Soul Stripping on the Net

 Read Part 8: The Labyrinth by clicking here The sun was setting, the road was long. The nearest metro stations were Qutb Minar and Saket. I chose the latter. I passed the temple where women in their late 40s and 50s were exiting after professing their love for Lord Krishna, now tika-marked and prasad-filled. I passed the Qutb Ccomplex walls, the evening light highlighting Iltutmish’s tomb in jannatic light. Buses pounded on the road beside me. Then a jump – in class. Petty shops gave way to high-end boutiques. Sheila Lediess Dresses gave way to Satya Paul. Curtains used to keep dust at bay gave way to doorkeeps guarding AC-enclosed halls. I walked on. Valets lounged about where a few hundred metres behind bovine courts were held. It was mind-boggling. Dresses, lehengas, fabrics worth lakhs replaced headphones at a discount, biscuits with 30% extra and fresh cuts of meat. No sign of QR codes stuck on walls here. Restaurants with ‘Qutb’ somewhere in their name offered delicious ...

Read Part 7: Zafar's Absent Grave by clicking here Once I got over my sense of disappointment and sadness over the state of Zafar Mahal, I repeated the Maps process and settled in for a long-distance walk to the intriguingly named Bhool Bhoolaiya. Wading through courses that were labelled ‘main road’ – often footpaths that merged into houses, temples, stores, and parking lots beside them, I finally reached a wider-ish road. I term this road ‘wide’ because I had space to dodge traffic. Here there was a slight difference in the chowk setup. There was a police station, bhelpuri stands, sugarcane juice sellers, municipal offices, and buses! I had chanced upon Mehrauli Central bus station. Beside it, a Lord Krishna jagran blasted out of sanctified speakers. Opposite it was a typical Lodhi Gardens style tomb, though it was built during the Mughal reign. Again not the ‘bhool bhoolaiya’ I had in mind, but it would do. Adam Khan was a general of Akbar and this was his tomb. It got such ...

 Read Part 6: Where is Zafar? by clicking here There was only a gate. Supposedly Bahadur Shah Zafar wanted to be buried here, beside his ancestors and family. Now only an ornate-looking gate remains, or can be seen. It is locked. The gate comprises a wooden door, beautiful chhatris, and a broad Bengali-styled chajja. The palace was credited to Akbar Shah II. Zafar renovated the gate, the Hathi darwaza, so named because he could be seated on an elephant while going through it. Today only bats haunt this house. Beside it is the busy mosque of Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki. Peeping through a hole in the door, the sunlight highlights dust, spider webs, and wooden ruins. If a mahal or graves did exist, they have long made room for the surrounding living bodies and buildings. The gate shut the day Bahadur Shah Zafar closed his eyes in far-away Rangoon. My eyes could only admire Zafar Mahal on Wikipedia. कितना है बद - नसीब ' ज़फ़र ' दफ़्न के लिए दो गज़ ज़मीन भी न मिली ...