One winter evening , I decided to visit Humayun's tomb to satisfy my urge of knowing it's history and also to soothe myself a bit after a tiring day at college . It is a Mughal architectural styled tomb situated on Mathura road , New Delhi .
I reached there after a half-hour long struggle in the crowded , noisy and chaotic yellow line of Delhi metro . While standing in the coach , I was observing people of all ages rushing , worrying and running after their own lives without a single moment of peace . It was then that I realised how struggling life can be .
On reaching my destination and glancing at the beautifully-maintained gardens and buildings , all my worries and pains vanished .
The main tomb stands within a large complex including other contemporary , 16th century garden tombs .
I was so mesmerised by the place's serene beauty that my body as well as the soul felt energetic instantly .
I started walking through the place , watching each and everything keenly , storing them not in my camera but in my heart .
There are about 150 graves in the whole complex and I visited all of them patiently and whole-heartedly . To me , it seemed that the graves were representing soothing peace rather than depressing death .
Finally , I reached the main burial complex where the mortal remains of the great Mughal emporer Humayun lie .
The central chamber has a lamp hanging down on the emperor's grave right in the middle of the ceiling . The main grave , made up of white marble has inscriptions around it and symbolically lies in the north-south direction .
Inside this chamber , it felt like there was serenity in the air and peace flowed in my nerves rather than my blood . I stood there , totally spellbound , my thoughts wandering between the Mughal dynasty and the peaceful nature of death .
"Ma'am it's time for the monument to close down ", a guard's voice brought me to reality .
"Oh yes , sure" , said I , and headed outside .
Outside the monument , I sae poor families with lots of malnutritioned children with torn weed-like hair , hungry eyes & bones peeping out of their dark skins . Some of them were begging , some crying with their shrill voices & others being soothed by their torn sari-clad mothers .
My thoughts flew back to the metro & then to the peaceful graves , making me realise that sometimes death can be better than life . I gave one of the children an apple from my bag & made my way towards home with tears in my eyes and their craving sounds in my ears .
(Image courtesy : nextavenue.org)