Aksharadhool

Wrestlers of Koh Ker

2012-03-01T10:43:00.003+05:30

Alarge statue of Garuda or Eagle, sculpted in sand stone, welcomesvisitors in the entry hall of the National museum of Cambodia inPhnom Penh. According to Hindu mythology, Garuda is a personalbearer of Hindu god Vishnu. This particular statue of Garuda wasshifted to the museum for safety from its original location in anancient capital of Cambodia, known as Koh Ker. This capital ofCambodia was set up by King Jayvarman IV (928-941 CE) during hisreign, 80 miles north of Angkor, and was known as Chok Gargyar (theIsland of Glory) or Lingapura then.

The old capital was a walled cityhaving an area of about 1.2 square Kilometers and had number oftemples including a 30 meter high seven tired pyramid.KohKer site is famous for its gigantic figures, human as well as animalsand was lost to history for over a thousand years. At the end of19^th century, two French scholars, Louis Delaporte andÉtienne Aymonier, rediscovered Koh Ker and its colossal sculptures.In this style of sculptures, the human and animal figures became freestanding for the first time in Cambodian history and there were noarches sculptured to support the figures. At Koh Ker site, asculpture commissioned by King Jayvarman IV himself, sometime around930 CE and consisting of two free standing wrestlers, was discoveredby the french scholars. In this sculpture, two figures of wrestlerswere more than 5 feet tall and each must have weighed more than 125Kg. The wrestlers wearing intricate headgear were shown in battleready stances.

Later,during Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia (1975-1979), the statues wereplundered or looted from the site. Those were the days of completechaos, power struggle and genocide, when looters hacked the longforgotten and inaccessible temples and pillaged priceless antiquitiesand sold them to western collectors. The wrestler's statues were alsohacked near the foot and at the ancient site of Koh Ker today, onlythe feet of the wrestlers, firmly anchored to the ground, remain.

Only the foot remains now at Koh Ker

One ofthe statues of wrestlers was traced by Archeologists in 2007 to theNorton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif. USA , where it has been ondisplay since 1980. the display board near the exhibit reads thefollowing.

TempleWrestler, c. 925-50

Cambodia:Koh Ker (?), Angkor period, 900-975

Sandstone

61-3/4in. (156.8 cm)

NortonSimon Art Foundation

M.1980.15.S

Statue at Norton Simon Museum Cal. USA

No oneknew about the whereabouts of the other statue till recently it wasfound in a lot, offered for auction by well known auctioneers'Sotheby'. The auction for this lot was to have been done about anyear back or in March 2011. The Brochure published by 'Sotheby'describes this statue as follows

SothebyIndian & Southeast Asian Works of Art sale will be led by aspectacular 10th century Khmer Koh Ker period Athlete from a Europeanprivate collection (est. $2/3 million). Acquired by the originalowner over 40 years ago, the figure is mate to the Koh Ker athlete atthe Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena that is almost identical inposture and physical appearance.The Khmer Athlete was commissioned byemperor Jayavarman IV (r. 914 – 928) for his new capital at Koh Ker80 miles north of Angkor. Koh Ker sculptures are among the greatmasterpieces of Khmer art. The impressive size and quality of thefigure reflects the prestige and importance of the ruler whocommissioned it as well of the skill of his craftsmen. The Athlete’spose derives from Cambodian dance postures which often depicted Hinduepics and mythology. These dances have been a constant feature in thecountry’s long history. The imposing stance of this figureindicates that it was more significant than a mere temple guardian.Indeed, the Athlete would have been a major mythological figure,instantly recognizable to the Khmer elite of the day and thisdepiction stands as one of the great achievements of Khmer art.

The wrestler as listed in Sotheby's catalogue

Thewrestler's statue was promoted and figured on catalogue's cover andalso was included in a news release by 'Sotheby's'. Statue was tohave been auctioned on 24^th March 2011. However, on theday it was to be sold, a Cambodian official working with UnitedNations, Mr. Tan Theany, wrote a letter to Sotheby's and told them that this statue was illegally removed from the site and askedSotheby’s to facilitate its return. After this, the statue with acatalogue price of 2-3 Million US Dollars was pulled out of theauction.

Second Wrestler's figure from Sotheby's Catalogue

Sothby'ssay that the seller is a noble European lady, who has acquired theobject in 1975 and as per their investigation, there is no proofthat it was taken illegally. A quiet tussle has been going on between Cambodian Government and Sotheby's almost for an year forthe return of the statue. Cambodia have even tried for a privatepurchase of the statue from Sotheby's. Finally after almost an year,Cambodia has finally made an official complaint to the US Governmentand have asked their help in recovery of the 1000 year old statue.The department of homeland security has opened an investigation.

Unitedstate have returned recently treasures to Baghdad museum, ransackedfrom there in 2003. A Marine Corps Reserve Colnel and a lawyer,Matthew F. Bogdanos, was recently awarded a National Humanities Medalfor leading the hunt for these treasures. He says that the timeshave changed and what was acceptable 50 years ago, is no longeracceptable. Sotheby's do agree now that there are widespreaddifferences in views over ownership of heritage and culturalobjects.

We canonly hope that matter gets resolved soon and the wrestler's statuereturns to its homeland, Cambodia.

1March 2012

Thieves of Internet

2012-02-29T10:13:00.000+05:30

Last week, I received an e-mail from one Mr. Avodoji Laro from Nigeria. I have never seen or even known this Mr. Laro. I normally assign such e-mails to my recycle bin. However, Mr. Laro's mail appeared to have been written exceptionally well and to the point, which really made me to read it. Acoording to this e-mail, Mr.Laro works in a well known and big bank in Nigeria. He had given detailed name and address of the bank and the branch. Mr.Laro, working in this bank as an 'Accounts relations manage' came into contact with an old account holder, who had a balance of few Million Dollars in his bank account. Since this old account holder had no near relatives to help him carry out his bank transactions, Mr.Laro was kind enough to help him, whenever he visited the bank and also visited his mansion couple of times, when requested by the old man.

About a month ago, this old man suddenly died. After few days Mr. Laro received a phone call, which was a big surprise for him. This old man had willed a large part of his wealth to Mr. Laro and he has suddenly become very rich. His intention now was to move his money out of Nigeria and move out to some other nation and settle there. Since Nigerian laws do not allow this kind of monetary transactions, Mr. Laro was soliciting my help and as a part of deal, was ready to pay me few thousand Dollars.I checked his address on Google maps. The Apartment complex, where Mr. Laro had claimed that he was staying, was clearly marked on the maps. Similarly his bank and the branch, which he had mentioned in his e-mail, was traceable from the official web site of that bank. All this appeared to be too Good to be true. The embedded principle in my head, over years and years of experience, that 'There are no free lunches' started ringing bells of caution in my head. Without any further thought, I just deleted the mail.

Nigerian Financial Institutions are under clouds of suspicion because of scamsters

Few days ago I came across an article on the net, giving account of similar kind of experience of another person, who in the process, had lost his own thousand Dollars. I then realized that the mail, which I had received was an attempt to deceive and swindle me. The story which I was told, turned out to be one of the standard weapons of these internet swindlers or scamsters. The 'modus operandi' of these operators runs mostly along these lines.

These swindlers suddenly send an e-mail to some ordinary unsuspecting e-mail holder, who may not be aware about the evils of the internet.
The e-mail usually narrates a long winding and sad story. The ending of the story in most of the cases is that the e-mail writer, who has acquired suddenly huge wealth is unable to send money out of his country.
If the e-mail recipient is agreeable to help the e-mail writer, he is promised that he would be paid a sum usually up to a thousand Dollars so as not to raise suspicion about the e-mail.
Once the e-mail recipient is trapped into this tale of bogus narration and is enticed with making few fast bucks for nothing, the e-mail swindlers create an hypothetical situation, which off course appears real to the trapped e-mail recipient, and gets him more and more involved with imaginary obstacles and possibilities of more gains.
Finally a situation is shown to be created, where it becomes apparent to the e-mail recipient that to get his reward, he must spend a small amount of few hundred Dollars.
Once this amount is sent by the e-mail recipient, suddenly the e-mail sender disappears.

It has been realized now that many of the internet swindlers are based in Nigeria. This country has now acquired such a bad name for the internet swindling that the Nigerian Government has been forced to take some action. According to the Cyber crime cell of US Government, Nigeria is now ranked third for Cyber crimes after US and England. But when we consider the fact that only 7% Nigerians have an access to internet, we can appreciate the large number of Cyber crimes that are originating from Nigeria.

An Internet Cafe in Festec, Nigeria

Festac is a small suburb of Nigeria's capital Lagos. In 1977, when the international oil prices had shot up all of a sudden, The Government in Nigeria had become super rich, over night. The Government came up with a bright idea of creating a permanent exposition of African arts near Lagos. Festec was planned and conceived in those days as the venue for this exposition with large parks and small housing complexes for the artists , who would come to Nigeria for the exposition. Initially this suburb was a very upmarket locality and many rich people had shifted their residences here. Slowly Festec became home for poor and in particular educated unemployed. As these people shifted to Festec, many internet cafe's opened up here to serve them. Most of the Cyber crimes in Nigeria are done through these internet cafe's.

Nigeria's Electronic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is now actively involved in controlling such criminal activity from Festec. Just in 2007 about 18000 Cyber crimes were detected by EFCC, out of which, most originated in Festec. Internet cafe owners claim that they can find t people who want to use the cafe's for criminal activity and boot out such persons. However the crimes continue and have even received some social status because Nigeria;s famous singer 'Olu' has come up with a hit song 'Yahoozee', which is about a cyber criminal. This song describes a person leading a life of comfort and luxury with money earned through Cyber crimes.

Aayo Olagunju is an economist and software expert based in Festec. He says with regret that Nigeria's Cyber crimes have become so extensive now, that even for genuine financial transactions, all Nigerian financial institutions like banks, have to go an extra mile to prove their genuineness and honesty.

Obviously the real culprit here for Nigeria's Cyber crimes, is the high percentage of unemployment in Nigeria's educated youth. Unless this social anomaly is removed or reduced to a large extent, it would be difficult to find a solution to Nigeria's Cyber Crimes.

Only thing we can do, as users of internet, is to remain on guard while using the net and not fall easy pray to temptations of easy money from the Internet.

Just for a bar of chocolate!

2012-02-28T08:54:00.000+05:30

Thisis a story of a person, who is obsessed with Chocolates. OurChocolate man, Claudio Corollo, is an Italian and was born inFlorence, Italy. He took his basic training from an agriculturalinstitution in Florence and later joined in 1974, an aid agency inCongo, Africa, run by an International aid institution. This workenabled him to tour the country exhaustively and learned about livingor surviving in equatorial rain forests. Caudio soon realized thebasic contradictions faced by such International aid agencies,working in developing but autocratic countries of Africa and decidedto leave his job. He then joined another company involved in growingand processing of coffee beans as a chief and learned the tricks ofthe trade. Claudio however, was not happy with the job and becameaware that his first love was always the Jungles of Africa and wouldany day prefer to stay there. He resigned from this job also anddecided in 1979 to buy his own coffee plantation.

Duringthis period, he happened to visit Lisbon, the capitol city ofPortugal. During his stay in the city, he went to visit there, theNaval museum of the Portuguese Navy. In this museum, Claudio came toknow about a minor historic fact. Chocolates that we all eat, arebasically made from the roasted beans of a tree known as Cacao tree.This tree is originally from Brazil in south America. Since Brazilwas a Portuguese colony, Portuguese cultivators had developed hugeCacao plantations, prior to year 1800, in that country. An yearbefore Brazil had declared independence (1822), Portuguese navy hadmoved large number of Cacao trees of original Brazil species to asmall island called 'Sao Tome' in south Atlantic ocean. 'Sao Tome'island is located directly west of the country known as 'EquatorialGuinea'. With these trees brought from Brazil, Portuguese planterswere able to develop Cacao plantations on that island.

Cacao Fruit

Claudiowas of the opinion that the present day Cacao trees are allgenetically modified to give maximum crop output and built indisease resistance, by hybrid plant production techniques. He feltthat even though the modified tree has all these plus points, it happenes only at the loss of original cacao aroma and taste. Claudiothen and there only decided, to hunt for the original specie Cacaotree, which Portuguese navy had imported from Brazil in 1821 on SaoTome island.

Hethen bought a coffee plantation on Sao Tome island and using hisprevious experience, started coffee production. During his sparetime, he kept on pursuing his ambition of looking for the originalCacao tree. In spite of his great efforts, he had no success asalmost all Cacao trees on this island were hybrid trees.

