Purva Sachdeva

Communication for Development | Ex: Advocacy exec, Centre for Media Studies | XIC, Mumbai | Delhi.

[Worah @psychedelhic]

A river corrects course: The Story of the Yamuna River and the Red Fort - #DelhiFlood

When Shah Jahan moved his capital from Agra to Delhi, and first came to the newly built Red Fort, he came through the Yamuna and entered the fort from a water gate.

To bring this circle of history to a perfect end, Bahadur Shah Zafar escaped the Red Fort in 1857 from the same gate.

The Lahori Gate and the Dilli Gate of the Red Fort are pretty famous, but there's another gate that isn't talked much about - the Yamuna Gate (Khizri Darwaza). The road is on what we know as the back side of the red fort, towards the Ring Road.

This Khizri Gate is named after Khwaja Khizr, a Sindhi saint of the waters. He is also popularly known as Jhulelal, and is revered by both, Hindus and Muslims of Sindh. The former sees him as a God, while the latter believe him to be a saint also known as Darya Shah 'Zinda Pir'.

Back in the day, the Yamuna used to flow right behind the red fort. The river has since changed course and meandered much to the East since 1857, mostly due to a natural flow aided by infrastructural changes.

The river was important for the Mughals for multiple reasons. Be it just idling around in the waters, or hosting fairs and Ram Lila events, watching elephants wrestle, or giving a 'Jharokha' darshan to their subjects, it all used to happen towards the Yamuna-facing side of the Red Fort. The Khizri Gate was a special gate meant only for the senior members of the Mughal royal family.

Interestingly, the Mughals didn't prefer to drink Yamuna waters, as water was specially brought from the Ganga river for their drinking purposes. However, the Yamuna water was put to use in beautifying the city. The canal that ran across Chandni Chowk, giving the area it's name, ran on Yamuna water. The water in the Red Fort Baoli also came from the river. However, as it changed course, the Baoli dried up, and was later used by the British as a makeshift prison for Azad Hind Fauj officers.

As the city floods after #DelhiRains once again, it isn't something that the Mughals would be surprised by, as floods were way more common in the time. During Aurangzeb's reign, the city saw a major flood where the water flowed beyond the Red Fort up to Daryaganj.

At that time, Sheikh Kalimullah Jahanabadi's prayers were believed to have controlled the flood. The Sufi saint's grave is near the Jama Masjid today.

Images:

1. View of the Red Fort, 1823 (British Library, unknown artist)
2. An 1860 photograph by Eugene Clutterbuck Impey with Salimgarh on the Left and Red Fort on the right, Yamuna flowing between the two.
3. Ghulam Ali Khan's painting featuring the Yamuna-facing side of the red fort and the sandy bank below the fort.

PS: While the flooding of the Yamuna river is one extreme end of the situation, another problem that Mughal monuments today face is the drying up of the Yamuna river in the summer months. The Taj Mahal, also built at the banks of the Yamuna, has a foundation made of Ebony wood which requires constant moisture to neither contract nor expand.

With the Yamuna near the Taj often drying up - and with water levels reducing, it poses a serious threat to the foundation of the Taj Mahal!

#DelhiHistory #DelhiHeritage #DelhiRain

[Avinash Iyer @IyerAvin]

chatGPT

[Brie Wolfson @zebriez]

I underestimated how critical self-awareness is in being a good leader, partner, and friend.

Get feedback, go to therapy, write, journal, whatever you gotta do.

Returns on that time are immeasurable over a lifetime.

[Semra Sevi @semrasevi]

This is not a movie scene it’s the road to my hometown. My heart aches for Turkey. #deprem

[Wednesday Addams @wednesdayaddams]

Impossible.

[Purva Sachdeva @Purva25s]

All hail @wednesdayaddams 🙌🏼

[Wednesday Addams @wednesdayaddams]

All of the attention this weekend has been pure torture. Thank you.

[Erik Solheim @ErikSolheim]

Global climate change from 1880 to 2021. This is what a planet in trouble looks like.

There is no time to wait.

