In 1911, Delhi had no infrastructure for the British to actually live there on a national capital scale.
Emblematic of the situation, the very cornerstones for the new imperial city were first laid in the Durbar amphitheater which was nothing more than a drained swamp.
Once it was pointed out that swamps have a tendency to return with a vengeance, the cornerstones were moved in the dead of night to their current spot on Raisina Hill… with no fanfare.
At the time of the King's announcement, Delhi had officials whose sole job was to run around the streets poisoning stray dogs and rats and taking tallies: The number of dogs killed in 1911 was 6,500, number of rats: 70,000 (that's about 8 rats every hour).
In those days, you could set your calendar to the regular seasons of plague brought by fleas…and mosquitoes.
The eighth
or depending on who you talk to,
the ninth incarnation of Delhi,
Imperial Delhi,
started from the mouth of a King Emperor,
and landed across the landscape
as red ink stamped directly over sepia ruins.
The Central Vista was designed to physically and visually connect new colonial centerpieces
like the Secretariat…
…with the ruins of glorious past Indian empires
like Indraprasth,
the fabled city spoken of in the Mahabharat.
This is because the British truly believed that Indians were so fascinated by power that all you needed were dramatic vistas like this to grasp their imaginations and hold them firm for 1,000 years.