Tughlaqabad Fort

Gathering seeds for ayurvedic remedies

There are ruins to visit all over Delhi.

Tughlaqabad Fort was originally built in the 13th century with the help of  elephants to move the huge stones.

I was working on getting some perspective on the expanse of the walls when this fellow walked down very close beside me to show off his wonderful red bottom!

(startled me 'cause I was looking through the lens)

Mangar Site - Mixing and Delivery

Jerry is on top of the wall directing the delivery into the forms and overseeing the ramming... 

Meror is on the ground being quality control for the soil blending and operating the Volumetric Mixer.

This is Jerry communicating with Meror on his walkie talkie...

 And, this is what is going on in between the two of them...

If you start here and scroll back up to the top of the pictures you will get the sequence in the order that it happens.

And then, when the delivery gets ahead of the rammers up top - they get a break.

January 1, 2012

The Taj Mahal is a love story...

Agra is just over 200 km - 2 hours and 59 minutes according to Google Maps - add India traffic and we'll call it 4 hours...

On New Years day we set off early (7AM) with our car and driver, and a picnic lunch tucked in the boot, to visit the Taj Mahal.  I'm not usually compelled to hit the big "tourist" sites but, ... I did want to experience this seventh wonder of the world.

I thought the Taj was a cool building but, there is a lot of cool architecture in the world so what was so wondrous about this building?

I fell in love with the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal is in Agar built on the banks of the Yamuna River.  A labour of love that took 22 years to build (1632 - 1654), a marble tomb for an emperor's wife.

Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan built this monument for his beloved third wife, Mumtaz Mahal.  Their marriage was a true love match.  Mumtaz was her husbands inseparable companion on all of his journeys and military expeditions.  She was his trusted political adviser and counsel for 19 years before she died at the age of 39 after giving birth to her 14th child.  The Emperor resolved to immortalize their love by creating a symbol of their love for posterity.  This building is constructed of Indian Marble inlaid with precious stones - it is not only stunningly beautiful in perfect symmetry and material unmarred by time - it exudes the energy of love.

Really, I was not the only one in our party of four that was moved - all tingly and bleary - in the gardens at the foot of this seventh wonder of the world.  And, this emotion was present in the midst of thousands of people here with us to start the New Year!  A true marvel.

Was it worth 10 hours of driving?  YES!
Did I mention that the drive home was 6 hours ... I might consider taking the train next time.

Thanks to Jane and Mike for buying the Taj Mahal book, from the hawkers that swarmed us at our car, so that I could check the details of the story our guide shared with us.

Faces of India

Christmas Eve day... 2011

The water fountain provided a foreground that might be construed as snow falling but, it is a clear, sunny 21 degrees C in Delhi today.

What seems like a balmy Christmas eve to me has the local shoppers bundled up against the cold with toques, fleece jackets peeking out from under colourful stoles and one gentleman even confessed to wearing long underwear when confronted with our short sleeves and sandals.  

This young Santa painted his face white/pink.  I never really thought about it before but, Santa is caucasian!

Merry Christmas Everybody - wherever you are in the world may this day bring the joy of family and friends to your heart.

Namaskar.
     ~ Mike

Site Portraits

Pulled out the big telephoto (100-400mm) today and planted myself atop a large pile of sand.  Here are some portraits of the people on site.

 

On the Mangar Hotel Site

 33 degrees and a bit smoggy today.  The effects of the Delhi population are drifting south.

This is what the work site looks like before any rammed earth walls are erected.  We will start with the SIREWALLs at the far (east) end of the hotel.

While we are waiting for the final design details so we can start building the formwork we are keeping busy getting the Volumetric Mixer tweaked to perfection.  Normally we would have a machine loading our mix into the truck but... there are a lot of workers around moving dirt and rocks, bricks and cement - they are already perfectly equipped.  So, this is what loading the mixer looks like today.

First you throw up some scaffolding and climb to the top of the truck.

Then, you stick a bag of cement on your head.
Then, you wrestle it to the top of the scaffolding to get it into the bin at the top of the truck...

And, then you do it again.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the workers here do not wear steel toed boots.  Check out the foot wear. Or, just leave the footwear at the bottom of the scaffolding.

Krishna (below) works at the site with her husband as do many women.  They are dressed in beautiful flowing colours and somehow manage to stay clean in this dusty environment, doing labour jobs alongside the men.  I don't know exactly how many layers she has on but, it is really hot here...

In this light it seems that you can wear any combination of colours and it will look great.