[Dr. Nicole LePera @Theholisticpsyc]

95% of relationship issues are actually communication issues. Learning to directly express your needs, and to understand the needs of another is a massively underrated life skill.

[Anamika Barua @Ana_13b]

⁦“It may take 130 years to bridge gender gap”. IMF comes with first gender mainstreaming strategy. Need women in top positions to change gender neutral policies ⁦@GitaGopinath Thanks! ⁦@AnjalPrakash⁩ ⁦@SumitVij19⁩ ⁦@joydeepgupta⁩ https://t.co/viKNAIn4KQ

[Piyush Tewari 🇮🇳 @piyushtewarii]

There can’t be a more important message to take home today. As per 100s of forensic crash investigations carried out by @savelifeindia on behalf of agencies across India, non-usage of seatbelts, especially in the rear seat, contributed to nearly 35% of deaths investigated. (1/1)

[cmsprograms @cmsadvocacy]

Pandemic has amplified the circulation of misinformation and impacted severly. Media literacy has imp role, writes @anandannu in @TheDailyPioneer
https://t.co/I3aocbPbL7
@pnvcms @dr_BhaskaraRao @alokanuj @data_LEADS
#medialiteracy #misinformation
#factShala

[IPCC @IPCC_CH]

The evidence is clear: the time for action is now. We can halve emissions by 2030.

The #IPCC has just released its latest #ClimateReport on the mitigation of #climatechange.

Press Release ➡️ https://t.co/N9cLJFBbnA
Read the report ➡️ https://t.co/mIdBKgvokW

[WRI Climate @WRIClimate]

The latest @IPCC_CH #ClimateReport makes clear that holding global temp rise to 1.5°C is still possible, but only if we act immediatelyThe latest @IPCC_CH #ClimateReport makes clear that holding global temp rise to 1.5°C is still possible, but only if we act immediatelyThe latest @IPCC_CH #ClimateReport makes clear that holding global temp rise to 1.5°C is still possible, but only if we act immediatelyThe latest @IPCC_CH #ClimateReport makes clear that holding global temp rise to 1.5°C is still possible, but only if we act immediatelyThe latest @IPCC_CH #ClimateReport makes clear that holding global temp rise to 1.5°C is still possible, but only if we act immediatelyThe latest @IPCC_CH #ClimateReport makes clear that holding global temp rise to 1.5°C is still possible, but only if we act immediately.

[Axios @axios]

NEW: Limiting global warming to the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C target will be out of reach "before 2030" if global CO2 emissions continue at current rates, a new IPCC report warns.
https://t.co/NKRXZRqibR

[Damian Carrington @dpcarrington]

“We must be clear that decisive action on climate is not a ‘cost’; it is an investment, not just in our future, but in our survival. It would be the greatest cost-saving of human history,” said Steve Trent, @ejfoundation

#IPCC @IPCC_CH

https://t.co/7jg2csAuiI

[Purva Sachdeva @Purva25s]

👏🏼👏🏼

[cmsprograms @cmsadvocacy]

How media literacy program impact and contributes towards understanding &building resilience to misinformation read the report given below brought out by @Internews and @cmsadvocacy
https://t.co/QJoS2rSGIl

https://t.co/vI3AhNhyW1

@anandannu
@alokanuj
@pnvcms
@dr_BhaskaraRao

[Purva Sachdeva @Purva25s]

@Pepperfry I request you to arrange a call with a senior management personnel and a conference audio call with your expert carpenter, us and the manager.
Order ID 307814715

[Purva Sachdeva @Purva25s]

Hey @Pepperfry, literally had the worst experience with u guys. Ordered a table; used it for a month; it fell apart due to design issue which your carpenter who assmbled it agreed to; #Pepperfry blames it on the customer! Bad product worse internal communication.

[Purva Sachdeva @Purva25s]

@Pepperfry If only you could allow me to email you guys again. Your automated system sucks big time as well. You closed the ticket without informing us and now won’t accept any email. What does a grieving customer do?! Keep writing tweets till the end of time?!