#red fort

[thunderstruck9]

Bhupen Khakhar (Indian, 1934-2003), Portrait of Shri Shankerbhai V. Patel near Red Fort, c.1971. Oil on canvas, 35 ½ x 35 ½ in.

[eopederson]

Red Fort, Delhi, 1978.

[nununiverse]

google.com  Red Fort Agra India

[septembergold]

Nigel Atherton

Red Fort, Delhi

[quo-usque-tandem]

Red Fort, Agra, India

[lahilden]

Red Fort

Red Fort is located in Delhi, India. The red stone castle was commissioned by Shah Jahan and built from 1637-47. The structure has a mix of Islamic, Persian, and Timurid architecture and served as a royal residence of the Mughal emperors from 1648-1857. The private apartments have rows of pavilions connected by a water channel. The Red Fort Complex walls stand 75 feet and encloses palaces, entertainment halls, balconies, baths, indoor canals, elaborate gardens, and an ornate mosque. The interior was plundered by the 9th emperor, who removed the silver ceiling in the fort to raise money and replaced the ceiling with copper. In 1803, the British occupied the fort and built their residence within the fort. The structure spans over 254 acres, but nearly 66 percent of the structures within the fort were destroyed or badly damaged. The Red Fort serves as a celebration place for Indian independence. It became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007. Red Fort has three museums.

[ebaeschnbliah]

The thing with the ACRONYMS ...

Mycroft loves acronyms. All the best secret societies have them, he says. The creators of Sherlock BBC seem to love them as well, because several have found a way into their story. Reason enough to throw a brief glance at some of them. :)

TBC below the cut ...

UMQRA & HOUND

On the way to Dewer’s Hollow John notices flashes of light on the nightly moor. He interprets them as morse code signals for the letters U,M,Q,R,A and informs Sherlock about his discovery. When John follows those flashes of light, some hours later, he discovers a place where people engage in car-sex. What John expected to be morse code signals turns out to be just randomly blinking headlights of rocking cars. “Don’t be alarmed. It’s to do with sex” ...

Sherlock apparently doesn’t know about John’s second discovery and the rather trivial explanation for the mysterious flashlights on the moor. He experiments with the UMQRA letters, adds dots behind each one and suddenly has a revelation. He calls John ‘conductor of light’ and explains his idea. “What if it is individual letters?” Sherlock’s thoughts though are now focused on HOUND rather than UMQRA.

In a nutshell: UMQRA is linked to secret sexual activity in a car (body). By adding dots, Sherlock draws the connection from UMQRA to HOUND. 

The monstrous HOUND, who allegedly haunts the Baskerville moore, changes into a simple dog. 

H.O.U.N.D. turns out to be the name of a secret government project that got stopped a long time ago and had been now taken up again, illegally, by a doctor who is a virologist. 

Affected by the HOUND-aerosol (love is in the air) ‘doctor’ and ‘virus’ - Frankland & Jim (’say hallo to the virus‘) - merge into one another in Sherlock’s mind. The ‘good’ doctor kills the dog. The ‘bad’ doctor dies in an explosion. Then Mycroft (the government/brain) releases Jim (’I’m Mr Sex’) from his prison. Big brother himself lets the HOUND off the leash ...

More on the same subject:  UMQRA by @bug-catcher-in-viridian-forest  -  Are you attempting to make a point? by @221brainstorming (deleted)  -  Follow the Dog Part 2 by @sagestreet  

AGRA & AM(M)O

Mary tells Sherlock and John that the letters on her memory stick - AGRA - are meant to be her initials. Later it turns out that AGRA is an acronym, connected to a team of four agents - Alex, Gabriel, Rosamund Mary (alias Mary) and Ajay. This group was once employed by the government and Mary is still secretly working for Mycroft (TAB).

A code word is linked to the AGRA acronym, uttered by an anonymous voice on a phone. First Sherlock interprets that word as AMMO, short for ‘ammunition’. Some time later Sherlock realizes that this secret code word doesn’t mean ‘ammo’ but ‘amo’ ... Latin for ‘I love’. 