80miles south of Sao Tome island, there is another small island knownas 'Principe'. Claudio visited on this island a Cacao farm, calledTerreiro Velho, located on a hill slope. This farm had not beenexploited for Cacao production for at least hundred or hundred andfifty years and looked like a jungle to Claudio. In the midst of thejungle, which now existed on this farm, Claudio found a Cacao tree,belonging to original Brazilian specie, Which has a Botanical nameof 'Forastero Amelonado'.

Claudio,extremely delighted with his discovery, straight way brought the farmon Principe island and after meticulously cleaning the jungleexisting there, started cultivating the original Cacao plantation ina systematic fashion.

Claudio Corollo

Afterfew years, when Claudio received first crop of original Cacao beansfrom his form, he started his efforts to produce world's purest andbest chocolates. Claudio says that present day commercially producedchocolates, all smell of Milk and Vanilla essence. According to him, pure chocolate has kind of flowery and woody smell and it dissolvesin your mouth without a trace leaving behind only the real fragranceof the chocolate.

Roasted Cacao seeds

Toachieve this, Claudio has fixed his production process carefullyafter giving considerable thought to it. The Cacao beans are roastedin his Principe farm only before these are sent to his factory onSao Tome island. Here in the factory these are carefully inspectedand only good beans are selected, before grinding these to a finepowder. The powder is made into a paste by hand stirring only.According to Claudio, mechanized stirring of Chocolate paste spoilsthe taste.

Claudio'schocolate factory employees 13 people and the Chocolates are exportedto Portugal, Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan and US.

Everyevening, after the factory is closed, Claudio welcomes factoryguests, who visit his chocolate factory from distant places just totaste his Chocolates.

Afterreading and knowing about Claudio's Chocolates, next time I think ofbuying some chocolates, I am going to remember Claudio and hisuntiring efforts and search to find world's purest and bestChocolate.

Zubeida's crashed airplane

2012-02-27T12:43:00.000+05:30

Ialways consider, noted film maker Shyam Benegal's 2001 masterpiece,'Zubeidaa' as one of his best creations ever. The film has a powerfulstory, excellent production values and above all, sterling, once in alife time, performance of actress Karishma Kapoor, who has acted theprincipal role of 'Zubaidaa.' Many may think that this film story isan imaginary story or a work of fiction. But this may not be true.There was a real life Zubeida, and who did marry a Maharaja.

Reallife Zubeida was very beautiful and was born into a Muslim familyconnected with the films. She always aspired to become an actress.However, her domineering father got her married into an unhappymarriage, where she had a son. After partition of India, the marriagefell through and Zubeida was divorced. She met Maharaja HanuvantSingh of Jodhpur, who was a dashing man in his twenties and a keenhorseman, hunter, pilot, and amateur magician. It is needless to saythat being a Maharaja of the largest state in British India, he wasstinking rich also.

Zubeidaand Hanuwant Singh fell in love and had a passionate romance. Howevertheir affair did not meet the approval of the royal family. Zubeidabeing a divorcee , an actress and above all a Muslim. FinallyHanuwant singh had his way and managed to marry Zubeida. However,the young married couple was forced out of the royal residence 'UmaidBhavan Palace' and was forced to stay in 15^th centuryMehrangarh fort.

MaharajaHanuwant Singh was an immature and impetuous young man. He wasforced to succeed the Jodhpur Royal throne at an young age, due tosudden death of his father. There are many known instances of hisimmature behaviour, in the period just before Independence of India.He considered joining Pakistan at one point of time, which would havebeen a great shocker and a coup for Pakistan and had even threatened a Government of India emissary with a pistol. He always had onegenuine passion, that of flying. He was a keen flyer and had madeJodhpur and international airport, during pre-independence days.

In1952, Hanuwant Singh got involved into politics and proved to be abig headache for the ruling congress party as he won his seat for thestate assembly as well as for federal parliaments against thecongress candidates.

Afterthe polling, when it was clear that he would win by huge majority, hedecided to celebrate his victory by taking his beloved wife Zubeidafor a spin, over the deserts of Jodhpur in his favourite lightaircraft, a Beechcraft Bonanza. Hanuwant singh was always areckless flyer and was in habit of performing dangerous air stunts. No oneknows exactly what happened later. But Hanuwant Singh and Zubeidajust disappeared. The wreckage of the plane was later found out withHanuwant Singh and Zubaida both proclaimed dead.

No oneknew for sure, what was the exact reason for the air crash, as thewreckage of the plane also disappeared later and no proper inquirywas ever made.

Jodhpur Central Jail cellars

Recently,the staff of the Jodhpur Central Jail was looking through piles ofrubble in the jail's cellar, when they found the remains of theMaharaja Hanuwant Singh's Beechcraft Bonanza plane, which was leftunattended for last 62 years. The staff intially thought the wreckageto be from India-Pakistan war, because Jodhpur was bombed few timesthen. But later, the wreckage was found to be of the Maharaja'saircraft.

Jodhpur'sMehrangarh Museum

Jodhpur's Mehrangarh Museum, has now asked for the possession of the wreckage. The Mehrangarh Museum Trust, founded in 1972 by Maharaja Gaj Sing,who was a son of Hanuwant Singh, has sent a formal letter to thejail authorities, seeking possession of the wreckage. Jailauthorities say that they could take a decision only after Governmentclearance. The Mehrangarh Museum is a popular tourist destination.Every year, seventy to eighty thousand foreigners and more than 4 Lac(Hundred thousand) Indian visitors visit the museum. Museum directorsays that no decision has been taken regarding the course of actionwith the wreckage, but it would definitely be part of theircollections.

Onething is for sure, the wreckage, displayed in whatever form in themuseum, would be popularly remembered as a witness of Zubeida''s last moments if popularity of the film 'Zubeidaa' is taken as anyclue.

27February 2012

How hot is my Chili?

2012-02-26T12:35:00.002+05:30

About fifteen or twenty years ago, I had watched a Bolywood film titled as 'Mirch Masala' or 'Spicy Chilies'. This film was a superb end product of effective direction, a powerful story and really top class acting by Late Smita Patil. I still remember vividly, the final climax scene in which the heroine, who is a working single girl from a village, and her co-workers, defend themselves against a local warlord or government official and his police, who are bent upon molesting and abducting the woman, by effectively using red chili powder. After watching that film, I had become acutely aware about effectiveness of red chili powder, as a powerful tool of individual self-defense.

I do not know whether this film was a source of inspiration or not, for the scientists of The Defense Research Organization in India to take up a project and successfully develop the 'Chili stun grenades' as a personal defense weapon, using red chili powder. According to DRDO scientists, 'Chili stun grenades could be very effective means of defense against individual terrorists. These grenades also could be used to control uncontrollable and rioting mobs. These grenades neither inflict injury to any person against whom this weapon is deployed nor it is fatal. The target person is just stunned. Because of this reason, the chili grenades could be very effective in crowded places, DRDO scientists also have been able to come out with chili sprays, which can be used very effectively by individual females. The Chili seeds after processing have been used in these grenades and sprays.

All over the world, hundreds of different varieties of chilies are grown. Not all chili varieties are hot enough. Some varieties like Capsicum chilies are not hot at all. To measure the hotness of any particular variety of chili, Scoville scale of hotness is usually employed. Each and every variety of chili contains a chemical known as 'Capsaicin' and the hotness of the chili depends on the percentage of this 'Capsaicin' present in that chili variety. 'Capsaicin irritates the nerve ends on our skin as well as in our throat and we sense the feeling of irritating hotness.

Cassaicin in purest form, is given 160 Million points on the Scoville scale. On the other hand, Capsicum chili or Bell pepper, gets Zero points because of almost Nil percentage of Capsaicin present in this variety. Mexican Jalapeno or Hungarian Paprika chillies get in between 2500 to 8000 points. Tabasco chilies, which are used in preparation of famous Tabasco chili sauce, are given between 30000 to 50000 (30K to 50K) points. Normal Indian and Thai chillies are rated with 50 K to 100K points. The famous and very hot chili of south America known as 'Habanero' and Red chili from 'Guntur' district of Andhra pradesh state in India, are given between 100 K to 350K points on Scoville scale.

The red chili, which might be crowned as the Hottest chili queen of the world comes from the northeastern state of India and is called as 'Bhoot Jolokiya'. This chili on Scoville scale gets 1 Million points. This chili is so hot that Indian soldiers deployed in this region use it for a novel application. If a bunch or cluster of these chilies is kept hanging outside a soldier's tent, it prevents any wild animal coming nearer to the tent, due to pungent and irritating smell of 'Bhoot Jolokiya'. A small trace of this chili, if mixed with food, makes it very testy and generates improved blood circulation and a feeling of warmth for soldiers on duty in cold climates.

DRDO 'Chili stun grenade' makes use of the seeds of this 'Bhoot Jolokiya' chilies in their fabrication. Once this grenade cracks, the eyes of all persons in the vicinity are affected by turning blood red and watery to the extreme. Such affected persons start vomiting almost immediately and are forced to retreat. However there are persons, who are immune to the effects of 'Bhoot Jolokiya' chili.

In 2009, a lady from 'Jorhat', Asaam, Ms. Anidita Dutt Tamuli, had made a record of eating 51 'Bhoot Jolokiya' chilies publicly. Such persons would have no effect of 'Chili Stun grenades' for sure. But DRDO scientists say that such immune persons are extremely rare and this chili weapon would prove effective against most of the rioters or extremists trying to ferment trouble.

Tea Caravan Trails of Tibet

2012-02-25T07:01:00.001+05:30

Today, India is the second largest tea producer in the world. However, very few people are aware of the fact that till middle of nineteenth century, India did not produce even a Kilogram of Tea. Almost all the tea that was consumed in India, was imported from China. In the year 1835, a British officer, Dr. Arthur Campbell, planted few tea plant seeds in the compound of his bungalow in Sikkim with the help from the ruler of Sikkim, The Chogyal. The seeds grew into fine trees. Encouraged by the results, many British businessmen invested in Tea gardens in the Indian states of Asaam and Bengal and tea production took off in India.

Earlier to this, Tea was brought from Tibet, but was never produced there. This Tea was imported in form of very hard and black coloured bricks, each weighing 2 or 3 Kilograms. Many such Tea bricks were placed in lamb skins ,which were later stitched to make a package. Such tea packages used to come to India from Tibet. To make the brew from these bricks, a brick would be placed is a large steel pot filled with water and placed directly on the fire. The brew would be allowed to boil over the fire, till it was strong and dark. Salt, Yak butter and Barley would be added to the brew and the Tea drinkers would get their wooden cups filled from the pot on fire with the help of a ladle and satisfy their craze for this brew.

Even though the Tea bricks were known as 'Tibet Bricks', tea was never produced in Tibet. The Chinese province of Yunnan, which is located across the borders of three countries, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, produced all the tea and was then exported to India through capital of Tibet, Lhasa. The route through which the Tea bricks would be transported to India was a very difficult trail passing through mountainous regions and was known as Tea caravan Trail. The Silk route joining China with west Asia and east Europe is very well known. Comparatively, this trail is completely unknown.

Tea Caravan Trail became famous in western countries because of a totally strange reason. In 1933, James Hilton, a famous British writer came out with a new novel called 'Lost Horizon.' In this novel, the story goes on these lines. The aeroplane of the hero meets with an accident in the Himalayan region and he is forced to travel on his foot through a region stunningly beautiful. After his travel he reaches a heavenly place, called in the novel as ' Shangri-La'. After this novel was released, a debate was started regarding whereabouts of this heavenly place and which has gone on and on for last sixty or seventy years. Most interesting fact about James Hilton is that he had never even travelled in Himalayas. He had obtained the details given in his novel from some of his friends or acquaintances. The Chinese Government entred into this 'Shangr-La' fray in 2003 and declared that the village of Zhongdian on the border of Yunnan and Tibet is the official 'Shangri-La.' Since then, this village and the Tea caravan Trail have become very popular with western backpackers.

The Tea Caravan Trail actually used to start from a village known as Xishuangbanna located in southeast Yunnan. This place is actually in the vicinity of Mekong river. The region here is mountainous and hilly. Tea plants were grown and are still continued to be grown on the gentle hill slopes around here. The famous Tea from this region is known as “Pu'er” Tea.

