Discover Delhi VII: Old Delhi Walk II – Red Fort or Lal Quila

Red fort in Delhi, a UNESCO world heritage site, is probably one of the most visited monuments in the country, competing with Qutab Minar and Taj Mahal. My second walk after Jama Masjid, started outside the majestic red fort. The first thoughts that red fort brings to my mind is the 15th August celebrations that happen here and the journalist’s patriotic voices on TV explaining the secular nature of the view from the Red fort, as you can see a temple, a mosque, a gurudwara and a church all at once.

Across the road from Red fort in Old Delhi, the business starts bustling in the morning, the road side vendors are preparing to open their shops, laying down the clothes in piles, and ready to shout out to the passerbys for the rest of the day. Small eateries start popping up, some on push carts, some in small shops and some even on cycles. Stop by and see a complete mobile shop being operated on a bicycle. The rear carrier of the bicycle fitted with a wooden plank on which a stove is fitted to prepare the food, a tin box fitted in front of the handle to hold the prepared food, a few polythene bags hanging on the handle with the raw material and the disposable plates to serve. You don’t need too many frills to be an entrepreneur, do you? It is always a pleasure to see a city waking up, when the people are still to put on their masks for the day.

As you walk on the road leading to the Lahore gate of Red fort, you would see vendors selling all kinds of touristy things mainly targeted at children. There are colorful flowers, glass animals and games, all of which are priced very reasonably. Even on a weekday, ticket counter is crowded and you have to stand in a long queue to get your ticket, and then stand in the security queue before you can enter the fort. The view from the outside is that of a majestic fort that appears impenetrable. The cascading domes add to the magnificence. The Indian flag fluttering on top of it makes you feel patriotic and reminds of you all the songs that you sang at the school assembly. If you turn your back towards the fort, you see the Lal Madir, which is built in nagar style amongst the green tress it makes a good view against the blue sky on a clear day.

As you enter the fort after security check, you can see stairs and some other parts which have probably been added later and as you move in you see the bazaar below the arched roof, selling all kinds of artifacts, lot of marble based items, jewellery, clothes, puppets etc. The bazaar overall gives a very colorful and vibrant look with people checking out the items and shopkeepers making an impactful pitch for selling the same. Come out of the Bazaar and you have a circular garden with a beautiful red building with a topping of white marble on the top and lots of barracks on the left hand side. This is the drum house called Naqqar Khana which was used to play music five times a day during the mughal days and now houses the war memorial museum. Go through the gate and on look back on the carved wall and you will find typical mughal motifs called phool patti, or flowers and leaves all over the wall.

Since the fort has had a living history, and is still partially owned by Indian Army, there have been constant modifications that have happened in the fort. The part of the fort which can be classified as monument is probably as it used to be. Unfortunately, most of the worth seeing parts of the fort are not accessible to the public. The throne is Diwan-e-aam is covered with net, depriving you of the detailed view of the intricate carvings on it, the birds engraved at the back of the throne, which are not a usual feature in Islamic architecture. The ropes around the pavilions do not allow you the complete view from most angles and wherever they let you do so, the ropes come in the view, making it unpleasant. The Hammams are totally closed and the forced view through the glass windows hardly shows you anything. The moti masjid is closed with a dis-aligned copper plated door. The Diwan-e-khaas and Khas Mahal, which are the most beautiful and magnificent part of the whole fort, can not be observed from close, you just have to take a long view and be content with that. The rang mahal is closed and the lower storeys of the same remain unexplained. The tower at the corner is out of bound. Apparently there are repairs going on at various places, but I could not see any work in progress. There is no water in any of the canals that criss cross the gardens of the fort and hence no fountains were working. I was told the water has been removed to avoid dengue, which is a fair reason as there are millions of people visiting this place, but at the same time I feel sad as it takes away all the beauty of the place. It feels like a ruin whose soul has been lost. There are too many people using it as a picnic spot and there are countable number of people who are interested in it as heritage place. Most of the people interested in the history were not Indians.

Red fort is a cluster of many small monuments and many more museums that it houses. There is Archeology museum, which has the history of Mughals in India depicted. It has collection of various age old Qurans, various farmaans issues by various mughal rulers, paintings depicting their bravery and their lifestyles, games they played like chess and pachisi, miniature paintings, ivory and marble items, hookahs, clocks, various artifacts like potteries including some from China, delicate perfume boxes, carpets and silks used by them representing the crafts of those times. Some writings would remind you of calligraphy as an art, which is almost forgotten in the age of computers. And of course the war equipment without which a museum is never complete. This is irrespective of the fact that there is a complete war memorial museum on top of the Naqqar Khana or the drum house, which has everything that was used in the independence war, from uniforms, to insignias and ribbons of order, to flags, to guns and bullets, to models of ships, boats and trucks, to communication equipment. There is a gallery showcasing the young martyrs’ paintings.