Regarding the dots that accompany the AGRA acronym, there are some noticable irregularities:

The memory stick Mary puts on the table in 221b (HLV) ... A.G.RA

John shows Mary her memory stick before he throws it into the fire at the Holmes cottage (HLV) ... A.G.RA

The memory stick in the fire (HLV) ... A.G.R.A

Ajay’s memory stick, revealed from inside the Thatcher bust (TST) ... A.G.RA

AGRA acronym at the beginning of the Tiblisi scene (TST) ... A.G.R.A.

And when Sherlock first mentions AGRA in Mycroft’s presence his brother instantly brings up the Indian city of Agra. No dots at all. 

“Agra? A city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is three hundred and seventy-eight kilometres west of the state capital, ...”

THE CITY OF AGRA

 This city plays a key role in AC Doyle’s novel The Sign of Four. 

"The city of Agra is a great place, swarming with fanatics and fierce devil-worshippers of all sorts. Our handful of men were lost among the narrow, winding streets. Our leader moved across the river, therefore, and took up his position in the old fort at Agra. I don't know if any of you gentlemen have ever read or heard anything of that old fort. It is a very queer place,—the queerest that ever I was in, and I have been in some rum corners, too. First of all, it is enormous in size. I should think that the enclosure must be acres and acres. There is a modern part, which took all our garrison, women, children, stores, and everything else, with plenty of room over. But the modern part is nothing like the size of the old quarter, where nobody goes, and which is given over to the scorpions and the centipedes. It is all full of great deserted halls, and winding passages, and long corridors twisting in and out, so that it is easy enough for folk to get lost in it. For this reason it was seldom that any one went into it, though now and again a party with torches might go exploring.”

The old fort of Agra is the place where the theft of the great treasure takes place, around which Holmes’ case in The Sign of Four revolves. Somehow Doyle’s description of that fort ... fortress, palace and residence of rulers ... almost sounds like a description of a vast and convoluted mind palace. 

The great Agra treasure

This treasure gets stolen by a group of four men. They are bound by an oath - a vow - written down on paper and signed. 

In the left-hand corner is a curious hieroglyphic like four crosses in a line with their arms touching. Beside it is written, in very rough and coarse characters, “The sign of the four” ... 

A heavy iron box, made of Benares metal-work, contained the great treasure that consisted of ‘the most precious stones and the choicest pearls’:

There were one hundred and forty-three diamonds of the first water, including one which has been called, I believe, 'the Great Mogul' and is said to be the second largest stone in existence. Then there were ninety-seven very fine emeralds, and one hundred and seventy rubies, some of which, however, were small. There were forty carbuncles, two hundred and ten sapphires, sixty-one agates, and a great quantity of beryls, onyxes, cats'-eyes, turquoises, and other stones, the very names of which I did not know at the time, though I have become more familiar with them since. Besides this, there were nearly three hundred very fine pearls, twelve of which were set in a gold coronet. By the way, these last had been taken out of the chest and were not there when I recovered it.

The ‘Sign of Four’ and also Captain Morstan (Mary’s father) were later betrayed by Major Sholto, who took the treasure and ran off with it to England. And here the great treasure from the banks of the river Yamuna gets lost forever, submerged in the waters of the river Thames. 

Great treasure from the banks ... lost ... the waters ...

At this point inevitably the Waters Gang from The Sign of Three comes to mind. This episode starts with three bank robbers, masked as clowns, who commit five thefts at almost quite regular intervals before they ..... get caught?

18 MONTHS AGO - “Bank gang leave cops clueless”

12 MONTHS AGO - “Who stole our two mill?”

6 MONTHS AGO - “Police are no closer to Waters Gang conviction”

3 MONTHS AGO - “Waters Gang walk free, again!”

YESTERDAY - Apparently no good day for the Waters family ... but then Sherlock phones, calls for help and Greg leaves his post ...

Is the Waters Gang able to escape again or do they get finally caught? That’s still an open question. And Mary’s secret A.G.R.A. identity will only be revealed in the next episode ... His Last Vow.

Points or no points ... or both?

Sherlock solves the Baskerville case by adding dots behind each letter of the word: HOUND ... H.O.U.N.D. The supernatural monster-hound disappears and turnes into a man-made project instead. Strictly speaking, however, both versions - the acronym H.O.U.N.D. as well as the word ‘hound’ - are important and have meaning and both are linked to Jim ‘Mr Sex’ Moriarty. Maybe this method applies also to AGRA?

