Friday, December 30, 2011

Smith's cupola

This cupola used to be on the top of the Qutab Minar. Now it sits in a corner of the complex.

In 1828 there was an earthquake and the tower got damaged. When the British repaired it, the engineer, Major Smith, had this cupola added to the top to replace the damaged one.
Twenty years later, Lord Hardinge decided it didn't fit with the rest of the architecture and had it removed.

Now it stands way out of the way, it's own little bit of story unnoticed by most.

The detail of something that was meant to be so far above eye level, unable to be seen by most is kind of magnificent. Like finding a treasure.

Another little gem about this cupola is that while standing way over here in the corner, the whole minar finally fits in a camera shot.

I find that the stories about the Qutab are taller than the tower itself.
That's kind of magnificent, too.

Imam Zamin's tomb

Here's another guy who used to live in the shadow of the Qutab Minar.
Imam Zamin came from Turkistan to carry out duties in the nearby mosque. He lived in a corner just outside the gate and taught in the madrasa.
The stories also say that he was pretty homesick,
but he liked looking up at the Qutab every day enough to stay around.

In fact, the Imam liked it so much that he had his tomb built here, and then shortly after he died.

That's how the story goes.

Alai Darwaza

The Mughal ruler Alauddin Khalji built up several things around the Qutab Minar in hopes to make it even grander than before--as if it wasn't grand enough to begin with.
One of the things he built is the Alai Darwaza--a main entrance for the mosque.

It's a perfect color contrast of red sandstone and white marble, and an excellent example of Islamic architecture from that time period.

It was meant to be a magnificent entrance to the mosque he enlarged, but most of his construction projects were not completed before he died.
Kinda sad that we don't use that entrance even now.

Glimpses of the Qutab

What if you had the Qutab Minar looking down on you every day all day?

As I was walking around the Mehrauli district, I couldn't help but catch glimpses of it here and there among the buildings.

How wild is that?
I mean, HISTORY, right there looking at you from the end of your street.
That's cool stuff.

Stone work junkyard

Walking between the different sites and findings of Mehrauli, we came across a junk yard. Hundreds of stones that must be the rubble of restoration work lying just outside the Qutub Minar complex in piles.

Even the cement mixer looks ancient.

Metcalfe could have used this stuff in his artificial ancient ruins.

I'd like some for my own decorating. If it wasn't so heavy, I would have stuck one in my bag and taken it home.

Metcalfe's follies (part II)

Here's my evidence for why Metcalfe must have been a peculiar fellow. (If living in a tomb is not enough evidence already.)

Back in the early 1800s, it was all the rage in England to construct follies in one's garden. Fake ruins, making it look like you had a piece of ancient Greece on your property was soooo cool.
It seems Thomas Metcalfe agreed. And he added follies to the design of his garden at Dilkusha.
A cracked piece of carving here next to the roses. An over turned pillar cap there beside the jasmine tree.
A ziggurat at the end of the lane.


Seriously, who needs a ziggurat?!
I can just imagine him giving directions to some friends invited to an evening lawn party at Dilkusha, "Turn right at the ziggurat, it's the end of my driveway."

He was surrounded by the real stuff. He was living in the shadow of this, the Qutb Minar!
Why in the world did he think he needed to build more? To build fake stuff?
I think that is very peculiar, Sir Metcalfe.

Quli's tomb (part I)

Quli Khan was Adham Khan's brother. But other than being built to honor him, the fascination of this tomb has nothing to do with Quli.
For this place has three different names and many different stories.

The first name is Quli Khan's tomb, 'cause, ya, it is.
But no one knows it by that name. I am pretty sure, because as we walked all over trying to find it, I asked the people for Quli's tomb and got nothin' but blank stares.

What it is known as is the Metcalfe House.
Named after British official, Thomas Metcalfe, who bought the tomb in the 1830s from Quli's family and turned it into a summer residence for himself and later his brother, Charles.

I wouldn't think that living in a three hundred year old tomb would have been very comfortable, but it seems Thomas Metcalfe tried to make some improvements around the property.

And then he renamed the place 'Dilkusha' because it made his heart happy.

I think Sir Metcalfe must have been a peculiar man.

To be continued...

Peanut man

Anybody want a peanut?

Adham Khan's Tomb

This sightseeing trip goes with several different versions to the story.
And you can pick and choose what to believe.

Here we have the tomb of Adham Khan.
Popularly it's known as Bhool-bhulaiyan--because of a maze-like stairway. (Really? I guess I must have missed that. It all seemed pretty straightforward to me.)

