a morning walk down d n road

vikas knows the old city like no one else i know. as he took us for a walk down d n road after meeting early at flora fountain he told stories about almost every single building. the genealogy of the details, the choice of the style (indianized art deco, classical/gothic/ victorian revivial, vernacular), the modifications by the series of owners. Walking with him we ogled at wooden staircases and baluster details, sculptural pediments, minton tiled floors, thick timber beams, clever pretty architectural devices; and were suitably upset with the raised pointing between the stonework, the painted walls, the bricked up windows, the hoardings that obliterated details and awful steel i-sections that the repair board uses for shoring up sagging balconies.