The Capital city of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal, is renowned for several specialities, ranging from its cuisine and culture to heritage. In a new occasional column, Anita Channer and Shashi Sahai bring us glimpses of this city as an urban destination, taking you through not only what is there to see or do in Bhopal but also where you can sample the best of the local cuisine and also do local shopping.

Taj UI Mosque is the popular mosque of the city. Nawab Shah Jehan started building this mosque in 1887 and it was still underconstruction when she died in 1901. The mosque is spread over 11,000 sqm, with covered area of 2400 sqm. Its minarets rise to over 67 m in the skies. The mosque can also accommodate 125 persons for staying overnight. A very important aspect of this mosque is its library which has a rare collection of over 20.000 books.