This region is extremely picturesque with snow clad peaks in the background, forests of Deodar, Birch and Fir trees, abundance of beautiful blue water lakes and crystal clear weather with zero pollution. The trail passes through Lijiang and crosses Yangtze river near 'Tiger-leaping Gorge'. It continues to Zhongdian near Tibet border and then crosses into Tibet at Deqin village. From there it goes on to Lhasa through extremely mountainous region. From Lhasa the trail would reach Sikkim through Nathu-La pass.

Up to the beginning of twentieth century , all the Tea bricks would be carried by porters. Each and every porter would carry unbelievable loads on their backs, through this treacherous mountain terrain. Today we can only imagine their hard labour and efforts.

After 1962 war, between India and china, the Nathu-La pass was closed and the traffic on the Tea caravan trail stopped completely. On July 6, 2006, India and China reached an agreement to open this pass again for border trade. At present only local goods are being traded here. In 2012, this route is expected to be opened for international trade. It is likely that by then, this Caravan Trail would have transformed into a regular road suitable for motorized transportation.

I do not think however, that anyone would transport Tea by this route anymore.

25 February 2012

No train travel for me!

2012-02-24T08:04:00.001+05:30

Actually it is a fact that I love train travel. Travelling at a reasonable speed in a totally relaxed environment is what train travel really offers to any traveller. Besides there are no personally insulting, stupid, security checks when boarding a train. You can also carry along, whatever you wish and think, that is required for the journey. It could be food, drinks, gels, creams, milk, whatever it is. Once the train gets into motion, rhythmic clinking and clanking that goes on and on forever, always relaxes me completely and I could doze off for hours and hours. In spite of all my love for trains, I do not travel by trains anymore. There are several reasons. Surely, the most prominent reason perhaps, is lack of clean and proper sanitation facilities, offered on the trains in India.

It all starts with the station itself, where my journey is supposed to commence. Even before the arrival of the train, the railway platform and the adjoining railway tracks can no way be considered as a pleasant experience to the eye or more so to the olfactory or the cranial nerve. In fact, whenever I go near a railway platform, the first thing that I notice is the perennial smell of shit, which just engulfs me.

One of the filthiest and dirtiest sights in India is the railway track. The reason for this unhappy or smelly state of affairs is really the open discharge sanitation facility provided in the railway carriages in India. The railways on their part, keep on telling people not to use the toilets when the train is standing still in a station. However, most of the travellers just ignore this. This results into a frequent and often discharge of human faeces and urine on the tracks, even within the station premises. And if that railway station is a fairly busy place with number of trains passing through, then apart from the unbearable stench it creates, the practice also leads to clogging of rail lines at busy stations.

Indian railways is a gigantic operation with 43000 carriages carrying 30 million people over 64400 KM of tracks. And all over these Kilometers and Kilometers, waste from 30 million travellers is dumped directly on to the tracks, through small holes from western-style and squat toilets from inside the trains. Even the railway stations are not spared.

This all pervading smell of shit does not leave us, even when the train arrives at the station and we enter the compartment, because everyone in the overcrowded compartments has to use these open discharge toilets only all the time, which just keeps the smell going. Besides this, whenever the train approaches a city or a town, it is not unusual to see people urinating and defecating in public near train lines, particularly in suburban areas.

Last year I was forced to make an over night journey by a train as my destination had no nearby airport and the distance was large enough for me not to take a bus. I avoided using the carriage toilet to utmost. One trip, which I had to make to the loo, proved that my decision of keeping away was on the right track, as I found the loo in a terrible state because The train had already covered a long distance taking more than a day of travel and was then nearing the end of the journey.

A recent committee appointed by the Government, fortunately appreciates this fact. The committee report recommends that toilets with nil or harmless discharge be installed within the next five years in all 43,000 carriages used by the railways. In addition, the committee feels that “Apart from the issue of hygiene, this has several serious safety implications arising out of corrosion of rails and related hardware,”

Providing toilets with nil or harmless discharge on all 43000 carriages, is by no means small job. The safety review committee appointed by the railway ministry and led by top Indian scientist Anil Kakodkar estimates that 30 billion rupees ($609.5 million) would be needed to fit new toilets over the next five years.

I do not know from where the railway minister is going to find this money for this kind of non operational requirement. However, if he manages to find the money and elimination of open discharge toilets, becomes a reality in next few years, I am sure that many Indians like me, would quit the air travel and return to the clinking-clanking- rickety-do of the railways.

Let us hope for the best guys.

24 February 2012

Are we Special ?

2012-02-23T07:13:00.000+05:30

In the year 1543 AD, a book titled as ‘De revolutionibus orbium coelestium’ was published in the town of ‘Basel’. Unfortunately, the author of this epochal book, Nicolas Copernicus, had died by then and could not see his life’s work with his own eyes. In this book, Copernicus had stated that that the Earth is not the center of the universe, and that, as observers, we do not occupy a special place. Today, his idea that ‘We are not special’ is wholly accepted by scientists and is an assumed concept in many astronomical theories.

A sort of corollary could be drawn form ‘Copernicus principle’. If we are not special then there have to be many like us in this universe. As Copernicus principle became more & more acceptable around the world, many started believing in this and many still do. Mean while, as our scientific knowledge grew by leaps and bounds over the centuries and as our measuring instruments became more and more precise, our knowledge of various physical constants and parameters became highly accurate and reliable. With this new and precise data about physical parameters, a few surprising observations came to light.

In our biosphere for example, average temperature, level of oxygen and average salinity of oceans have been stable for hundreds of millions of years. By remaining in continuous state of flux or change, our planet seems to be defying basic law of thermodynamics. There are four basic forces of nature and hundreds of sub atomic particles discovered so far. Their masses and the forces with which they attract or repel each other are delicately balanced and poised with each other. A small mismatch can mean end of everything. Who tweaks their values so it never happens? How is this possible? Who operates the controls? are the basic questions faced by scientists today.

One of the simplest explanations can be given by accepting God as the master controller. But that is not a scientifically accepted principle. We therefore have what is called as ‘Anthropic Principle’. This theory proposes that there are many universes.

Exact number could be similar to Two Hundred and Twenty Ninth power of ten. This is an incredibly big number and out of such large alternatives we seem to have found a universe which suites us. Indeed a tall order to believe.

It is perhaps better to leave these things to philosophers and physicists and return to realm of real day-to-day world with the realization that our heavens and stars, our habitat, our biosphere and our planet earth have all contributed to give us this beautiful and extremely unique world. We may or may not have company. I always remember a very catchy phrase used by a world famous watchmaker in his advertisements. He says that you can never really own a watch made by him. You merely preserve it for the next generation. I think that this phrase very aptly describes what should our attitude be towards our ecology, our life style and almost everything.

I am not suggesting at all, that we return to dark ages. I love modern living and modern amenities. I like the convenience and safety provided by them. Even a generation back, health standards were pathetic in most parts of the world. We need all that and yet we must preserve our ecosystems and biosphere.

One may feel that it is a matter, which needs to be decided at international forums and by top echelons of Governments around the world. What can really an individual do? According to me, an individual person is the key here. He is the ultimate consumer and entire economics of the world works for him.

We may not be special in our universe but in our own ecosystem, biosphere we are special, and it may be a good idea to preserve and nourish this specialty for next generations to come.

Flowers bloom from a 32000 year old Fruit

2012-02-22T09:03:00.001+05:30

Many of us would remember the 1993 famous film by Steven Spielberg; Jurassic Park. In this film, dinosaurs were shown to be cloned from the DNA extracted from insects preserved in prehistoric amber. That might never happen in reality for the animal kingdom. Yet, Russian scientists have now revived a plant 32K years old, if not from Jurassic age, and shown that the idea is feasible at least for the plant kingdom.

A team of researchers from the Institute of Cell Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences research centre at Pushchino near Moscow, was carrying out research on ancient squirrel burrows, long hidden by layers of loose soil and snow but now standing exposed, because of their location on the banks of the lower Kolyma river on the tundra of northeastern Siberia. One of the member of this team, Stanislav Gubin,, who has spent years rummaging through this area for squirrel burrows, describes the discovery of 70 squirrel hibernation burrows that they found,

“The squirrels dug the frozen ground to build their burrows, which are about the size of a soccer ball, putting in hay first and then animal fur for a perfect storage chamber,” “It’s a natural cryobank.”

The burrows found by this team were sealed by windblown earth, soon after being dug by squirrels and were in the range of 20-40 meters (60-130 feet) below the present surface of earth in permanently frozen or permafrost conditions. The permafrost essentially acted as a giant deep freezer, and the burrows and their contents resided in this closed world -- undisturbed and unthawed, at an average of -7 degrees Celsius (19 Fahrenheit) -- for tens of thousands of years. The burrows were located in layers containing bones of large mammals such as mammoth, wooly rhinoceros, bison, horse, deer, and other representatives of fauna" from the Late Pleistocene Age.

Researchers found in these burrows, hundreds of thousands of seed samples from various plants. In this lot they also found fruits stored by ancient squirrel's and these were identified as those belonging to a flowering plant known as ' Narrow-leafed Campion' or in botanical terms known as ' Silene stenophylla ' plant. The fruits survived because the burrows were quickly covered with ice, and then remained "continuously frozen and never thawed," in effect, preventing any permafrost degradation.

A report now published by Svetlana Yashina and David Gilichinsky, who were leaders of this team , says that the researchers first tried to grow the plants in a pot in their lab near Moscow by using mature Silene Stenophylla seeds, but when that failed, they turned to the plant's placental tissue, the fruit structure to which seeds attach. The scientists extracted the so-called "placental tissue" from immature seeds and put it in a special nutrient solution, which imitated a growing plant, to successfully grow regenerated whole plants in pots under controlled light and temperature.

After a while, the tissue in petri dishes germinated into mature seeds, which were planted in soil and have grown into fully-blossoming plants. The scientists say that they found only subtle differences in the shape of petals and the sex of flowers, between the resurrected old plants and the present day Silene stenophylla plant, which still grows in the Siberian tundra. The plant now grown by Russian scientists , can be considered as world's oldest plant, as the claim is supported by firm radiocarbon date, which says that the fruits are 31800 years old.

However, in a tragic twist to the story, the team leader, David Gilichinsky died of heart attack just before the report was to be published.

23 February 2012

Singapore Memorial for Indian National Army (INA)

2012-02-21T07:28:00.000+05:30

Subhash Chandra Bose, perhaps the most charismatic leader of India, was one of the leaders, who lead India during freedom struggle against the British. He had paid a brief visit to Singapore in July 1945 to lay the foundation stone of an unusual monument. This monument was to be a memorial dedicated to the unknown soldier of the Indian National Army, fighting the British in the jungles of Manipur, Assam and Burma.

Subhash Chandra Bose at foundation laying ceremony of the monument

While paying homage to the martyrs of the INA, Subhash Chandra Bose had said, “The future generations of Indians who will be born, not as slaves but as free men, because of your colossal sacrifice, will bless your names and proudly proclaim to the world that you, their forbears, fought and suffered reverses in the battle of Manipur, Assam and Burma. But through temporary failure you paved the way to ultimate success and glory.”

A sketch of the original memorial built in 1945

The idea of 'Indian National Army' was first mooted by an Indian Prisoner of war, Captain Mohan Singh, in 1942 with the aim of mobilizing Indians in Singapore to support India's independence struggle. The Japanese thought it to be a good idea as it would have enabled them to exploit the anti British sentiments of the Indian community in Singapore in their favour. Japanese started openly courting the Indian community with broadcast messages that Japanese invasion of Singapore was actually an act of liberation. However distrust developed soon between Indian community in Singapore and the Japanese and the movement was disbanded in 1943.

Subhash Chandra Bose however saw the importance of this movement and sought active cooperation of the Japanese, who also believed in the movement's potential to satisfy Japanese goals, and agreed. Subhash Chandra Bose was, though a eminent leader and a former president of the Indian national congress, a born revolutionary and with his fiery speeches, managed to get a large support for the Indian national Army. The army after training, started their advance towards India from Burma and had even reached Imphal town on Indian soil. They were however beaten back by the British soldiers afterwords. The INA later collapsed and Subhash Chandra Bose disappeared from the political scene mysteriously. The Singapore memorial was built before the collapse, in memory of the soldiers, who had died in fighting in northeast India. The monument was completed in a short span of days and had following Urdu words inscribed upon it, which were the motto of the INA: Unity (Etihaad), Faith (Etmad) and Sacrifice (Kurbani).

