Short Story of a City - Ahmadabad.

Cities were always like people, showing their varying personalities to the traveler. Depending on the city and on the traveler, there might begin a mutual love, or dislike, friendship, or enmity.

Where one city will rise a certain individual to glory, it will destroy another who is not suited to its personality. Only through travel can we know where we belong or not, where we are loved and where we are rejected.

Isa Khan's Tomb - Arches of the Mughal Architecture.

One of the prominent feature of Mughal architecture directly related to defence are kanguras, or battlements.

Kanguras were not a Mughal invention; they had been around for centuries in India before Babar arrived. In fact, kanguras—in the form of roughly triangular or rectangular shapes—can be seen crowning the walls of early medieval forts in Delhi, including Tughlaqabad.

Well before the Mughals took over, kanguras had become decorative elements of architecture.This is why rows of kanguras can be seen in buildings of a very varied nature, all the way from mosques to tombs, sarais, and (of course), forts and palaces.

{ Kanguras (battlements) atop the main gate of the Agra Fort.}

Another architectural element that had been in use long before the Mughal period was the Pishtaq, or niche . At its most basic, this is a quadrilateral shelf-like niche let into a wall.

These started off (like the kanguras and damaagas) as a practical element of architecture: Pishtaqs could be used as a shelf, to store items, and to hold lamps to illuminate a chamber.Unlike kanguras or damaagas, however, pishtaqs retained their functionality, as a receptacle for lamps.

{This row of Pishtaqs at the Red Fort are in front of the Rang Mahal.}

In pre-Mughal Delhi, for example, Pishtaqs were very common as a form of decoration in mosques. (especially during the era of the Lodhi Sultans).

An example of a highly ornate Pishtaq, from the Lodhi-era mosque at Bada Gumbad (Delhi) and Isa Khan's Tomb in Nizamuddin (Delhi). 

One interesting example of Pishtaqs fulfilling both functional and decorative roles is in garden pavilions. For example, at the Saawan and Bhaadon pavilions in the Hayat Baksh Bagh (at the Red Fort), a series of Pishtaqs carved from white marble cover the front part of the platform.

During the heyday of the Mughals, these Niches used to hold silver vases filled with golden flowers during the day, and burning lamps at night: a pretty sight indeed.

{In Delhi's Hayat Baksh Bagh, a view of cusped arches and a chadar, at one of the garden pavilions.}

Garden pavilions also often incorporated another important feature of Mughal architecture, the Chadar.

A Chadar is a stone slope which acts as the bed for a water channel when it descends from a higher level to a lower one.The chadar is lightly carved with a pattern of shallow scallops or similar repetitive patterns.Water flowing over these ripples pleasingly.

{A Chadar - a carved slope for a water channel - at Red Fort and Isa Khan's Tomb.}

Lastly, one architectural feature that is not just typically Mughal, but can actually be traced back quite specifically to Shahjahan’s reign.

This is the ‘ Daantedaar Mihrab ’, also known as the denticular arch , the scalloped arch , or the cusped arch , because it consists of a series of semi-circular scallop-like cut-outs that form the inside of the arch.

{An example of a cusped arch - at Safdarjang's tomb, Humayun's Tomb.}

Some believe that Shahjahan himself invented the daantedaar mihrab ; at any rate, it is also commonly called a Shahjahani arch. 

Calcutta Diary - The National Library

The city defeated me. It refused to be bent into shape; it stayed a willful, sprawling, sinful place. It even told me as much. When i walked through the gutted wreck of old building of National Library , i tripped and fell over a piece of rubble -- a graying stone. When i got to my feet and dusted myself down i saw that it read, in Latin, 'Resurgam' -- 'I Will Rise Again'...

Calcutta Diary - The National Library

The Rusty Ruins were the remains of an old city, a hulking reminder of back when there'd been way not too many people, and everyone was incredibly intelligent. And Brilliant in their love for knowledge, and that which helped them outgrow slavery and build a design - of a Nation!

Sarkhez Roza - The Faith Keeper!

"In the epiphany of a slightest light I could see his bending broom cleaning all the mirth that touched his house, where his God is resting.

I could see his body swaying in an unknown hymn sung of course in His God's praise. I could feel how his faint smile touching the lip of the fallen sun's rays and spreading across the floor like stars in the dark blue sky... 

I could smell the aroma of his words entering into my burning chest and washing the dusts lying hidden and cold. Is He the savior of mine epilepsy? 

I don't know many things. I will not know many more things. I will only remember how his faith was cleansing my arid dry skin and left me in an unhindered kindness towards me!"

He's the Faith Keeper!