New Delhi: Under the hood


Under the burning sun, through the thick fog of New Delhi, came my first glimpse of beauty. A crumbling structure standing high against the test of time. The Red Fort and its innards proudly displays the Mughal Empire's need to expand our minds; only to cause bewilderment within out hearts.

Gasping for air and having us feeling breathless, it was indeed not the cause of the polluted air that has blessed New Delhi. Instead it was the level of intricacy and detail in the designs that was left behind by the architects and artisans of those time. Every designed was handcrafted out of precious stones and inlayed into Indian marble. Inlay is a decorative technique of inserting pieces of precious stones into another base material, in this case marble, to form beautiful patterns or designs. Running my hands over them shows how much care is needed to get the surface of the inlayed marble smoothen out. As the sun rays finds its way through the column structure, coloured precious stones will light up as light bounces of the marble beneath it.