In my novel, India Interlude, one of the first conflicts between two of the main characters, Sharon and Kevin, takes place at the Red Fort in Delhi. The friction between these two characters occurs at a site that has also captured, at a more international level, the hostilities between India and Pakistan that are threaded throughout the book.
The Red Fort is an important landmark, both in the city and the country’s history. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan, most famous for his Taj Mahal, and designed by the same architect. It remains the site of India’s annual Independence Day celebrations every August 15th. These days, it’s also known for incidents that are much less celebratory.
There was a terrorist attack at the Fort in December 2000, carried out by some operatives who wanted to derail the peace talks with Pakistan that were being conducted at that time. Those jihadists wanted all of Kashmir to belong to Pakistan. The novel also covers similar frictions that occurred in 1971, when our intrepid group of Americans visited Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar. More recently, on November 10, 2025, the Red Fort was the site of a terrorist car bombing in which at least twelve people were killed and others sustained injuries. The incident has been unofficially attributed to another terrorist network in Pakistan associated with Kashmir.
How times have changed since the events of the novel took place! These days, the Red Fort isn’t quite so red. Delhi is a city with one of the highest concentrations of hazardous air pollution in the world, and the walls of the fort are being crusted with black particulate. More than ten percent of the deaths in the city are attributable to the effects of air pollution. On a more positive note, there is a subway stop near the Fort, part of an advanced transit system that opened in 2002. It has been specifically designed to meet the needs of India’s population, with safeguards on the escalators so saris don’t get caught.
Look closely at the picture above, the arch in the Diwan-i-Khas, the Hall of Private Audience in the Fort. Soon after Kevin and Sharon observed its architectural features, they became involved in a serious altercation that brought their animosities to the fore. Now, look at the cover illustration of India Interlude, and note its resemblance. The similarities were purely coincidental, but I’m even more impressed by the cover designer, Danna Mathias Steele, and her interpretation of the events that took place in the novel.