Feroze Shah Kotla- Delhi's 5th Innings

“Why don’t you go visit Feroze Shah Kotla?” Bill asked me.

“Feroze Shah Kotla? The well known cricket stadium? But, isn’t the cricket series between India and England over?” I wondered. I was visiting Bill and Kay in Gurgaon during Diwali, in what has now become an annual ritual for last 5 years. This year had been no exception, and I was in town during the designated week, end of October.

It was the Friday after Diwali and both Kay and Bill had office, which meant I was left home alone. That’s what prompted Bill to propose the trip to Feroze Shah Kotla(FSK), and made me wonder, why on earth I should be visiting an empty stadium!

Bill explained patiently, “No, Mr. Nincompoop! I don’t want you to visit the stadium. Feroze Shah Kotla happens to be the ruins of what once was Feroze Shah Tughlaq’s palace”. “The stadium” Bill continued, “happens to be so named, because it was built adjacent to the Kotla. Incidentally, Kotla means House, ergo; Feroze Shah Kotla is House of Feroze Shah. The place is not crowded, and has loads of opportunities for good photography. You will enjoy it.”

For a salesman, last week of the month is the worst time to be on leave. And the 25^th floor is not the best place to make phone calls. So, I decided to descend down to earth, spent couple of hours on the phone, all the time, walking while talking! By the time I had finished, it was around 2 pm and I took a rickshaw to Huda City Centre Metro Station and from there a train to Rajiv Chowk. An auto ride of around 15 minutes, and I was in front of Feroze Shah Tughlaq’s palace.

Feroze Shah Tughlaq was the 3^rd ruler of the Tughlaq dynasty (1320-1414 AD), who succeeded his more famous cousin, the genius whose ideas were ahead of his time- Muhammad Bin Tughlaq. He established the city of Ferozabad, 5^th city of Delhi, in the year 1354 AD. The Feroze Shah Kotla happens to be the core of the city ferozabad, and was established as an imperial capital. According to historian Shams Siraj Afif, Ferozabad was an extensive city, extending from the hunting lodge on the northern ridge, established by Feroze Shah, today known as Pir Ghaib, and to the south, till Purana Qila or Old Fort. The city was quite populous and probably had population of around 150,000.

Also known as Kushk-I-Firuz, Feroze Shah Kotla, as per various chroniclers including the great invader Timur, was a grand and opulent royal citadel of Ferozabad. However, none of the costly stones and gilded and painted features, as described them, exist today. Today, what remains are only ruins of this once grand architectural splendor. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around. In later centuries, building material for construction was plundered from Ferozabad for the construction of cities like Din Panah, Shergarh and Shahjahanabad. It’s ironic, because construction material for Ferozabad had been sourced by plundering the older cities of Siri, Jahanpanah and Lal Kot!*

As I reached the gates of the Kotla, I realized something which is consistent for all monuments maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Firstly, that they know their job when it comes to maintaining the priceless monuments. And secondly, that they are either absolutely ignorant about how to promote these places, or extremely shy about it! You see, the FSK main gate is a good 100 meters from the main road. And there is nothing except a small board which is almost hidden by overgrown shrubs and leaves of trees, to make people aware of the place. It’s as if ASI actively wants to dissuade people from visiting the place. Thankfully, I was forewarned by Bill about this, and had no problems in finding the place.

After buying a ticket worth Rs.5, which incidentally, a foreigner would require to pay Rs.100 (is that not racism, by the way?) I was finally inside FSK!

The place has 4 parts- the palace ruins on the right, a Baoli, the pyramidal structure which supports a huge Ashokan pillar and the ruins of the majestic Jami Masjid.

I decided to start with the palace ruins.  The palace ruins have 2 parts- the Diwan-i-aam or the Palace of Commons and the Diwan-i-Khas or the Palace or Courtiers and counselors. The former was used by the king to hold court for the general public. The latter was used for nobles, courtiers and other men of importance. Not much remains today of what must have once been grand structures, and contained by the 15 meter high citadel walls. Modern residential buildings overlook the walls and have encroached right till the edge of the walls.

The Diwan-i-khas had even less to offer. Today it is just a large open space, which sadly, I found badly littered with papers and thermocol. There is a huge tree in the middle of this, which was visually very striking. After spending some quiet time, I decided to move towards the Jaami Masjid.

