A Year around India Gate...

by - June 25, 2017

An open jeep zoomed around at night, at an audaciously scary speed, young boys and girls driving, screaming, partying… they circled around, standing and swirling in their jeep… I looked at them in awe, and was almost about to spin with them and ‘Lose Control’… but right then the camera shifted away from them to capture the most magnificent monument they were circling, the India Gate, in all its glory… they gestured a standing salutation and I remained stunned at the brilliance of this scene from the film Rang De Basanti … such and more scenes from movies had created this supreme reverence for a place, India Gate, which I had not seen before… the candle-light marches and the Republic Day parades that we have been seeing on television all these years further added to the patriotic appeal of this place… but it always remained a distant ‘on bucket list’ place to see…
Last year, this time, we shifted to Delhi.. my daughter, in all her excitement, had preserved pages of only one of the Chapters on Indian States that she had studied last year – it was on Delhi... she wanted me to take her to all the places listed in that chapter and India Gate was the first on the list, so the distant ‘bucket list activity’ had turned into a ‘must-do’ then… after the initial moving-in and settlement period, began the neighborhood exploits, starting with an early morning walk that I vividly remember… within a few minutes of walk on that warm sultry morning, I saw this incredible, huge stone structure, standing tall in a distance… in no time I found myself standing at the base of India Gate, and staring up at the intricate stone carvings and engravings… I remember I stood there for a long time admiring and absorbing the stunning sight before me… I clicked pictures and forwarded (rather flaunted !) them to friends and family with caption “Mornings be like…”, and returned to see it again twice that day along with my daughters… the evening version of India Gate, lit in chrome yellow, was a sight to behold…
Since then, over past one year, I have seen India Gate, almost daily, through all seasons and spells and it has never once shed its splendor… A swarm of people pass by everyday… the stretch from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhavan is one of the most placid places in the mornings to walk around… it is lined with fitness enthusiasts running and cycling across the stretch, the lawns on both sides turn into mini-grounds for cricket and football, a few elderly men and women sit in the shade of the huge trees and meditate, groups of kids are seen skating up and down the road, and then a unit of extremely fit armed forces passes by, doing their morning run at a uniform pace, that only inspires rest of us around… the well-groomed trees and flora make a picture-perfect setting for wedding shoots, occasionally a few tourists glide around on Segways too…
The same place turns into a frenzied picnic-spot towards the evenings… boat rides, toy rides, knick-knack sellers, food and ice cream stalls fill up the area... families settle under the trees and spread out their picnic baskets, their kids play on the lawns, rolling from one end to the other, the atmosphere is animated and the noise decibels multiply with honks, laughs, cries, shrieks et. all… in midst of this stands composed this sand-color stone structure… unruffled, unfazed, unaffected by the happenings around, as if in some deep thought… as deep as the wounds of the martyrs in whose memory it has been built...

India Gate, a 42-metre tall war memorial, designed by Edwin Lutyens, is a genius piece of architecture with a high arch and an enduring flame lit under the arch, in memory of the war martyrs… this Amar Jawan Jyoti (Flame of the Immortal Soldier) exudes an indomitable sense of devotion, that has driven the life and transience of these immortals… the arch, towering over and protecting this flame of devotion, has been my new-found ‘muse’ during the past one year and I have attempted to capture it during all my discoveries, from all directions and distances possible… sun rising from behind the India Gate, the morning golden rays lightening up the arch, the tiny shadow of the mighty structure with Sun up on its head, the dripping India gate as rains lash onto it, its reflection in a small puddle of water nearby, the stone structure shining in the winter haze, the crown of the India Gate, occasionally lit in tri-colour, soaring high.. and many many more such portraits keep my pursuits to India Gate alive…  
Now, I pass-by India Gate almost everyday, and revere seeing it every single time… It is an ultimate Summit for runners and cyclists in the mornings, it is a perfect backdrop for the photo shoots and portraits for artists, it is a jaw-dropping (rather raising) monument for the tourists, for me it has become an integral part of my whereabouts for a year now… yet, it remains that tall, grand, glorious monument, exuding a patriotic feel, everytime I raise my head to…

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