AGRA without the dots

As Mycroft explains in The Six Thatchers, Agra is ‘a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India’. In AC Doyle’s novel The Sign of Four it is the old fort of Agra that plays the key role. The construction of this fortress - palace and residnece of rulers - was commissioned by emperor Shah Jahan (meaning: king of the world). Years later, Shah Jahan was put under house arrest in the Red Fort by one of his sons until his death in 1666. He found his final resting place in the same mausoleum he’d commissioned for his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal. For eight years Shah Jahan looked out from the Red Fort at the place where his most favourite empress, his inseparable comanion, the great love of his life, had been laid to rest. 

Agra’s most prized and best-known monument isn’t the old fort ... it is the Taj Mahal ... the worldwide renowned symbol of undying love. 

The corners have been placed so that when seen from the center of the plan, the sun can be seen rising and setting on the north and south corners on the summer and winter solstices respectively. This makes the Taj a symbolic horizon. The planning and structure of the Taj Mahal, from the building itself to the gardens and beyond, is symbolic of the garden of Paradise. The sky has not only been incorporated in the design through the reflecting pools but also through the surface of the building itself.

It is said that the white symbolizes the purity of real love. The planning of the entire compound has been split into two - representing earthly life and afterlife. The plan of the worldly side is a mirror image of the otherworldly side, and the grand gate in the middle represents the transition between the two lives. 

AMO ... I love ...

A.G.R.A. or Agra - both versions finally lead to ‘love’ - just like H.O.U.N.D. and hound lead to ‘sex’. A virologist who is employed by the government but secretly works on his own project and a secretary, cleverer than most, who is also employed by the government and also does her own thing. Under the influence of the hound-aerosol the virologist merges visually with Jim and when the secretary’s secret amo-identity is unmasked, she uses - word for word - Jim’s line from TGG. Coincidence? 

Lady Smallwoods codename is ‘love’ while Vivian Norbury calls herself ‘amo’ (I love). ‘Amo’ worked undercover, betrayed the government and used AGRA as her private assassination unit. 

“Why did you betray us?” ..... “Why does anyone do anything?”

September, 2022

Thanks for reading and thanks @callie-ariane​ for the scripts.

Sources (incl. Agra pics): Agra Fort  Taj Mahal  Shah Jahan  The sign of four by ACDoyle

[besttravelbd]

Best Historical Places Delhi In India You Can Visit

[travelhind]

5 Amazing Fact About Red Fort

[yeh-mera-deewanapan-hai]

Some pics from the Mela at the Red Fort today!!!

[mouseandboo]

Postcrossing US-9083814-A by Gail Anderson Via Flickr: Postcard with a picture of an opaque watercolor painting called Red Fort at Delhi, done by an unknown artist around 1780 - 1790. Sent to a Postcrossing member in Finland.

[vieformidable]

Amazing facade detail of the Red Fort in Agra -  2nd most visited site in India after the Taj Mahal

[eopederson]

Grounds Maintenance, Red Fort, Delhi - (मैदान रखरखाव, लाल किला, दिल्ली), 1978.

[thatrandombloggerfromindia]

Blog 1- This is Delhi, The chaotic wonderland (Part 1)

Shambhavi Somvanshi

Delhi, also known as the city of Indra, is located in India. It is the capital of the country and the heart and soul of Indian civilization.

I was 7 when I visited the capital city for the first time. I had been living in Gurgaon, which is around 35 Km from Delhi, but had never been there until a school project came my way. The topic of the project was, " Write about your latest travel experience and paste pictures of the same."

So here was the perfect opportunity for me!

Got all dolled up, I was wearing a colorful jumpsuit with open hair  and pink barbie sunglasses. My mother was wearing a green chikankari kurta with a pair of jeans.

We reached the MG Road metro station.

The station was gigantic, with passengers moving all over the place in order to board their respective trains.

The gray colored trains were gorgeous from inside. With separate sections for males and females, they had huge windows and displays. There were also announcements being made in soothing male and female voices about the upcoming stations.

