When The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries was launched in August this year, my sister, Swapna Liddle – historian, ardent enthusiast about Delhi’s history, and a person who’s been leading heritage walks in Delhi for over a decade – said, “How about a Muzaffar Jang walk?”

I’ve been on dozens of heritage walks led by Swapna. Walks for Habitat World (at the India Habitat Centre); for the Delhi Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH); even informal exploratory expeditions through the maze of bylanes and necessarily-single-file alleys of Shahjahanabad. What I love about Swapna’s style is that she knows a lot, and she knows how to tell it like a story – with delightful anecdotes, interesting facts, and little tidbits that help bring history alive. So of course, when Swapna suggested a Muzaffar Jang walk, I jumped at the offer.

Here it is.

On December 11, 2011, at 08.30 AM, the Muzaffar Jang Walk. It’s being organised jointly by Habitat World and Hachette India, and Swapna will be leading the walk. She’ll be talking about Shahjahanabad, of course, but with a special emphasis on buildings, areas, even other little details that feature in the two Muzaffar Jang books, The Englishman’s Cameo and The Eighth Guest. And no, it won’t be just the predictable Red Fort and Jama Masjid.

So come along for the walk. It begins at the Jain Digamber Lal Mandir (at the end of Chandni Chowk, opposite the Lahore Gate of the Red Fort. The walk begins at 08.30 AM. Please register with the Programmes Desk at Habitat World by phoning 011-4366-3080/90. Places are very limited, so register as soon as you can.

See you there!