Subhaan Allah!

Aradhika Sharma

A visit to the glorious Fatehpur Sikri is a heady experience. The excitement begins with the buzz of activity and energy on the one km road that leads from the parking lot to the grand monument with autowalas and the tangewalas on horses offering you a ride up to the monument.

When you get there on your chosen ride, the grandeur of the structures will leave you breathless with awe. The dimensions of the Buland Darwaza, the perfection and elegance of the red sandstone architecture, the pristine white mosque inside, the qawwals sitting in the courtyard, singing their naats and qawwalis to Khwajaji Moinuddin Chishti, Salim Chishti and, of course, the multitudes of people… the senses are overwhelmed.

As is integral to popular historical monuments, you will be pursued by guides who offer their services for ‘100 rupees only’. Incidentally, their services are pretty good, and you will be wise to avail these. They make the tour of Fatehpur Sikri interesting and evocative and their narration is replete with historical facts, myths and stories. They will also smoothly guide you towards vendors and shops that have sprung up inside and around the monument, subtly urging you to spend some money!

One of the most charming experiences of being in Fatehpur Sikri is the young poets who will recite shayari to you for the princely sum of Rs 10. Right from the start of the walk from the Buland Darwaaza, where your tangewala has dropped you, to the entrance of the monument, and even inside it, these pint-sized fellows will waylay you to render their services. Since they are endearing little chaps, it’s wise to carry a bundle of Rs 10 notes to hand out to Bade Mians and Chote Mians of Agra.

‘Ek rupaye mein ek sher!’ they will say to you cajolingly. There are usually 10 shers that you get to hear. Usually, the young, bedraggled shayar will come up to you with a toothy grin and speaking in English and will ask ‘Madame would you like to hear some shayari?’ The accent of solicitation may surprise you — it could be American or British but the shayari will be in pure Urdu. Not just that, they all tend to recite the same 10 shers, so if you want to hear any different shayari, you have to ask for it. Here’s a sample of what you will typically get to hear:

Neem ki patti tulsi se kam nahin;

Hamai madame Katrina Kaif se kam nahin

Neem ki patti tulsi se kam nahin; Hamare bade bhai Salmaan Khan se kam nahin

Or

Sheeshi bahri gulab ki sharab nahin hoti, jaise ki har ladki Mumtaz nahin hoti

The boys obviously think there’s a protocol to reciting their poetry, so they will strike a classic pose, standing with their legs apart, holding two fingers together and punctuating the air with them while dispensing with their gems. These boys seem to be as integral a part of Fatehpur Sikri as are the qawaals here, so it’s best to succumb to their charms. In doing so, you’ll be opening yourself up to an endearing and amusing experience. Also, though the young urchins are as different from Wordsworth as chalk from cheese, but when you leave Fatehpur Sikri, they evoke the memory of his famous ballad, The Solitary Reaper:

The music in my heart I bore

Long after it was heard no more.