The destroyed memorial after British reoccupation of Singapore

However, when British took back Singapore within two months of the completion of the memorial and Japanese surrendered to the British forces on 15 august 1945. After British takeover of Singapore, Lord Mountbatten, Head of Southeast Asia Command, ordered the INA Memorial to be destroyed.,

Both faces of the heritage marker built by Singapore Government in 1995

Singapore Government, realizing the heritage importance of this INA memorial, have erected in 1995, a solemn and befitting commemorative plaque, at the site of the INA memorial located in the Esplanade Park, Singapore. This plaque stands at a very short distance from the British war memorial, which also honours the Indian soldiers, who died fighting on the British side along with the British soldiers.

British war memorial in Esplanade Park

This commemorative plaque describes history of INA on one side and has words 'Indian National Army' written boldly on the other side. Recently there were some objections from some persons regarding having this INA plaque in Esplanade park.. Singapore National heritage board has since clarified that

“ It is not a 'memorial' dedicated to the INA but a World War II marker erected by the National Heritage Board (NHB) in 1995 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. It is thus a historical marker denoting the site of the original INA memorial demolished by the British in 1945 on their return to Singapore, two months after it was erected. Although several million Indian troops fought World War II as part of the Allied forces, there was a small number in the form of the INA who saw it, at that point in time, as their mission to free India from colonial rule. The INA marker is one of 14 World War II markers that attempt to be brief but vital points of reference for Singaporeans, providing a holistic picture of the war and its impact on Singapore. Coupled with the NHB's other heritage trails and markers installed around the island, Singaporeans, especially the younger generations, can discover more about our nation's shared history and heritage.”

Whatever may be the clarifications of the NHB, for thousands of Indian visitors to this monument like me, the memorial nevertheless reminds us of the great contributions made by Subhash Chandra Bose and his Indian national Army towards Indian freedom struggle.

21 February 2012

The Magnificent Palace of the Peshawa's -The Shaniwar Wada – Part III

2012-02-20T07:09:00.000+05:30

(This is an excerpt from a book written by Rao Bahadur D,B, Parasnis and published in 1921. I found detailed description of the Shaniwar Wada of the Peshawa's in this book extremely absorbing and thought of sharing it with the readers of my blog. The description is rather lengthy. I would therefore cover it in three parts. I request all my readers to read this and enjoy the magnificence of the Peshawa's and their palace.)

Continued from Part II

The first among the visitors was Major Price who visited Poona in 1791. He commanded a grenadier ompany in Captain Little's battalion and with it joined the Maratha army under the Brahmin General, Parashuram Bhow. He was present in the battle of Dharwar against Tipu Sultan in 1791, where he was severely wounded. On the surrender of Dharwar he proceeded to Poona where he remained attached to the military guard, or honorary escort, of Sir Charles Malet, first British Resident at the Peshwa's Court, until the Peace of Seringapatam. He visited the Peshwa's Palace on several occasions in company with Sir Charles Malet. He describes his visit on the 7th April 1791 in the following terms:

Sawai Madhavarao Peshawa

—

" The Resident, attended by the whole of his suite, European and native,and preceded by the escort of sepoys—about 80 in number —crossed the ford of the Moota; and proceeding through the middle of the crowded city, we came to the entrance of the Palace, which looks to the east*. This leading through a lofty gateway we passed to the left, along a very ordinary colonnade, which appeared, indeed, as yet in an unfinished state ; and at the termination of this, a sharp turn to the right, brought us at once into the Dewankhanah or hall of audience. This was spacious and lofty, but perfectly simple, and without ornament, unless we except the usual carving in the woodwork. The side towards the area—which

as far as I recollect was to the north—was entirely open, the roof being sustained by wooden pillars ; and the floor was covered, from end to end, with a spotless piece of white calico. The young Prince was seated on his regal cushion—or gaddy, his Minister, the veteran and intelligent Nana Furnoveis. on his right hand, and other functionaries, and military chiefs, forming a semi-circle at the head, and one side, of the saloon. "As we were, in conformity with prior arrangements, all in satin shoes and silk stockings,

we advanced without interruption, being, of course, announced by numerous choubdaurs, or silver sticks, towards the Prince, who stood up to receive us ; and having treated each of us, without exception, with the buggulguiry, or accolade—which was also done by the Minister—we all of us then seated ourselves, as best we could, upon our hams—as much as possible concealing the soles of our shoes, which it would have been considered the extreme of indecorum to discover. ' The Resident, communicated with the Peshwa, through the Minister, in a manner which appeared most cordial and unreserved. And I cannot forget the splendid display of jewels which decorated the person of the

young Prince ; but more particularly a superb necklace, descending far down the breast, and consisting of alternate diamonds and emeralds each fully as large as a nut-meg ; which must have been of inestimable value."

Another distinguished visitor Lord Valentia, who paid a visit to Poona in 1803, has left an interesting account of it in his travels. About the Palace he writes :

A Maratha soldier with his horse

—

" On entering the Palace, we found His Highness's cavalry and guard of infantry drawn out, with his elephants and suwarry ; they were by no means splendid. As we passed under the Nobit Khanah the kettle-drums beat. Within the walls the servants were all at their posts, and the crowd considerable. In the windows were numbers of the higher orders. We quitted our palanquins at the foot of the stairs, which we mounted, attended only by our Chobdars and Ausubadars. A small anti-room led to the durbar. At the door, I waited a few seconds, till I saw that the Dewan of the State, Sadaseeo Maunkesor, was sufficiently near ; when, having quitted my slippers, I stepped on the white cloth with which the whole room was covered, Colonel Close supporting my left arm. I embraced the Dewan, and presented the fficers of my suite. At this moment the Peshwa entered the room, and stepped on his guddi or throne.” " The Palace is a tolerable handsome building, and was very clean. The Durbar room is large ; it is supported by wooden pillars handsomely carved. His guddi was of white muslin, richly embroidered in gold and coloured silk. His attendants stood round without the pillars, except a few with silver sticks. Holkar did not much injure the Palace, but he carried away every thing moveable ; a small armoury and the elephant haudahs did not escape."

Sir James Mackintosh, Recorder of the Bombay Court, paid a visit to the Peshwa in 1805. He describes the Palace in his journal as follows :

Raghunathrao Peshawa

—

" We went about half a mile, or somewhat less, through the city, of which the principal streets are paved with flags, and which is reckoned one of the best-built native towns in India. The word Bhara (ivada?) which is the term for the Peshwa's house, ought not to be translated palace, because it is applied also to the houses of the other Mahratta Chiefs at Poona. From its size, it might well deserve the name ; the front is about the length of Somerset-house towards the Strand. We entered through a gate into a large square formed by the Bhara. The walls all around were painted with scenes of Hindu mythology. At one of the corners of this rather handsome square, we had a staircase to climb, which formed a singular contrast to the exterior of the building ; it was steeper than that which goes to the terrace at Parell, and not half so broad. At the top of this staircase was the entry of the hall of audience, where I left the splendidly embroidered slippers with which Colonel Close had furnished me. The hall was a long gallery, about the length perhaps of the verandah at Parell, but somewhat wider, supported by two rows of handsome wooden pillars, either of oak or of some timber exactly resembling it. (The width of which I speak is between the pillars.) Behind the pillars, on each side was a recess about half the breadth of the middle part. This apartment was carpeted, and near the end at which we entered was a white cloth laid, with three pillows : this was the Musnud, or throne."

From the above description it appears that Bajirao did not receive his illustrious guest in the Ganpati Mahal but in another hall, which is difficult to distinguish from others at this distance of time. The fourth English gentleman to describe the Palace was Lt.-Col. Fitzclarence who visited Poona on the 31st January 1818, shortly after the battle of|Kirkee, when the Peshwa Bajirao had already left Poona and the Palace was occupied by the British and turned into a military hospital. He

writes :

—

' The old Palace is surrounded with a wall and circular bastions, having an open space in its front. The walls of an inner court are miserably daubed with the Hindoo mythology, elephants, and horsemen. His Highness made but little use of this abode except on public occasions, though it contained the temple or

room for the yearly fete in honour of his protecting deity Gunish. " I found Mr. Coates in a deep verandah in one of the small courts, crowded with trees and shrubs, and he was so good as to shew us round the Palace. The great quadrangle is more handsome than that at Nagpoor, has sculptured wood pillars and cornices, which are very splendid, and the whole Palace is glazed throughout. A very fine room, with dark coloured wooden pillars, and carpeted with red cloth stuffed with cotton, displayed a full length picture of the Marquis Wellesely, which had been found neglected in a small adjacent apartment ; and near the likeness of this great statesman was a miniature of Sir Barry Close, also found in the palace, let into the wall in the plaster. There were also two very large well-fashioned globes, with the names in the Latin language, and also the . . .of silver. These, it was supposed, had been a present from the King of England to a former Peshwa, previous to the year 1788. From the top of the Palace I had a most extensive view of the city, camp, mango groves, the ruins of the Sunguni, and holy hill of Parbutty, to the south-east of the city. Poona, not having any suburb like Nagpoor, is inferior in population, and covers less ground. We now proceeded to the holy chamber, dedicated to a deity who could boast of an elephant's head and trunk, and who, to complete the interest he excited, was painted blue. He was sitting cross-legged, but we did not find this sapient gentleman ready to receive us, for after rummaging about, he was discovered put by in a cupboard, to keep him from the dirt and flies. The room is vaulted, and about fifty feet along, and very high, with a gallery which runs round it, like our music galleries in ball-rooms. It is one mass of mirrors, intermixed with green foil, inlaid with gilt wooden partitions and numbers of English cut-glass chandeliers. The decorations were covered, to save them as well as their master. To the fete in the honour of this tutelary divinity, the Resident was always invited, and the Peshwa did not himself do the honours, as he was also a visitor to his long-nosed patron. I saw here an English clock which was found going well, in the palace ; several large English books ,fine engravings, and the remains of a very large orrery nearly destroyed. There was, besides, a native map, but I imagine Goklah must have a better one, to have so long escaped our pursuing army."

This was perhaps the last description of the Palace that had been written while the building existed intact, for, in June 1818, the Peshwa abdicated his Gadi or throne to Sir John Malcolm and went to reside at Bithur near Cawnpur as a political prisoner of the British Government. Exactly ten years after this event the whole Palace was completely burnt down by a great fire on the 27th February 1827, which lasted for seven days, and except the heavy rampart, strong

gateways and buried foundations and ruins that still bear witness to the rise and fall of a mighty Empire, nothing of this majestic and magnificent building has been saved from the cruel hand of Time. It is only the Nagarkhana or music gallery on the top of the Delhi gate which once sang loudly the glories of the great Peshwas, now seen mourning in silence.

(Concluded)

20 February 2012

The Magnificent Palace of the Peshawa's -The Shaniwar Wada - Part II

2012-02-19T08:01:00.000+05:30

(This is an excerpt from a book written by Rao Bahadur D,B, Parasnis and published in 1921. I found extremely absorbing, the detailed description of the Shaniwar Wada of the Peshawa's, given in this book and thought of sharing it with the readers of my blog. The description is rather lengthy. I would therefore cover it in three parts. I request all my readers to read this and enjoy the magnificence of the Peshawa's mansion.)

(Continued from part I)

As the records show, the staff at the Palace or Shaniwar Wada, in 1779 contained the following :

—

480 Royal Guards,

229 Purandar Guards,

325 Kanadi Infantry,

34 Attendants of Royal Stables,

82 Royal Cavalry-men,

224 Infantry men,

76 Attendants,

1,690 Shiledars and bargirs

Thus making up a total of 3,144.

In addition to this there were 300 regular sowars or horse soldiers in attendance night and day. This number afterwords rose to 500. Such was the strength of the Royal household of the Peshwas. As regards the construction and style of the Diwankhanas or halls of this Palace, it may be said that they were generally of one pattern—" Kalamdani" meaning an oblong old inkstand fashion, one central hall with flat ceiling and small compartments with sloping ceiling on four sides. The ornamentation was generally of one pattern. The pillars supporting the main hall were beautifully carved out and shaped like cypress trees, and joined together on the top by engraved arches of exquisite workmanship. The ceilings were covered with beautiful wooden tracery in different designs and were painted with trees, creepers, flowers, scenes from the great epics, the Mahabharat and the Ramayan. Bhojraj, a very skilful artist from Jaypur, was specially engaged for the work of painting these halls.

The main Diwankhana or the Durbar hall in this Palace was the Ganpati Ranga-mahal. It was designed and built by Balaji Bajirao, the third Peshwa, for celebrating Ganpati Festival, in 1755. This historic hall was the scene of many political and social events and the famous picture of the Poona Durbar represents the remarkable assembly held here in 1791.

