Kos Minar, Faridabad, Haryana

Ever conscious of ensuring the availability of public amenities in order to improve the living conditions of their subjects, the Mauryan rulers (ruled BC 322-185) often thought up of ingenious ideas to ensure the presence of several facilities & conditions for their well-being. The chief among these was the establishment of a major highway that connected the furthest frontiers of eastern India to Central Asia as far as Afghanistan & Iran via Delhi, Agra & Punjab. The highway curved & slithered its way through various megacities & small townships & helped maintain trade & diplomatic relationships with several nations including the far-flung Greek states. Dynasties of rulers came & went, first the Hindus lorded over the country, then came the Muslims, but the trade route maintained its status quo. In AD 1540, the Afghan Governor of Bengal, Sher Shah Suri overthrew the rule of Mughal emperor Humayun, became the Emperor of India & established the Sur Dynasty rule over the subcontinent. The five years that Sher Shah ruled over India were characterized by an overhaul of the administrative, financial, military, communication & postal system, as well as the provision & betterment of several civic facilities. Among one of the most popular & essential steps taken by Sher Shah was the construction of the Sher Shah Suri Marg aka the Grand Trunk (GT) Road which overlapped with the Mauryan trade route & connected Chittagong (in modern-day Bangladesh) to Kabul (in modern-day Afghanistan). Unlike the Mauryan road which was built simply by leveling mud, the GT Road was sturdy & usable in all weather conditions. Serais (inns) were built along the road for the convenience of the travelers, toll taxes were abolished & trees were planted on either side of the road to provide shade. Later in 1555 AD, when Humayun again gained control of India, he continued with Sher Shah’s policy of maintaining these arterial roads through state financing & protection. However it was Humayun’s son, Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (ruled AD 1556-1605) who understood the advantages these roads conferred to an emperor & began taking an active interest in their upkeep & ensuring that they remained free of brigands & bandits. The road was levelled out, its cursive bends were removed & replaced by straight stretches, shade-giving & fruit-bearing trees were planted for the convenience of travelers & merchants.

Most importantly, Akbar (& later his successors Jahangir & Shahjahan) continued with Sher Shah’s system of marking distances with Kos Minars (mile markers) & ordered their construction in 1574 AD. Kos Minar were 30 feet tall conical towers (a few were cylindrical too), very thick at the base, & were constructed every 1 kos (approx. 3 kilometer  along the routes that connected Agra (then Mughal capital) to Ajmer (via Jaipur) in west, Lahore (via Delhi) in north, Mandu (via Shivpuri) in south. Later this network of minarets was extended as far as Peshawar in the west & Bengal in the east & connected the provinces of Burhanpur, Agra, Amritsar, Multan, Lahore, Delhi, Jodhpur & Chittor. Fortified caravnserais furnished with fresh water reservoirs were built at every eighth Kos Minar. Trade flourished because of the establishment of these highways & the mile markers, soon the country side prospered too. Akbar’s chronicler Abu Fazl writes about these minarets in his magnum “Akbarnama” & tells us that Akbar decreed the construction of many of these minarets & these were primarily meant for the convenience of travelers & merchants, & were to act as beacons to lost & fatigued travelers.

The Kos Minar at Badarpur

The minarets must have been a magnificent sight for the weary travelers who would have been equally amazed by the minaret’s size & the Mughal’s & strength & reach. It was along the Kos Minars that military check posts & communication outposts were established, thereby boosting the efficiency of communications & surveillance. The outposts were meant to counter the threats of rebels, bandits & renegade generals & nobles. Official message-carriers & horses were kept stationed at Kos Minars. The rider carried an urgent message from one minar to another traversing several kos this way & finally breaking off his journey at one of the minarets where he either stopped to have rest & refreshments at the nearby serai, or passed on the message to another courier stationed at the Kos Minar who then carried it forward. The emperor as well as his generals changed horses at Kos Minars when travelling far & wide – a man sitting on top of the minaret spotted the incoming party even when it was still far away & had the horsekeepers prepare the horses for the exchange. Huge distances could be covered in short periods of time – it is said that the system was so efficient & extensive that once, to the surprise of his enemies, Akbar covered the distance between Gujarat & Delhi on horseback in 11 days & defeated his half brother Mirza Hakim & several other relatives who were plotting against him. In 1607, Akbar’s son & successor, Jahangir (ruled AD 1605-27) ordered the Zamindars of the area covered by the Agra-Lahore route to plant shade-giving trees such as mulberry at regular intervals. In 1619, he ordered Baqir Khan, the Faujdar of Multan, to establish Kos Minars in his city. Jahangir also had wells dug up every 3 kos distance on the highways & bridges constructed across rivers. Aurangzeb’s rule (AD 1658-1707) saw the number of serais to increase manifolds & there was one serai situate alongside every fifth minaret. The serais however were not always maintained by the emperor, but were often patronized by the royal family, powerful nobility, philanthropic individuals & wealthy merchants.

