With a day free before leaving for Kashmir, I joined Manzoor for a tour of the Lodhi Gardens in New Delhi. I was excited to see another side of New Delhi that was less frantic and a mellow respite from the busy city life. Tossing my luggage into the back of a large taxi van, I prepared to meet up with Manzoor around 3pm, after deciding to leave for Kashmir the next day. Mr. Dinesh the bell boy was outside, assisting the driver with my bags. He had a big smile on his face, one of those crooked smiles, half happy half sad. He leaned in close and whispered,"I....lub... you", pointing at my chest as he spoke.
Oh my. I thought. I blushed, not knowing what to say.
"I'll send you the pictures, Dinesh" referencing the picture he asked me to take with him when I first arrived, ignoring the love stuff. He looked longingly down at my hands, still painted in henna from the wedding. I too looked at my hands, and slid the bracelet off of my wrist that I was wearing- a handicraft bracelet from the Phillippines with all of the Catholic saints.
"Here, this is for you". I said and smiled. He smiled back, put the bracelet on his wrist, kissed it and crossed himself (Dinesh is one of the few Christians in India). I gave him one of those pat pat hugs and leapt into the cab.
I got to the tour office and after a light lunch at a fancy shmancy hotel on the rich side of Delhi, I headed to the Lodhi Gardens.
Established in the 15th and the 16th centuries by the Sayyids and Lodis, the vast grounds of Lodi Garden are famous among the joggers of the nearby areas. Carefully kept gardens and the medieval monuments lend a charm to these gardens. In 1968, J A Stein and Garrett Eckbo re-landscaped these gardens giving them their present beautified forms. The several tombs situated in the garden belong to the Lodi and Sayyid era and include Muhammad Shah's Tomb and Sikander Lodi's tomb. Muhammad Shah (1434-44) was the third ruler of Sayyid dynasty. His tomb has been built in a typical octagonal pattern with a central octagonal chamber, verandas, three arched openings on each side and a sloping buttress at each angle of the structure.
Lodhi Gardens were filled with joggers dressed in their sarees, older and younger couples strolling about and lovers stealing kisses among the shrubery. Manzoor was always nearby, smoking his cigarettes while allowing me to quietly snap photos as the light of day grew short. As the sun began to sink into the horizon like a slow sigh into twilight, another day came to an end in New Delhi.
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