Despite her scholarly praise of Lutyens’ talent, Kohli began her lecture by stating, “Had Lutyens been present today, he would not have approved of me as a professional designer and an architectural restorer. One day in 1932 … [Lutyens] was asked the question ‘So what do you think of the future of women in the architectural profession?’ To this he replied ‘It depends on which [male] architect they are married to!’ To this I reply: My husband is not an architect.”

Throughout her lecture titled “Lutyens and the Creation of a Planned City: New Delhi,” Kohli presented archival images and maps accounting the architectural history of the creation of New Delhi. Although other cities such as Madras or Calcutta may have been considered, it was New Delhi that was selected and announced by King George V in 1911 to be the new capital of India. It was decided Kohli said, “that it was to be in New Delhi that the architectural experiments of the previous generations were to find their resolution in a wholly original style of architecture.”

For the laying of the new capital, the Royal Institute of British architects recommended British architect Edwin Lutyens based on the stature of his previous buildings and country homes in England, Pretoria, and Johannesburg. “Indifferently educated,” Lutyens was barely 20 years old when he first began his career in architecture in 1889. Immensely popular, Lutyens maintained that “Any talent I may have was due to a long illness as a boy which allowed me time to think, and to subsequent ill health because I was never allowed to play games, so I had to teach myself for my enjoyment to use my eyes instead of my feet.” On the understanding that he would be responsible for the creation of the central government buildings, Lutyens agreed to the creation of New Delhi in 1913. After a series of 19 voyages to India, Lutyens stood with the Viceroy and many others in 1931to officially inaugurate New Delhi as India’s capital.

Kohli warned that, although Lutyens’ buildings remain a central part of the New Delhi landscape, they are under a severe threat and that serious preservation commitments must be made. She is currently attempting to have legislation passed to have the area around his buildings declared a World Heritage Site.

A noted author, Kohli was also the coordinator and core committee member of the first International Festival of Indian Literature in New Delhi in 2002 and helped found in 2005 the Museum of Women in the Arts in India.