The Red Fort

I spent today wandering through Delhi's Red Fort. This architectural behemoth sits in a northeast section of Old Delhi, next to the Yumuna River. The fort is a preposterously huge complex, 250 acres ringed with two kilometers of 18-33meter high walls. It was built between 1638-48 by Shah Jahan, one of India's Mughal emperors. 

I arrived through the Chandni Chowk, a huge, teeming bazaar of spice sellers and lime-juice vendors, rickshaw drivers, and touts, all of them determined to sell me something. I even saw some guys squatting, dusting off bathroom scales, guarding them zealously with feather dusters. (Pay to weigh yourself? I don't know.)

Today, while not as hot as my first few days here, was a scorcher. I entered the fort at around 11am passing first through the Chatta Chowk, a covered bazaar that held jewelry, textile, and other precious metal shops. Now, it's mostly high end tourist knick-knacks.

Chatta Chowk

I walked next to Diwan-i-Am, the hall of public audiences, and to a massive mall beyond dotted with other pavilions and royal buildings - the Diwan-i-Khas (hall of PRIVATE audiences), and the Pearl Mosque (Aurangzeb's private mosque). I also saw the Khas Mahal - the emperor's private chambers.

Diwan-i-Am

The Pearl Mosque. Apparently it had copper plating on the domes above, though I think it looks beautiful like this.

A grille of the Khas Mahal, look carefully and you can see a beautifully carved scales of justice

A distant view of the Shahi Burj, the emperor's private work studio. Not a bad gig if you can get it...

A ruined mosque in the old Salimgarh fort attached the Red Fort's north east section.

I spent a few hours wandering, but the heat was completely enervating. I got lost trying to find my way to the Salimgarh section of the fort, (an old fort that predated the Red Fort by more about a century), which is still used by the Indian Army. (They turned over the bulk of the Red Fort for tourism purposes back in 2003.)

Finally, I located the path to this quiet spot, which ran across an overpass and a set of train tracks. The Salimgarh section doesn't get visited nearly as much as the rest of the fort, and I got to wander about by myself. There was a ruined mosque (see above) and some out buildings that were locked up. The grass was parched like hay, and I came to some battlements, over which I could see a long ribbon of highway.

All in all, a fun day, a lot to take in. And the heat just killed me. After I made my way back to the Chandni bazaar, I slurped down a Coke and a bottle of water, returned home, and passed out for a few hours until the clouds rolled in and the temperature finally started to drop.