Jantar Mantar: Confesstions of love

The sad part of visiting any monument is seeing these love messages scribbled across the walls. Though I strongly condemn such a hobby, some of these messages did amuse me and managed to bring a smile on my face.

The first photograph captures the love of a girl for Ranjan and in the left hand corner you will find that Saddam actually loved a girl called Heena.


A healthy mix of cultures can be seen in this scribble, 'Baby' an English word has been written with 'Jaan' meaning dear or life itself in Persian/Urdu/Hindi.

The last in the series a No Entry sign painted, very un-artistically I might say, on a inner door of the majestic heart-shaped structure.

Jantar Mantar

This majestic structure is located in the heart of Delhi, Connaught Place, and is merely 10 minutes drive away from my home. But unfortunately, I had never had the chance to see the place before this Saturday. Jantar Mantar was built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur in the 1700s.

He was a patron of sciences and built five such structures across north India to calculate correct time. There are two sundials at the Delhi Jantar Mantar complex and there are a total of 13 architectural astronomy instruments. This is the inner structure of the cylindrical structures.
The shadow of the central pillar on the horizontal rays was measured to calculate time.
This is the view of the complex from atop the first structure I posted.

Delhi Logo #2

This is the second logo in the series which caught my fancy at the Delhi Domestic airport. The inner circle is made India Gate , the middle circle is Jantar Mantar and the outer circle is Red Fort. While India Gate and Red Fort have been covered extensively on Delhi Photo Diary, I will be posting a series on Jantar Mantar soon.

Delhi Logo #1

I spotted this logo at the Delhi Domestic airport. the inner circle is made of Qutub Minar, the middle circle is India Gate and the outer circle is Lotus Temple. All three have been featured on the blog from time to time. I will post a similar logo with different monuments tomorrow.

Chillam

Chillam is a long tubular pipe, usually used for smoking marijuana or tobacco. I do not smoke or encourage smoking but I could not resist clicking a photograph of these beautiful chillams I saw at the local potter's. While I was indulging in the clicking the photograph the lady selling the earthenware reprimanded me and said, "This is not good for girls!" It took me some time to convince her that I would not be the one smoking. She was sweet with her concern.