A Unesco sign says that it is a world heritage site, but having been to 20 other heritage site, I must say this was the most badly maintained site I have visited. There is garbage and filth all around, the stone slabs everywhere were broken, there was construction material lying all around. The trees have been cut and the gardens carry a sad look. The sign boards hardly tell you anything, they are one liners and do not tell anything about the details of the place. I am sure there are lots of things which made the fort made it to the heritage list, but where are the details. There are small things like an intricate jaali on a wall, but no board explaining its random appearance in the fort. The world heritage series on red fort was not available, which I have found even in remote places like Bhimbetka. There was no literature available whatsoever to take and read. There is lot of history, culture, architecture and even mathematics to learn in the fort. For example, how the pavilions were made in such a way that wherever you stand you could see the emperor. If it is not possible to run the fountains, some video or a painting of how the place would look with all of them running would help. It is explained that the engraved marble slabs were studded with gems and precious stones, so can there be a sample placed in one of the museums to showcase that. There are inscriptions and motifs that need to be explained. The guides are as usual focused more on giving you a quick tour with spiced up stories. The restaurant inside the old tea house is virtually empty even at the lunch time and the manager there tells me that most people come here to sit and hardly eat anything as they find this place very costly. This restaurant is the cleanest part of the whole fort. There is a small shop on the side near the bazaar where you would see people eating and this place can definitely be made to look better and fit into the ambiance of the fort so that visitors have a overall better and coordinated experience. Something needs to be done to make this monument more attractive.

I was told by the museum maintenance office that on an average about 10-15 thousand people visit red fort everyday and on a Sunday the number goes up to 20+ thousand. With an average ticket of Rs 10/- also, the revenue should be good enough provide the basic maintenance of the fort of such importance. What I liked about the visitor population of Red fort was that it had representation of all kinds of people, large school groups, college groups, visitors from across the country with fair number of people from remote areas, local families, foreigners and dignitaries. Having that said that I am not too sure, if this place should be allowed to be used as a picnic spot, as groups and families spread themselves on the lawns and leave the garbage behind, with least interest in the heritage value of the place. Another important thing that I noticed was that there were no beggars anywhere around red fort or even in roads around it. There were lots of small time vendors, some even carrying the merchandise on their arms, but no one was begging. In fact I had some extra food that I wanted to give away, but could not locate anyone to whom I could give it and hence had to bring it back home.

You should go to red fort with loads of imagination. Whatever you would have read in history books, the grandeur you would seen in movies and whatever you would have expected to see here will have to come alive only in your imagination. And it has to be a very strong willed imagination, as you would have to remove so many layers of people around you, the noises, the filth, visualize the missing pieces, ignore the aberrations and then imagine how it would have been in those days to live in forts like this.

Red fort is an important piece of Delhi’s and India’s history and hence deserves a visit.

Discover Delhi VI: Old Delhi Walk I – Jama Masjid, Meena Bazaar, Chawri Bazaar & Nai Sarak

Old Delhi has always charmed visitors from all over the world. In recent times the Mumbai filmmakers seem to be fascinated by Chandni Chowk. Walking in the streets, which were a part of Shahajahanabad, takes you back to the cities as they used to be, probably without the density of crowds. The narrow lanes, and each lane dealing in a specialty, the parapets overlooking the lanes, interweave of lanes, the chaiwalas and restaurants spread across and the tall monuments standing in between all the chaos, take you eras away.

Me and a friend, decided to discover Delhi by walking around and plan to start this by doing the walks from the book ’10 easy walks in old Delhi’, and we started with walk 2 from the book, which covered the parts mentioned in the title. Metro is the best way to travel to old Delhi without getting lost and without loosing any time. So get down at Chandni Chowk metro station and either walk or take a cycle rickshaw to Jama Masjid. Check at the gate the timing of the Namaz and if it is going on what time will it end and entry be allowed. If you have to wait for the entry, go to adjoining Meena Bazaar and come back to the mosque when the entry is allowed.

Meena Bazaar always had an opulent image in my mind. From what I had read in the history books, it was the bazaar where the royal ladies use to come shopping for their silks, for their jewels and for their bangles. It was located between the mosque and the red fort, hence easily accessible to them. What you would see now is nowhere close to your imagination. It still sells the clothes and that too meant for special occasions like weddings. It sells blankets in bright colors and whole lot of religious items associated with Islam. What definitely remains even today, probably from the Mughal era is the Islamic character of this bazaar, where not only are the buyers and sellers primarily Muslims but also the merchandise sold has some imprint of Islam. I wish the market was cleaner and better smelling. As it exists today, you have to think many times before you step in and go through its maze. The items sold are reasonably priced but I am not sure how much business these shops do as I hardly saw any buyers in the market. There were tourists here and there but they hardly buy such items. I tried striking a conversation with couple of shopkeepers to find out how their business is, but surprisingly they were very reluctant to talk.

