A trip to Sultan Ghari

 

Entrance to Sultan Ghari

 

A barely visible turn on the road leads me to this rich architectural area in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. This is Sultan Ghani, now in ruins. It is the first tomb to be built as a monument in the Delhi region. Built by the Turkish General, Iltutmish of the Mamluk or the Slave dynasty in 1231 for his eldest son, Nasiruddin Mahmud. Interestingly, Nasiruddin is also worshipped as a peer (Saint) and people offer prayers till today.

From the entrance, Sultan Ghari gives the appearance of a fortress with its entrance doorway, the domed bastions at the corners and the colonnades. As we entered the courtyard and climbed on the top of the entrance wall, the view all around gave an idea of the sprawling town it must once have been. I could see ruins all around. But right below me, in the centre of the courtyard was a raised octagonal structure which was the roof of the tomb of Nasiruddin Mahmud which lay in the crypt below. It is because of this crypt that this place got the name ghari. 

There is an entrance into this crypt from the southern side. It is dark and the stairs are narrow and steep. Our mobile phones helped light up the area. But there are four graves in the tomb. The highest one is assumed to be Nasiruddin’s, while the rest are unaccounted for. Thursdays are important days here when worshippers throng the place to offer prayers to the peer.

The Octagonal raised roof of the tomb (ghari) & marbelled prayer niche on the western wall in the background

Tomb of Ruknuddin Firuz Shah or Muizzuddin Shah, sons of Iltutmish (only one tomb stands)

A Corbelled arch before the true arch came more than 50 years later

Movie Review - The Oscars

Django Unchained: This is an out and out Quentin Tarantino movie and yes I am not a big fan of blood and gore. Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio as well as Christoph Waltz try to outshine each other with their acting skills, but for me the person who takes the cake is Samuel L Jackson, a senior slave at Leonardo’s household, who hates all slaves, especially those who are free like Django. Its a story of love, of fearlessness, a lot of killings and a lot of blood.

Amour: I will never understand why Emmanuelle Riva, the veteran actress, did not bag the best actress Oscar!! She is amazing. Every nuance of a person suffering from stroke was followed by her. I really have no idea how she got her role to this level. She is now on my list of top five actors. Thank you Emmanuelle, for giving us Anne’s heart wrenching situation. It was terrible just watching her lying helpless, trying to communicate with her husband and daughter. The end came as a shock but I cannot blame him.

Dilli ke Pakwan (Delhi Food)

Recently the Department of Delhi Tourism organized the yummy event – Dilli ke Pakwan. I had to visit the place not once but twice to have my fill, and at no time did I find the area lacking people. What I was trying to search was for authentic Dilli ka Khana (Delhi Food). But what I found was food from neighbouring States. There was Rajasthani, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bihari and Tamil food.  Is Delhi food then a conglomeration of all these foods?

Dilli ke Pakwan

I must say I was overjoyed to see Daulat ki Chaat, made from milk after it has beaten beaten for over eight hours!!! It simply melts in the mouth leaving no aftertaste of excessive cream, though why it should be called chaat beats me.  Tilla kulfi (milk ice cream on a stick) was another hit. Once out of the mould, the kulfi is dipped into a pail of rabri (thickened sweetened milk) and handed over. Sinfully delicious!!

But beware, the food is spicy and oily too. So take precautions.

Vast Array of Food

Daulat ki Chaat

Golgappe

Tilla Kulfi

Paan

Movie Review

Zero Dark Thirty – Kathryn Bigelow has done it again! After Hurt Locker, here’s another suspense action thriller. Only this time the audience knew what to expect.  But that does not take anything away from the movie. The search for OBL begins and the docu drama holds you in thrall as if you were part of the proceedings.  Only thing that was suffocating for me were the graphic torture scenes.

Les Miserables – This two and a half hour movie was a treat to watch! It had its moments of highs and lows but what it gave me were also moments of discomfort. The director has cleverly used close ups and extreme close ups to highlight the raw emotions of the characters and as part of the audience, I was not very comfortable getting so close to that. The actors have excelled. After a time I forgot that no dialogues were being spoken. Such is the magic of great musicals. Thanks to director Tom Hooper, lyricist Herbert Kretzmer and composer Schonberg, and of course to Victor Hugo for writing the novel. Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway - I am a bigger fan of yours from now!!