Adham Khan was one of Akbar the Great's (of Fatehpur Sikri) ministers, or maybe he was a general-- depending on your source--the son of Akbar's wet nurse, Maham Anga.
He did not get along with another of Akbar's ministers--Atgah Khan.
Jealously, power struggles, durbar intrigue--the usual Mughal history drama.
So anyhow, one day while they are at the Agra fort, Adham, who seems to have been known for a pretty short temper, get's mad at Atgah and kills him.

As soon as he hears about it, Akbar (also not very restrained) knocks Adham senseless (according to some), and has him thrown off the ramparts of the fort.
Then he has him thrown off again, because Adham wasn't dead the first time.
About forty days later, Adham's poor, sad mama Maham Anga dies of grief. Then someone finally shows some remorse in this saga of tempers and killing, and for dear, deceased aunty's sake, Akbar has this tomb built for Adham in Mehrauli.
Atgah, on the other hand, got to be buried next to Saint Nizamuddin, in a small but "blessed" repose.

For Adham, though, rumors of ill-omens float all around his massive burial chamber.
Some say its unusual octagonal shape (most tombs of the period being hexagonal) was done on purpose as a punishment.
Another saying is that some spurned lover of Adham's cursed his tomb saying no woman would ever visit, so women still avoid it, fearing it will bring bad luck.

Who knows.
Some truth.
Some legend.
Some piece of history standing on a street corner, waiting for a curious passer-by to wonder.


Another reason to look up as you walk along.
There are goats on the roof.

Sawing the wires

High above the street, these guys are repairing wires.
Just look at the safety precautions.
Just look at the harnesses keeping them from falling off their precarious perch.
Just look at what tools they are using near high voltage wires.

Yeah, that's a metal saw.
They are sawing the wire.
With a saw.

I do not know how they have lived so long.

Gandhak ki baoli

Here's the next stepwell on the baoli treasure hunt.
Gandhak ki baoli.
Meaning "sulphur", because the water here used to smell like it.

There was hardly anyone around...
....except that someone had left their laundry behind.

An interesting thing to note about the architecture is that the same design can be found carved into the pillars at the Qutub Minar. Perhaps they were done by the same masons.

Free of litter

A park free from litter?
We can imagine...

Jungle Book kingdom

Say you were walking along an empty-for-Delhi path through a park and you came upon this place.
What would you be reminded of?

Me, I thought of the Jungle Book and I wondered where King Louie was.

Isn't it amazing, though?
So lovely.
It's just marked as "enclosed tomb". Nothing else memorable, and there's not much care for it's preservation.

Even with all the trees and plants trying to take over, so much detail is still preserved all these many years later.

And nobody else is there to appreciate it. Where are the monkey's at least!

Thursday, December 22, 2011


What is this Jaguar doing in Delhi?!
How did it get here?

However it came to be, it sure looks pretty in those lights.


Snacks anyone?

Street shopping

What can you do while you're waiting for the traffic light to turn green?
Shop, of course.

Not that this stuff is stellar quality, but there is a variety available.

Plastic balls. Sometimes balloons or other fall-apart-as-soon-as-you-buy-them toys.

Steering wheel covers and mobile phone chargers.

Peanuts, dried coconut and other snacks.

Dishtowels and car-cleaning cloths.

Other treasures you might find on another day are: roses, Santa masks, plastic dash board decorations, magazines, books, used clothes or spiderman masks.

There are a lot of stoplights out there--so keep your eyes open...and a close eye on your pocket book.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The painter returns

He's back.
Yes, that is the painter making himself at home in my house.

But I had to let him in because I needed this ceiling fixed.

He came on a Thursday, and told me what supplies he needed. I went out and bought them, and then he said he'd be back the next day to start the work.
What? It was only 12:30? Why not then?

Once he did start the work, he took two hour breaks 3 or 4 times a day, and he left before 5pm.
But now, he is finished.

And now my living room is a shambles, I will be days cleaning it.
BUT: my ceiling is healed and I will no longer have to worry about pieces of it falling on my head.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Candy canes

Because it's that time of year and everyone should know where candy canes come from...

A perfectly choreographed process for making 3200 of them at a time.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Delhi turns 100

To say that Delhi turned a hundred on December 12 is kind of funny since it has been around for centuries. But it was one hundred years ago that it became the official capital of the national government.

To mark the occasion, there have been special exhibits around the city. Some more impressive than others.
I visited a couple.

What I enjoyed the most was the long mural that wrapped around the exhibit area...

...watching the guy who was attempting to clean the display of a giant map...

...and the expanse of nice, green grass in this dense metropolis.