Jama masjid, is often called the largest mosque in India, but I think the Taj-Ul masjid is Bhopal is definitely bigger than this is size, though not as well known. It is a monument that stands tall on the edge of numerous busy streets. Like typical mughal buildings, this is also made in red stone and white marble and has all the nuances of mughal architecture, the huge gateways, the minarets, delicate and intricate jaalis, a water body, corridors running around the building and big courtyards. If you climb the minaret, what you get to see is probably the best view of Delhi. It is interesting to stand at the narrow top of the minaret and identify the landmark buildings around it. Since most of the area around Jama masjid is not high rise, you would enjoy the view. In fact the high rise buildings on the periphery of the old city, make you feel as if you standing in the middle of a bowl. Going up the minaret can be scary and claustrophobic as the stairs keep getting narrower at the top and there is hardly any light inside the stairs. I strongly advise against going alone on this, though you would always find people climbing it. The roofs leading to the base of the minaret are not clean, so take care of your feet. Interestingly women and children are not allowed to climb up the stairs if they are not accompanied by an adult male, but I and my friend were asked no questions and we just climbed the minaret on our own.

Jama masjid has some of the relics that are definitely worth having a look at. There is a hair from the Prophet Mohammad’s beard. There are only 3 such hair that are supposed to be there in the world, the other two are in Turkey and Hazrat Bal in Kashmir. Along with it there are two Korans, written by the son-in-law and the grandson of prophet, both on dear skin and one of them written without the Maatra. There is camel skin sandal belonging to prophet, now preserved in a glass case and covered with flowers. There is marble with a footprint of prophet and this is the item that you are allowed to touch. I do not know if this is pure psychological or it is spiritual, but the marble slab did have some energy as everyone felt uplifted after touching it. All these relics are stored in a beautiful white dome like Almirah. A usual visitor who does not know the existence of these relics may miss them as they are usually kept under lock and key. There can be some amount of convincing required to make the incharge of the relics open it for you. The incharge is the 14^th generation descendent of the first caretaker of these relics in Jama Masjid. He also says that he is a descendent of Prophet Mohammad himself, and a small booklet given by him traces the family line.

You can sit on the stairs outside the prayer hall and look feel the place, you can look at people coming there with devotion, some with awe and some irritated after being hassled to wear something that do not want to. As you look at the Masjid from one of the streets leading to it, you would see a lot of loudspeakers on the facade, which you really wish were not there as they take away the symmetric beauty of the place. You would also notice a part of the corridor covered with walls to cover the things kept inside and you wonder could the things not be kept somewhere else. There are small shops just outside the gate, which can definitely be more aesthetically placed. We really need monuments management to maintain the monuments as they were and not play around with their structure and ambience.

Just opposite the main gate of Masjid is Matia Mehal lane, where again you get all kinds of items. There are restaurants that serve food, I guess primarily for the traders around and for the tourists which also form a major chunk of population on any given day. If you go around lunch time, you may see lot of people squatting outing the restaurants with their hands folded. I could gather that they are looking for free food, and it was apparent from their faces that they were regulars at this place and knew that they would be provided with food. As I was looking around, a person from Garib Nawaz hotel called and asked about us, and when I asked him if he feeds these people, he very interestingly replied ‘No, it is you guys who feed them’. It took me a minute to understand that there are people who place orders to the restaurant to feed a certain number of people. Then I suddenly saw a flurry and I was told that we have just been asked to feed 10 people. Having said that, Mohammad Aslam, the owner of Garib Nawaz hotel ordered an ice cream for us and simply refused to take any money for the same. I was later told that he is known for his hospitality and is usually found doing this. My point if view on this: Both me and my friend had cameras and were clicking pictures, I was taking notes and the smart businessman knew we are potentially going to write about him. He did verify with me by asking who do I write for? Can our much written about B-school pass outs ever do business like these businessman who have inherited businesses in their blood, who strive and thrive in the most competing places, without always appearing in the media and with minimum overhead expenses.

As you go around Jama Masjid, you cross the spare parts market, which was known as the Chor Bazaar few years back, when people would never get their vehicles near this area with the fear of having to buy parts of your own vehicle. It is said that you can buy anything to do with any vehicle here. The shops are small and the parts are literally spilling out of the shops. I wonder how they fit them back in their small shops during the night. As a traveler you can probably just pass by this street at the back of Jama Masjid. If you are interested, you can always talk to one of the shop owners but most of the times they are too busy with their business to interrupt it and talk to you, though they may be keen to oblige the foreigners.

After a small walk the road joins the Chawri Bazaar, which is the hub of stationary trade. What you would see all around on display is the wedding cards, primarily Hindu but also for other communities, in bright shades with lot of decorations and space to print the specifics of the invite. Red and off white are the pre-dominant colors though there are other ones too. Although the display is of weddings cards only for the retail buyers who come here once in a while to buy invitation cards of latest designs, but these shops deal in all kinds of stationary. Here you can find papers of all sizes, thickness, texture and quality. Anything that you can think of in stationary is available here, but you have to buy them in numbers, nothing less than the minimum packing is available. There are few antique shops also there which you can browse around, though I can not recommend buying as I found the prices too high almost like boutiques which probably also buy from the same place. Items sold here are not really antique but are made to look like antique. Art pieces are sourced from all over the country and primarily from UP, where there are towns which produce lot of brassware.

