A milestone in time.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

The year 2025 is about to end. The forthcoming 2026 is very special to Delhi. Or shall we say to New Delhi. For this name—New Delhi—is set to turn 100. It was on December 31, 1926, that the colonial British empire christened the “new imperial capital” as New Delhi.

To mark the looming milestone, here is a quiz on new New Delhi road names, as they were known in the old New Delhi. We call out the roads by their colonial-era names, your job is to identify them by their new names. Answers are at the bottom, but no cheating!

Keeling Road
The road was named after Hugh Keeling, the chief engineer of New Delhi. Now named after a writer whose celebrated novel starts with the line: “All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Hardinge Avenue
The road was named after a British viceroy who served in India during the historic Delhi Durbar in 1911. Now named after a freedom fighter who famously said in his mother tongue: “Swaraj ha maza janmasiddha hakka aahe ani to mi milavnaraach.”

Albuquerque Road
The road was named after Afonso de Albuquerque, Goa’s Portuguese governor in the 16th century. Now named after contemporary India’s most tragic day.

Baird Road
The road was named after General David Baird, subject of the famous 1839 painting General Sir David Baird Discovering The Body Of Sultan Tippoo Sahib After Having Captured Seringapatam (4 May 1799), by David Wilkie. Its present name comes from a place of worship, which has a beautiful sarovar.

King George’s Avenue
The road was named after an English monarch. Now named after the only India-born Governor-General, who received Sahitya Akademi Award for a retelling of Ramayan in Tamil.

Ratendone Road
The road was named after the marquis of Ratendone. Now named after a painter whose life is being adapted into a movie by filmmaker Mira Nair.

Clive Road
This road was named after Robert Clive, the first British administrator of Bengal. Now named after a music composer, who also gave his name to a crater in Mercury.

Curzon Lane
The lane was named after a British viceroy who oversaw the partition of Bengal. Now named after a state chief minister whose aircraft was accidentally shot down near the India-Pakistan border by a Pakistani pilot during the 1965 war.

Answers: Tolstoy Marg (Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina), Tilak Marg (Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak ) Tees January Marg (date of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination), Bangla Sahib Marg (Gurdwara Bangla Sahib), Rajaji Marg (Chakravarti Rajagopalachari), Amrita Shergil Marg, Thyagaraja Marg, Balwant Rai Mehta Lane