Captain Moor who visited Poona when the Peshwa's power was at its height describes the splendour of this hall in the following words :

—

" He (the Peshwa) has a very magnificent room in his palace at Poona, called the Ganes room, in which, on particular festivals in honour of Ganes, he receives numerous visitors ; I have seen more than a hundred dancing girls in it at one time. At one end, in a recess, is a fine gilt figure, I believe in marble, of this deity, and many other mythological decorations around it ; the other end of the room, bounded by a narrow strip of water in which fountains play, is open to a garden of fragrant flowers, which, combined with the murmuring of the fountains, has a very pleasing efiect. This room is well designed in Mr. Daniel's fine picture of the Poona Durbar unrivalled perhaps in oriental grouping, character, and costume. This picture was painted for Sir Charles Malet, from sketches by the Mr. Wales ; and the artist has chosen the time when Sir Charles, then our Ambassador at the Court, of Poona, attended by his suite, delivered to His Highness the Peshwa, in full Durbar, the treaty of alliance, ratified by his Majesty, between Great Britain and His Highness ; made, preparatory to the war between the triple allied powers and Tippoo, in 1790."

Ganpati Procession

Robert Mabon, a European artist, who helped Mr. Wales in preparing the sketches of the Poona Durbar and visited the Ganpati Mahal in his company about this period (1790-1795) has given a most graphic description of the Poona Durbar. " During my stay at Poona," writes Mr. Mabon,

" I had the pleasure of being introduced to the durbar, or court of the Mahrattas. After waiting there some time, in conference with several Brahmins, attendants of the Peshwa, he made his appearance. I made a salam to him, which he gracefully returned, and advanced to the musnud or throne ; on which he sat down, cross-legged, with attendants behind him, armed with swords ; one of whom was his chowree-bardar, with a large chowree, or whisk, in his hand to keep off the flies. In front of the Peshwa stood his chopdar, with a long silver stick, ready to receive any orders he might be pleased to favour him with." I sat down at a distance in the attitude in which the Peshawa was, viz : cross-legged, as nothing is considered by him a greater piece of impoliteness than extending your legs, or sitting in any manner in which the soles of your feet might be pointed towards him. He was of a fair complexion and appeared to be about twenty-three years of age ; his dress consisted of a long jama, or gown, of very fine muslin; a string of very large pearls hung from his neck, a considerable way down his waist ; a very fine red shawl, with a rich embroidered border, was thrown carelessly over his shoulders, wore a beautiful cluster of diamonds, the centre one of which was about an inch square, of a very fine water. On the top of his turban, he wore a small curvature of gold, about three inches high, richly set with emeralds and various precious stones ; over the right temple, from the top of the turban, hung several strings of pearls, which terminated at bottom by small red tassels. In this group, on the left, I was introduced to Nana Furanvese, his then Prime Minister, and formerly regent during the time the Peshwa was under age. It is to this sagacious politician, that almost all ascribe the present flourishing state of the Mahratta empire. His dress was much the same with that of the Peshwa, but not so splendid.” " The musnud, or throne, is raised from the ground about four inches, and consists simply of three pillows covered with dark green velvet, placed upon rich embroidered cloth, in the manner represented in the annexed sketch. Before the Peshwa, upon this cloth is placed his cuttar (Katyar) or dagger, beautifully enamelled with various devices : next to it, a small urn and plate, made of copper, enamelled, and his goolab-danee for sprinkling rose-water, richly set with diamonds; close to them, his betelnut-box, which is truly splendid, it is set so full of diamonds, that at a little distance, it appears entirely composed of them : next to it is placed a silver cup, for his saliva, on a towel ; and last of all, his sword and shield ; the handle of the sword is green enamelled, full of diamonds ; the scabbard is covered with red scarlet ; the shield differs in no respect from the common Mahratta one, otherwise than that the five studs upon it, are gold ; which, in that of a erson of inferior rank, would be plated, or perhaps plain brass. •' .... The room in which the Peshwa thus sits in state, has nothing of beauty or elegance to recommend it : on one side, is a row of wooden pillars, over which are hung purdahs, made of kincobs, or gilt flowered silk, which are so constructed as to bind up or let down as occasion may require. Opposite to these pillars, are a few windows made in the eastern mode, very narrow and

long. The Durbar is a very extensive building built in a style peculiar to the Asiaticks in general. " In surveying the Peshwa seated on the musnud, the eye is dazzled with the immense riches about him ; but his effeminate dress and unmanlylike attitude which the customs of the people make him under the necessi y of observing, takes away from that dignity in appearance, which an European might expect to see in a Prince seated on a throne. After remaining sometime with the Peshwa, betelnut was presented me, which according to their custom, is the signal to depart. I accordingly, after accepting of it, took my leave."

The Ganpati Ranga-mahal may be styled as the 'Diwan-i-am ' of the Marathas, as it had seen many

vicissitudes of fortune and witnessed many important events of great consequence. Here the great festival in honour of Ganpati was celebrated with eclat every year in the bright half of Bhadrapad which lasted for ten days. Here the Dasara Durbar was held annually on a very grand scale when all the sardars and military officers assembled to pay their homage to the Peshwa. The great Peshwa, Balaji Bajirao, celebrated his glorious victories in the north and south of India in this very building. His son Madhavrao I tried to regain the lost glories of the Marathas in the battle of Panipat by his judicious and wise rule in this Palace. His brother and successor Narayanrao was cruelly murdered in a corner room

of the main building. His posthumous son, Sawai Madhavrao, resided here nearly for twenty memorable years, while the administration was carried on under the sole guidance of the famous

minister Nana Phadnawis. His brilliant courts in the Ganpati Rang-mahal were thronged not only

by sardars and chiefs from different parts of the Maratha Empire, but by representatives and

envoys of European Nations and other Indian States. The marriage of the Peshwa was celebrated

here with great pomp in 1782 and the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Raja of Nagpur,the Raja of Satara and other Chiefs and Sardars from all parts of India attended the grand ceremony. The state entry of Sawai Madhavrao in Poona after the victory over the Nizam at Kharda in 1795 was the last exhibition of Maratha glory and power, which passed away with the death of the young Peshwa by an accidental fall from the first story of the Ganpati Mahal on a fountain in the same year. It may be interesting to note that all the ambassadors and representatives of the foreign powers were received and political business was transacted with them in this very Durbar hall. It is stated in old records that two members of the Bombay Council, Thomas Byfeld and John Spencer, were received here by Balaji Bajirao in 1756 and given dresses of honour worth Rs. 1,224. Here Mr. Mostyn, Col. Upton, and many other English gentlemen were received with honour and were presented with rich dresses and ornaments. It is said that Mr. Mostyn was charmed with the fragrance of the Peshwa's rose-water and expressed a desire to have a bottle or two for his use, but to his surprise next day, orders were issued to supply him half a pound of best rose water every day as long as he remained in Poona. The French representatives, M. Bussy and St. Lubin, were given audience in the same hall and received costly presents from the Peshwa. Since the establishment of the British Residency in Poona in 1786Sir Charles Malet and his suite were the constant visitors to the Durbar. They cultivated great friendship with the Marathas and kept up cordial relations with them.

This hall as well as others were surrounded by beautiful rows of fountains that used to play here on festive occasions. It may be noted that in India it was the custom from ancient times to erect fountains and gardens in Royal Palaces for the sake of pleasure, art, and beauty, and the Mogul Palaces at Lahore, Delhi, and Agra are specially famous for their magnificent gardens and ornamental fountains. The Moguls and Hindus like other Eastern nations were interested in art, and enjoyed beauty not for selfish purpose, but for religious and traditional ideas which they cherished most. The Peshwas too following the example of the Mogul princes adorned their palaces with beautiful gardens and water fountains, terraces, and pavilions. There are yet some traces of original fountains which confirm our belief that they were imitated from Mogul palaces in Northern India. Besides a number of fountains and gardens for ornamental purposes, the Poona Palace had some special fountains constructed most artistically

and ingeniously for the pleasure and joy of the Peshwa, Sawai Madhavrao. There was one celebrated

fountain known as " Hazari Karanje” or thousand sprayed fountain, in the western side of the main Palace which was an object of curiosity and wonder to the whole court. It had the shape of a lotus flower of sixteen petals—each petal having sixteen spouts with a circumference of 80 feet. It is said that in India there is not a single fountain like this anywhere having 196 jets, not even in Europe, excepting the celebrated fountain 'Fontana di Trevi ' at Rome. The water of this great fountain

played in hundred patterns while the sun for its amusement would make and break a thousand

rainbows. Like the Diana's Fountain at Versailles it was a favourite rendezvous of the Poona Durbar

and the young Peshwa Sawai Madhavrao was an enthusiastic lover of this wonderful sight. In the western side near the Ganapati Hall, there was another deep tank or well, built after the Mogul pattern, to exhibit shining waterfalls. The stone-chutes were so ingeniously cut that the water running over them was thrown down forcibly and broken into ripples and splashes. They were called "Chadars" meaning white shawls of water. Behind these transparent waterfalls a skilful arrangement was made to place coloured lights in the niches which gave a charmingly brilliant effect at night. The young Peshwa was very fond of these shows and used to invite his Royal guests to enjoy the delightful scene. It is on record that he had invited one of the Patwardan Sardars to see this marvellous water "Chadar" in 1780.

In this Palace the state rooms or Durbar halls were lofty and well arranged, and contained very rich articles of furniture and tapestry. The department of jewelery and library contained choicest and rarest things. The picture gallery possessed most valuable masterpieces of the old Mogul and Persian arts, and also finest specimens of old masters in Europe, mostly presents from foreign Nations such as the English, the French, and the Portuguese. The armoury was full of rare and curious arms, and the collection of arts and curios was placed in the Museum Hall known as Jinnas Khana. It contained chiefly foreign articles of art and mechanism including watches, clocks, globes, music boxes, and toys. According to oriental fashion these halls were tastefully arranged and decorated with wall paintings and were the objects of great admiration to those who had the good fortune to visit them. This brief account will hardly give a real idea of the pomp and glory of this historic building which it once possessed in the zenith of the Peshwa's power. Among Marathi records there are no descriptions preserved of this Palace, but fortunately they have been recorded by a few European gentlemen who visited the Poona Durbar on diplomatic mission or with an object of curiosity. Their accounts place vividly before our eyes a graphic picture of the old scenes of the Palace, and it is hoped that the following extracts will be found highly interesting.

(To be continued)

19 February 2012

The Magnificent Palace of the Peshawa's -The Shaniwar Wada Part I

2012-02-18T10:24:00.003+05:30

(This is an excerpt from a book written by Rao Bahadur D,B, Parasnis and published in 1921. I found extremely absorbing, the detailed description of the Shaniwar Wada of the Peshawa's, given in this book and thought of sharing it with the readers of my blog. The description is rather lengthy. I would therefore cover it in three parts. I request all my readers to read this and enjoy the magnificence of the Peshawa's mansion.)

Photograph taken in 1860

The Shaniwar Wada was the most magnificent and stately mansion that was ever built in Poona by the Peshwas in the 18th century. The foundation stone of the building was laid by Bajirao I (1720-1740) on Saturday, the 10th of January 1730, being an auspicious day. On this occasion, according to state records, Rs. 1-8 Anaas, were spent in charity. There is an interesting legend about the site selected for this historic building. While riding over this ground, the Peshwa Bajirao saw, to his great astonishment, a hare chasing a hound, which struck to his mind that there must be something very auspicious in this place, where a hare forgetting its natural timidity boldly chased a dog. He at once resolved to secure the site and build there a house for himself and his family. At that time, this piece of land was included in the ' Kasba ' or village of Poona which was enclosed by a mud wall. It contained only a few huts of fishermen and weavers, from whom Bajirao acquired five acres of land by exchanging with them suitable sites in Mangalwar Peith and commenced the building rapidly. Within an interval of two years, a two storeyed Palace with three quadrangles sprung up to be the focus and centre of all the life and movement of the Maratha power. The opening ceremony of the Palace was performed according to Hindu religious customs on Saturday, the 22nd January 1732, when Rs. 15-8 Anaas, were paid in charity to Brahmans. It is stated that the total expenditure incurred on this Palace came up to Rs. 16,110.

