Posted Monday, November 15, 2004; 21:00 HKT
Living in India's notoriously difficult capital city is no walk in the park. But when the dog gets restive or it's time to reduce that spare tire, New Delhi shines as the Asian city with the greatest number and variety of beautiful public green spaces. Since 1969, the Delhi Development Authority has linked the countless ruins of New Delhi's predecessor cities with gardens and even surprisingly thick forests. (Watch out for the wild boar!) You can choose between untamed or genteel, aesthetic or athletic, social or solitary. But the monarch of them all is Lodi Garden, in the southern section of Edward Lutyens' New Delhi.

The British called the area Lady Willingdon Park. Today, though, this lush greensward is a portrait of modern India. Weekends are for picnics on the lawns. The mosque and mini-fort are good for kids to clamber around—so are the park's centerpieces: the tombs of Lodi Kings, Afghan invaders from the 15th century who are not remembered fondly. Early mornings and evenings are when New Delhi's rich and powerful come out for their constitutionals. If you go the full circuit, you'll pass through a succession of spectacular landscapes, from a rose garden (it starts blooming in December) to shady tunnels of colossal bamboo (especially welcome in the blazing summers). And though Lodi Garden's flock of resident vultures has died off in recent years, other native birds are frisky and plentiful.

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October 11, 2004	July 26 - August 2, 2004	April 26, 2004