[vnabhi]

Great narration and superb pics, Sachin. Though I studied in Delhi University, I did not visit some of the places you've listed.

But whatever I could visit was really thrilling. Your pictures have brought back nostalgic feelings of my student days. Please bring them on.

[sami316]

Hey Sachin, Really nice initiative to recapture the lost glory of Delhi through your lens. I really love the way you have structured this TL sharing Delhi's past history. The pics are just amazing and capture the mood of the place pretty well. I have been to Delhi 5-6 times but yet to visit Humayun's Makbara....Insha Allah will go there and the other places in my next visit. Eagerly awaiting the next update. Cheers.

[ashesh]

Thanks a lot Sachin for showing us our Delhi in this beautiful way. Looking forward to this log.

[manolin]

Sach Sri,

Loved the thread. I also have lots of photographs of Delhi monuments and walk in them almost every week. Was wondering if I can post them here, or would you prefer I keep this thread clean for your snaps (no issues either way, just want to keep your presentation as you want it).

[sach.sri]

Thank you all for liking and voting for the thread. Was out since Holi so could not update the thread. Will be putting up the next set of pics soon.

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

Nice one sachin!

Delhi definately has lot of history in-store.

I have personally visited the humayun's tomb and loved it.(very peaceful ,you could hear birds chirping)

The only annoyance (which sadly is everywhere ) is people engraving their name (sheela loves vicky) in these rich historic places.(Even the graves were not spared)

Awaiting more pictures.Thanks for sharing

Thanks Rajesh - definitely, defacing of monuments is really annoying. However, I am trying to not to show such pictures - as I am trying to capture the brilliance and magnificence of the monuments. So will not find such images in this thread.

Originally Posted by gd1418

Just bumped into this thread and what a pleasant surprise. Somebody took the initiative to present historic Dilli in a different perspective.

A lot of us have taken the existence of these monuments as granted and have seldom visited them in detail.

Excellant photographs and waiting for more..

p.s. rating the thread..

Thanks GD sir for liking and voting. I used to be in the same category - never thought of visiting Delhi monuments till now. But I must say - I M loving it

Originally Posted by lsp

Born and brought up in Delhi, I am very embarassed to say I havent visited most of the popular monuments of Delhi. Seems most people take the monuments of their own city for granted, thinking - yeh to kabhi bhi dekh sakte hain (we can see them anyday)!

Loved the pics Sach!! Please post more. Delhi is a unique city and off late its only famous for the wrong reasons. This thread will hopefully make people aware of the beauty and history of the city through the lens of a patron.

ISp - thanks for liking. I hope I am able to keep the thread live and kicking with more and more monuments in the list.

Originally Posted by rajeevn

Thanks a ton for bringing this on to T-BHP. Most people living in Delhi all their lives, me included, tend to take these magnificent structures for granted and almost never visit them, perhaps because they are just around the corner and can be visited anytime.

Come to think of it, the last time I went to any of these monuments (after the mandatory school excursions) was around 25 years back. What a waste!

Thanks again for sharing this; it certainly rekindles my desire to go and visit these places of exotic historical significance.

Thanks Rajeev - It was the same with me. The fact that Lodhi Gardens, is more famous for "extra curricular" activities than the monuments is really sad state of affairs. apart from local population - if Delhi govt. wanted, this could translate into great tourism activity and $$ as well as employment. There are no guides in any of the monuments that I visited!

Originally Posted by Sommos

Fantastic initiative Sachin and nice effort to highlight the monuments of Delhi.
I've been to Delhi several times for office assignments but never got the oppurtunity to see any of these ancient monuments apart from the India Gate. So I would be waiting for your posts.

Are all of these monuments of the glorious past maintained by the ASI? The Humayun's tomb appears to be well maintained, but not the other one.

Thanks Sommos - ASI and INTACH together take care of maintaining the monuments. Some are with ASI and other with INTACH. I believe that ASI and INTACH together don't have the required funds or revenue streams to maintain all the monuments. Still - I appreciate the efforts put in and the work being done.

Hopefully - we will see more and better maintained monuments in future.

Originally Posted by samarth.bhatia

Very nice beginning to something I hope goes even further
Being a fellow Dilli walah, I'm among a horde of other people who probably just went to these sites as a school kid.
Thanks for sharing wonderfully captured images of some world famous monuments that are right in our neighbourhood, but what we end up just looking past on a daily basis.

Looking forward to the Lodhi complex captures - they were after all right next to my school

Cheers,
Sam

Thanks Sam. They are next on the list to be put up.

Originally Posted by PGNarain

Lovely and fantastic initiative Sachin!! I am from Delhi - and no matter the bad publicity surrounding Delhi both recently and in the past, I have loved my city!! it is really "Dil"li for me and will always remain so.
Looking forward to the rest of your travelogue about Dilli.

Thanks PGNarain.