As conceived originally the plan of the Palace was very simple and elegant and only the Diwan Khana or the main hall oi audience contained some ornamental carvings. It was the third Peshwa, Balaji Bajirao (1740-1761), who made several additions and alterations, and added much splendour and beauty to this fine mansion. He devoted his store of knowledge as well as money and patience in turning out this edifice to be an object of great delight and admiration. Later on, Nana Phadnawis, Prime Minister to Sawai Madhavrao (1774-1795), constructed a few more rooms and halls, galleries and towers, pavilions and fountains, and made the royal residence truly majestic and grand, worthy of the great rulers of Maharashtra.

The Palace was destroyed by fire in 1827 and now there remain only the fortified enclosure wall, and the five gateways, and nine bastions. It is therefore impossible to form a correct idea of the actual building which existed in the heyday of the Peshwa's power. The foundations of the Palace and various other buildings in the extensive compound which covers about five acres of ground have been recently unearthed by the Archaeological Department. They give us a faint idea of the original plans of the building but no picture of the real magnificence and greatness of this royal mansion. It is said that only one mirror-hall survived the great fire of 1827, but that too was scattered owing to the want of historical interest in these days. It is only latterly that Government have been taking great interest in the preservation of objects of historical and archaeological interest, and thanks to H. E. Sir George Lloyd, whose genuine interest and wonderful energy have enabled us to see the old foundations and remains of the Peshwa's Palace, which were buried under heaps of debris for nearly a century. The main building of the Palace consisted of six storeys and it is said that the spire of the Alandi temple could be seen from the uppermost terrace of this building. Sawai Madhavrao Peshwa used to enjoy a beautiful view of the Parvati temple and of the city from the terrace of his Meghadambari room, and often spend evening hours looking at the stars in the sky through a telescope which was presented to him by Sir Charles Malet, the British Resident at his Court.

The height of the main building can be imagined by the height of the existing Nagarkhana (music gallery) from the of which the royal standard of the Peshwas waved proudly day and night. The main entrance to the Palace is known as Delhi Gate as it faces Delhi in the north. Raja Shahu of Satara told Bajirao I, not to put the main entrance to the north as it would mean a disrespect to the Mogul Emperor of Delhi, whom Raja Shahu held in great respect and to whom he acknowledged his allegiance. In deference to the wishes of his master the Peshwa stopped the work ; and the present massive gate which still indicates the former greatness of this Palace was the work of Bajirao's son, Balaji, who completed it in 1751 after Raja Shahu's death. It may be worthy of note here that the design of the entrance gate is exactly a copy of that of Indraprastha, the ancient Hindu capital of the Pandawas, in old Delhi. The Peshwas, being devoted Hindus, selected the design of the gate of Indraprastha, or Purana Killa, instead of imitating the magnificent gates of the Mogul capital.

As mentioned above, the Palace had five principal gates and they were named as follows :—

1. Delhi Darwaja—as it faces the north.

2. Ganesh Darwaja—as it was near the famous Ganpati Mahal.

3. Mastani Darwaja—which is mentioned in old records as Natakshala gate, was

named after Mastani, the beautiful mistress of Bajirao I, who was brought from

Raja Chhatrasal of Bundelkhand. Nana Phadnawis afterwards called it ' Ali Bahadur Darwaja ' after the grandson of Mastani, who conquered Bundelkhand

and founded the Banda State.

4. Khidki Darwaja—which was always closed and the entrance was open through a small window. This Darwaja is now known as ' Kavathi ' on account of a Kavat tree grown near it.

5. Jambul Darwaja—owing to a tree of Jambul.

Of the four fortified walls two measured 200 yards in length and 20 feet in height, two 150 yards of the same height. They contained in all nine bastions built of stone below and brick above,of which four are at the corners and five in the

middle of the rampart.

The palace contained four large courts or chouks and several halls or state rooms

known as Diwankhana'

1. Ganpati rang Mahal- Hall of audiences

2.Nachacha Diwankhana- Dancing hall

3. Arse Mahal—Hall of mirrors.

4. Juna Arse Mahal—Old Hall of mirrors.

5. Dadasahebancha Diwankhana—Hall of Raghunathrao Peshwa.

6. Thorlya Rayacha Diwankhana—Hall of the first Peshwa.

7. Narayan Ravacha Mahal—Hall of Narayanrao Peshwa.

8. Hastidanti Mahal—Ivory hall.

Besides these, there were many other rooms and apartments assigned to dijierent members of the royal family and to several departments of the household such as Treasury, Store room, Record room, Library, Jewellery room, Armoury room, Medicine room, etc., etc. The vast household was well regulated and controlled, separate officers being appointed for the supervision and management of the Palace. There were regular guards and patrols placed inside and outside of the Palace.

(To be continued)

18 February 2012

Siachin- World's highest battlefield

2012-02-17T13:00:00.000+05:30

Jammu & Kashmir state of the Indian Union has been involved in a quagmire of controversy, ever since the Maharaja of the erstwhile kingdom, signed the instrument of accession in 1947. This state, even before accession to India, always had international borders with China on east and Afghanistan in the north. In 1947, when British India was divided into Pakistan and India, the state was attacked by Pakistan army invading under the disguise of Tribal warriors from Northwest. After the accession to India, Indian army had to land in Kashmir and fight back the invading Pakistani army. In this war, most of the Kashmir valley was won back by Indian forces and Pakistani forces were forced to retreat to west of Pir-Panjal mountains. Pakistan continued to hold the Baltistan region in north of Ladakh. The Prime Minister of India then refereed the matter to United Nations Security Council. After that, Pakistan has embarked upon three unnecessary wars with India over Kashmir. However, today, after 65 years, the Indian and Pakistan forces keep holding the same positions in spite of these three wars.

As an aftermath of the 1971 war between India and Pakistan over Bangladesh independence, a treaty known as 'Shimla Accord' was signed by India and Pakistan. The cease fire in Kashmir was made formal and was named as Line of Control or LOC. This line starting from south, runs parallel to India-Pakistan international border upto Keran village in Kupwada district. It then turns right passing over Dras and Kargil regions of Ladakh. The line again turns north and ends at a point located on a snow clad peak known as NJ 9842. The 1949 Karachi agreement between India and Pakistan mentions this point and says that this line would go further to “ thence North to the glaciers.”

If we study the geography of the state of Jammu & Kashmir, it can be seen clearly that four mountain ranges divide the state into four natural parts. All these four mountain ranges run in southeast to northwest direction. The Jammu region adjoining Panjab state and the Kashmir valley are divided by Pir-Panjal range. The Nun-Kun mountains to the east of Kashmir and the Zanskar range box between them the Zanskar valley. Ladakh plateau lies between Zanskar ranges and Ladakh ranges. To the north east of Ladakh plateau and the south Karakoram ranges, the Shoyok and Nubra vallys are the last areas of habitation. To the east of Karakoram mountain lies the Tibet region. To the south end of Karakoram mountains and to the east of Leh city, the famous Karakoram pass is located. Till 1950, this was a trade route between India and Xinjiang province of China.

The LOC between India and Pakistan, crossing all these mountain ranges except Karakorams, ends at point NJ9842 roughly to northeast of Leh city but to west of Karakoram ranges. According to Shimla agreement, since entire region east of this pint right up to Tibet consists of inaccessible mountains terrain and glaciers, both the countries might have then decided to keep this as no man's land. India had assumed that this line eventually would go along the Soltoro ridge keeping Siachin glacier within India till a point on Rimo glacier, where it would meet the Chinese border. Pakistan according to its convenience decided that this line would run west to east from NJ9842 to Karakoram pass. This would have enabled Pakistan to connect the regions of Skardu and Baltistan straight to Chinese borders.

Pakistan started allowing foreign mountaineering expeditions in the Siachin region and the first Japanese tema carried out an expedition there in 1978. Pakistan's idea behind this permission was a clever one. It was thought that once the international expeditions come to know that Pakistan's clearance is all that they require , internationally it would be assumed that it is a part of pakistan. When the Indian army headquarters came to know of this development, they started sending Indian army teams to Siachin region in summer. The plan was to dissuade any foreign mountaineers from climbing in Siachin and tell them that they have entered unauthorizedly into Indian territory.

Nubra River basin

On 21^st August 1983, Pakistani army commander in Kargil sector complained to his Indian counterpart that Indian forces are crossing the LOC, which runs from NJ9842 to Karakoram pass, and venturing on to Siachin glacier. In reality this was the first step of a great strategical move panned very carefully. The Indian army high command, when realized the true intentions behind the complaint, immediately carried out the reconnaissance and found out that out of four passes that are available for entering in to Siachin from Pakista's side, Pakistani soldiers have occupied parts of Bilafond La. An army contingent was immediately dispatched to Siachin. However this contingent realised that very large number of Pakistani soldiers were present in that area and made a retreat. After studying the actual ground situation, the army HQ decided to send army units to Siachin before onset of summer in next year or 1984 and started preparations.

The Region east of point NJ9842

How is the Geography of this region, where Siachin glacier is located? Some authors have called it as the roof of the world. Some call it as the third pole. This glacier flowing at an avarage height of 15000 feet is spread over 72 KM. On both sides of this glacier snow clad peaks of the Karakoram up to 23000

feet tower above the glacier. The south Karakoram ridge extend on the east side whereas Soltoro ridge extends on the west side. Biting cold snow blizzards and winds blow here all the time. In winter the temperatures drop down to -40 degrees Celsius. Indian army HQ realised that if this region is to be taken under military control, it would be necessary to control the peaks on the western side or the Soltoro ridge. Otherwise Indian soldiers on the glacier would be just sitting ducks for the enemy and would be practice targets. It was a very tough task as establishing army outposts at such heights was not easy at all. In spite the advercities, Indian army was successful in establishing series of outposts on the Soltoro ridge by March/April 1984. When Pakistani soldiers arrived in this area again in the month of May, they found that Indian soldiers have occupied all the poasses leading to Siachin namely Sia La, Bilafond La, Gyong La and Chulung La. When it was realised that all the Siachin passes are now controlled by India, Pakistani soldiers retreated and established outposts on the western ridges of Soltoro. After this the war broke out.

Mouth of Nubra River

Siachin Glacier

A Siachin Glacier Photograph

To capture outposts on Soltoro ridge is an impossible task for any infantry unit and Pakistan army failed in their objectives totally. Since 1984 the military situation has remained more or less same till date. India controls Soltoro ridge, Siachin glacier, all passes that lead to the glacier and major parts of Shoyok and Nubra river basins.

Soltoto ridge from west (Pakistani side)

Many persons have questioned this occupation of siachin by Indian forces. Army HQ says that to protect Leh and the towns to the north from possible invasion this step has been taken and this seems to be quite true. If we study the geography of this region, the importance of Siachin can be easily appreciated. From Soltoro ridge, the Pakistan occupied Skardu region is just 40 miles away. The Siachin is shaped like a dagger into north and India's control over Siachin is perhaps the biggest headache for any expansionist plans of Pakistan. To secure this region, controlling Siachin is essential. There can be no two opinions about it.

Indian Howitzers in Siachin

After 1997, Government of India, opened up the Siachin region for mountaineering for Indian and foreign teams. In 1998, a Mumbai mountaineering team led by Mr. harish Kapdiya was allowed the access here. He traveled the entire Siachin glacier from Nubra river mouth to Northernmost Indira Col. A desciption of his travel can be read on this link. The point where Siachin glacier meets the Chinese border, a mountain range blocks further travel. A saddle in these mountaines has ben named as Indira Col. This name has been given much before independence(1912) and is of Goddess Laxmi. Indira Gandhi's name is not connected with this place in any way.) However it is a strange coincidence that the northernmost point of India, which is in India's possession at present and the Southernmost point on the tip of Nicobar islands are both named as Indira. A mountain pass to the east of Indira col. Leads to Xinjiang region of China. In 1889, Francis Younghusband, a British officer had entered Xinjiang through this pass only.

Many question about keeping army in Siachin, which requires a huge cost. I have mentined above the answer given by defense ministry. However there happens to be another more important strategic reason. Upto 1950, trade was carried through Karakoram pass between India and central Asia and Russia via Xinjiang. The famed Nathu La pass for the gun battles of 1965 is fats becoming a center for border trade between India and China. Similarly Karakoram pass has excellent possibilities of becoming a trade route of the furure for trade with China, central Asia and even Russia. Once the Rohtang tunnel is completed the Manali-Leh road would be an all weather road to Padm and Leh in Ladakh. Once this happens, a trade route through Karakoram pass is in the realm of reality. But for this to happen, this entire region has to be secured militarily. This can be achieved only if Soltoro ridge and siachin are firmly in India's hands. The presence of army there, whatever may be the cost, is essential for the future.

