Winter's hang-out. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Scores of men are sitting along a fence, their backs turned towards a scenic edifice. But the scene they are facing isn’t at all scenic—it is of impossibly chaotic Delhi traffic jamming up a smoggy T-intersection. So tough to crack the strangeness of Purani Dilli’s Turkman Gate Chowk. The place derives its name from the Turkman Gate darwaza, the aforementioned edifice that culminates into the said T-point. While the centuries-old stone gateway does have a small gate to slip inside the monument, the public chose to sit outside on the concrete ledge along the fence. These days the monument is undergoing maintenance, and a good portion of it is scaffolded from top to bottom

King's grave [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Being Delhiwale, we people do know something of the Mughals. Babar was the first. Shahjahan built the Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb… well, less said the better! Zafar was the last Mughal. But who came immediately after Aurangzeb? Who was immediately before Zafar? In all, there were 12 kings between Aurangzeb and Zafar. The most notable among these lesser-knowns lies buried in our city, but his grave chamber stays deserted. Raushan Akhtar Muhammad Shah ruled for 29 years, from 1719 to 48. His daily life was full of leisure—watching partridge and elephant fights in the morning, and mime artists and jugglers in the evening. Often attired in a woman’s tunic and pearl-embroidered shoes, he was

Georgina's 93rd Christmas [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This grand building style originated in Constantinople, now known as Istanbul. Although a world away from that city, our Delhi does contain a sample of Byzantine architecture. Purani Dilli’s Holy Trinity Church too has a domed roof, Byzantine’s most distinguishing element. The dome swells out on Faasil Road, beside the Mughal-era Turkman Gate. Inside the building, its bulge is bordered in light blue (see one of the photos). The church was erected more than a hundred years earlier. A plaque notes: To the glory of God And in memory of Alexander Charles Maitland The foundation stone of This Church of the Holy Trinity Was laid on Feb.1.1904 By his widow Mary R. Maitland The stunningly long-titled book “Alumni Cantabrigienses: A

A segment of history [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One tower is in south Delhi. It came up in early 13th century. The whole world knows of it. After all, Qutub Minar is an UNESCO World Heritage monument, the first great experiment in Indo-Islamic architecture. The other red sandstone tower came up 600 years later, in north Delhi. The world doesn’t know it that well. Originally called the Mutiny Memorial, the neo-Gothic minar is tall, tapering, speckled with long, lancet windows. The British-era red sandstone tower stands atop a hilly ridge dense with trees and bushes. It is arrayed on all sides with marble plaques. The inscriptions on the white slabs summon up a significant segment of recent Indian history.

Monuments to the blue. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In this season of pollution, to look for any blue in the sky is a timepass in vain. Fret not. You may find blue, or nila, in two little-known Delhi monuments, starting with their names. The Nili Masjid in Hauz Khas Enclave presumably takes its name from a row of blue tiles inlaid atop its arched gateway. Most tiles are sadly gone, the empty squares marking the loss. Nevertheless, the small mosque has richly detailed interiors. The stone surface of the central dome is sculpted with dozens of niched taak, a disappearing element in traditional architecture. As a token to the name, a handful of modern-day inscriptions painted on the

Old stones. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old Delhi is towards the north of the capital and is pretty old. Mehrauli is towards the southern end and is far older. It is a graveyard of various epochs of Delhi’s overlong history, containing material fragments from the Tomars to the Lodhis to the British. Mehrauli is also a land of very many graves. These graves are of royals as well as of fakeerrs, and also, famously, of people from the transgender community—a cemetery takes its name from their colloquial identity. Mehrauli’s most historic grave is of Emperor Iltutmish, who fathered Razia Sultan, the one who went on to become Delhi’s first female ruler. You need a ticket to have an audience with

Elegance taken for granted [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The door itself is small in relation to the sprawling scope of the doorway. The entire entrance is dense with sculpted patterns, including four human figures, plus the mandatory taaks and arches. The sandstone darwaza of Sri Digambar Jain Mandir in Old Delhi’s Dili Gate is striking. This afternoon, its arresting beauty stays unaffected, even as a local biscuit suppler has piled up a fresh stock of brown cardboard cartons right in front of the closed doorway, see photo. Old Delhi is home to numerous remarkable doorways. An aesthete might feel their beauty to be under constant threat because these doorways tend to be taken for granted by Purani Dilli

A Walled City institution. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] When stone is sewn into air, the two elements unite to become a jaali. Such a lattice screen makes a heavy structure look light, as if a strong breeze might lift the structure any moment into the sky. Some of the capital’s most exquisite jaalis lie preserved inside a Walled City school, where they frame the boundary of a centuries-old grave chamber. Delhi’s oldest surviving educational institution, Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School is a world of red sandstones and lakhori bricks, arched doorways and miniature chhatris. (One door has its wooden exterior etched into flowers.) It was also the subject of a scholarly book published two years ago by Oxford University Press—The

A portal to the village. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Time passes, things change, some things continue to stand. The historic Chirag Delhi village has transformed over the years, many of its old buildings (such beautiful doorways they had!) have disappeared, but this old gateway to the village has survived. This overcast afternoon, the timeworn portal is mutely overlooking a smoggy stream of pedestrians, bikes and autos (see photo). The busy road of the city unspools along the northern perimeter of the village. The inverse side of the gateway faces a life more at leisure—that being a sleepy village lane full of small shops such as Manoj Namkeen Bhandar, Ashok General Store, and JS Tailors. Meanwhile, a young man is stationed

Delhi's weirdest dome. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It looks like icing on the cake. But who licked off more than half of the yummy cream? This is the weirdest dome among all of the Delhi monuments. It tops Rahim’s tomb on Mathura Road. The dome is made of stone and lime mortar, but parts are covered with marble blocks. Actually the dome had no marble in living memory. These white blocks were put up a few years ago during an ambitious conservation project. One wonders if funds dried up, preventing the acquisition of the rest of the marble needed to complete the conservation. A citizen is naturally perturbed for such a significant 17th century monument built by Mughal-era poet Rahim (originally)