Nizamuddin Auliya

Delhi means a lot of things to me. It means life and love and home. The city has jewels hidden in all its crevices and corners. The one jewel that is very close to my heart is the Dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya. I don't claim to know any of the customs that are followed here or even the way to the main area of worship. But I still like to cover my head once in a while and go to the Dargah to listen to the Qawals. Here are some snapshots from my last visit.

Ladies are not allowed!

Religion has nothing to do with faith

Invoking the gods with soulful music

Faith at different levels

Lighting God's House

Calling on the gods

Eat, pray, love

Resting place

A man surrounded by roses for the god

Lodi Garden: An Urban Oasis--Walking the Familiar Path

On 5 April 2014, I along with two of my friends joined the heritage walk organized by the Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre. The walk was curated by Robinson.

It was nice to see the city through the eyes of someone who knows the history, the roads and trees of Delhi so well.

An installation at the Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre

This cool Ambassador car at the centre caught my eye and captured my heart.

Delhi was splendid in all its colours.

The sun was a jewel sparkling from behind the trees.

In so many years, this is the first time that I found out that the name of the Lodi Gardens is The Lady Wellingdon Park.

An installation in the park commissioned by the NDMC

 Spring was in full bloom!

A bee on a flower

Yellow

Spot the flower

This is my favourite photo from the day

Robinson showed us the green house at the Lodi Gardens. It was a beautiful location with bougainvillea decorating the roof. 

Bougainvillea roof

Robinson pointed out that the dustbins in the park had been painted by volunteers recently. It was fun spotting different paintings on the dustbins.

Djinn asking you to use a dustbin. 

This was our favourite dustbin from the day. It has been painted by Manil Rohit.

Archaeological dig at Purana Qila

On 19 April 2014, my friend who teaches history in a school and I went to Purana Qila. We had read news reports that the Archaeological Survey of India had opened the dig sites to the public for two days.

The evening was lovely with the sun playing with the clouds to create a dramatic sky

We saw men hard at work, using brushes to carefully dust the layers without breaking any remains

There were others who used a special knife to scrape the soil without harming any pots, bones, etc. burried in the soil.

You can see the depth of levels till which the digging has been done.

This collection of pots was dug very recently.

The present and past vessels to store water

The pieces that were excavated were washed carefully. You can spot a bone in the pile above.

Once dried, each piece was coded using a nib-pen and black ink.

A small exhibition showcased some pieces that were dug from the site.

The paintings and the colour (hundreds of years old) still look bright and beautiful.

This piece of potery is believed to be dated to the Mughal period. This piece was my favourite from the lot because of the beautiful pattern.

Though the site was open to the public there were certain parts of the exhibition where photography was restricted. But fortunately those photographs are available on the web.

We ended our trip to Purana Qila by staying for the Light and Sound Show called, Ishq-e-Dilli. You can see a post on the show done earlier, here.

The audience sat in rapt attention, savouring the visuals and the engaging commentary.

The colours of the night were pure magic.

You can read more about it here.

Delhi cast its vote today

The people of Delhi cast their vote today in the 2014 General Elections. Once the process of voting is through and results are announced in May 2014 India will have a new government. I hope Delhi voted for a change and for a better India.

Here is a photograph of the hands of my family members after we cast our votes.

In the evening my mom and I went for a drive. I saw the Indian flag, a symbol of the country and the government, flutter proudly in the Central Park in Connaught Place. 

The dramatic evening sky encouraged me to click some more!

Holi and Holika Dehen

 As we neared the temple in Haripur village, I spotted groups of children filling their water guns with water from the drains that channel snow-melt in the entire region.

This is the scene that greeted me while I was removing my shoes.

As I joined the group, the smiling faces of the ladies welcomed me and soon I was enjoying myself as the group sang and danced to Krishna bhajans.

While the women danced, the men showcased their talents on different instruments.

Even the statues in the temple compund were included in the celebration.

I decided to take some colourful portraits while the meriment went on.

These girls became my friends and guide for the morning. They told me in detail about their lives in Haripur, their school and why they enjoyed Holi so much.

This young mother was on duty to fill her son's water gun with coloured water.

This gentleman was my favourite uncle for the day. He danced leaving all his inhibitions behind. When I asked his permission to click his photograph he gifted me a million dollar smile!

This boy's spotted head is my favourite photograph of the day.

This little handsome dude threatened to use his water gun on me. Turned out that he was just teasing me, the water gun did not have any water in it :-)

The villager left after almost an hour of singing and dancing. The group was to go to another temple in a nearby village and continue the festivities.

I took their leave and went back to the cottage with a promise to return for the evening of festivities.

The villagers gathered in the grounds of the government school to observe Holika Dehen.

The kids decided to take the prime spot atop the school roof to see the proceedings.

The village priest and other important members of the village took centre stage. They perfomred the puja while trumpets were blown and drums were beaten.

With the drums and trumpets providing the background score, the fire roared and warmed the evening even as the temperature ventured in the range of 0 degrees celsius. 

We stayed with the villagers till all the wood burnt.

Then we walked back down the hill to return to the cottage where we were staying.



The fantastic camera on the Nokia Lumia 1020 ensured that I captured the entire celebration without missing my DSLR too much.