Delhiwale: Neeli’s blues
It’s a completely different type of pleasure that one derives from gazing upon a Delhi monument by the smoggy mild of the day, than from what one experiences by gazing at it amid the smoggy blackness of the night time.
The centuries-old Neeli Masjid in Hauz Khas Enclave has been chronicled on this web page. The Lodhi-era monument takes its identify from the outdated neeli tiles that used to adorn the highest of the arched doorway. Sadly, most of those blue tiles have been misplaced to time. A mere handful of them nonetheless cling to the sandstone edifice.
Throughout the day, you’ll have to summon up lots of artistic creativeness to really feel the neela of the Neeli Masjid. The modern decor inside nonetheless does attempt to recall its historic blueness—notices on the partitions are hand-painted blue, as an illustration, and containers within the walled niches are additionally painted blue. Really, Neeli Masjid is without doubt one of the only a few Delhi monuments named after colors—there’s Subz Burj, additionally referred to as Neela Gumbad, on Mathura Street; after which there’s the world-famous Pink Fort, the Lal Qila.
And on this chilly midnight, the sky is smoggy black—no stars to be seen, moon is absent. But, the Neeli Masjid is illuminated in its namesake color. The monument occurs to be a practising mosque. At this late hour, a handful of worshippers—together with maybe the mosque’s imam—are conscious contained in the three-arched prayer chamber, which is lit up within the strange white glow of the homely “tube mild.” However the monument’s arches are curtained with tatty blue sheets. The sheets are the celebrities of the present! The white mild of the interiors is streaming out by way of the screens, remodeled into an intense blue. See photograph.
Constructed a whole lot of years in the past by a royal wet-nurse referred to as Kasum Bhil, the edifice at present occurs to be surrounded by bungalows, residences, outlets, stalls, ATMs and cafés. It immediately faces a warren of multi-storied flats (separated by a garden). Throughout the day, the neighborhood swells with noise and exercise, with a busy street working by the monument. This time of the night time, although, no life is to be perceived within the silent outside. The monument is flaunting its blue to no one.
