Week Ending 14 April 2019

Great week: Biodiversity Park-Peacock; Culturally Active Delhiites (CAD) Dinner; Mehrauli Archaeological Gardens Walking Tour; Rugs; Conference; & Lillies!

Peacocks regularly greet Jeanette on her morning walks through the Aravalli Biodiversity Park 

CAD Appreciation Dinner - India Habitat Center/Delhi o Delhi

 L-R: Jeanette, Grant, Stake Pres Suresh Ramakrishna/Pavani; Priya Gandhi; Arvind Sharda; President/Sister Bradley Hansen (Danna); Anand Maheshwari (heads CAD); Ranjini Pandy; Sanjeev Agawal; Meeta Bhatnagar; Jasmeet; SP Counselor Prudvi Varada; SP Counselor Arpit Pandey

 President & Sister Ramakrishna, Jeanette & Anand Maheshwari

MEHRAULI ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK

100 acres near the Qutub Minar with remains from every era of Delhi's history from early Hindu through the British Raj.

 View on ongoing cricket matches from "Metcalfe's Guesthouse"

Inside "Metcalfe's Guesthouse" - Jeanette by fireplace added on by the British

Sir Thomas Metcalfe, was the British Governor General's last "British Resident" (agent) at the Mughal Court of Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II.  He converted Quil Khan's tomb to his summer residence in Delhi in the early 1840s.  He converted and modified many structures nearby so there a guesthouse and boathouse.

 Metcalfe called his sprawling summer residence "Dilkusha" meaning "delight of the heart" in Urdu, the language of the Mughals.

 Inside as it appears today.

Backside

 

 View on way to the boathouse from the tomb/residence.

 Qutub Minar (World Heritage Site) from gardens.

 Not an unusual site - woman doing her morning yoga routine in the park.  Downward Facing Dog

 Over from boathouse to an old mosque/tomb that has recently been inhabited by Muslim family who are treating it as an active mosque.  This is a pavilion just outside the mosque's walls.  

 Family members of recent inhabitants of the mosque/old tomb?

 Moslem family inhabiting the compound.  Mosque/tomb in the back.

 Jeanette's favorite:  Rajon ki Baoli, three-storeyed step well, also called the Sukhi (dry) Baoli, built in 1506 during the Lodi period.

 The spring flowed through the small door at the bottom center of this photo.

 Travelers resting areas.  Mosque and tomb on top.

 

 Elder Michael Toone & Sister Carol Toone, newly arrived office couple from Mesa, AZ

Ornamental emblem at step well.

Zafar Mahal

Summer Palace of the last Mughal emperors in Mehrauli, now a Delhi suburb. Hathi/Elephant gate, see below.  Literally built to allow an elephant and passengers entry.  Last great monument built by the Mughals.  Built in approximately 1848.

 Jeanette & Sister Toone

 Musicians galleries just inside the elephant gate, where the musicians played to welcome incoming parties.  These are on the 2d (U.S.)/1st (rest of the world) floor.

Jeanette and others just inside the "elephant gate."

 Remaining detail.

Part of remaining structure on different levels.

 Stone lattice work looking into burial compound of the later Mughal emperors, see also below.

 Mosque at the Mughal summer residence:  Moti Masjid (mosque) built earlier, in 1709.  GAH

 Madhi Masjid from the late 15th early 16th century-not in park but in the "Village" of Mehrauli.

 

 On top of mosque behind entry.  GAH

Steps to top of mosque.

And then . . . inspite of our constant blabbering

about simplifying and distributing those embumbrances that we already have, like albatrosses around our necks, we get more!!!!

Actually, as of today, just one.  

 Beautiful things handwoven in India, Afghanistan and Iran.  

Cotton or silk or combination.

There really is a spiritual component of our experiences this week - just hard to catch in a photograph.  Here we are with some of the Pitampura branch watching a re-broadcast of general conference in English in Room 104, Park Residency Hotel in Pitampura.  Still looking for a more appropriate meeting place.

And our landlady, Mrs. Laul, refugee from Pakistan at the time of partition, keeps our entry lined with the most beautiful flowers.  It always makes for a warm welcome.