Street Photography in India

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Saturday, 18 November 2017 - Explored Delhi with guide Vikram Kalra, visiting historic and off-the-beaten-path locations including the 16th-century Rajon ki Baoli stepwell, Gandhak Ki Baoli, Tomb of Adham Khan, and Dargah Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki where we participated in flower offerings and prayers. Wandered the Mehrauli neighborhood, photographed markets, street life, local shrines, and Zafar Mahal, seeing both historical ruins and daily life.

india2017 — The first day on the trip was in Delhi and not part of the photography tour. The formal tour began on a Monday, so on the weekend I went around Delhi with a great guide, Vikram Kalra. His knowledge of the city (and its very long history) made the third visit a new experience by going to out-of-the-way locations.

Our first stop is a very old stepwell, Rajon ki Baoli. It has several layers and rooms for resting on each side.

india2017 — The bedrock is visible on one side of the stepwell.

It was named for the masons who built it in the 16th century.

india2017 — There is a tiny Mughal-era Mosque on top of the stepwell.

india2017 — Old ruins from the old city are slowly being captured by the vegetation.

india2017 — A niche in the mosque

india2017 — A dog rests outside the mosque

india2017 — Nearby is a small tomb from the same period as the stepwell. It does not have a name and the graves are unknown.

india2017 — We then traveled outside Qutar Mitier Park to an old neighborhood to take photos of the street life.

We began at the Tomb of Adham Khan (Bhool Bhulaiya), which has a great view of the Qutub Minar.

india2017 — The Tomb of Adham Khan was built when Adham Khan murdered the Mughal emperor Akbar's favourite general Ataga Khan in May 1562, Akbar immediately ordered his execution by being thrown from the ramparts of the Agra Fort.

india2017 — The ceiling of the Tomb of Adham Khan

In the 1830s, a British officer named Blake of the Bengal Civil Service, converted this tomb into his residential apartment and removed the graves to make way for his dining hall. It has since been restored.

india2017 — From the Tomb of Adham Khan we crossed the street into the neighborhood. We quickly came upon a stepwell. It is not very deep and the water is easily accessible - but a bit dirty.

The Gandhak Ki Baoli was built between 1210 and 1235. The underground streams feeding the well have long dried up.

india2017 — Headed down the narrow streets to the Dargah Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki. A dargah is a shrine built over a revered religious figure - this case Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.

india2017 — We purchased flower petals as an offering at the grave of Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki

india2017 — Once at the grave we scattered the flower petals and lit incense

india2017 — The graveside is carpeted in flower petals. The devoted can go under the cover to pray at the small opening.

india2017 — The chandelier and the ceiling over the shrine

india2017 — Devotees to Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki praying at the grave.

Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki is the person to whom the nearby Qutub Minar is dedicated.

india2017 — Around the edge of the grave ceiling were little fans and beautiful inlay work.

india2017 — A candle burning in a shrine nearby

india2017 — Nearby grave with just a few flower petals

india2017 — Very heavy ornate silver door leading to the grave site.

india2017 — Women are not allowed graveside and say their prayers through a marble screen

india2017 — One of the gates to the Dargah Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki is through a courtyard which has a pretty tree.

india2017 — Next to the Dargah Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki is the Zafar Mahal palace, which is not well protected. We slipped through the opening into the palace.

I did discover a security guard when wandering about. The back of the palace is gone and is next to a neighborhood - homes built right up to the palace.

india2017 — The top of the Dargah Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki next door.

india2017 — The main room or reception hall of the palace. You can still see traces of paint left on a few pillars.

Zafar Mahal is the ruined summer palace of the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II.

india2017 — Three men playing cards in one of the palace rooms.

india2017 — Detail of the Zafar Mahal entrance door - which is big enough to allow elephants to walk through.

india2017 — We continued walking through the Mehrauli neighborhood. Near a small shrine there were two people stringing marigolds together for garlands.

india2017 — Ganesha in a small shrine with a Sufi waiting to bless people.

india2017 — Local vegetable market was hoping - it was small but full of vegetables.

The Mehrauli Sabzi Mandi is a subset of the larger Mehrauli market, and a haven for vegetable suppliers and consumers alike.

india2017 — Pile of garlic

india2017 — The whole family out shopping in the Mehrauli Sabzi Mandi

india2017 — So many carrots they are just spilled out in a big pile. They must be priced great as there was a lot of activity at the carrot corner.

india2017 — A pile of prickly cucumbers.

india2017 — The bell in the small shrine looking out over the street

india2017 — A clothing shop

india2017 — Being adorned with henna

india2017 — This plaque recognizes the locals who went off to fight in World War I

india2017 — A street vendor making Jalebi, a fried sweet treat. A small hole is made in a handkerchief which the dough is forced to create a ring - like a donut.

india2017 — We then drove to Tughlaqabad Fort.

The Tughlaqabad Fort was built by the founder of the Tughlaq Dynasty, Ghiyas-ud-din-Tughlaq in 1321. Established as the fifth historic city, the fort was later abandoned in 1327.

india2017 — The city is supposed to have had as many as 52 gates of which only 13 remain today.

india2017 — The sloping rubble-filled city walls, a feature of monuments of the Tughluq dynasty, are between 35 and 70 feet high, topped by battlement parapets and strengthened by circular bastions of up to two stories high.

india2017 — The battlements on the wall topped by grass

india2017 — A short underground passage is all that remains of probably a much longer passage to the mosque

india2017 — The fortress had a stepwell with a single set of stairs down to the water

india2017 — The bedrock at the bottom of the setpwell and plants grow out of the well.

india2017 — The walls of the fortress tower over the forest below.

india2017 — From the fortress you can see the Mausoleum of Ghiyas ud-Din Tughluq across the road built with the same architecture and fortress like walls.

india2017 — A curse dictated that monkeys were to run the fortress and are in evidence everywhere.

india2017 — A mother and baby are traveling across the lawn near the mosque.

india2017 — The Mausoleum of Ghiyas ud-Din Tughluq is made up of a single-domed square tomb with sloping walls crowned by parapets. In contrast to the walls of the fortification made of granite, the sides of the mausoleum are faced by smooth, red sandstone and inlaid with inscribed panels and arch borders from marble. The edifice is topped by a dome resting on an octagonal drum that is covered with white slabs of marble and slate.

india2017 — The niche in the western wall of the Mausoleum of Ghiyas ud-Din Tughluq

india2017 — After the Mausoleum of Ghiyas ud-Din Tughluq we went to one of Vikram's favorite spots for Masala Chai. There was a tree there with some pretty strange things nailed to it for decoration.

india2017 — After chai we walked across the street to a small fish market.

india2017 — Something I had not seen before was how each stand had a guy using a knife which was vertical and fixed to the counter. The men use the knife cutting from a seated position.

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