At the height of the Mughal empire, the highways spanned almost 3000-kilometers in total & boasted of hundreds of Kos Minars, however very few of these survive now - about 49 in Haryana, 10 in Punjab, 5 in Uttar Pradesh & only 2-3 in Delhi, a few have also been maintained beyond the border in Pakistan. Most of the minarets were lost over time to natural forces, disrepair, encroachments, wanton destruction & industrial & public space requirements. Many have been broken down & refurbished to act as godowns or shops. All the minarets broadly follow the same design – built of bricks & stones & plastered over with lime, they generally stood on a masonry base. For half of their height they were tapering octagonal in design, above that they were tapering conic topped by a hemispherical knob-like formation. The whole network of minarets was an impressive initiative, but individually the minarets were bare structures, possessing none or very little ornamentation or inscriptions along their circumference – red bands & mouldings with geometrical patterns demarcated the octagonal base from the conic portion, a similar pattern existed just below the top knob. They were meant to serve practical purpose & were certainly not the architectural beauty or visual delights that the other Mughal structures exemplified. The Kos Minar at Badarpur is no exception. Located on one of the road dividers close to the Badarpur Bus Stand, the minaret can be best understood by the following lines by from the poem “Ozymandias” composed by the English poet P.B. Shelley

"Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Dwarfed & obsolete..

The 30-feet tall minaret dates back to Jahangir’s time & is now no more than 4 feet in height as a result of the repeated layering of the road around it. The minaret is one of the very few survivors of its species, & to ensure that it is not vandalized an iron-grille enclosure has been constructed around it. Gensets buzz nearby, the serais & the outposts that must have once existed close by have disappeared, there place has been taken up by a metro station, an auto stand & rows of shops. Buses, cars, trucks & lorries now ply instead of horses, camels & elephants on the road next to the minaret. A metro line & a flyover stretch across on either side of the minaret, marking perhaps the point where its vertical reach once extended to. More importantly, the people who pass the Kos Minar everyday do not seem to even give it a second thought, most of them are unaware of its purpose & cannot even begin to imagine that there were once hundreds more of its kind. The Government or the Archaeological Survey of India (A.S.I.) never executed a formal study of the Kos Minar’s locations, function or history, so I do not know their exact number (the British administration of pre-independence India did declare the Kos Minar as protected monuments in 1918 & carried out some restoration work, but it was soon abandoned after independence & the minarets left to fend for themselves. The British also actively repaired & maintained the GT Road). Even it is not clear how many of these minarets survive now & where. The minarets that were supposed to be repaired were given such a makeover that their historical character was lost to the layers of paint & plaster. This lackadaisical attitude of the authorities & the obscurity to which these minarets have been relegated becomes even more pronounced when one notes that with the exception of a few places, most of India & Pakistan’s major highways essentially run along the road that the Mauryas built & the Surs & the Mughals maintained. “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Location: Badarpur Border, Close to the Badarpur Metro Station
Photography/Video Charges: Nil

Suggested Reading - 

1. Lahorenama/Haroon Khalid - Kos Minar
2. The Hindu - On the meandering highway of history (article dated June 27, 2005)
3. The Tribune - Signposts lost in history (article dated Sept 10, 2006)
4. thefreelibrary.com - Travelling with the Mughals: a survey of the Agra-Lahore highway

National Zoological Park, New Delhi

Since its establishment in 1959, the National Zoological Park has become a premier institution, unique in that it tries to provide a habitat as close to natural as possible to the over two thousand species of animals and birds that call it home besides also housing hundreds of plant species. In addition to functioning as an educational-recreational zone, the zoo is also involved in several research study projects, breeding programs for endangered species and the organization of national and international biodiversity and zoo regulation campaigns and seminars. Amongst the most sincere of all its initiatives is the planting of sign boards and information panels throughout its 176-acre compound to educate the visitors about the organism they are viewing as well as provide knowledge about the causes for the decline of the said organism’s natural habitat and the need to maintain ecological balance for conservation of species and natural resources. Established in 1959, the zoo, located idyllically in the shade of the massive fortress christened as Dinpanah (“Asylum of the faithful”, now referred to as Old Fort, refer - Pixelated Memories - Old Fort), is one of the best picnic spots in the city, ideal for a family outing, especially when the weather is right. The fortress and its numerous bastions and curtain walls can be seen from various points along the visitor routes and make for interesting backgrounds while clicking the flora and fauna, more so since there are a number of spots where the bastions project out of absolute wilderness and amaze the visitors. Along one of its sides, the zoo complex is flanked by a railway track and a passenger in the passing train can spot several animal enclosures – many a times the passing trains scare the deer roaming quietly (would have liked to use the word “freely”, but it would have been an oxymoron when referring to their enclosures) who then swiftly dash away to another glade, away from the prying eyes of the visitors. 

