Sunday, January 31, 2010

Bigger Brighter Better!



Delhi comes alive at nights, the roads are desolate and empty, not a soul to see (what a wonder wonderful feeling that is for me !). The road becomes ones home, as long as one has fuel to burn... i find it difficult to acclimatize to delhi's bustling day time crowds. but nights are a different affair, There are umpteen places to see, and in darkness everything in your peripheral vision comes fiercely alive. One such place remains my favorite haunt; though its a bit risky to visit at nights but tuqlakabad remains at the top of my magnetic places to see on a full moon delhi night. Yesterday's moon was more brighter and bigger than most full moons (it was mentioned in paper, but most people who see the moon often could have noticed the difference themselves). Such occasions call for a vision quest in my head, For you see nights veil those sights which we don't need to see, and bring out those which in the day time would look completely different to the naked eye.
Years spent seeing things more clearly at nights, I have attuned my eyes very well both to amavasya and poornima lights. Star light too is an awesome source to see, but of course the white pale powerful light emitted by our astral tube light changes any and all sceneries to an out of the world image.
Tuqlakabad is near khanpur/kalkaji in delhi, its one of the 8 cities which have been inhibited in this arid land (Delhi), the ruins are not taken care of, but what has remained continues to remain- mostly rubble and some stuff which resembles ruins.
It is a large fort (and i am informed that it was a military fort, not a residential complex), and has an amazing water hole (baoli), which resembles more of a swimming pool cause of its depth and the beautiful concrete-rock diving boards kept at the top, one can go all the way to the bottom... and its a haunting site to say the least, i have explored this baoli umpteen times, and everytime it reveals something so pretty- isolated and serene, in a maddening zone like delhi with its even madder inhabitants, locales like these which offer some respite from thoughts and like are so welcoming.
The full moon, shines off all the shrubs inside the fort, and the rocks/rubble itself. There is a magnetic feeling here, its not the safest of all places (a very dangerous place at nights as I understand), but most of the times i have vistied (at night), it remains secluded, quiet as death and so intense. The feeling of leaving 21th century so called civilization and going back to mughul times is something which i have secretely hoped for all my life, its kind of a fall back of living in delhi all my life, so many ruins and forts and palaces and tombs and all so grand, with rock made buildings and roads, the feeling is one of freedom and complete relaxation (mentally).
Yesterdays full moon, was daring in her appearance, bold and naked and beaming white magnetic light down, my friends and i were dazzled by her and we stretched the night exploring the nooks and corners of this ancient zone. Surprisingly we dint encounter a single human inside the fort ( a guard, cop, thief, blah). This gave us ample freedom to chill out and explore the heights and depths of this former military fort. There is tuqlak's tomb nearby (outside the fort), and its a desolate single standing structure, only lit by white light, it looks like something out of this world...
I like to explore isolated places by night, one there is no interference by outsiders, no hassles and the tension that someone will be always looking over your shoulder seeing what you are doing (as is the case in a populated country like ours), always looking for a sign from history, a relic, a sign that someone from beyond the grave has left a message, a sign of their immortality, their humanity. Its something of a showstopper in my head. The fort doesn't offer much relix advantage, but it does offer a vivid scenery from out of the world, every corner is dark and what will appear from where is a mystery not even the fort would know. Always worth a safe visit at nights for all enthusiastic to see something different and adventurous and perhaps even mystifying.
Peace

1 comment:

Sandeep Sunny Patel said...

that was an interesting read about delhi....some more haunting places to see at night please....

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