Originally Posted by robimahanta

Nice concept and images. Wish your copyright was a bit less imposing ,considering these are low resolution images intended for web use.

Thanks Robi. Actually I had a very bad experience with some one stealing one of my clips uploaded on youtube and putting up as his own on his page. So I am a little paranoid. However, I do agree - but would like someone to teach me this low res business. What I do is use PS - and save the pics in under 1 mb size. but it says - 72 pixels per inch resolution - does this make the pic low res?

Originally Posted by vidyanand

Great Monuments. I never visited the Humayun's Tomb (ignored it over the other one in the city) and only read it in our History books and in our course of History of Art and Architecture.
The monument suddenly looks Magnificent and your pics captured it well. Made up my mind to visit it on my next travel there.

Thanks Vidyanand. This is the best result that I could have hoped for. If I am able to influence people to go and visit the monuments and help popularise them, I have achieved something

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Great narration and superb pics, Sachin. Though I studied in Delhi University, I did not visit some of the places you've listed.

But whatever I could visit was really thrilling. Your pictures have brought back nostalgic feelings of my student days. Please bring them on.

Thanks vnabhi. Appreciate.

Originally Posted by sami316

Hey Sachin, Really nice initiative to recapture the lost glory of Delhi through your lens. I really love the way you have structured this TL sharing Delhi's past history. The pics are just amazing and capture the mood of the place pretty well. I have been to Delhi 5-6 times but yet to visit Humayun's Makbara....Insha Allah will go there and the other places in my next visit. Eagerly awaiting the next update. Cheers.

Thanks Sami. Love it - like I said, the best result that I could have hoped. Helping people recognise the heritage that we have and helping popularising the monuments is a really awesome and satisfying feeling.

Originally Posted by ashesh

Thanks a lot Sachin for showing us our Delhi in this beautiful way. Looking forward to this log.

Thanks Ashesh. I guess in some ways I am doing what you did with your thread on Mumbai.

Originally Posted by manolin

Sach Sri,

Loved the thread. I also have lots of photographs of Delhi monuments and walk in them almost every week. Was wondering if I can post them here, or would you prefer I keep this thread clean for your snaps (no issues either way, just want to keep your presentation as you want it).

Thanks Manolin. Don't have any issues in you posting your pics on the thread.

[robimahanta]

Originally Posted by sach.sri

...would like someone to teach me this low res business. What I do is use PS - and save the pics in under 1 mb size. but it says - 72 pixels per inch resolution - does this make the pic low res?

72ppi is the standard for web use. Try the "save for web" option in Photoshop CS and crop your images like say 800px width or height depending on whether its a landscape or portrait orientation with 72ppi. I stopped using the copyright stuff long back as i am not doing anything professionally and even if anyone uses it, so be it.

[sach.sri]

Lodhi Garden Complex

From Wikipedia

Lodi Gardens (Hindi: लोधी बाग़, Urdu: لودھی باغ) is a park in Delhi, India. Spread over 90 acres (360,000 m2), it contains, Mohammed Shah's Tomb, Sikander Lodi's Tomb, Sheesh Gumbad and Bara Gumbad, architectural works of the 15th century Sayyid and Lodis, a Pashtun dynasty which ruled much of Northern India during the 16th century, and the site is now protected by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).

The gardens are situated between Khan Market and Safdarjung's Tomb on Lodi Road. It is beautiful and serene.

As there is little architecture from these two periods remaining in India, Lodi Gardens is an important place of preservation.

Location




I did the Safdarjung Tomb and Lodhi Garden complex on one Sunday morning. While planning for the "walk" did some research and built the following itinerary.

Walk planning

Though I was almost 2 hrs late in reaching Safdarjung's Tomb and still managed to cover both Safdarjung's Tomb and Lodhi gardens by 2 pm.



But on reaching the garden I saw this

Lodhi Garden's Layout plan


The layout plan really helped me to plan the walk and to identify the various monuments.

Since I was nearest to the Bada Gumbad, I started off with it.

Bada Gumbad & Masjid and Sheesh Gumbad

In the middle of the gardens is the Bara Gumbad ("Big Dome"), it consists of a large rubble-construct dome, it is not a tomb[citation needed] but a gateway to an attached a three domed masjid (mosque), both built in 1494 during the reign of Sikander Lodi, there is also a residence surrounding a central courtyard, where the remains of a water tank can be seen. Opposite the Bara Gumbad is the Sheesh Gumbad ("Glass dome") for the glazed tiles used in its construction, which contains the remains of an unknown family, this was also built during the reign of Sikander Lodi.

Bada Gumbad Dome


Notice the huge spread for a family picnic. This is a favoured picnic spot for dilliwaalas and being a Sunday the janta was out in full force.

Dome from various directions






Side view of the Bada Gumbad dome and mosque complex




Sheesh Gumbad as seen from the mosque adjoining Bada Gumbad


to be contd...

