Friday, September 17, 2010













Humayun's Tomb workers - There is a large sign at Humayun's Tomb saying that the Aga Khan Fund has donated money to restore the gardens. I wonder where the Aga Khan has invested that his fund continues to fund masses of projects around the world. Race horses are probably a far better bet than subprime mortgages.
There are miles of brick water canals which have been repaired and 20 acres of garden to tend. There seemed to easily be 60 men employed in the gardens and working on resetting flagstones at the tomb.
The first group appeared to be taking a tea break and were seated on a wall just watching the tourists stream in.

The second group and largest group of men were working on the terrace of the tomb. It was incredibly labor intensive and the terrace swarmed with men lifting the large flagstones, chipping off cement like matter, pouring new material to lay the flagstones again and replacing the stones or bringing new ones.

The third group was the most aesthetically pleasing: they were a human elevator. They sat most of the time and occasionally moved into action as something needed to be lifted from the ground up to the terrace of the tomb. They were much more pleasing to observe than the black conveyor belt we usually associate with building projects on upper floors. :)

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