Stories on Sandstone

The huge sandstone walls that cut a bold swathe across the urban sprawl of the Capital, and through centuries; the handsome turrets rising above the Lahori Gate entrance; the massive, brooding complex with its medieval splendour-the Red Fort, in all its architectural glory, is taken for granted. For the people of Delhi, it is a motif of permanence, of a struggle against time, over 350 years of it. Few realise that barely 20 per cent of the original structures constituting the Red Fort, erected by Shah Jahan, stand today.

8220;When I first visited the Fort, I couldn8217;t imagine how a Mughal emperor could have lived in it,8221; says Anisha, who went on to 8220;piece together8221; a narrative of the life in the Fort-of which there has been no consistent historical record8212;in her definitive book, The Red Fort of Shahjahanabad Oxford University Press, 2003.

8220;A city in itself, the Fort is a contemporary of, and more complex than, the Taj Mahal. It is a culmination of previous efforts by the Mughals at building a grand fortress,8221; says Anisha, who feels the importance of the Fort cannot be emphasised enough.

When the British Army took over the Fort after the revolt of 1857, the walls were purged of semiprecious stones, the fortifications were razed and the magnificent Fort on the banks of the Yamuna was rudely truncated. Suddenly, on three-quarters of the emperor8217;s gardens8212;mostly orchards, not hard-to-maintain carpets of grass, Anisha points out8212;stood artillery and infantry barracks. The British later tried to make amends and initiated conservation efforts focused largely on extant buildings, restoring them into an 8220;imperial Mughal fort8221;, as she writes in her book.

The Diwan-i-Aam, which the British military used as a mess and canteen, was once part of a continuous colonnade. There was a rectangular courtyard with elaborate canopies and railings. Now, a modern lawn and a pathway lead up abruptly into the chamber. 8220;The original courtyards, colonnades and gardens are lost. The restoration efforts were informed by a very British sense of space8212;as against the Indian concept of open space as an important living area8212;even after Independence,8221; says Anisha.

A visiting lecturer at the School of Planning and Architecture, of which she is an alumnus, Anisha speaks avidly of how Aurangzeb was formally crowned at the Fort, how water was recycled in those days and the furniture kept minimal so as not to mar the beauty of the walls inlaid with gems and jaalis. She views the Fort in the entirety of its interface with the city. 8220;Do you know the Yamuna once flowed where the Ring Road is now?8221; she asks.

Involved in an ASI conservation project on the Jantar Mantar8212;which she says is misinterpreted as a bunch of interesting geometric shapes and not as an astronomical facility8212;for eight years now, Anisha is working on a book on the monument, which she hopes will be brought out by Ambi Knowledge, a publishing house she has set up with three friends.

8220;Architecture is a wonderful pursuit. You actually get to stand inside a structure you have designed. When everything works out fine, you distance yourself from it. But when there is a flaw, you think, how could I have done that?8221; she says. Working selectively as a conservation consultant gives her the freedom to pursue research, write, and bring up her daughter. And to design a tasteful piece of furniture8212;a beautifully proportioned wood cabinet designed by her stands in her living room8212;now and then.

Anisha Shekhar Mukherji8217;s lecture on the Red Fort will be held at the Attic on November 11, 6.30 pm