As some point, Chawri Bazaar crosses road with Nai Sarak. Nai sarak is no longer new, but still goes by this name. This road specializes in books, primarily educational books, school and college books, medicine and engineering books. It is crowded like any other road in the area, but if you are a bibliophile, you would love the site of books all around you. I am not too sure if there are many people who come to pick up books from here, but I am sure all the retailers come here and this road is an important link in the books supply chain across the city. You would also see some clothes and Sari shops on the road. If you eat or drink anything on the road, do remember to ask the price before hand, otherwise you will be obliged to pay whatever they ask for.

Old Delhi is a must do on any traveler’s itinerary, but it essentially remains one of the busiest business areas in the country and everyone working in this area is a hard core businessman, and more so a trader. There is nothing that gets manufactured here, but all that is manufactured across the country can be found here to be re-distributed again from here. Nonetheless you would enjoy walking around these streets which have all the old world charm while being the hardcore business district.

Unsung UP - III: Khurja - A Potters town

Khurja a small town, about 100 kms east of Delhi is one of hidden gems for travelers, which has not yet been explored as a travel destination. It is in western UP, a part of Bulandshehar district. Now what makes it special is the huge pottery industry that it has, with a history dating back to few centuries.

Food is one of the parameters that define a place, an important part to explore in a traveler’s itinerary, and if you look around any place, however small it may be, you will always find something special that the place has to offer. So in Khurja these specialties are Khurchan and Kanji Wada. Khurchan is a sweet but a very mild one. It is made with layers of Malai and sugar and like a cake needs to be eaten with all the layers intact. Surprisingly, though made of Malai and sugar, it is neither very heavy nor very sweet and leaves just a perfect taste in your mouth. Kanji Wada is a variation of Kanji, a popular winter drink in north India. Kanji is nothing but the fermented water, made from Rai (mustard seeds), salt and red chilly and at times with Heeng (asafetida). Usually red or black carrots are added to this water. This drink with a tangy taste is a strong appetizer and will make you feel hungry after minutes of having it. What you get in Khurja is Dal Wadas added to Kanji instead of carrots. The small wadas are left in the water and they soak the fermented water. It’s a sheer pleasure to put it in your mouth. You would love this dish if you have a chatpata tooth i.e. if you like spicy street food.

While on food, if you are not a vegetarian, you may want to stop at Sikandarabad for the famous Aas Mohammad Qureshi’s biryani. He sells chicken biryani in the morning and evening and beef one in the afternoon. I am told that he sells at least 1000 plates a day at a price of Rs 25/- for a plate of 250 grams. Can you do a back of the envelope calculation and see how much business it translates into. If you look at his infrastructure, his kitchen is back of his house and his shop is a platform to make and serve kebabs and a push cart. His restaurant area is 3 wooden benches fitted on a metal frame in one row against a street wall. He is located in not so clean area, almost on the road which has busy traffic, but in spite of all that within his premise you would find relative cleanliness. The benches were cleaned as soon as one set of customers finish, there was an attention paid to every customer and a huge smile on the faces of people serving. Unfortunately, being a vegetarian, I could not taste this famous delicacy, but I could read the satisfaction on the faces of my fellow travelers as they were eating the biryani.

Then there was Masterji ka dhaba, just after you turn for Khurja, midway between Bulandshahar and Khurja, where you get stuffed Tandoori Paranthas. Masterji, who was teacher in his earlier avatar, runs this spacious dhaba almost in the middle of nowhere. Apart from the tasty pranthas what you would appreciate is Masterji’s humble demeanor. His hospitality was amazing, as he brought us Kadhi Chawal and Kanji from his home. He made us taste all the pickles that he had: Mango, Garlic, Carrot and Radish. Being Tandoori, the paranthas were light on the stomach while being an absolute delight to the tongue.

There is a 2 km long street that is the potter’s market in Khurja. As you walk on the road, all around you see ceramics and ceramics, in all possible colors and shapes. You can get ceramics for your kitchen, for your garden, for your bathrooms and for decorating your house or office. We went to Fayaiz Bhai’s pottery palace and were lost in choosing our picks. There were so many things that one would like to pick but you get limited by the space you have to carry back things. There were small little ceramic boxes embedded in wood which I could think of for storing masala or even jewellery. There were bowls of all sizes for your kitchen and dining table. There were fruit plates and bowls with delicate floral paintings on them. There were multipurpose plates in the shapes like a fish which would make an appetizing platter for serving snacks or salads. There were antique style kettles and surahis, which I am not sure how much we can use in the era of microwave but can be used as a reminder of bygone era on your display shelves. There were innumerable pots and vases for your plants in sizes that can be on your apartment window to the big ones that you can keep outside your main gate. You may have tough time choosing the design as lot of them may attract your attention. There were small curios that you can use with your imagination, available almost at a throw away price.

Most of the ceramics has mughal style paintings or motifs on them, and that is kind of obvious as the lineage of potters goes back to earliest mughal migrants in the country. At the same time, there were some which have a global appeal like the ones with Moroccan paintings. Fayaiz bhai told us that all the pottery was lead free and hence can be absolutely used in microwave. While we could take a tour of the manufacturing facility as we were getting late, I was told that the ceramics are baked at a temperature of 2000+ deg, and a whole lot of paintings are done by hand. The town has more than 500 potters and they supply ceramics across the world. We saw a lot of pieces that were supplied to up market chains like Fab India and various designer boutiques. Most of the restaurants get their potteries made here including international chains like Pizaa hut.

