Clock Tower (Ghanta Ghar)

Six roads converge here, and the tower in the middle carries a clock face for each of them: a six-sided design almost unique in India. Sarojini Naidu laid the foundation stone in 1948; the tower was finished in 1953 as a monument to Independence, first named Balbir Tower, and it still carries gold-lettered plaques with the names of freedom fighters. The clocks no longer chime, yet this remains the city's zero point, where Paltan Bazaar begins and every walk through the old town sorts itself out. Early morning, before the traffic thickens, is when the photograph works.

An Independence memorial that doubles as the starting line for the old bazaar