Garden Connector ; A Photo Blog

2012-02-16T13:03:00.000+05:30

One of the high points of Singapore is that even in very ordinary locations, you might come across a spot, which is staggeringly beautiful. The narrow sea channel between Malaysia and Singapore is called ‘Selat Johar’. There is a storm drain canal, built to carry the storm waters to ‘Selat Johar’. A beautiful walkway with mettle surface, has been laid on the embankment of this canal. A leisurely walk along this walkway, takes one straight to the sea channel.

Thick tropical rain forest, with some trees as tall as sixty to seventy feet, could be seen on one side of this road. This makes this entire area staggeringly beautiful.

I take my daily morning walks on this walkway. Earlier, when I was staying in California, I used to take my daily walks along a picturesque street, lined with maple trees and had always considered that street (particularly in fall time) to be the most beautiful path on which I have ever walked. Yet beauty of this garden connector (as it is called here), in some ways, certainly surpasses that of maple street. This connector walkway has been laid along a side of the floodwater canal.

On the other side of this canal, sheer majesty of a tropical rainforest gives me company all along.

The tall trees and the thick grasses create certain kind of mystic air and as the dawn breaks, water vapours gently rise up from the rain sodden and moist forest, enveloping it in a foggy blanket, which further accentuates the mystic aura.

Beautiful flowering trees and shrubs have been planted on both sides of this walkway, giving the look of a garden path to this way. Few weeks back, I noticed many ‘Bottle Brush’ trees in full bloom with bright yellow flowers.I also notice along the way, many varieties of Acacias and Crotons with their multicoloured leaves.

Behind these shrubs, lush green grass grows on sloping land forming a nice backdrop. At few places, spiders lay out their white fluffy webs on the moist grass hoping for a meal. The webs shine and glisten in the early morning sunlight.

The walkway is serenely quiet except for chirpings of all kinds of birds as a backstage musical score. Sometimes, battalions of birds start it at the same time to reach a crescendo, creating a virtual cacophony, which usually lasts for a few moments, later returning the walkway to normal calm.

The calm sometimes gets disturbed with huffing and puffing of an odd jogger or when a bicycler whizzes past you.

After a distance, the walkway turns sharply to the right. Not far from here, the land breaks and a clear open view of the sea channel with details of Malaysian coast emerge before my eyes.

This sight of the sea always brings a sense of freedom to my mind.

However, this is the point of return for me and I stop and turn back. A feeling of contented satisfaction lingers in my mind.

Qalandar

2012-02-16T07:13:00.002+05:30

In the 1970-1980 decade, all audio-video media in India, were exclusively owned by the Government of India. Leaving aside 'Vividh Bharati' radio station, which broadcast mostly Bollywood films music, All India Radio and DoorDarshan TV channel used to broadcast every day and night, the programmes produced by Delhi mandarins all the time. These programmes were tedious and ill-famous for their irksome and boring content. Since there was no other alternative, people were forced to watch only those wretched programmes. The Bangladesh war was then just over and some cultural exchanges were taking place between India and that new born country. As a part of that cultural exchange, a famous Bangladeshi singer, Runa Laila, had then visited India. Runa had a golden voice and was strikingly beautiful. To the great surprise of all of us, state owned DoorDarshan TV channel had actually telecast a live performance of this singer, which was an absolutely thrilling experience in those dreary days, because of Runa's superb voice quality and very unusual methos of presentation. In that performance, Runa had presented a Sindhi song ' Dama dam mast qalandar', which had become later a smashing hit.

I had asked one of my Sindhi friends then, about the meaning of this song. To my surprise, he had told me that this song was in praise of saint Zulelal, who has a place of extreme esteem, respect and regard in the minds of all people from Sindh.(Now a part of Pakistan). I was quite curious about a word 'Qalandar' from this song. The meaning, which I knew of this word, was ' a person who lives carelessly and rakishly his life, to his own whims and fancies.'and could in no way be considered as an adjective singing praises of someone. I was puzzled, how a saintly person could be described by such an adjective? In a song, which is supposed to praise him.

Recently a very popular reality show, on one of the TV channels, had arranged a singing competition, known as 'Little Champs' for kids. In one of the transmissions, a small 7 year old girl had sang this very song and the response, which she had received, showed that this song, even after so many years, was still very popular. I was again reminded of the word 'Qalandar' and my old curiosity was back in my mind. I decided to look for the meaning of this word on the net. The meaning and history of this word turned out to be very interesting and an old riddle in my mind was resolved finally.

Qalandar is originally a Persian word and there is a funny story about it's origin. Around 1231 AD, a young man named as 'Jalalludin' was living in a village called 'Saveh' in Persia or Iran. He was a saintly character who followed strict celibacy or chastity. Being a very handsome male, one of the rich and young girls from the village, fell in love with him for his manly looks. She invited him to her house under some pretext and then locked him in a room and told him that he would be released only when he marries her. Jalalludin was caught in a very tight spot. He asked the girl, permission to go to a toilet. When he came out of the toilet, and the girl saw him, she started screaming because he had shaved of all hair from his body and head. Jalalludin was released immediately.

Being of a saintly and pious mind from beginning, he decided now to give up all his worldly possessions and started living as a Fakir or saint. Some like- minded disciples soon joined him. He founded a new 'Sufi Panth' or sect called ' Qalanariyya'. The basic tenet of this sect was to wonder around continuously without enjoying any stability and luxuries of life. Later on, this sect was identified and known as 'Dervish'. Complete celibacy, neglect of the body with fasting and living in abject poverty with begging for food was the original life style of Qalandars. They were also expected to behave in strangest and unconventional manner in society. Qalandars were expected to break with all expected norms and practices of the society and were banned from praying to any God even. The original meaning of the word 'Qalandar' in Persian language is an ugly and unpleasant creature, any way.

Because of their continuous wondering habit, this sect became popular in Damascus, Jerusalem and Damietta in Egypt. Encyclopedia of Islam compares Qalandars with hippies. By 1360AD, the social status of Qalandars became so prominent in Egypt that the Sultan of Egypt decided to get rid of them and ordered to give them lashes and then release them outside Egypt's borders.

Slowly Qalandars started getting a place of great respect and honour in Islamic societies. The word Qalandar now acquired a very respectable and venerable meaning. Because of this Sindhi people call saint Zulelal as Qalandar.

The region of Sindh is only few hundred kilometers from other states in India. Even then, the meaning of the word, surprisingly has made a complete somersault these few hundred kilometers.

A museum of the heartbroken

2012-02-14T16:01:00.001+05:30

Just across the city hall of Zagreb, capital of Croatia, where many young couples get married, a very novel museum has been set up by one Drazen Grubisic and his co-founder Olinka Vistica, who is a film producer. They call it The museum of Broken Hearts. Drazen Grubisic says that “The objects that are here represent all the stages of a breakup ... and how people go through love,” The museum is an aftereffect of a broken marriage between two founders of the museum, Drazen and Olinka themselves.

When they split up, they did not know, how to divide their sentimental memorabilia. So they thought of creating this museum of love but in an inverted sort of way. They went on to collect about 1000 relics of broken love and the museum displays about 100 of these. Some of the relics of love have come from Manila, London and Singapore.

Each and every item on display, which by itself, is a complete story of romance, passion and heartbreak, is arranged in the museum with dates and locations of the relationships. There are also notes by their donors, who for obvious reasons are anonymous. Here are some of the items displayed at the museum.

A war veteran from England with a prosthetic leg, fell in love with his physiotherapist, which did not last. His prosthetic leg is displayed with a note that it lasted longer as it was made of sturdier material.

A lady has contributed an axe which was used to smash every piece of furniture in the house after the heart break,

When the romance between a Malay lady and a Chinese man, who met is Singapore, broke up, a stuffed bear soft toy was all that remained of the relationship. The man called this toy as my Malay bear.

A small figurine of a small humanoid creature, known as Gnome and with smashed up face, is a witness to a stormy break up, as it was thrown at the husband trying to speed away.

A pair of soft fluffy handcuffs (Only God knows for what purpose!)

Mr Grubisic, sums up saying that “Maybe sometime in your life you will want to remember some of the good parts of the relationship,” and says further that “They can move on,” but. “They also show there's something universal — We all have been brokenhearted at least once.”

How true!

14 February 2012

No Toilet, No Bride!

2012-02-14T07:02:00.001+05:30

In India, out of the total population of 1.2 Billions, almost half live in rural areas. In spite of all the show casing of progress in the cities, fact remains that many rural areas still lack even the basic amenities like latrines and toilettes. To have a toilette in or adjoining the house is one of the basic necessities of modern times. Unfortunately, not many rural folks seem to have understood the importance of even this basic facility. Effectively, rural womenfolk suffer the most. To avoid prying eyes, they are forced to visit the open-air toilets under cover of darkness, which can be very inconvenient at times. It is humiliating, harrowing and extremely unhealthy. Further, it leads to spread of diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid and malaria. Many rural womenfolk suffer from urinary tract infections, kidney and liver problems, because they don’t have a safe place to go

Efforts to improve upon the situation of the lack of sanitation, in rural areas, have not met with much success so far. In the year 2001, a project to build latrines in rural areas was taken up with the help of World Bank. The latrines built under this scheme were used by rural folks for storage of grains or as verandahs for their houses. The reason for this failure can be very well traced to the fact that the womenfolk never participated or were not even consulted in this project. They need the sanitation facility most and should have been consulted about the project in the first place.

Women from the Indian state of Haryana , now seem to have taken a new lead. With rural womenfolk, giving their support to the cause, the movement appears to have caught the fascination of the village women everywhere and is spreading to other states too. If you ask any rural young girl today, about her expectations of her future bride groom, along with such usual expectations, such as being vegetarian, no vices, capable of getting a good job, a new expectation has come up. Most of the girls would say that the future groom must have a latrine in his house. Two years back, Government of Haryana with the help of few NGO’s, started a new movement under the slogan, “No Toilettes, No bride”. This movement has caught the fascination of rural womenfolk and is growing rapidly.

As things stand today, the widespread and illegal practice of the abortion of female fetuses in favor of sons has already reduced percentage of women population in state of Haryana. The girls with marriageable age and their parents are not willing to marry their daughters in a family, which does not have a latrine in the house. This social pressure has brought about a welcome change. Parents, who wish to get their boys married, have started building sanitation facilities in their houses on priority.

This change has not come about without a reason. There are many direct and indirect reasons. First of all, most of the girls of marriageable age are educated at least up to matriculation level. Many have taken technical courses in addition. This basic education has brought about certain change in their attitude towards life and their expectations from it. They keep watching serials and advertisements on TV. When they watch the heroines on TV, wearing silk dresses or Jeans and Tee shirts and going to work on their own vehicles, it makes a profound impact on these young girls and no wonder that they expect higher quality of life. Five or ten years back, one could always see girls riding pillion behinds their fathers or husbands. These days’ girls driving their own scooty are seen often.

Mr. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder director of an organization called ‘Sulabh International’, which specializes in building of low cost rural latrines, considers this ‘No Toilette?No Bride! Movement as a bloodless coup.

There seems to be no doubt that this movement would certainly bring more self-respect and confidence back in the minds of rural womenfolk of India.

Jigsaw Puzzle

2012-02-13T07:46:00.002+05:30

When I was a young boy, the well known anthropologist and writer of yesteryear, Irawati Karve, used to stay in a bungalow just across the road from my house. In those days, there were not many houses in that area on the outskirts of Pune, where I used to live. She was also related to me in a sort of way. Because of these reasons, I used to visit Karve's residence quite often. Iravati Karve, once had gone to US for some work. When she returned, she brought with her a giant Jigsaw Puzzle made up of 5000 pieces. In those days there were very strict rules and laws regarding bringing in any stuff from abroad inside India. She had therefore packed all the pieces in a small paper bag while bringing them in. Later, all these puzzle pieces were then just heaped on a carrom game board , which was placed on a large table. Since there was no picture available, which could give some hint about how the completed puzzle would look like, it was actually rather tough, to imagine how the puzzle would like, when completed. It was just a guess and try game to find out, which two pieces fitted together or which were the side pieces. Everyone in the house, including the guests, would try their hand on the puzzle, even if they just had ten or fifteen minutes to spare. As the days or weeks passed, the jigsaw puzzle picture, slowly started materializing before our eyes. Some blackish-brownish coloured pieces, which were thought by us as parts of the soil, actually turned out to be parts of a huge tree in the picture. Some blue pieces, which were segregated by us as definitely belonging to a corner of the sky, were actually from the sea shown in the picture. Some pieces, which we were sure that would be interconnected actually were from opposite corners. After two months, finally when the puzzle was completed, a picture, which was totally different from whet we had imagined all these days, emerged on the complete puzzle.