[sach.sri]

Bada Gumbad Mosque interior pictures.

Notice the calligraphy of the Arabic writings on the arches and the ceilings. How magnificent it would have looked in its day. Unfortunately ravaged by time and I guess also imperfect maintenance.

Lying down on the floor trying to take a good picture of the ceiling dome I somehow feel connected and even with the numerous people milling around, totally alone and at peace. Gives out such a great sense of peace and tranquillity.





Sheesh Gumbad as seen from Bada Gumbad Mosque
















to be contd...

[manolin]

Since you are on Lodhi Gardens, let me start here as well



It is probably one of the best ways to spend a weekend. In winters mornings, to picnic with packed lunches, and in summers for a pleasant evening walk.



Team it up with a meal/coffee at Khan Market, or a performance or exhibition at India Habitat Centre, both walking distances from Lodhi Gardens, and both have parking available. Khan Market Metro station also makes it convenient.



As Sach.Sri has done, joining Lodhi Gardens with Safdarjung's Tomb is a great heritage walk for non-delhi friends who have come visiting. Though Safdarjung's Tomb is probably best done as a single trip at around the evening time. Lodhi Gardens is open very late - till 8 pm, Safdarjung's Tomb is open till sunset.



There is a costly restaurant - Lodhi Restaurant in the park. Ok food. Good ambience - for lunch at least.



Lodhi gardens was built by the wife of a British Governor General. But apart from the tombs etc., it was also bang on one of the mughal era thoroughfares - because of which there are bridges etc from that time in the park.



It is one of the busiest morning/evening walkers parks in Delhi, and since most of them are the diplomats/bureaucrat crowd, its also one of the few parks with decent toilets and wastepaper baskets.



Its got lots of birds. Also a small bird identification board, because of which I realised that what I used to think was the sparrow is actually the mynah

Anyways - here is a squirrel from Sikandar Lodi's tomb


Of course, like any other public space in India, people who have no other spaces might find some space for themshelves (the people walking in the photo are my classmates, this is not about them, but a general point). Doesn't bother me, at least they are close to history and nature and at least someone is using those spaces - but might bother some others (which I find very irritating, because you will find this in any park in the west as well. But the same people won't object there) .



These are phone photos from facebook. I have some DSLR snaps as well from another time, but will dig them up later. Edit. Added some.

[deeps79]

Good to see a thread on Delhi

Delhi parks including lodhi garden seriously offer a lot to pedestrians in rapidly growing concrete jungle.

Beautiful pics ....Let me know if i can add few from my side.

Originally Posted by manolin

Attachment 1069019

Since you are on Lodhi Gardens, let me start here as well

[sami316]

Amazing pics Manolin, really loving this thread. Good to know that there are quite a few out there who like being closer to history. I am loving it. Bring on more pics.

[sach.sri]

Thanks MAnolin for the pics. IT has certainly added to the perspective.

As I started with the Badi Gumbad and sheesh gumbad, spent a lot of time there. Some more pics from the photoshoot



































Really loved the Sheesh Gumbad with its blue glazed "tiles" for color, even though quite a few are missing.

Also - the Arabic letters in the domes and ceiling of the mosque adjoining Bada Gumbad.

Coming up next - Aathpula bridge

to be contd...

[manolin]

Thanks Sachin.

To add to your posts above, the key fact to notice about Bada Gumbad and Sheesh Gumbad is the shape of the dome. The Lodi tombs are one of the best examples of pre-Mughal domes - Mughal domes are very bulbous in nature (eg. Taj Mahal, Jama Masjid), in comparision the slave dynasty Lodi domes are squat.

Also the inverted Tulip/Lotus, which appears below the dome in Mughal era buildings is not there in these domes.

The mosque next to Bada Gumbad is very weird in that the one existing small minaret on its side seems only to be facade, as there is no way to get into it.

Maybe a architecture/history graduate can better elucidate other facts of these buildings.

My favourite is Mohammed Sayyid's tomb, it is elegant, octahedral structure always has you puzzling about direction once you are inside. There is a similar tomb in the Humayun's tomb complex - Isa Khan's tomb. Its just got renovated, and will be open again soon.

[vibhavraghav]

I hope i dont go offtopic here. Last month my mum and dad to explore dekhi on the delhi tourism Hop on Hop off (HOHO) service. The service has been managed professionally though its a little expensive at 600 for a day. There is so much to see however in Delhi that a days time does not suffice. Sachin's done a great job in taking us on a tour. thanks for the vicarious enjoyment

[manolin]

Some more snaps of buildings which have been posted already.

Safdarjung's tomb -



The best part of this tomb is Safdarjung himself was not a big man (he was a nawab of Lucknow), but his son was a big man in the Mughal court of that time. Big enough that he managed to ransack lots of stones/tiles from other monuments in delhi (I think mostly from khan e khanan tomb in nizamuddin east) to build this.




Humayun's tomb