I look forward to making another trip to Khurja to see the manufacturing process and specially the painting. I would also like to talk to the people engaged in the industry as they are the major players in a ceramics ecosystem. This is my second discovery in UP after Amroha. It such a learning experience to explore these hidden centers of excellence in the country. If you know of some more such places, please do let me know.

Front End Retailing

Some time back I had written about my retail experiences as a customer or consumer. The posts made their way into almost all major retail chains, and a few of them interacted with me to get the first hand feedback. Head of one of the retail chains said that they always suspected the pilferage by the staff, but could not nail it down in the absence of a proof. Today, I look at another rising aspect of retailing, and specifically the traditional retailing which I observed and I am not sure if it is something that is helping the consumer. I choose to call this trend Front End Retailing.

Let me start with anecdotes that lead to this piece and thought. Last month in Bangalore, I needed to get a broken glass put in my spectacles. Only one glass was broken, as I primarily wear contact lenses and use spectacles only as a backup, so I wanted only one glass to be replaced, of the same quality as the one which was intact. I went around 5-6 opticians, most of them in the upcoming areas of Bangalore, and to my surprise all of them came up with the same answer. They all quoted the same price, they had no idea if they can get me the same quality as my intact glass so they suggested I change both the glasses. They very casually suggested that it is only going to cost you a few hundred Rs extra. They can not do the job in less than 48 hours, as they have to send the frame to the workshop and they do it only once in a day, at the end of the day, and can only guarantee the delivery day after at the earliest. The front end staff had no knowledge of the kind of glasses available. All of them assumed that I had bought the glasses from them and asked me to quote the customer number, and when I said it was not bought here, they had apprehensions about repairing items what has not been bought here and had to check it with their bosses on the phone if they can repair it, thankfully the answer was Yes this time.

We are in Gurgaon and we need to get some furniture made, and we have some idea of what we want. We go around furniture shops in and around Gurgaon, everyone claims that they make furniture to order, they have some display pieces lying around which you can pick if you like. No one is able to calculate the cost of furniture given the exact dimensions and material, all of them need to speak to their carpenter in the invisible workshop before they can tell the price. They all have catalogues, where you can choose the design and they will get it done in the workshop. For any customization in size, upholstery, material, they need to check with their carpenters and get back. Minimum time required for delivering any order varied from 2-4 weeks, and even a small item could not be delivered in less than 2 weeks.

I want a small ear ring made in gold with a pearl, something that slips into the ear and needs no screw to tighten, again from Jeweler’s point of view a very simple requirement. But no jeweler I went to was confident that he can make what has been asked, and suggested picking up something that was available in his tray. All of them were willing to sell what is in the store, and can be sold as such. Any customization is highly discouraged. And if you insist, they would quote ridiculously high price so that you change your mind.

What happened to customized services that were so readily available a few years back? What happened to the knowledge that the business owner used to have not only about his domain but also about what customers need? What happened to the small consulting that customers used to get as part of buying customized stuff from the shops?

Knowledge of the trade has suddenly gone missing in the process of exponential growth. It appears the focus is only on providing a sophisticated front end to the business, which they assume would be perceived by the customer as being equivalent to good quality of work. Actual work is done in some central workshop in some remote corner of the city for all these front end guys. I am not even sure if they all have their individual workshop, in all probability they are being catered to by a single or a few back end guys.

As a customer, do I like the suave environment that I get to walk into, the answer is definitely yes. Do I like it that most of the times that I walk in someone walks up to me with a smile (though rarely genuine), and says ‘Can I help you’? , answer is may be or at times. What about the experience after this? Most of the times, staff has lesser knowledge than the customers on the subject. Customers today have information on their fingertips, and if they are buying a high value item they do their homework before they step out of their homes to purchase the item. While the staff is trained on how to talk in English, how to please customers, but most of the times they are not trained on the product that they are selling. That apart, since the core work related to the product does not happen in the same premises, the staff has no knowledge of how the product is priced, what material goes into it, how is the costing of the material and the service provided done, what goes into providing the product, how much time should it take. The back end is a black hole for them, where they only know that they can send the product and expect it to be back in certain number of days.

Is this helping the retailers, I am not too sure. They have many more retail outlets spread across the city, giving them access to customers thereof. They are making themselves available to customers, but when the customers do reach them, ‘are they able to help them’ is the question that they need to answer for themselves. What is the goal of these enterprises? After all, all these swanky outlets and more than required number of staff come at a cost. Going by the volumes per outlet I am not sure if they are able to recover the costs incurred.

Another way to look at it is that this is the step one of organized retail, spreading out geographically, and the next step would be to provide depth to the products and services offered to customers. My view is that this fast growth to spread to as much areas as possible or the no of outlets opened should be balanced with the quality of services offered; otherwise it may lead to a disaster. Retailers need to balance their growth paths, complimenting their breadth with the qualitative depth as well. And of course, there is a dire need to focus on giving business knowledge to their font end staff, so that they can help the customer. Soft skills are important but they only compliment sound knowledge of the job at hand, by themselves they can only annoying for the customers and hence for the business.

