On a chilly winter evening, Jasvir Singh Rana, a radiologist, guides the visitors at his exhibition recently held in IIC, acquainting each one of his visitors with his work on the wall. Titled ‘Delhi: A Heritage City’, the curation encompasses photographs from the seven cities of Delhi in chronological order.Driven by the passion for the city the photographer fondly calls home, the exhibition reveals to the visitor unknown locations in the capital, or locations they may have passed by or driven past, but not stopped at.
Rana not only sheds light on the history of the places but also on the benefits they yield for the visitor’s health, blending his background in medicine with his passion for clicking photographs. Places like the Dadi Poti tomb to Razia Sultan’s grave to the soulful qawwali that takes place in the interiors of Mehrauli at Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki’s Dargah are part of the exhibition. The avid bird watcher and heritage enthusiast, who is a familiar face on most heritage walks, reveals the location of a picturesque café at the Jamali Kamali Tomb, called The Garden Cafe. A place that has captured his heart and that of many youngsters.
“These are great places to visit and to feel connected with the nature. With a simple Google search, you can find these places and pay a visit. The experience of these places—you having coffee here while the sun rises—is what makes such visits memorable. I have been doing this for the last 30 years and would call myself a history buff rather than a historian,” he says.