The modern area of CENTRAL NEW DELHI , with its wide tree-lined avenues and solid colonial architecture, has been the seat of central government since 1931. At its hub, the royal mall, Rajpath , runs from palatial Rashtrapati Bhavan , in the west, to the India Gate war memorial in the east. At the north edge of the new capital lies the thriving business centre, Connaught Place , where neon advertisements for Wimpy, American Express, hotels and countless airline offices adorn the flat roofs and colonnaded verandas of high white buildings that curve around a central park to form an almost perfect circle. Central New Delhi also has its fair share of more recent high-rise offices and hotels, standing close to pre-British constructions such as the open-air observatory, Jantar Mantar , and a generous smattering of excellent museums covering arts and crafts and the lives of India's post-Independence politicians.