The docile Hog Deer (Axis porcinus)

Conceived in 1952 by the Indian Board for Wildlife, the zoo was planned according to inputs from M.E.F. Bowring Welsh (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and Carl Hagenbeck (owner of the famed Hamburg Zoological Park, West Germany) and executed by N.D. Bachkheti (of Indian Forest Service) at its present location with funds from the Indian govt. and gifts of animal and plant species by several state govts.

Within the huge complex, one can take either of the two circuitous routes (marked with color arrows on the ground all along the route) that border the numerous enclosures and mini-complexes that some of the larger animals are provided with. Along the routes, the enclosures have been marked with helpful information panels detailing the organism’s characteristics – even the trees that flank the routes have been pinned with name tags (both local and scientific names) with larger metallic panels affixed to the ground nearby (though even I know that hammering nails in a tree trunk retards the growth, don’t the zoo authorities? The panels could have been affixed on the ground, right?). Signages and the placement of zoo maps (depicting directions, map position with reference to the zoo compound and the route to reach other enclosures) at regular intervals are definitely a positive step to assist the visitors and ensure coordinated movement. We decided to take the left route which led to the bigger animals like caimans, nilgais and tigers – despite spending an entire day in the complex, we left out several of the bigger animals as well as entire sections – so huge is the complex that a day seems less if covering the place in its entirety is the mission! The day didn’t really prove much fruitful for me at least – possibly because I don’t own a camera and it was quite difficult to click the animals that had huge enclosures to themselves and the freedom to retreat to far corners. I might have made do, but my cousins had decided to tag along and they (not being used to photography and sustained walking throughout the day) had to stop every few minutes at one or the other refreshment stalls to get ice creams or cold drinks. 

Much helpful - Every enclosure has at least one information panel; several have three

Because it was summer season and the scorching sun overhead was spreading its terribly hot fangs all over the city, most of the bigger/sensitive animals were either removed from their enclosures and kept in specially air-conditioned and protected rooms to shield them from the dry, sultry winds or had made their way to their dugouts and dark corners – nonetheless, we were able to see several of them – lions, tigers, monkeys, alligators, leopards, panthers, jackals, besides migratory birds of various species. But most of all, the zoo has an abundance of deer – roaming about in their large, heavily-wooded compounds, separated from visitors by wire-mesh boundaries, most of these creatures have become tame – among those that I remember are goral, black bucks, chinkaras, sambhars, Hog deer, nilgai and sika – the Hog deer have become domesticated enough to approach us and feed on leaves straight from our palms! I must admit they posed rather handsomely for the cameras.

The zoo officials do their best to provide the animals comfortable environment in the extreme seasons that Delhi experiences – when the mercury soars, fans and desert coolers are installed in the enclosures with the more sensitive animals being removed from the public enclosures  and placed in shaded rooms to avoid their being irritated by visitors and heat, the fluid intake of the animals is increased and they are supplied with juices (watermelon, wood-apple) and rehydration salts while at the same time monitoring the food and meat intake, special grass covers and nets are also thrown over the enclosures, especially the ones housing the birds; in winters, heaters are employed in the enclosures and blankets are thrown into the enclosures to keep the animals warm and cozy, jute covers are used to cover the bird enclosures. 

Ironically, discolored and dirty - Sambhar Deer (Cervus unicolor)

Peacocks roam freely throughout the compound, however they are quick and it’s difficult clicking them – their counterparts however around the nearby green Sunder nursery-Batashewala complex are relatively calm and can be photographed if one is cautious enough and doesn't make much noise. Migratory birds also flock here in abundance, especially around a huge marsh that was introduced with the purpose of providing these bids with a nesting and feeding site – there’s a Mughal-era canopy (“barakhamba”, twelve-pillared dome) too next to the marsh, possibly a tomb once, today people sit in its shade and observe the birds.

