I am Write!

With half of my time being spent offshore, and the other half lazing around in Delhi and Bombay, I resolved to take regular trips to places. Hopefully spending about 10 days on the trip, with 3-4 days recuperating my tired body What really happened was that I took a 1 day trip to Fatehpur Sikri and Agra last month (which I didnt even blog about ) and then decided to take about seeing Delhi this time round.

Starting with the forts, I decided to pick the Purana Quila & Humayun’s Tomb 1st.

An early start it was hoped. Priya, who agreed to while her time before she packs of to the US, and I made it out to the bus stop by around 10.30. A short bus ride on the 419 got us to the Purana Quila bus-stop - the one it shares with the Zoo. We headed off towards the India gate (coz I thought that there was a part of the Purana Quila there too). A small part of some fort does stand by there. Later (from Wikipedia) I learnt that the gate’s called Lal Darwaza or Sher Shah Gate, and is one of the entrances to the township that grew around the fort - Purana Quila.

Some assistance from Priya, and I managed to get some portraits, with her posing. The shots, with enough exploration of the small place that we had here, ensured about 2 hours well spent.

After an eventful time spent here, we moved to the mosque that was adjacent, and once again this place seemed to be un-occupied with tourists. With just 2 caretakers the mosque was vacant, and a lovely place to shoot.

The caretakers were a good talk, and comfortable with photos of them being snapped, as they went about their daily chores for the mosque.

After the excursion at what I now call the side fort and side mosque, a lunch at a regular restaurant at Khan Market, and back to the “actual” Purana Quila was the order of the day. The “actual” fort, and the original place of interest didn’t really fulfill my quest for the locations that I’d have hoped for. With just two buildings, the place thronged with tourists everywhere, and no permission to climb the walls or any of the 3 gates, the options were not many. The fort, made by Humayun, and named Dinapanah, was snatched by Sher Shah Suri, and named Sher-garh.

The mosque - Qila-i-Kunha - made by Sher Shah, is 1 of the only 2 buildings that still last. The other - Sher Mandal - Humayun’s library, also built by Sher Shah - happens to be the location of Humayun’s death.

Qila-i-Kunha happened to be an interesting place to be, with most of the building still worth a look. The side minars are worth more than a look, with the detail that they offer. Also, the main arch made a point with the amount of time worth spending there.

A walk down the wall, and all the way to the north gate didn’t entice too many picture taking options, other than a few, which also would go to the credit of the Qila-i-Kunha mosque - as the shots taken were partly “under it”!

A final walk from the north gate to the south gate - Humayun’s gate, we encountered a few butterfiles, and I managed to take some macro shots, to go with one that I had taken in the tourist free mosque of some ants.

A few shots of the Humayun’s gate, and one of a boy who played nearby we moved back, hoping to get an auto-rickshaw back home. What we did get was an auto to Humayun’s tomb.

The auto driver seemed to have a fixed customer from an office near Humayun’s tomb, and with not many autos willing to go where we wanted, we took this deal, and moved off to Humayun’s tomb, with the clock ticking 5, and about 2 hours to see the place. At the ticket counter, we encountered 2 incidents worth a thought - a travel agent giving ~15 min for a family of 4 to see the monument, and incase they didn’t come back on time, the bus would leave. The other that the ticket for Indians is 10 Rs, and for foreigners its Rs. 250!

With less than 2 hours at hand, we moved in. A few oldies were enjoying their evening walks, and I realised that the ticket area is only the Humayun’s tomb, and its surrounding gardens and mosque. The other tombs - quite a few from the 13th and 14th centuries, and their surroundings are open to public without a fee!

Straight to the Humayun’s tomb, I was further stunned with the lack of crowd to see a building, no, a monument of the scale of the Taj, only that it’s in Red. Another thing to note is that this place was built by Humayun’s widow - another symbol of love The place looked amazing, and very impressive. Though still I’m unable to understand what are multiple graves doing inside the tomb, and also on the outside. Humayun’s grave stood solitary, but there were more - 3 in one chamber, and 2 in another that thronged the peacefulness of the tomb too.

While exploring the tombs nearby, I realised the existence of a separate mosque with each tomb that stood. Not sure whats the reasoning, but each tomb had its mosque, and what they’d have hoped for - lush green gardens!

Finally, just before the sunset, I managed a few pics of the scenery nearby. Not the best, but it’d do, at the end of a 7 hour day