Lodhi Garden, New Delhi: Photo feature

Lodhi Garden, located close to India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road is a vast green park in North Delhi. Spread over 90 acres, Lodhi Gaden houses several tombs of Lodhi empire, inside Gumbad, (Gumbaz or small buildings built around the tomb, reminds me of Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur) most of them were built during 15th Century.

I had a free time of couple of hours and I ventured into Lodhi Garden.First thing I noticed was the presence of numerous squirrels and mynas moving freely all around. This immediately reminded me of Agra Fort where I’d seen similar population of squirrels.

 

The first major building I saw on entrance was this…Bara Gumbad (probably meant Bada Gumbaz or Big Dome). There was nothing inside. Each corner was occupied by one couple, who were little worried if I might take their photographs. I had to be conscious not to get them into the frame or give them a feeling of it. The buildings were visibly deteriorated, damages clearly visible all around. But then, they’ve survived 6 centuries and will survive many more. As I moved ahead I realized that this is just one among many such buildings in the garden. The one immediately behind this is called Sheesh Gumbad. A stranger, who identified himself as South African, asked me about the history of these buildings, which I was clueless about. I advised him to refer to the stones(images below) which had details inscribed in them.
 

Sheesh Gumbad had some designer glasses in its exterior design. However the inside had a series of tombs, with a dog comfortably sleeping on  one of them (look at the right most one) Only one corner of this tomb was not occupied by any love-birds, hence I took liberty of taking a photograph.


As I walked across, saw a big group of birds-lots of pigeons, parrots and squirrels feasting on grains. Of the two parakeets I saw, the one had a dark ring across the neck while the other didn’t. Not sure of the difference-male and female may be.(any idea?)
 

I walked further, spotted a mini fort like structure. This thing houses Sikandar Lodhi’s tomb, surrounded by a garden. The garden was all dug up, understandably under renovation ahead of commonwealth games. The workers were spotted taking a powerful afternoon nap.



Walking across the walkway takes you to the other exit. Next to Sikandar Lodhi’s garden lies a water body, which is believed to connect to river Yamuna. It also houses a small bridge, called Athpula (8 pillared) which is build on 8 pillars and showcases 7 arches, center one being biggest. The water body is not well maintained and houses dirty stagnant water. Spotted a few birds swimming in the same. A Cormorant just came out of its swim and stood still with its wing spread out, drying itself in the sun.

There was still a lot to see and might have spotted few more birds if I had the time and patience, but had to rush back to IHC for work. Do leave your comments.