Next we headed to the giraffe and elephant enclosures – the elephants have a large dugout fitted with a deep pool to themselves – the dugout slopes gently such that from one side it appears the elephants are below visitor’s level but on the other side they come level and then one truly appreciates their massiveness – I was on the other side when the three elephants, who were soaking in the pool, eloped towards suddenly, giving a splendid show to the impressed audience. Two of the elephants began copulating then, much to the laughter and shriek of the people present – you have to see an elephant’s penis to believe the size of it – it’s literally like a thick pillar! 

In their own silent world - Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis)

As mentioned earlier, the bigger animals like lions, tigers, rhinoceros and bears have their own separate compounds with lush vegetation, small watering holes and a deep moat separating them from the onlookers. It being desperately hot, most of the animals preferred to dunk down into the shallower section of the water bodies or find some respite under the shade of the larger, shady trees, prompting the disappointed and insensitive visitors to create a ruckus, banging the enclosure walls and at times even projectile water bottles and similar stuff towards the animal – one wonders who is actually the beast in the picture?! The animals do not always oblige the visitors by reappearing; frustrated the unruly visitor moves on to the next enclosure but the entire scene does beget the question – are zoos really necessary? Breeding programs apart, isn’t the display of wild animals in constricted, often times unhygienic enclosures in controlled environments against their natural instincts and in all probability physically taxing and mentally stressing?

The zoo also boasts of a dark and damp underground “Reptile House” where pythons, boas, cobras, lizards & turtles are displayed in glass cages – the low-light condition, though suitable for these creatures, is prohibitive for photography and I had to give up after a few amateur attempts. 

The Humayun Darwaza of Old Fort looming above a portion of the zoo complex (Notice the info panel (foreground right) detailing the aspects of the fortress)

Among the facilities that the zoo provides efficiently are wheelchair access and open-roof mobile van service to tour the large complex – personally, I prefer to walk and would suggest against availing the van as one tends to miss out on some of the less promoted but nonetheless beautiful and momentary scenes – magnificent peacocks strutting over trees and enclosures, fierce hornets building their nest in the rotten and crumbling wood work of a tall watchtower, lush vegetation and moss overtaking some of the secluded corners of the compound, colorful, multi-varietal mushrooms rearing their heads on dead and rotting logs here and there, big red ants swarming in and out of their deep burrows – it is these smaller events, individual but interconnected, that make one feel as if cradled in the heart of nature, close to both life and spirit that makes one experience a oneness with these tiny souls. To escape the freezing cold of their original countries, migratory birds like pintails, shovelers, teals and storks too come from as far as Europe and Russia and make the zoo their second home during the winter months (mid-Oct-March).

Food articles and drinks (except for water bottles and infant milk) are not allowed within the zoo premises and the same can only be bought at a small refreshment kiosk that stands in the middle of a glade close to a tall Kos Minar (for details about the communication-espionage system that the Kos Minars facilitated as mile markers, refer – Pixelated Memories - Kos Minar, Faridabad). I did photograph the tapering tower, one of the tallest I’ve seen in Delhi-NCR, perhaps because it faces no danger of being buried under asphalt during laying of roads or of being brought down under pressure from urbanization-commercialization lobbies, but the photos didn’t come out so good and were mostly burnt out – I’ll perhaps visit the place sometime again with a camera and do a separate post about the tower and the Mughal tomb and link them back to this and the larger post about Kos Minars. Within the zoo there's also a Mughal-era serai (inn) referred to as Azimbagh Serai, the largest such structure amongst the entire network that existed in Delhi along the historic mega-highway Grand Trunk Road – am doubtful if visitors are allowed access to it since it falls within the precincts of the complex’s residential quarters, will try to gain permission the next time I visit. The serai will soon be given a facelift in a monumental restoration-conservation project being undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) as part of the larger Humayun’s Tomb Complex – Sunder Nursery – Nizamuddin Basti revival initiative. Situated close to the administrative block is the zoo complex's library stocking books and research material about the life forms and natural systems. 

 

Kos Minar - A medieval "mile marker" (Photo courtesy - Wikimedia.org)

Though it has been designated as the model zoological park for the country, the zoo does suffer from several organizational and animal care issues – newspaper reports have in the past pointed to the lack of hygiene in the enclosures and the murkiness of the water bodies where the animals drink as well as find shelter during the heat; deaths too have been reported with the causes varying from stress, animal-animal conflict, lack of sanitation and most recently the flow of sewage water in the open grounds; I felt some of the animals like the sambar deer and blackbucks were living in over congested spaces. However, the zoo does deserve credit for its successful breeding and conservation programs for rhinos, swamp deer, Asiatic lions and most notably, the Manipuri brow-antlered deer which also feature in the zoo’s logo.

