 Chandni Chowk and the city of Shahjahanabad or Old Delhi is a great place to see architecture from different eras of Delhi's history. But it is the similarity in style across religious structures that is interesting. Writer and historian Swapna Little has walked this area many a time. Her take back puts many Hindu Muslim dividers to shame. The city of Shahjahanabad or Old Delhi was founded by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century. As a result, we would expect to find many examples of Mughal architecture and we do. But look at the similarities. The Jama Masjid is built of red sandstone and white marble and has a striped dome. The Digamper Jain Lal Mandir shares a similar style with red sandstone and white marble ornamentation and striped domes. In the 20th century, additions were made to the temple in the form of towering red shikhars. The gilded bulbous dome of the Gurudwara Seasganj is very similar to the domes of the 18th century Sunerimasjit right beside it. Through the previous century or so, colonial scholars had been studying Indian architecture and classifying it rather simplistically as Buddhist, Hindu or Islamic. According to this interpretation, domes and arches were Islamic and shikhars were Hindu and by extension, Jain. Indians gradually came to accept this interpretation too. While the original builders of the temple had not found anything Islamic about a dome, their 20th century successors felt that a temple must have a shikhar instead. January and February are the perfect months to do this walk. Amidst the many culinary delicacies that also exist here, the mouth-watering jalebes from Shivmish Tanpandar, Bheedmi Puri and Nagori Halwa from Shyam Sweets and multiple options for mutton korma, nahari and paya will also blend in perfectly along the way.