For Muslim Women in Delhi, a Breath of Fresh Air

Yasmeen Khan dons her burqa and steps out of her house in the Nizamuddin neighborhood of Delhi every evening to walk a short distance to a 10-foot-high stone wall. Behind the wall is paradise — a place where she can remove her burqa and hijab, enjoy cool fresh air in her hair, exercise and gossip with friends.

Hundreds of women regularly visit the “Pardah Bagh,” a park as large as a football field, exclusively for women and children. While there are other parks in the city marked only for women, particularly in Old Delhi, they are usually unkempt and frequented by men.

The women’s park in Nizamuddin is being maintained by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, a non-profit group which has been working with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to redevelop the Nizamuddin slum area for the past five years.

Read more from the New York Times here.