Don’t read this if you want the mystique of Indian Bureaucracy blown away – but if you aim to see the trio of Le Corbusier genius, this account (as of December 2010) will help.

Start early. Bear in mind these are working buildings that are closed on weekends.

We arrived on the Kalka Shatabdi from Delhi and called at the nice little Tourist Information booth just outside the station. They have a leaflet with the addresses of the two places where a permission letter to see the Capitol Complex can be obtained.

The addresses are not fully complete, so it helps to tell the taxi driver that the ‘Additional Deluxe Building” of the Chandigarh Tourist Administration in Sector 9-D is next to the Police HQ which everyone will know. (The other tourist office is in the main bus station). The taxi will deposit you at the back of the building (security measures), so walk through and look for a single storey brick building to the left of some large concrete block. Enter the ‘Additional Deluxe Building” and the office is straight ahead/on the left. Be prepared for some passport showing, form-filling and a scene that puts ‘The Office’ to shame. You must tell them that you want to see all three buildings, as they will issue a letter for each single one. It helps to tell them that you wish to take photographs where possible, as this will be included in the permission. The letters and access to the buildings are free.

An auto-rickshaw from the police HQ can easily be hailed and may cost about 50 rupees. We started with the High Court – just follow the steady stream of people and show the permission letter to the guard, who will send one of you to a 4th floor office to ask for permission to see the interior… take the letter and take it to the office, where a second letter will be issued, go back down, collect belongings/boyfriend/girlfriend and explore public areas. The much-photographed aspect is now at the rear of the building, as the central plaza has been fenced off from the outside, but you can walk onto it through the Court and walk to the famous ‘Open Hand’ sculpture. There you may find feral dogs and police with heavy armour. He police is very friendly, the dogs aren’t. Be careful – rabies is widespread in India. Exploring the Courts takes maybe 1 hour.

You can walk to the Secretariat in 10min – there are several checkpoints that will want to see the permission letter. At the last checkpoint, you are ushered into the Visitor Reception, where a visitor pass will be issued. Then, enter the Secretariat into a small office on the ground floor, show all letters and be prepared to wait for you personal heavily armed guide who will take you to one or two other offices, then through the building and onto the roof which is spectacular and offers a great view. Try not to stray too far from the guide as he is instructed to keep an eye on you. Our guide was very young and friendly, and really, he was just doing his job and sticking to instructions.

From the Secretariat, you can walk freely to the Assembly, admire the exterior and the rotten-looking pond in the front of if but again, quite a few feral animals here- be careful. Inside, you are allowed to visit the Assembly Chambers but sadly, no photography is allowed at all. I have been told the Punjab chamber is spectacular but it was closed for a month or two at the time of our visit. And that’s it!

With all the waiting and hanging around, our Le Corbusier trip took us from about 10.00 to 16.00, not breaking for lunch (there are no obvious eating places within the Capitol Complex). For the hardy ones, there are the Municipal Museum and Foundation stone of the city to explore, while the most non-LeCorbusier attraction are the Nek Chand Gardens (skipped due to lack of time). Chandigarh is very clean, very green, and extremely spread out but the haze of North Indian urban areas hangs over the city, too, and the nearby Himalayan foothills are nowhere to be seen. We took an auto-rickshaw to Sector 17, where there are some decent restaurants on the main plaza including the very decent South Indian mini-chain Sagar Ratna (cheap and sqeuaky clean). Shops are rather disappointing. After a dosa or two and a quick look at the Punjab Emporium, it was back onto an auto-rickshaw for the Kalka Shatabdi (and had we known we’d be served a three-course meal on the train, we’d have gone easy on the dosa – and back to New Delhi and the riotous Paharganj where the most popular trip from Delhi, of course, would be the Taj Mahal.