We boarded the one that would take us to Qutub Minar. It took us 19 minutes in crossing 8 stations and reaching our final destination, Qutub Minar.The world's tallest brick minaret , what a beauty it was!

The 238 Ft. monument, made of sandstone and marble, was such a endearing site for the sore eyes.

The tourist guide told us that the Qutub Minar  was built by Qutub-ud-Din Aibak in 1193. It is also known as victory tower because it was made in order to celebrate the Muslim dominance in Hindu ruler's defeat. 

I was completely in awe of it. I spent my time capturing the monument and adoring its beauty. That sequence was amazing even to me as a youngster. I observed my surroundings. There were ice cream, popcorn , small games, binoculars , balloons being sold at the periphery of the entrance gate. There were kids who were wanting to play the games and the famous cola flavored ice cream and their parents, who were  giving them the money for the same. There were thousands of people around me,knocking into me, but I didn't care because I couldn't hear any of the commotion around me. I was utterly mesmerised by Qutub Minar; that is its allure and its enchantment. We stayed there for around 45 minutes. The monument was also surrounded by a beautiful garden and several other historical monuments. We sat in the garden where me and mom sat together and talked about the monument, my friends and my school. It was now time to move to our next destination. Wondering what our next destination was? I would be sharing about it in my next blog. Please stay tuned!

[mediaindia]

On May 13, 1638, Red Fort construction began. It took over 8 years to build and was completed on April 6, 1648.

[travelnew]

Delhi & Gurgaon visit in 2024.

This time in New Delhi/ Gurgaon, I saw 3 places.

12.04.2024

After a delicious lunch of Raj Kachori at Haldiram's at Chandani Chowk, we decided to explore the surroundings.

Two of our friends dropped out seeing the heat. Two of us headed to Red Fort. The Sun was high and sucked us dry. The hat was just a summer formality. I had a severe headache the entire day after returning from Red Fort. That's the only thing I remember after Raj Kachori.

Turn your mobile or this photo upside down to enjoy the above photo.

There was even a light & sound show at red fort, that we couldn't attend.

20.04.2024

While returning from Munsiyari/ Haldwani - Delhi to Mumbai, I was clear that I will be in the shade or indoors.

The day started with an early morning breakfast at Andhra Pradesh Telangana Bhavan at Janpath, where you will remember my excitement of seeing peacocks in the city limits!

As the Sun rose up, I explored the Metro Museum in Delhi. This museum is an open museum located in the concourse level of Patel Chowk Metro Station. A complete history from inception to action of the Delhi Metro is showcased. There are working models of the tunnel machine, complete with the sound of drilling underground at the press of a button. And the length of the tunnel excavator machine is like a long train. The scaled down model of this tunnel machine is again a working model! Rock samples extracted while tunneling are on display. I purchased a small souvenir of the first Metro ticket. It is a coin shaped plastic token, that was inserted in the slots at the Metro gates. I don't know if Mumbai had a similar ticket.

Then I went to Gurgaon by Metro. No stepping out in the Sun and my friend had come with his brand new Mercedes Benz in Mohave silver color to pick us.

From Metro to his home and then to an air conditioned place, the MUSEO Camera. This 3 storeyed place is huge and a photography enthusiast can easily spend hours here. We even met the curator of the museum Aditya Arya, who has himself contributed to a lot of exhibits on display. The old and large collectible cameras were in working condition.

Sitting in front of the world's largest and oldest working camera & I will show a photo it clicks too!

This is the photo of my friend, clicked by me using that big camera box!

One of the world's miniature cameras that actually worked. They also had James Bond's spy cameras, that clicked high-level secure documents in 007 movies!

How lovely these ideas are as a gift!

We then had a delicious lunch, again inside the plush cafeteria of the museum.

As our time to catch the train to Mumbai approached, we were dropped at the railway station by my friend.

It was evening. Though it is still hot and dry, the severity is much less.

The return journey in Delhi was more rewarding than the previous one.

At both times, we were free of our heavy bags and were unhindered by weight.

Overall, a nice experience.

Check out my trek experience in Uttarakhand - Munsiyari Khaliya Top with YHAI.