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.
This time, as the construction was finished, I hopefully approached the gate only to find it locked.
There were three guards standing around, so my friend said to them, "The gate is locked. We can't go in?"
"You can't go in, the gate is locked," he replied.
"But we want to see the stepwell. Can you unlock the gate?"
"The gate cannot be unlocked."
"Then how can we see the stepwell? We came all this distance. Why is the gate locked?"
He then told us that there had been a suicide and until they were able to put a covering over the water, no one was allowed inside.
"How long will that take?" I asked.
He shrugged, "Two weeks, two months..."
Two years?
So once again, my only view of the stepwell was what I could see from walking it's perimeter and from atop the Ashoka pillar pyramid.
One day I will see it...
Also from the top of the pyramid was the view of the pillar and it's inscription, up close.
I had to climb a fence and jump into padlocked territory in order to see this stepwell.
But a stepwell is worth it.
This one is located inside the Red Fort. It likely pre-dates the fort and palaces built by Shah Jahan and was not much used by any of the royal family.
And this stepwell? It was used as a prison. The British closed up some of the chambers and imprisoned 1857 mutineers here.
Imprisoned in a stepwell.
I love stepwell history.
This makes number nine in Delhi.
How many more are left to find!?
You can find Delhi's prettiest baoli in the archeological park of Mehrauli.
Rajon ki baoli was built in the early 1500s.
There's no water left, but it's well preserved and protected by a guard (who probably sleeps for most of the day). It's possible to climb up and down all its passageways.
Rajon ki baoli means the "mason's well". Some say it's called this because of the masons who would have needed water while constructing the mosque, tombs and guesthouses alongside the well. But others argue it's unreasonable to think it was used by construction workers, due to the status of this particular well.
Maybe it was called that just because there were so many masons hanging around during the time of its construction.
I am on the lookout for stepwells, and, of course, there would be one at the Purana Qila, too. All the important Delhi places must have one, right? It only makes sense.
Okay, so the baoli at Purana Qila isn't especially exciting. It's a stepwell and nothing fancy. There are the steps, the walls, and, well, no water--but at some point there must have been.
When you're on a baoli hunt, though, each and every one counts. And this makes number seven in Delhi for me.
How many times have I been to Humayan's tomb and I didn't even know this stepwell was there!
Ah!
But now that I've found it, I'll add this L-shaped baoli located within the complex of Humayan's tomb to my treasure hunt collection.
There's really not much to it, except for dangerous holes to fall into and some rancid water.
It's falling apart and it looks like from time to time, kids get in and throw rocks down the stairs and into the water below.
The stepwell is in a very out of the way place at the edge of the complex. Very few visit it. We were the only ones wandering around in this area.
I suppose that's because unlike me, most people come to see Humayan's tomb, not the baoli.
This one is unique in that there's no symmetry in the design whatsoever. Just kind of steps cut out of the hillside to collect water in.
Crazy steps that look almost like waves rolling down the hill.
The fort and stepwell at Nahargarh are not so old. They were built in the mid 1700s as a defense fort, which was never used.
What it has been used for, all these years later, is film making.
Scenes from Aamir Khan's 2006 movie Rang de Basanti were filmed at the stepwell. Because of the movie, it has become a popular hang out.
Solla Solla (from Thiruvannamalai) is another Bollywood scene filmed at the stepwell and other famous Jaipur sights.
It's true: they are very photogenic places.
The local man who walked with us around the Ahbaneri step well as "guide" made the claim that once a year the well was opened for diving, and he pointed out the two diving platforms.
There was a local boy hanging around the Panna Mian step well and he, too, said that divers come at the end of monsoon season.
I wondered if it could really be true that people would come to jump from these heights into the green water below.
I wondered if the monsoon filled the well high enough for safe diving.
I wondered if this diving was a current event, or something that used to happen back when the baolis were active community hang outs.
Is it true?
I'm still not certain, but I did find a few photos elsewhere on the internet.
You can see that somebody was jumping back when the paint was fresh and the water was higher. (Check out this kid's diving pose.)
Whether it's a recognized event and they are allowed to do this, or whether they just jump in, I don't know.
I'll have to go back at the end of monsoon to see for myself if there are any divers.
If it wasn't already true that I love stepwells, this one would solidify that fact.
The Panna Mian near Amer Fort in Jaipur is a marvelous optical illusion.
Built in the 1600s, this one is newer than the others I have visited. It was dug as a sort of community gathering area. A place where people could come for water, a swim, a chat with a neighbor while doing some washing.
The criss-cross of stairs, the octagonal gazebos, and the recessed doorways--this baoli was so fun to walk around and photograph.
The spectacular visuals of the place makes it an appealing location to film a movie. The clip here (fantastic bit of Bollywood) highlights several Jaipur locations. Sadly, during my visit, none of the dancers were out dancing.
So, like true baoli hunters, she and I headed to the village of Abhaneri as soon as we could. (Well, maybe I'm the hunter and she's the one who is a good sport about it all.)
The Chand Baori (they say "baori" instead of "baoli" in this area) is the deepest step well in India--maybe even in the world, as I'm not sure they have them outside of the Indian subcontinent--at 30 meters deep.
It has 3500 stairs. That's a lot of stairs. The folklore that goes along with that says there are many stairs so that a person who has thrown a coin into the well would never be able to retrieve it.
This stepwell is associated with the nearby Harshat Mata Mandir. So when it was built in the 10th century, it was used by worshippers for ritual cleansing.
It also helped to solve the problem of lack of water in the area. Because it was deep enough to give the people access to water all year round.
The water today is green and not very appealing at all.
The royal family and nobility living in the area used the baoli as a retreat and a hot-weather hang out.
So maybe because of them, the carving here is much more elaborate and detailed than at other step wells.
It's fascinating architecture, and because of that it's fun to photograph. Or film.
The local "guide" who followed us around the baori told us there were many movies filmed here. "Even a hollywood movie," he claimed.
"Yeah, which one?" I asked.
Apparently it's true, though, because the stepwell even shows up in the trailer of The Fall.
Good architecture is worth hunting down.
Especially when it's a stepwell.
Gandhak ki baoli is the neighborhood swimming pool. 
This stepwell is associated with the nearby Harshat Mata Mandir. So when it was built in the 10th century, it was used by worshippers for ritual cleansing.