As I was posting this piece, I came across this related story at Dare Magazine.

2 States by Chetan Bhagat

After reading Five point someone, I had decided never to read Chetan Bhagat again, I mean there was hardly anything to read, but his rants about IIT. For some reason, I did pick up his latest book 2 states, which obviously talks about a marriage between people from different states. I did not expect much from the book, but the book had nothing at all. It seems to have been written with a bollywood script in mind. The author continues to talk about his IIT IIM pedigree and leverage on the dream that the youth of this country have to live in both these campuses.

He talks about a Punjabi boy and a Tamilian girl’s romance that develops at IIM Ahmedabad, and how the boy and the girl have to please and like each other’s families and how they are torn apart by their respective families, but finally the story has a happy ending and everyone is a big happy family. There is a sneak peep into the investment banking world and what the IIM A guy does there. The girl goes and works for HLL, the other high point for any IIM pass out.

Every bit of the book is predictable. On a lighter note, Chetan, Krish does not sound like a Punjabi name, and how come Krish did not have a pet name like ‘Bablu’ or ‘Bunty’, or you did not want to share your pet name with the word. And how come you did not talk about the IIM dorm names...:-)

If you have couple of hours to kill, read it…

Mesmerizing Madhya Pradesh VII –Bhojpur

The moment I heard of Bhojpur, I was reminded of the famous Hindi saying ‘Kahan Raja Bhoj, kahan Gangu teli’, a phrase which is commonly used to highlight the contrasts. The image of Raja Bhoj and hence his kingdom Bhojpur is that of something that has grandeur and prosperity which is incomparable. What you may not know is that he was actually responsible for building lakes in and around the present day Bhopal. He belonged to the Parmaar dynasty which ruled the region almost a millennium ago.

What is left in Bhojpur now to see is an unfinished but practicing Shiva temple in dark stone, known as Bhojeshwara temple, built in early 11th century. This temple is famous for the huge Shivalinga that it adorns. But as you may know Shivalinga has two parts Linga and the Yoni. The lower platform like part is called Yoni. The yoni in this temple is the probably the biggest you would ever see. The linga part is definitely not the largest, as a temple in Khajuraho has much bigger Linga. The yoni is huge and beautiful.

The roof of the temple is ornamental, with design in the form of concentric circles, quite like the temples in Khajuraho. There are four pillars inside the temple and the walls seem to have been put later or may be restored recently as they look too bland in comparison to the rest of the temple. My guess would be probably the temple was open standing on the four pillars, like many other Shiva temples, but I have no data to support that.

The temple is built on a huge platform, as was prevalent in those days, and on the right side of the temple there is a ramp, which was probably used to bring the stones up on the platform for constructing the temple. But for this ramp, we would have kept wondering how the huge stones and sculptures were ported on top of the platform and even to build the platform how the stones were ported. There are two small temples outside the main temple which are again practicing ones. The outer wall on the right hand side of temple has some unfinished artwork, which gives you a glimpse of how the work progressed as the temples were built.

Apparently the excavations at the place have revealed that the intent and plan was to build many more temples in this place, probably a kind of campus of temples like the one in Khajuraho, but it could not be done and even this temple had to be left unfinished. Though the idol was set up in this temple and the worship must have started, as this is still a practicing temple.

As you stand on the huge temple platform and look around, you would see what Jawahar Lal Nehru would have called the temples of modern India and what our future generations may blame us for polluting the world that we pass them on. You would see a line of huge factories, throwing a constant stream of thick black smoke from their gigantic chimneys, forming the skyline of the neighboring industrial town of Mandidweep.

How I wish I had lived in the times of prosperity in this land instead of going place to place tracing ruins after ruins.

The Penguin Book of Indian Journeys by Dom Moraes (Editor)

Recently I gave a talk on All India Radio on travel writing, and while I was writing the script for my talk, I realized there is not much travel writing by Indians or even on India. And just after the recording, I came across this book, right in my own library, a book which is probably the best collection of selected travel writings on India. The 35 pieces selected by the editor, create a fine panorama of the space and time that India is today. The pieces have been carefully selected to represent the nooks and corners of the country, ranging from big cities to the tribal interiors. It contains the traveler’s point of view, the inhabitant’s point of view, the back to home view, a journalist’s view, guide’s view and nearly everyone involved in the process of a journey. It has stories of mundane living and adventurous lives, ordinary and not so ordinary lives. It talks of the changing India, its changing demographics, landscapes, thought processes, perspectives and still a common invisible thread binding it together. What is this common thread is probably as elusive a question as ‘Who am I’, and would need some serious thinking. If India is a jig saw puzzle then this book at least manages to pick up quite a few pieces of that puzzle and put them together in the form of this book.