The Jami Masjid was the largest mosque before Jama Masjid was built. Today only the remains of the congregational mosque stand. The doorway was once decorated with carved stones, which have since been plundered. In the middle of the courtyard, used to stand a domed structure which had the works and achievements of the Emperor inscribed. The mosque was built on a series of underground cells made of quartzite stone and covered with lime plaster. Timur was so impressed by the grandeur of the mosque, that he apparently had a similar mosque made in his capital, Samarqand, using craftsmen taken from India.*

It was Friday evening, and I was just in time for the evening namaaz. There were many families who had either come for the evening namaaz or just for an outing. Outside the masjid, I saw men performing wazu(act of cleansing one's limbs and face before namaz) in front of few plastic water tanks, placed just for this purpose. Climbing up the steps, I suddenly came to a huge open courtyard. Men and women were scattered around, chatting in small groups. I was standing there quietly, unsure of what I wanted to do next. Suddenly, a small boy, not more than ten years old, walked over to me. He had a black polythene bag with him. He took out something from the bag, and offered to me, saying, “Uncle, Yeh aapke liye.” It was a jalebi. I was touched by the gesture. Knowing from past experience, that kids love being photographed, I offered,”Ao, main tumhara ek photo kheech du.” The boy was polite but firm,”Nahin, nahin, mujhe photo nahin kheechna”. Respecting his right to privacy, I withdrew.

My next destination was the pyramidal structure, adjacent to the masjid, supporting the huge Ashokan pillar.

The Pyramidal structure was specially commissioned by Feroze Shah, to support the 13 metres high Ashokan Pillar, with a diameter of 65 cm at the top and 97 cm at the bottom. The pillar had been originally set up at a place named Topra, near Ambala by the Maurya king Ashoka, with inscriptions of his principles of governance. To transport the 27 tonne pillar, Feroze Shah had the pillar wrapped with cotton silk and laid on a bed of reed made of raw silk and transported in a massive carriage with 42 wheels and drawn by 200 men!*

 I could see that many men and women were on top of the pyramidal building but apparently all the gates were locked. Then, an elderly lady showed that one of the grills of the gate was broken and that was the only way in! I wriggled inside and officially became a trespasser in the eyes of ASI!

The steps, as in all historical buildings, were very steep. But, once you reach the top, the view will take your breath away.  I was just in time to a get a bird’s view of the namaz at the adjacent jami masjid. I managed to get some wonderful shots. The stadium and modern roads in the background provided a stark contrast to this ancient but grand structure.

Next up was the Baoli (well) about which Bill had spoken as a must watch. Sadly, this place was also under lock and no broken grills materialized for my convenience, through which I wriggle through!

The Baoli or well was a source of water for the citadel. Unlike more common step wells this does not have steps leading to the level of water. The circular well, open well, has provision for water to be pulled up by a pulley. A complex system of pipes and channels pumped the water to the roof and from there to the outside.*

As I was cursing my luck at not being able to get inside the baoli, and clicking photos from the outside, suddenly a voice called from behind, “Hello, yahaan photo lena mana hai”. I ignored the voice and kept on shooting. The voice kept on repeating the same thing,”Yahan photo lena mana hai, photo mat lo”. Finally, the same voice said, “Uncle, humara ek photo kheech dijiye please!” I turned around to find a small boy of around ten or eleven and a girl of around thirteen or fourteen. I smiled, “Zaroor, ao samne khare ho jao” The girl, who seemed to be his elder sister, shied away. This made the boy hesitant. I reassured, “Koi baat nahin, tum to aa jao. Tumhara photo lete hain”. Reassured, he posed stiffly as if ready to sing the national anthem. I said, “Arre thoda haso to sahi. Achcha batao tum kaun se class me padte ho?”

He gave a wonderful smile and replied,”Class 6D”. I smiled inside at his innocence. I said my good byes to the kids and started walking in the surrounding lawns, with the chirping of the birds returning to their homes, providing company. I was lost in thoughts when suddenly my mobile phone rang. It was Kay.

“Where are you? Still at the Kotla? There is a problem. You have one set of keys and Bill has the other. I am unable to get back home. Get back home as fast as possible”

I turned my back to Feroze Shah’s Kotla and started walking towards the exit.

*Source: Archaeological Survey of India

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The History of Democracy- Is Anna a Manna from Heaven?

Someone recently joked that, Santa Singh & Banta Singh are on the verge of committing suicide. Why?? Because Manmohan Singh & Anna Hazare have replaced them as the most joked about people in last few weeks!

By now there will not be too many middle class Indians in the world who have not heard about Anna Hazare or the Lokpal bill. As is the wont of the middle class (I am one of them), most have some opinion or the other about the issue. But, I would not bet my salary on how many of them actually know in detail about the issues involved.
What’s my opinion on the issue? I feel the Lokpal bill questions the form of rule which the constitution framers of India had decided, in all their wisdom, for the country- Representative Democracy.

So, is it really is the most suitable form of governance for a country of over 1 billion, or for that matter any country?

