Hindu Rao baoli

Hooray for sighting another baoli!

The Hindu Rao baoli has certainly seen some damage.
It could be from lack of upkeep, or it could have happened in the battle of 1857.

Even so, it has a nice green color and I would have been sorry to miss it...as we almost did.

From atop the Pir Ghaib, I looked all around for where the nearby baoli I'd read about was located and couldn't find anything.

I'd given up.

As we walked out, a woman asked me if we'd gone to see the Ashoka pillar nearby. Yes, we'd already seen that, I told her.
"And the baoli?" she asked.
"No, where is it?"
"It's down the road and on the left."
"Oh further down the road. Good. We will see it."
"You want to see it?"
"Yes."
"I will come with you. I have the key."
The key! Ohoh! How marvelous the holder of all the keys was standing here before us, or we never would have gotten in, even if we had found the baoli!

But because we had met her, she walked with us, opened the gate and told us to look all around.
All around is what she said, and you know, there are not many safety precautions taken in places around here. I easily could have ended up in a pit of green slime.
And that's what the police officer who stepped in also worried. He came inside the gate and scolded the keeper-of-the-keys: "Don't let them go there or there. It may give way and they will fall."
No worries, man, I do not want to fall into that.
Nor did I want to get the nice, key lady in trouble.

So we looked around, took pictures, thanked her and moved on.
One more Delhi baoli: check.

Pir Ghaib

A short walk away from the Mutiny Memorial is Pir Ghaib.
Being that it's located in the civil lines area, some of the fighting of 1857 took place here.
If time hasn't damaged the buildings enough, the battle did and there is not a lot left of what used to be a palace.

Pir Ghaib is named for the 'Disappearing Saint'. The story goes that a holy man came to this remote area to meditate. People would come to him with their requests and gone was his peace and quiet.
So one day he just disappeared.

The buildings are from around 1360 when Firoz Shah Tuglak--who also used to visit the saint--built himself a hunting lodge and what seems to be an observatory here.

Maybe Firoz thought he could find the missing saint with the astronomical tools.
Maybe he looked for another connection to a higher power.
Maybe he just wanted to go hunting and sleep under the stars.

Mutiny Memorial

The British built this Gothic style tower in 1863 in memory of the soldiers who died in 1857.
It seems they really took this event to heart, as it is covered with elaborate detail and plaques filled with information of who and how many died or were wounded.

But it's a controversial bit of history, and could easily be thought of as insulting, calling the Indian freedom fighters "the enemy".

In 1972, a new plaque was put up, clarifying who the enemy and heroes really were.

The tower stands above the treeline and can be seen from a distance. But, understandably, it is not often visited.
It was even difficult to explain to a rickshaw, driver where I wanted to go. I pointed to the tower in the distance, called it by different names, including the local one of Ajitgarh, but I couldn't make myself understood by any one who wanted to find such a place.

Maybe they just didn't want to go uphill?
Who knows.
I did find it. I did photograph it. I did add it to my collection of Delhi experiences.