Most pieces are very interesting. More than anything else I discovered so many travel books that I can now pick up to read. There are so many writers who have written about their travels, and most of the times they have undertaken the journeys solely for the purpose of writing, at times it has been a part of their jobs and at times just a reflection on the travel that would be taking for other purposes. Lot of pieces will actually transport you to a different world and you would feel you have been there or would want to pack your bag and be there. There are pieces from eminent writers and journalists. There are pieces written at various points in time and would take you to the time before or after an important event in the history. In terms of spaces it covers Leh to Ghats of Benaras to interiors of Bihar to Darjeeling to Cherrapunji to Calcutta to Orrisa to Chennai to rural Karnataka to interior Gujarat to Mumbai to Delhi to Amritsar and the interiors like the land of Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi, and to some known and some not so well known places.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every chapter. In fact you may need to pause between chapters to be able to switchover from one time and space to another. Definitely recommended for anyone who likes to travel around the country and for those who would like to do some armchair traveling…

Mesmerizing Madhya Pradesh VI – Bhopal

Bhopal is probably one of the most laid back cities you would visit. For the capital of once the largest and still one of the largest states in India, the place is too quite and too relaxed. The first shopping mall is yet to hit the city and there are very few high rises that you would see. The roads are virtually empty and you can take a leisurely walk anytime around the city.

Bhopal, also called the city of lakes, is actually clustered around two huge lakes called the upper and lower lakes. The upper lake is huge and as you move around the periphery of this lake, you can see the Bhopal skyline on the other edge of the lake.

There are not too many things to be seen in Bhopal, but you can spend about half day going around, admiring the old Masjids, Birla temple and few museums. The new state archeological museum is quite impressive with numerous galleries depicting all kinds of art forms, sculptures, collections from pre-historic times to the modern day history. If you one of those who like to explore museums, you can easily spend 3-4 days studying this museum. There are sculptures that have been excavated from various historic sites in Madhya Pradesh. You would notice them in distinct colors of stone white, beige, green, pinkish, brown and hues of grey. You would notice sculptures from Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. There are some exclusive sculptures that I have not seen elsewhere. There is a miniature art gallery with a huge collection, a paintings gallery, a huge restored painting pre-historic bagh painting, collection of stamps, hand written letters by eminent people of the region, personal belongings of the local nawabs and kings, arms and some more things. The staff is friendly and would willingly guide you through the maze, though I wish there were guides or experts available to help you understand the nuances of the numerous artifacts in the premises.

Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya is a good attempt to depict the rural and tribal living of various parts of India in one place, but being in the open the place is difficult to go around, especially during the day. I think they need to add many more things to the place to make it truly a must visit place in Bhopal, which it has the potential to become. They can add the cultural activities, live food stall with local food, sell local stuff like clothes and toys there. Basically one should be able to do there, what the locals do. For example, a village must have some animals, and if the visitors want they should be able to tend to them, be able to participate in the village like activities. May be I am thinking aloud, but then merely putting up various types of huts is not that interesting for someone to make a special visit.

I asked quite a few people about what is special in Bhopal, anything special to eat or do, and the answer was always ‘What special, there is nothing special here, it is a normal city’. I tried to find out if there is a famous eatery, but the answer was again no. We could not spot any explicit restaurants, most of them were the ones attached to a hotel, and what I infer from this is that eating out is not really a culture here. The shopping places are usual bazaar style shops, again nothing very big. It is possible that we did not ask the right people, but then the people we asked were representative enough for the city.

As a traveler, Bhopal is like a junction which connects you to many of the scattered pieces of history around it. It can provide you the needed respite from hectic travels and render the clutter less living for few days. If possible, while in Bhopal. Stay by a lakeside hotel and enjoy the serenity of the place in the early morning and in the evening.

Mesmerizing Madhya Pradesh V – Bhimbetka

45 Kms south of Bhopal is the world heritage site of Bhimbetka, on the Bhopal Hoshangabad road. As you travel towards Hoshangabad from Bhopal, on your right you would be able to see rock formations on small hills, which at first sight would look intriguing. As you reach the road leading to Bhimbetka caves, you may have to wait at the railway crossing, which is mostly closed and is opened only when there are enough vehicles to cross and there are no trains in sight. But this is a point where you can refresh and fuel yourself at the MP tourism hotel, just before the railway crossing, as you may not get anything including water after this point. For photographers, this is a good point for taking a long distance shot of the rock shelters.

Bimbetka caves are one of the oldest known human habitations, dating back to some 10,000 years ago. The rocks here are estimated from the time when the area was probably ocean and the curved formation of rocks is said to be formed by the hitting of sea waves. There are more than 750 rock shelters that have been found in the jungles, with more than 400 with paintings, in and around Bhimbetka, but only about 20 caves are open to the public. These caves have paintings dating back from various periods during which they would have been inhabited. Paintings are primarily in red and white colors. There are few in green and yellow. Red ones are the best preserved, probably because of the rich color. White ones seem faded and are probably the oldest ones. At a lot of places, paintings have been done one upon the other, indicating that the artists have used the same space to paint and re-paint. The style of paintings resembles the Worli paintings and at times the Madhubani. There is predominance of geometrical drawings to depict figures. Only at one place could I find a non-geometrical human figure that looked like either Shiva or a meditating sage. Some of the paintings looks so fresh that it is difficult to believe that they are olden than a few days, and you have an urge to touch them and see if they have been recently painted. Some of them even seem to defy the dust that is all around.