Apparently, democracy is not such a new concept after all. Some concepts of democracy have been followed in Ancient Athens way back around 500 B.C. These folks had a form of democracy, in which every citizen voted for himself for every bill or legislation. It’s called Direct Democracy. It was not really such a cumbersome idea back then, considering population in these city states was few hundred thousand at most, and women, children, slaves and foreigners were not considered part of the voting citizenry. So, most of these city states had just a few thousand voting citizens. In Sparta for instance, only men above the age of 30 were considered as citizens with voting rights.

Ancient Rome was also another follower of democracy. What is interesting to note is that even in those times, corruption was rampant and senators resorting to bribes to influence the results was commonplace. This, in the great Roman Empire, and not in a third world country like India. Apparently, even the great Julius Caesar was not above resorting to the not so noble means of bribery! I guess some habits are too old to eradicate. Of course, once Caesar’s powers became absolute, he reduced the powers of the republic and became a dictator, which may have been the cause of his increasing unpopularity amongst the Roman aristocracy and eventual assassination.
Over the ages, there seems to be a propensity amongst human beings for the democratic form of governance. Their success in different parts of the world in different ages may have been to varying degrees. But, there has been no lack of attempt.

Be it the Aztecs in Central America electing a supreme speaker, the Althing or parliament of Iceland founded in 930 AD, the Sejm in Poland or the election of Gopala, the founder of the Pala dynasty in Bengal in 8th century AD, democracy has been practiced since a pretty long time.

And though the tenure of democracy may be pretty long and illustrious, even longer has been the existence of corruption. In fact, one can safely say that as long as there has been civilization, corruption has been its steady companion.
But, there is nothing to suggest that democracy has done any harm to the cause of human rights. In fact, in contemporary times, the eastern European countries, which were part of the Eastern Bloc or satellites of the former Soviet Union, have all embraced democratic parliamentary elections post USSR collapse and seen improved human rights and improved social and economic standards. Be it Poland under Lech Walesa, Romania under Ion Iliescu or Bulgaria under Zhelyu Zhelev, most of the eastern bloc countries saw improved economic conditions post democracy in the early nineties. Needless to say, with varying degrees of success. But, the improvements did not come overnight and some of these countries faced severe economic and social problems initially before tasting success.
So, is it a good idea to tamper with the democratic system of governance? I say no. The solution for corruption cannot be a Lokpal in which few people will pass judgement on who is corrupt and who is not. And who is to monitor whether the decisions of the Lokpal have not been influenced by factors other than yearning for justice?
If we really want to make the country less corrupt, the search has to be inward rather than outward. There are enough existing agencies to check corruption in India. The challenge is to ensure that the people in charge are honest in discharging their duties rather than creating another new agency. Will the people manning the Lokpal be from another country or planet, who are immune to or unaware of the concepts of external pulls and pressures and temptations? I have my doubts.

Anna Hazare, to my mind, has been able to create a vent for the pent up frustration in the people of India. As on date, that seems to be the only achievement from the drama which unfolded last few weeks. Of course, it’s very important to find release to pent up emotions, else they can explode and cause serious damage.

But, as someone commented, it’s not as if corruption did not exist earlier in India or that its quantum was less. It’s only with the increased media presence and scrutiny, their exposure has increased. Is it a good thing? I am not qualified enough to comment. But, free speech, one of the perks of democracy, which allowed Hazare, in the first place to get the publicity in last few weeks and months, may be threatened, if absolute power is given to a bunch of people, not answerable to the people of India.

Some of the salient points of the Lokpal bill which I find impractical to implement:
1. Will have power to initiate action or receive complaints of corruption from public- How does Lokpal plan to tackle the flood of complaints and subsequent delay in meting out judgement and punishment? Will it not be a repetition of the Indian Judiciary?

2. Will have power to initiate prosecution of guilty- Again issues of sufficient manpower. How does Lokpal guarantee corruption free judgement? And what role does the existing Judiciary system have in such a scenario?

3. Will have police powers and ability to register FIRs- If Lokpal has police powers, they would need to investigate cases. Will they have sufficient manpower or expertise to carry out the same? Will it not make the existing police force redundant?

Instead of creating another body, is it not a better idea to try and reform the existing systems?

• Why not make the enforcement agencies, like the CBI and police independent like the Election Commission, free of political pulls and pressures? Hazare can fight and increase awareness so that these bodies are not answerable to political masters.

• The biggest challenge to the Indian Judiciary is the sheer number of pending cases in the courts. Why not show some political will and open more courts, employ more people, increase automation and get rid of archaic systems. I am sure, this is easier said than done, but, isn’t it better than creating a parallel judiciary?

Tell me what you think...thank god (I mean democracy) for free speech!