Monuments of Delhi

When I had just moved to Delhi, a thousand years ago, I used to wonder at the seamless flow of time from the past to the present, from the present to the past, as I saw during my daily commutes to and from work. Delhi streets tramp through and beside ancient and medieval monuments, and the structures remain somber, snobbish even, after an ancient fashion. The alien sounds of a future they could not have guessed at keep screaming and hounding at their feet like rude children who have never learnt to respect elders.

South Delhi has monuments strewn on street corners, tucked behind verdant walls of trees, lounging in parks and gardens – visit Lodhi Garden – and all around these, a city hurries along on unseeing feet. The ancients don’t really care – they have seen the good times.

One day, I did the unthinkable. I called in sick, and then simply parked myself in Lodhi Garden for the entire workday. That was also the day I stole a slice of the silence of the Lodhi Garden monuments, to soundproof my drives through the city.

Amidst the city din, the Lodhi-era structures are enveloped in a deep old silence that feels peace. I sat on a bench beneath a bougainvillea bush rioting in pink and closed my eyes. A grand hush stole through the warm sunlit morning… Magic of history?
A web of memories, some belonging to me, some belonging to others, threw a thick spell that threatened to sweep me off my present feet.

Luckily, monkeys arguing over a stolen piece of fruit rescued my swaying senses and I stayed anchored.
Here are a few of the structures in the Lodhi Gardens that repose in the golden hush of the centuries.

Muhammad Shah ruled between 1434 – 1445. This is one of the larger tombs surviving from this period. It is located within the Lodi Gardens .

 

 

Sheesh Mahal is a Lodhi-era monument