New Delhi, April 12 -- Sunder Nursery is a place where people arrive in their Rolls-Royces as well by e-rickshaws," says Ratish Nanda, conservation architect and CEO of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in India, as we sit down outside his office, tucked away in a corner of the park in Delhi's Nizamuddin, on an unexpectedly temperate April morning.

The sky is overcast and the late morning breeze is so soothing that even the drops of rain that threaten to turn into a drizzle cannot persuade us to retreat indoors. There is a polyphony of birdsong all around, occasionally punctuated by the piercing calls of peacocks. Midway through the interview, we are visited by a crested serpent eagle, a rare sighting in the park, where nature's boun...