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Monday, January 28, 2013

Dilli Travel-log Luv-shuv-te-Qila-Purana....Part II- Ghalib Aur Razia


After the Qila purana last week it was the time for some luv-shuv and we headed straight to who other than Ghalib...Poochhte hain wo k Ghalib kon hai .....Koi batlaao k ham batlaayain kya.....
While he is the most-quoted-most-sung poet , he was never as famous in his own life time as today; A lot of it was also due to the fact that he lived in an era of instability and degeneration ; He is often referred to as the last poet of the Moghul court! 
Married to Umrao Begum (stop imagining, only the name is common) @ the age of 13; he fathered seven kids and none of them survived beyond infancy..and in one his couplet he calls marriage his second imprisonment, life being the first..

क़ैदे-हयात, बंदे-ग़म अस्ल में दोनों एक हैं, मौत से पहले आदमी ग़म से निजात पाये क्यों? (he prison of life and the bondage of grief are one and the same.Before the onset of death, how can man expect to be free of grief?)

 He never 'earned' but lived on patronage and the haveli @ Ballimaran (Gali Qasim Jaan) where he spent the last years of his life was also his wifes's the ASI's story @ the renovated site even quotes his wife to be traditional and demure  someone who never asked for anything...yet, en would be men you see...
How to reach there:-Take the Metro and get off at Chawri bazar station and take a rikshaw to Ballimaran, and ask for directions...we walked the whole way as the journey was more important than the destination and captured some hustle bustle in the streets.
What to expect:-Nothing, the Haveli is no more what you may imagine, just the entrance has been reclaimed and the govt. has done a decent job of making it look beautiful. Some couplets, letters, pictures and artifacts adorn the place which makes up for the energy you spend looking out for this place.
Value Adds:-The gali boasts of some good smelling food...so you may try the biryani and korma,. but everything is beef so take your pick.
 
Our next destination was Sultana Razia's tomb. I think this will top the list of the-most-dilapidated-abused-yet-protected-monument. The path to this place is almost nondescript, the last 200 meters seems like the place doesn't exist on earth...but her story is what makes it all worth!
 
She was the only woman ruler , who ever ruled directly from the throne of Delhi, of course till Indira Gandhi and Sheila Dixit came along. She dressed like a man and reveled herself from the howdah during a battle...and the hindi movie makes this as the high point!! That explains the way women are treated. She was chosen by her father Iltutmish (2nd king of the slave dynasty- refer to Part I of the blog) over her incompetent brothers and one of them (Behram Shah) eventually created a rebellion against her and assassinated her after her troops abandoned her and her husband.

But The most enticing part of her story is her relationship with Yakut, a habishi/ african slave. Some stories and of course Bollywood suggest they were lovers but some suggest they were confidants. There is also a story that suggests  Malik Altunia, her childhood friend, killed Yakut and took her as a prisoner and she married him to save herself. Eventually both were killed in Kartal in Haryana where they had run away after losing to Behram Shah; There is also a story about a second grave in Kartal. A more recent story hints about a third grave @ Tonk in Rajasthan, where she lies with her beloved Yakut.

How to get there :- Ask for Bulbuli-Kalan / Pahari Bhojla. Once you get there you ask for directions; This place is close to the Turkman gate.
What to expect:-Narrowest of the gali's you will ever see in your life, and your only expression would be, is it for real!!! 2 dilapidated graves of Razia and her sister Sazia and a mosque within 4 walls, now I know what that phrase means....
 
After so much of history we headed staright to JamaMasjid for some sumptuous food....the Karim Hotel in Gali Kababian and this is a must do every time you visit old Delhi.....





PS: The metro station @ Chawri Bazaar is 25 meters deep and is among the marvels of modern day infrastructure...and the platforms were all pre-fabricated...don't miss to marvel this as well!!

Check out more pictures on my page..http://www.facebook.com/SumanaClicks?ref=hl

Chec

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