Explore the real-world places that appear in The Girl in Room 105 by Chetan Bhagat. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include IIT Delhi Campus (Hostel of Room 105), Hauz Khas Village, Hauz Khas Fort and Deer Park, Connaught Place, Mukherjee Nagar Coaching Hub and 4 more.
Hauz Khas — Real-world equivalent of Zara's hostel
The story centers on Zara's hostel room 105, where she summons Keshav on the eve of her birthday, four years after their breakup. Keshav, drunk and still obsessed, knows he should not go but does anyway. That visit changes his life forever and drives the thriller. The hostel is fictionalized here and mapped to the best-known Delhi technical campus.
IIT Delhi was established in 1961 as the College of Engineering and Technology and became an Institute of Technology in 1963. Its campus in Hauz Khas has produced many of India's leading engineers and researchers. Its hostels have long been central to student life.
The campus is an active research and teaching institution, and the hostels are residential areas for students. Access is restricted, and visitors generally need permission to enter.
South Delhi — Bars, cafes and late-night drinking
Keshav's life after Zara is marked by heavy drinking, and nightlife areas like this one fit the loneliness and self-destruction he describes. He drinks every night to forget her, while calling, messaging, and stalking her on social media. This area stands in for the Delhi spots where he tries to numb his heartbreak.
Hauz Khas takes its name from a reservoir built by Alauddin Khilji in the 14th century. The village grew into an arts and boutique hub in the 1980s and later into a nightlife district.
The village is filled with cafes, bars, boutiques, and restaurants. Its rooftop spots look over the historic lake and ruins.
Visit: Hauz Khas Village (landmark)
Hauz Khas — Medieval ruins and green space near campus
The quiet green areas and ruins around Hauz Khas fit the book's mood of memory and regret, a place where couples like Keshav and Zara might once have walked. Keshav's years of longing for Zara make such spots feel haunted by the past. It is used here as an atmospheric setting for their shared history.
Hauz Khas Complex dates to the 14th century under Alauddin Khilji and was expanded by Firoz Shah Tughlaq, who built a madrasa and tombs beside the tank. The adjacent Deer Park was developed as a public green space.
The ruins, lake, and Deer Park are open to the public and popular for walks, photography, and picnics. Entry hours are daytime.
Visit: Hauz Khas Fort (historic site)
Central Delhi — The city's iconic commercial circle
As the heart of contemporary Delhi, Connaught Place represents the busy urban backdrop of Keshav's unsatisfying working life. He hates his job and drifts through the city. The setting reflects the modern India against which the thriller unfolds.
Connaught Place was designed by Robert Tor Russell and built in the late 1920s and early 1930s as a colonial-era commercial center. It was renamed Rajiv Chowk in 1995, though the old name remains common.
It is a busy hub of shops, restaurants, bars, and offices, with a metro interchange beneath it. Its white colonnaded circles remain a popular meeting point.
Visit: Connaught Place (landmark)
North Delhi — Center of exam-prep coaching culture
Keshav's disillusionment with his career and his search for purpose tie into Delhi's competitive exam-coaching culture. This area represents the world of ambitious aspirants and teachers that frames his struggle to find meaning. It is an illustrative setting for the book's theme of finding purpose in life.
Mukherjee Nagar grew from a residential neighborhood into one of Delhi's major coaching hubs for civil services and other competitive exams from the 1990s onward.
The area is dense with coaching institutes, libraries, hostels, and cheap eateries serving students.
Central South Delhi — Park of tombs and lawns
Lodhi Garden fits the romance Keshav and Zara once shared, a typical Delhi spot for couples and quiet conversations. In the novel's un-love story, such places show the contrast between what their relationship was and what it became. It is used here as a memory-laden setting for their past.
The garden surrounds 15th- and 16th-century tombs of the Sayyid and Lodhi dynasties. It was landscaped in 1936 as Lady Willingdon Park and renamed after independence.
It is a popular public park with walking paths, ancient tombs, and a rose garden. It is open daily and free to enter.
Visit: Lodhi Garden (park)
Rajpath/Kartavya Path — Delhi's war memorial
India Gate is a classic Delhi evening spot and a symbol of the contemporary India in which the novel is set. It stands as a backdrop for the youthful outings and nostalgia in Keshav and Zara's past. This is a thematic setting for the book's un-love story.
Designed by Edwin Lutyens, India Gate was completed in 1931 as a memorial to Indian soldiers who died in World War I and the Third Anglo-Afghan War. The Amar Jawan Jyoti was added in 1972.
The monument and surrounding lawns are a major public gathering place. The area is lit up in the evenings and is open to visitors.
Visit: India Gate (monument)
Old Delhi — Mughal mosque and symbol of Delhi's Muslim heritage
Zara is a Muslim from Kashmir and Keshav's family is traditional, so religious and cultural differences are central to why their relationship could not easily work. Jama Masjid represents the Muslim heritage of Delhi that frames this divide. It is a thematic location rather than a specific scene.
Jama Masjid was commissioned by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and completed in 1656. It is one of the largest mosques in India.
The mosque is an active place of worship that is also open to tourists outside prayer times, with modest dress required. Its minarets offer views over Old Delhi.
Visit: Jama Masjid (landmark)
Kashmir — Zara's homeland
Zara is from Kashmir, and the region shapes her identity and the obstacles she and Keshav face as a Muslim woman and a man from a traditional family. Dal Lake stands for her homeland in the story. It represents the distance, cultural and literal, between her roots and Keshav's life in Delhi.
Dal Lake is a famous lake in Srinagar, known for its houseboats, shikara boats, and Mughal gardens along its shore. It has been central to Kashmir's culture and tourism for centuries.
Visitors can take shikara rides, stay on houseboats, and visit the nearby Mughal gardens. It remains a main tourist attraction of Srinagar.
Visit: Dal Lake (landmark)
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