Seems I was wrong. The last post did not turn out to the last post. There is still some life left in the old dog.
Chor Minar dates back to the earliest of my Delhi walking days. I met a new found friend, Himanshu Dube at his office in the Asian Games village. Eager to list down places I should visit, I opened a small pad and picked his brains. He mentioned Chor Minar in Hauz Khas. It sounded attractive. One of those days, still early days, I hunted around for it after my Spanish class had finished (despues de mi clase de Español habia terminado).
And in typical Delhi fashion, I stumbled upon blank faces after blank faces. Having found nothing, I moved onto greener pastures. There was Tughlaqabad, Freoz Shah Kotla, The Fraser Mansion etc etc. Chor Minar was then consigned to lying deep down somewhere in my notepad, buried under many pages of scribbles, sumdged by the ink around. It was not until one mid January afternoon when I had nothing to do that it came back to me. I was leafing through the pad and found it scribbled in one corner.
So I made my way to Hauz Khas, this time intent on finding it. I did find it. Its a non-descript short, pudgy tower in the middle of a patch of dried grass surrounded by elite houses on all sides but it is one of the oldest monuments in Delhi.
Built sometime in the Khilji period (late 13th and early 14th centuries), it is said to have been named Chor Minar because of its reputation of holding the severed heads of thieves, serial offenders and royal wrath invokers in its many small wall holes. To me, the holes look too small. So, back then, either all offenders were really pea brained individuals or maybe, their heads were brutally beaten to fit these holes.
Either way, its a perfect place to note the contrasts of Delhi. Late 13th and early 21st centuries look at each other in the face with the ease of childhood buddies and yet, beyond the half broken fence of the small park, the clock turns back near the rubble masonry minar.
Location - Hauz Khas (click here for the map location)
Co-ordinates - N28 32.863 E77 12.342
Closest Metro Station - Hauz Khas (Yellow Line)
Landmark - None really
Chor Minar dates back to the earliest of my Delhi walking days. I met a new found friend, Himanshu Dube at his office in the Asian Games village. Eager to list down places I should visit, I opened a small pad and picked his brains. He mentioned Chor Minar in Hauz Khas. It sounded attractive. One of those days, still early days, I hunted around for it after my Spanish class had finished (despues de mi clase de Español habia terminado).
And in typical Delhi fashion, I stumbled upon blank faces after blank faces. Having found nothing, I moved onto greener pastures. There was Tughlaqabad, Freoz Shah Kotla, The Fraser Mansion etc etc. Chor Minar was then consigned to lying deep down somewhere in my notepad, buried under many pages of scribbles, sumdged by the ink around. It was not until one mid January afternoon when I had nothing to do that it came back to me. I was leafing through the pad and found it scribbled in one corner.
So I made my way to Hauz Khas, this time intent on finding it. I did find it. Its a non-descript short, pudgy tower in the middle of a patch of dried grass surrounded by elite houses on all sides but it is one of the oldest monuments in Delhi.
Built sometime in the Khilji period (late 13th and early 14th centuries), it is said to have been named Chor Minar because of its reputation of holding the severed heads of thieves, serial offenders and royal wrath invokers in its many small wall holes. To me, the holes look too small. So, back then, either all offenders were really pea brained individuals or maybe, their heads were brutally beaten to fit these holes.
Either way, its a perfect place to note the contrasts of Delhi. Late 13th and early 21st centuries look at each other in the face with the ease of childhood buddies and yet, beyond the half broken fence of the small park, the clock turns back near the rubble masonry minar.
Location - Hauz Khas (click here for the map location)
Co-ordinates - N28 32.863 E77 12.342
Closest Metro Station - Hauz Khas (Yellow Line)
Landmark - None really
Hi There,
ReplyDeleteWe are currently developing city specific portals, starting off with Delhi and require various write-ups on Delhi on themes such as Restaurants, Hotels, Food Reviews, Shopping in Delhi, Local Markets of Delhi, History of Delhi, Delhi Events etc. Hence we are looking at dividing the themes amongst various writers - locals as well as expats.
If interested, please email me at priyanka@acropoletravels.com for further details.