My first trip to the Red Fort

Author: hargunsinghtikku February 22, 2015 0 Comments

My school in collaboration with FLOW India organized a trip to the Red Fort for class V for 3_rd February 2015,. It was my first trip to the Red Fort. I paid Rs. 400, which was the cost of the trip which included one day of activities in the school auditorium and one day of visiting the Red Fort . On 2.Feb.2015, all the students of class V went to the school auditorium. There were 4 people from FLOW India who us about Monuments and civilizations and their history.  They also asked bonus questions. After ½ hour, we went back to our classroom and the 20 children who had paid for the trip got an 8-page booklet containing activities on the Red Fort. The next day as soon as we reached the school, we made a line and boarded the buses. We all were singing songs in the bus and talking. I gave my Rubik’s Cube to the child who was sitting next to me and was my good friend and he solved it in two minutes. On the way, we also saw India Gate and ITC Maurya Hotel. After 1 ½ hour we reached the Red Fort. We got out of the bus and made pairs. We walked beside the Aurangzeb Wall and a dried out moat for five minutes till we reached the Lahori Gate. We went through the Lahori Gate to the Chhatta Chowk which is a bazaar which also contains shops which are over 70 years old. We also some British Barracks which were the places where the British Soldiers were trained. Then we went to the Swatantrata Sangram museum. It contained many interesting things like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s chair on which he made plans for India’s independence. From there we went to the Naqqar Khana, which was the place where the musicians sat and used to sing songs all day and announce the arrival of the important guests. Through the Naqqar Khana, we went to the Diwan-i-Am, which was the place where once the magnificent Peacock Throne stood and Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan sat on it. But unfortunately, the Peacock Throne melted in the high temperatures of Persia, when the Persians took it. Now there is only a marble recreation of the original throne and that too is locked inside a glass cabinet. In the garden, we also did role plays on five different uses and time periods of the Red Fort-:

1. A fort palace of splendor and luxury during the Mughal reign.
2. The centre of first war of independence.
3. A centre of power for the British
4. A symbol of Indian independence
5. Reaffirming national identity.

We also saw more British Barracks. We also saw the Hammam, which was the royal bath. In the earlier times, it was used for relaxing and for important business meetings. Beside it was the Diwan-i-Khas, which the emperor used for receiving important guests. Next was the Aramgarh, which was the emperors’ bedroom and no one was allowed into it, not even the queens without the king’s permission. The queens had two bedrooms, the Rang Mahal and the Mumtaz Mahal. In the earlier times, the Rang Mahal was very colourful but due to the extreme weather conditions and the wearing off of the marble, it is now only white and the Mumtaz Mahal has been turned into a museum. I had a lot of fun in the trip and it was a very nice trip for me.