Neighborhood swimming

It looks like an unassuming gate, doesn't it?

The last time I was here, it was quiet.  This time, I could hear the shouts and laughter from the street before we even stepped inside.

Gandhak ki baoli is the neighborhood swimming pool.  

How cool is that?  To swim in a stepwell?  Other than the one at Nizamuddin, I didn't know there were any still in use in Delhi.  Most don't have enough water and are full of trash (not that this water was clean).

There were even a few boys brave enough to use the old-style diving pillars.  Maybe I should say "reckless enough", because beneath that green, trashy water is a set of stone steps, strong enough to break bones.

Still in the 105 degrees it was out there, it's gotta be nice to know the stepwell makes a good place to swim.

Gandhak ki baoli

Here's the next stepwell on the baoli treasure hunt.
Gandhak ki baoli.
Meaning "sulphur", because the water here used to smell like it.

There was hardly anyone around...
....except that someone had left their laundry behind.

An interesting thing to note about the architecture is that the same design can be found carved into the pillars at the Qutub Minar. Perhaps they were done by the same masons.