January’s Wallpaper

January 2010 Wallpaper

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You know what they say, “Better late than never.”  I am trying to get caught up on my posting and will probably jet caught up just in time to leave for Iraq on the 25th. Here is January’s Wallpaper for 2010. This is the way I took it. I did not add any effects or filters to this. The photo is the refection of the buildings surrounding Nizamuddin well. The water is the well that is at the center of the colony.

When I lead tours or workshops around Delhi one of my favorite places to visit is the Darga of Nizam-ud-din, also known as the Shrine of Nizamuddin. Nizam-ud-din was a Sufi mystic known as a Pir, kinda like a shaman. He was known to have strong powers and a large popular following. In 1320 the Sultan of Delhi was named Ghias-ud-din Tughlak. He was what you might call, a really bad dude. Tughlak was building a “New” Delhi, a sort of monument to himself. He conscripted all the men in the area to help. One day whilst he was away pillaging and plundering our hero, Hazrat (Lord) Nizam-ud-din decided his people needed a large well or cistern. He asked the locals to help build it, they all wanted his blessing far more than they feared Sultan Tughlak so they helped. Once the Sultan heard of this, he was incensed and sent a letter to Nizamuddin demanding him to cease work on the well at once. Nizamuddin responded with a curse that went something like this, “Your city will never be completed and the only inhabitants will be Gujjars & jackels.” Well, you can imagine that that the King was not amused by this and wanted his head on a platter, literally. He started back to Delhi and soon word got back to Nizamuddin that the King, Sutan Tughlak, was camped not far outside of Delhi. Nizamuddin coolly responded, “Hunuz Dilli dur est” or “Delhi is still far away.” That afternoon whilst reviewing his troops, his son his son, Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s elephant “accidentally” knocked over the stone Chhatri (gazebo) his father the King was sitting under. That was the end of the Sultan Ghias-ud-din Tughlak. The city he was building remains unfinished till today and in the ruins of it live Gujjar Buffalo herders (I have visited them myself!). The well was finished and still provides water to the colony of Nizamuddin.