to be all or nothing. In case of the former, the area to be restored would include Humayun’s Tomb, Nizamuddin Dargah, the old botanical gardens, 50 other monuments and, most of all, the culture of the people of Nizamuddin.
Restoration, in the eyes of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, has meant urban renewal. In the past six years, this massive project has been steered by a conservation architect who has an iron will with an appetite for complexity. Having done restoration work in Scotland, Turkey, Nepal and Iran, Ratish Nanda spent four years in volatile Afghanistan, restoring the Bagh-e-Babur or the gardens that served as the resting place of the first Mughal Emperor, Babur. It’s only fitting that his next project was second Mughal emperor Humayun’s tomb. Nanda, 39, tells Revati Laul how the job has been a heady mix of old and new traditions — from reviving old Mughal craft traditions to building a gymnasium for women in Nizamuddin basti.
Interview at the source: Tehelka – India’s Independent Weekly News Magazine.
Ismailimail 
Thank you Ratish for your leadership and commitment. You have helped to make a big difference in the lives of many people.
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