Animals form the primary subject of paintings, followed by humans and occasional trees and flowers. Zoo rock, one of the most famous rocks here, depicts all kinds of animals, primarily in white color and some in red. It can be a good exercise to stand below this rock and identify animals. There are scenes depicting wars with the kings and the soldiers on horses. You can make out the king from his decorated horse and at times with an umbrella on top of his head. You can see the swords and other weapons used in warfare then. There are scenes depicting community living, with groups of people dancing, drinking, playing musical instruments, performing rituals and enjoying life. There are couples depicted. Most of the paintings are on the ceilings of the cave. The guide told us that this place was chosen by the painters as the water could not reach there and hence the paintings would survive. But my feeling is that there must have been paintings all around, but the only ones to survive are those where the water could not reach. If you observe carefully, you would see that the paintings on the outer edges are lighter than the ones away from the edges.

Apart from rock shelters, there is an enclosure like formation, which the guide would tell you, is a potential auditorium and this is the place where the community gatherings were probably held. The throne like rock in the middle probably belonged to the headman or the king. I would say in the absence of any references, all this is subject to our interpretation.

About 100 meters from the entrance of Bhimbetka caves, there is a cave temple, which is still a practicing temple. We were told that this temple was set by the Pandavas during their agyaat vaas or exile. In fact the name Bhimbetka also refers to Bheem, and literally means the place where Bheem used to sit.

For a change Bhimbetka caves are a discovery that has been made by an Indian, unlike most old structures which were discovered by the wandering British officers. They were discovered as recently as 1958 by V. S. Wakankar, who did the detailed survey of the region on behalf of the Vikram University, Ujjain. He classified the various types of rocks and rock shelters. Later the excavations were carried out by ASI and others. Before the discovery of these pre-historic caves, this area was thought of as Buddhist hills, sprinkled with various stupas. These caves indicate the continuous existence of human life in this region over the ages, from pre-historic time to right up to the medieval period.

The place left me wanting to see and explore more. All reviews of the place and all the previous visitors told us that you can not spend more than 2 hours and most tourists just spend about 30 minutes in the place, but I think I could have spent some more time and if I was allowed, I would have wanted to go and see more rock shelters. There is only one guide, who does a pretty shoddy job and wraps up the whole tour in 10-12 minutes. You can do much better by picking up the ASI guide and using it as your tour guide. With the guide in hand you can find the paintings on the numbered rocks and also read the complete description of the same.

The caves would leave you wondering if the painters would have ever thought that their pastime would become a peep into their lives and times for the generations to follow. You would also wonder do we really need anything beyond a roof on our heads and some food to eat, to lead a happy life.

A must visit for anyone interested in the history of mankind.

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Heath brothers have tried to explore what makes few ideas stick and present an acronym like formula for making your ideas stick. After reading the book I am not sure if they are talking about ideas that are creative or they are talking about how to sell your ideas.

They provide the following framework, called SUCCES to make sure that the idea sticks:

Simple: Find the core idea or the lead of the story and present it with full force. Do not let the core message get buried in a long story or a under the weight of information overload.

Unexpected: Take your audience by surprise, have an unexpected twist in your story and do not let them predict what you are going to say next. Now haven’t we heard that before?

Concrete: Do not talk in abstract language, which the authors say is for the experts. For the novice or the lay person, you have to talk in concrete words. Pick examples that can drive your point. They quote Mother Teresa saying that if she looks at masses, she can do anything, but when she looks at one, she acts. They advocate not talking in numbers and as and when you do talk in numbers, talk about numbers that the audience can comprehend and not the abstract data.

Credible: People listen to you if you have an established credibility. Now you may not always have established credibility for the idea that you are promoting, in which case you can always borrow the external credibility from the sources like research reports, established personalities in the field.

Story: People remember stories better than they remember names and data. Storytelling is an art which many have tried to dissect and convert it into a formula, but in my opinion it remains an art which is an inborn gift and is acquired by some over a period of time. Yes, stories do have am impact.

If this book succeeds in making its own ideas stick, I am not sure if the answer is ‘Yes’. It is one those American books that appear every year, somehow manage to get rave reviews, can be classified best sellers, but if they really say something new is a question. There may be few small insights here and there that you may use, but in general most of things it says is what you probably you know.

One interesting way to put storytelling from the book: Story’s power is two fold: It provides both simulation (Knowledge about how to act) and inspiration (motivation to act). Credible idea makes people believe, emotional idea makes people care and right stories make people act.

They keep repeating the ‘Curse of Knowledge’ throughout the book, which is something that has not become a mainstream thought process as yet. But with the abundant flow of knowledge from all directions and all kinds of sources, both the idea generator and the audience get lost, and create a gap in their understanding. I think this thought process will take roots and some people will work on researching how to combat this new found curse.

I think you can skip this book.