Highly endangered, the brow-antlered deer were gifted by the state of Manipur to the zoo in 1962 and since then the zoo has shown remarkable progress in breeding and nourishing these rare animals and even distributed many to Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Junagadh, Hyderbad, Lucknow and Mysore zoos. 

Manipuri brow-antlered deer on the zoo's logo (Photo courtesy - WWFIndia.org)

One of the most horrifying and inescapable facets of a visit to zoo and life in India in general is the insensitive nature of the visitors and a complete lack of basic manners and education – littering is common despite there being a ban on importing food substances and cartons/packs/polythenes within the zoo complex as well as placement of dustbins throughout the compound; harassing the animals when they are sleeping or in their cave/dugout; shouting (usually at animals but not restricted to the same) is another common observation. Given that the zoo sees a footfall of 5000-6000 visitors on normal days and 12000-13000 on weekends and holidays, even a fraction of them acting as miscreants becomes a significant number that all the stakeholders including the zoo guards, other visitors and most importantly, the animals have to cope with. 

Calm but highly dangerous - Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus)

By the time we came out of the zoo complex it was already evening; the numerous shops at the zoo periphery that dealt in stuffed toys, cheap picture books (suitable for kids only) and costly coffee-table books had begun their business; so had the vendors on foot or cycle selling thin booklets about animal/plant/insect lives, balloons, key rings and animal-shaped toys. For the sake of posterity I too bought a thin booklet even though it was marked “Ages 10-15”. Definitely an experience worth reminiscing about, now I know why a lot of old people state that visiting zoological parks and botanical gardens with their grand/kids bring back memories of their own childhoods. I shall visit again, have to document the kos minar and the serai too – but then it would be with a camera and hopefully in winters when the animals aren’t removed from their enclosures to protect them from the summer sun. Till then.. 

One of the large maps that are placed strategically along the pathways throughout the complex 

Nearest Bus stop: Purana Qila (Old Fort)
Nearest Metro Station: Central Secretariat
Nearest Railway Station: Hazrat Nizamuddin
How to reach: The zoo is situated right next to Old Fort (refer link - Pixelated Memories - Old Fort). The bus stop is immediately outside the larger fortress-zoo complex while one has to avail the facilities of an auto if deboarding at metro/train station (will cost around Rs 40 either case).

Open: All days, except Friday
Timings: April 01-Oct 15: 9am-4.30pm; Oct 16-March 31: 9.30am-4pm
Entrance Fee: Indians: Rs 40 (adults) and Rs 20 (children upto 5yrs of age and senior citizens); Foreigners: Rs 200 (adults) and Rs 100 (children upto 5yrs of age)
For concessions related to school visits, refer page - Nzpnewdelhi.gov.in - Timing and Tariff
Photography charges: Rs 100; Video charges: Rs 1000 (For other charges refer page - Nzpnewdelhi.gov.in - Timing and Tariff)
Facilities available: wheelchair (free), mobile van, luggage room, ATM facility
Not permitted within: Eatables (except milk and infant food), tobacco and alcoholic products, inflammable materials and matchsticks, polythenes/cartons/tetrapacks, firearms and sharp objects (scissors/knives), musical/sound instruments, bags (except purses, laptop/camera bags)
Relevant links - 

1. Pixelated Memories - Humayun's Tomb Complex
2. Pixelated Memories - Kos Minar, Faridabad
3. Pixelated Memories - Old Fort

Also see - Pixelated Memories - Alipore Zoo, Calcutta

Suggested reading - 

1. Archeolognewsaround.blogspot.in - Mughal-era serai to be conserved
2. Business-standard.com - Article "Coolers, sprinklers help Delhi Zoo animals beat the summer heat" (dated May 11, 2014) by Shradha Chettri and Rupesh Dutta
3. Dailymail.co.uk - Article "Saving the last white tiger cub" (dated Jan 29, 2014) by Sunanda Ranjan
4. Dailypioneer.com - Article "Something to roar about: Delhi zoo will get a facelift" (dated April 21, 2014) by Sweta Goswami
5. Deccanherald.com - Article "Delhi zoo in crying need of attention" (dated May 27, 2014) by Neha Das
6. Hindustantimes.com - Article "ASI-protected monument comes in way of zoo expansion" (dated Feb 24, 2013) by Nivedita Khandekar
7. Hindustantimes.com - Article "Zoos: India's wildlife ghettos" (dated Feb 02, 2013) by Chetan Chauhan
8. National Zoological Park, Delhi official website
9. Thehindu.com - Article "Delhi Zoo hikes charges" (dated Oct 02, 2010)