The Baolis of Delhi Blogs: Digression in Mehrauli Archaeological Park or The Road Less Taken by Medha Sharma

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

-Robert Frost

On a chilly winter morning, three bravehearts— or let's just say three girls from the Research Wing Delhi Group at Speaking Archaeologically—took upon themselves the task of exploring the baolis of Delhi. Though I might have sounded as if  we were going to fight a war in Siachen, yet it was a war with lax bureaucracy, nonetheless.

 We started our job with the baolis of Mehrauli on a working day and on the 41 acres of sparsely populated area with almost no security, we were welcomed by a guard who looked at us as if we were loons.

Our day was set, we were supposed to study about the baolis and compose a vulnerability report. However, instead of taking the trodden part we thought of digressing a bit. What could possibly go wrong with that?

So, led on the road not taken by just our curiosity , we came across a sign board that read Bagh Nazir, ironically next to a huge pile of rubbish and vegetation. The sole gate of the place was, however, closed. As I stood there imagining how this Bagh would have looked back in its prime—perhaps it would have been a pride of a Mughal Emperor— I remembered Andy Bernard's famous line from the office, “I wish there was a way to know you're in the good ol’ days, before you have actually left them.” The thought of this place being a splendid piece of architecture reduced down to a dumping ground made me wonder, how carelessly we treat our heritage!

Picture of Bagh Nazir signboard and a closed gate

My brooding over the dilapidated conditions of the place continued but that didn't stop our inquisitiveness, which led us to a different path than the one we were supposed  to take. We crossed barbed wires to reach a ground, where rubbish and lethal gunk (I only mean piles of waste, by the way, before you assume the worst!) was dutifully spread all over the place. A horse stable stood in its vicinity and unlike the Bagh Nazir, it was maintained and restored by the INTACH, Delhi Chapter. The place in itself was closed with narrow steps leading to it, making you think, how did they manage to take the horses out? The place wasn't really big, so it couldn't have accommodated more than 5-6 horses.

Perhaps it was utilised better in the good old days to keep the horses for equestrian matches. Just imagine a Peaky Blinders situation, wherein the Mughal royalty and nobility put bets on the horses! Nobody would have even dared to put their money on any other steed than the Emperor's. It would have  been an awkward situation if someone wanted to race their horse but didn't want to lose their neck either!

                   Image of Horse stable

As we stood there pondering upon how Bagh Nazir and the horse stable which were in close proximity, were world's apart in terms of their conservation, we also realised how the entire park is a bizarre combination of modernity, in terms of construction material sitting right across the horse stable, meeting history. 

Moving on towards the baolis, however, we stumbled across two tombs, which were encroached by living inhabitants and  in grave danger of being damaged by kids playing cricket there. We were tempted to explore this place, which didn't even feature on our itinerary before nor had ever roused our curiosity despite multiple visits to this place.

We then went to the Tomb with jharokhas, which hails back to the Lodi period, with its exquisite jharokhas or oriel windows on the southern side, which should have been the entrance to the tomb. This place was under silt and with INTACH's restoration, it has almost been restored to its former glory.

The place has a lot of things still intact. The ones that stood out to us were the ceiling of the tomb and steps leading to the first floor. Though, by this time, I had gotten into the Dora the Explorer Mode, but the fear of a bat or breaking my neck by stumbling on the stairs, made me stick to simple, on-ground observation  and be marvelled by the fact how this place, which is a living example of modernity crossing paths with history, stands unexplored, almost forgotten.

                   Tomb with Jharokhas

In the end, when one sees all of these diametrically opposite (un)restored structures lying around in close proximity, one needs to reassess how a country like India should ensure the sustainability of heritage. Though the entire area is given to Government agencies such as DDA, which never forgets to remind you that they are omnipresent in the 200 acres of land, and private institutions such as INTACH but there is a disparity of  restoration work. There is a need to make the paths more accessible; there is a need for barbed wires, so as to stop people from littering around, adaptive reuse can be deployed in the case of Bagh Nazir and more systematic development of Mehrauli Archaeological Park needs to be undertaken so that the full economic and touristic potential of the area is utilised. There's no dearth of areas that can be rescued if archaeologists, conservators and people with monetary resources come together and start working in a truly holistic and interdisciplinary manner. After all, the likes of us stand testimony to the fact that there is no lack of interest with respect to heritage services in India and the innumerable ruins like ones we encountered show there is indeed no dearth of areas of employability also for our kind, is there? Perhaps, then what we need to do as a society is to take the Road Not Yet Taken because unknown roads lead to amazing places!