Visiting Qutab Minar (UNESCO) in Delhi

We went to Qutab Minar on our last (full) day in New Delhi. Since it is located quite far from other attractions, most Tuk Tuk drivers might refuse to include it in your one-day itinerary – unless of course you are willing to pay extra.

But then, I don’t think paying extra is really that necessary. You have the choice of going there by train and that was exactly what we did.

Being one of the most populous cities in the world, of course you can’t expect to get an easy walk up to the counter and get a hold of a ticket in no time. You’d have to be on a long line before you can’t get one so it demands a little bit of patience.

Even more patience is needed to cool yourself down when you see some of the locals would walk straight to the counter – totally in oblivion of the long line of people that has already been there for much longer than they have.

But then, you don’t actually have to do anything because the persons at the counter seem to know all so well about the characters of the local people and they’d ask those diva and divo wannabes to get back to reality and line up just like any normal citizen would do.

I remember chuckling a little when I saw an aunty barged right to the front of the line and demanded a ticket – only to be shooed away by the ticket guy. She appeared to be nagging with a raised voice – probably to intimidate the guy but he wouldn’t buy it.

New Delhi is known to have a history of bombings in the past so it is quite understandable that the government of India has put up a tight security at certain places of the city where it matters.

Again, it was one of those times when I wish I was born with boobies so that I didn’t have to get on the long line of people and go through the security check.

If you think that getting into a commuter train in KL on a peak hour is bad enough, wait until you come to New Delhi. It was so bad for a moment I wasn’t sure if going to Qutab Minar by train was a good idea after all.

We couldn’t immediately get into the first train that arrived because the sight of people pushing and pressing among themselves in the train scared us off. The sight of people with their distorted faces and hand palms hard-pressed against the window panes made us laugh and terrified at the same time.  Jeez.

But then, my days in KL in the past year have taught me a lesson – that surviving in a big city demands you to be tough and rough and resilient.

When the second train came, we pushed our way in, probably with all our might and by the time it left for the next station, we were already safely tucked inside its heavy belly. Phew.

The train station itself is named after Qutab Minar so it’s very easy to know where to stop. But then, it’s not like you get off the train and there it is – the Qutab Minar – right before your eyes. Instead, you have to walk for a distance of about 2-3 kilometers or so before you can get to the UNESCO World Heritage site.

It was July when the temperature was at its heights in New Delhi so walking 3 kilometers under the blazing sun was not quite a challenge that we were willing to take up – not yet. Besides, we believed in a better – not to mention FASTER – option.

Oh well, just like most other UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India, the admission fee for foreign tourists to Qutab Minar is Rs250. To tell the truth, the fact that it was a UNESCO site made the first impression for me before all – only then the historical values that it bears. But of course they both come together right? LOL.

I wouldn’t go details about the history of Qutab Minar because I’m sure they are all over the internet. I was much more interested in the history of Qutb-ud-din Aibak who had commenced the construction of it.

Being a slave as a kid, Qutb-ud-din Aibak had to be sold off from one slave merchant to another before luck caught up with him. The luck had brought here into power and ultimately became the first Sultan of Delhi that marked the beginning of the ‘Slave Dynasty’ in India.

His story of his life sounded very much like a fairy tale to me and even his tragic death while playing polo in Lahore would make a good ending for a movie.

Geometrically – or rather structurally – the imposing minaret at Qutab Minar is said to be the highest in India and by just looking at it, one wouldn’t believe that it is actually only 5 feet short from the highest point of Taj Mahal.

The minaret itself is actually merely a part of what is known as Qutab Complex which is mostly dominated by the wide spread of a mosque – or rather what was once a mosque.

Of course a big chunk of the whole complex has fallen off over time, leaving only ruins and a few more structures that survived occurrences of earthquake in Delhi.

Qutab Minar doesn’t really have a noble history as a religious monument especially for the fact that it was built from the debris of a destroyed temple but hey – what past is past right? Qutab Minar would be seen forever as a monument that marked the 640 years of Muslim ruling in New Delhi and probably the whole of North India at that time.

It had been almost a thousand years since it was constructed so it was amazing to see how a big chuck of the whole complex was still there rigidly standing to bear witness to the architectural superiority and outstanding craftsmanship of men – particularly in India – in the past.

I was so immensely engrossed in all the stone carvings and the wonders that come with them when I suddenly realized that my travel partner Audrey was missing. Feeling suddenly alone and unaccompanied, I tried to look for her but she was nowhere to be seen around.

I later found her resting under a tree and she appeared to be ‘talking’ to a squirrel – like really really talking – that the squirrel seemed to be looking directly at her in the eye and her to the squirrel’s.

Whoa! I could really tell that there was a mutual conversation going on and I couldn’t help but feeling a wave of goosebump on the back of my neck! LOL.

I was there at the right time to snap a photo or two and I believe, up until now, that Audrey has the ability to talk to animals (based on her job now, it does make sense actually. LOL).

If there was something that was so mysterious at the Qutab Minar, it was the single iron pillar that stands mysteriously in the middle of the patio. NOTHING MUCH has been discovered about the history of this iron pillar – or even how it got there and what it was for – so I can’t write much about it.

But of course, being so mysterious as it is, people would always make up something out of it. Legend has it that if you lean on the iron pillar and put your hands around it with one hand touching the other, most probably your wish – whatever it is- will be granted.

Apparently, so many people wanted to do it that the management had to put up a fence around it before it got destroyed by those ‘dreamers’. LOL.

Qutab Minar as a structural masterpiece and all the historical values that it bears makes it one of the must-see places in New Delhi.

It deserves one of my STAR jumps and you know how I don’t do it quite that often. 😀

After spending at least a couple of hours at the Qutab Minar, we returned to New Delhi the same way we did when we came in, only this time we had to walk all the way to the train station because we were told that there were no direct buses to New Delhi from there.

It would be our last day evening in New Delhi before returning to Malaysia the next day so if we wanted to do shopping, it had to be done today. There was one place to do just that.

But of course it belongs to another post. 😛