India, Oct. 31 -- Nobody walks on Barakhamba Road for sightseeing. But everyone should, especially after sundown when the many high-rises of the central Delhi avenue sparkle with night lights. This evening, Indra Prakash and Narain Manzil are gleaming like mineral-rich crystalline stalagmites. It is, however, the building between these two that is sheathed in a brilliant splatter of multitudinous lights. The scene could be a Jackson Pollack painting-see photo. (The building in the centre is Hindustan Times House that actually stands on the road behind, on Kasturba Gandhi Marg.)

Whatever, Barakhamba Road's most iconic symbol has to be the Statesman House. 236 feet tall*, the sand-coloured tower crowns and consecrates almost every nook and...