परवा सहज विचार करताना माझ्या लक्षात आले की अरे! आपले आयुष्य पण एक जिगसॉ पझलच आही की.! उमज आलेल्या वयापासून आपण त्याचे तुकडे लावण्याचा प्रयत्न करतो आहोत. एक तुकडा जागेवर बरोबर बसला की वाटते की पुढचे चित्र आपल्याला उमगले आहे पण प्रत्यक्षात नंतर तयार होणारे चित्र काही निराळेच होते आहे. आई,वडील, भाऊ व नंतरच्या काळात, पत्नी, मुले, नातवंडे यांची चित्रे, सलग अशा बर्‍याच तुकड्यांनी मिळून बनलेली आहेत.पण काही काही माणसे व त्यांच्या आठवणी ही एखाद- दुसर्‍याच तुकड्यावरच आहेत. ती परत कधीच या जिगसॉ पझलमधे दिसलेली नाहीत. पण ती माणसे असलेले पझलचे तुकडे जेंव्हा मी लावत होतो तेंव्हा ती माझ्या आयुष्याचा महत्वाचा भाग होती हे तितकेच खरे.
या जुळविलेल्या कोड्यावर एक नुसती नजर टाकली तरी डाव्या बाजूला तळाच्या तुकड्यावर चित्र दिसते आहे, माझ्या लहानपणातली अगदी घट्ट असलेली माझी मैत्रिण, गौरीचे. इरावतीबाई कर्व्यांची ही धाकटी मुलगी. मी रहात असलेल्या एरंडवण्याच्या माळावर आमची वस्ती चार पाच घरांची असल्याने लहान मुले अशी कितीशी असणार? चार पाच वर्षे वयापासून पुढची सात,आठ वर्षे आमची दोघांची मैत्री अभेद्य राहिली होती. रोज सकाळ संध्याकाळ, सुट्टीच्या दिवशी आणि मे महिन्यात तर दिवसभर आम्ही खेळत असू आणि हुंदडत असू. दिवाळीत किल्ला करणे, गणपतीची आरास करणे या सर्वात तिचा भाग असे. गौरी माझ्यापेक्षा वयाने थोडी मोठी त्यामुळे आम्हा मुलांच्या कोणत्याही भांडणात गौरी नेहमी माझी बाजू घेत असे. पुढे वय वाढले तेंव्हा मला सर्वात जवळची एक मैत्रिण आहे हे इतर मित्रांना सांगण्याची मला लाज वाटू लागली व आमची मैत्री दुरावत चालली. आठवी नववी पासून गौरी साड्या नेसू लागली आणि ती आपल्या मैत्रिणींच्यातच जास्त रमू लागली. मॅट्रिक झाल्यावर ती आई वडीलांच्या बरोबर अमेरिकेला गेली व आमची मैत्री पूर्ण दुरावली आपल्या शाळेतल्या, नोट्स काढलेल्या वह्या आठवणीने मला देणारी, कोणी शाळेत डोंगरी आवळा दिला तर चिमणीच्या दाताने त्याचा तुकडा माझ्यासाठी रुमालात आठवणीने आणणारी ही माझी मैत्रिण मला आयुष्यांत परत कधी भेटलीच नाही. परवा तिचे नंतरच्या आयुष्यांतले फोटो इंटरनेटवर सहज बघायला मिळाले आणि अक्षरश:पोटात कालवले. त्या फोटोतली व्यक्ती माझी कधी मैत्रिण होती हे स्वप्नात सुद्धा मला खरे वाटले नसते.
या चित्राच्या थोड्या वरच्या बाजूच्या चित्रात आहेत, महर्षि अण्णासाहेब कर्वे. माझ्या चित्रात असलेले अण्णा त्यावेळी नव्वदी ओलांडून केंव्हाच गेलेले होते. रोज सकाळी त्यांची ती कृश व ठेंगणी मूर्ती आमच्या घरी टाइम्स वाचायला येत असे. त्या वयात सुद्धा त्यांचे बोलणे अगदी स्पष्ट व खणखणीत असे. एकदा ते पेपर वाचत असताना मी तो उगीचच काढून घेण्याचा प्रयत्न केल्याने घरातल्या सर्वांचीच प्रचंड बोलणी खाल्ली होती. मॅट्रिक झाल्यावर मी एक छंद म्हणून व्हॉल्व्ह रेडिओंची जुळणी करत असे. अणांना असाच एक रेडिओ मी करून दिला होता. व पुढची काही वर्षे, त्यावरचे कार्यक्रम ते नियमित ऐकत असत. त्यांनी शंभरी पार केल्यावर, मुंबईला ब्रेबॉर्न स्टेडियमवर त्यांचा एक भव्य सत्कार झाला होता. याच वेळी त्यांनी जवाहरलाल नेहरूंच्या उपस्थितीत, संयुक्त महाराष्ट्र झालेला आपल्याला पहायला आवडेल हे सांगितले होते. हा कार्यक्रम व त्याच वेळी झालेले इतर काही कार्यक्रम मला जवळून बघायला मिळाले होते हे मी नेहमीच माझे परम भाग्य समजतो.
या चित्राच्या जवळपासच एक चित्र आहे अधटराव सरांचे. आठवीनंतर, तांत्रिक अभ्यासक्रम निवडल्यामुळे, मी तांत्रिक विद्यालयात जाऊ लागलो. तिथे अधटराव सर आमचे मुख्याध्यापक होते. या आधी, पुण्याच्या इंजिनीयरिंग कॉलेजात, वर्कशॉपचे मुख्य असलेले अधटराव सर, या नवीन जबाबदारीवर बढती मिळून आले होते. अक्षरश: शून्यापासून सुरवात करून सरांनी फक्त तीन वर्षांत, पुण्यामधे घोले रस्त्यावर तांत्रिक विद्यालयाची दुमजली भव्य इमारत, सुसज्ज वर्कशॉपसकट उभारली होती. आणि याच वेळी आठवी ते अकरावीचे वर्ग, त्यांची प्रॅक्टीकल्स हे सर्व चालू ठेवूनच हे शक्य केले होते. सरकारी लाल फितीत यापैकी कोणताही प्रकल्प कधीच अडकला नव्हता. सुतारकामात मोर्टिस व टेनन जॉइंट पासून सुरवात करून त्यांनी आमच्याकडून डोव्हटेल जॉइंटपर्यंत सर्व काम पक्के करून घेतले होते. सुतारकाम, स्मिथी, फिटींग, टर्निंग, ड्रॉइंग जे म्हणाल ते त्यांनी आमच्याकडून इतके पक्के करून घेतले होते की पुढे आयुष्यांत मला कोणताही जॉब कसा करायचा याचा दुसर्‍यांदा विचार करायला लागला नाही. त्या काळी खाष्ट सासूची भूमिका निभाविण्याबद्दल प्रसिद्ध असलेल्या अभिनेत्री, इंदिरा चिटणीस या त्यांच्या पत्नी. शाळेच्या सहलींना त्या काहीतरी गंमतीदार गोष्टी सांगून आम्हाला हसवित असलेल्या मला आठवतात. कोणताही प्रकल्प कसा उभारायचा याचे एक प्रत्यक्ष शिक्षणच अधटराव सरांनी आम्हाला त्या चार वर्षांत दिले.
कॉलेजात जाऊ लागल्यावर, एका परिक्षेत आलेल्या थोड्या अपयशाने, आपला गणिताचा पाया जरा कच्चाच आहे याची जाणीव मला झाली.मित्रांशी बोलताना एका अफलातून व्यक्तीचे नांव मला कळले. मी दुसर्‍याच दिवशी बादशाही बोर्डिंगच्या समोरच्या बाजूस असलेल्या एका वाड्यामधे गेलो. एका अंधारलेल्या खोलीत एका कॉटवर ही व्यक्ती झोपलेली होती. मी भीतभीतच त्यांना माझ्या येण्याचे कारण सांगितले. माझे ग्रह त्या वेळी फारच उच्चीचे असावेत कारण गो.म.जोशी सरांची मला लगेच उद्यापासून शिकायला ये म्हणून अनुमती मिळाली. गो.म इतका हुशार आणि तर्कट माणूस मी परत कधी बघितला नाही.एकाच वेळी इंटर सायन्स, गणितात एम.ए.करणारा व संस्कृत शिकणारा अशांना ते सहज शिकवित. खोलीच्या एका बाजूला गो.म. कॉटवर झोपलेले आणि आम्ही आठ दहा जण खाली जाजमावर बसलेले असा आमचा क्लास चाले. कोणत्याही दिवशी अचानक चाचणी घेणे, दुसराच भाग शिकविणे वगैरे क्लुप्त्यांनी त्यांनी माझा गणिताचा पाया इतका पक्का करून घेतला की दुसर्‍याच वर्षी आमच्या कॉलेजात मला सर्वाधिक गुण मिळाल्याचे स्मरते. गो.म. बोलण्यात प्रचंड फटकळ ! एक मुलगी एक दिवस स्कर्ट घालून आल्याने तिची जात कोणती व तिचा वेष कोणता यापर्यंतचा सर्व उद्धार त्यांनी केल्याचे मला स्मरते. अर्थात वर्गातील बसण्याच्या जागेत एक मुलगी स्कर्ट घालून बसली तर बाकीच्यांना खूपच अडचणीने बसावे लागेल हे त्यांच्या रागविण्याच्या मागचे मुख्य कारण असावे. वर्गात त्यांनी विचारलेल्या प्रश्नाचे उत्तर न येणे हा तर अक्षम्य असाच गुन्हा असे. त्यामुळेच आमचा अभ्यास इतका तयार असे की आम्ही परिक्षा कधीही देऊ शकत होतो. मी घिसाड्याचा अभ्यासक्रम उगीच निवडला आहे असे त्यांचे प्रामाणिक मत होते.
अशाच एका दुसर्‍या उल्लेखनीय व्यक्तीचे चित्र, माझ्या पझलमधे एका तुकड्यावर आहे. ते म्हणजे आमच्या इन्स्टिट्यूटमधल्या आमच्या इलेक्ट्रिकल कम्युनिकेशन विभागाचे प्रमुख असलेले प्रो.चंद्रशेखर अय्या यांचे. जाडगेली व बुटकी शरीरयष्टी, डोक्याला टक्कल, असे दिसणारे प्रो अय्या यांच्री, प्रथमदर्शनी फारशी छाप पडत नसे. उच्च शिक्षणार्थी विद्यार्थी आणि आमचे उच्च पदवीविभूषित प्राध्यापक यामुळे आमच्या इन्स्टिट्यूट मधील वातावरण एकंदरीत वरच्या हवेतच असे. या वातावरणात घट्ट जमिनीवर पाय रोवलेले प्रो. अय्याच असत. त्यामुळे आम्हाला मिळणारे शिक्षण, प्रत्यक्ष कार्यक्षेत्रात उपयुक्त होईल की नाही हे ते मोठ्या कटाक्षाने बघत. भारत इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स, नॅशनल एअरॉनॉटिकल प्रयोगशाळा येथे विद्यार्थ्यांना नेणे. संशोधनासाठी किंवा प्रकल्पांसाठी कोणतेतरी जडबंबाल विषय न निवडता पुढे उपयुक्त ठरतील असेच विषय आम्हाला ते निवडण्यास सांगत. त्यांची विषय सोपा करून सांगण्याची हातोटी मोठी विलक्षण होती. प्रो.अय्यांकडून शिकलेल्या अशा अनेक खुब्यांचा मला नंतर खूपच उपयोग झाला.
मी कॉलेजात शेवटच्या वर्षाला शिकत असताना, नेदरलॅंडमधील फिलिप्स कंपनीने एक स्कॉलरशिप देउ केली होती. या स्कॉलरशिपसाठी मी अर्ज केला होता. त्याचाच परिणाम म्हणून काही दिवसांनी एका बड्या हॉटेलमधे असलेल्या मुलाखतीसाठी मला बोलावणे आले. मुलाखत उत्कृष्ट झाली होती. फिलिप्स कंपनीमधील ज्या बड्या अधिकार्‍याने माझी मुलाखत घेतली होती त्या अधिकार्‍याच्या व्यक्तिमत्वाची तर माझ्यावर खूपच छाप पडली होती. ती स्कॉलरशिप अखेरीस मला काही मिळाली नाही व ती मुलाखत मी नंतर विसरूनसुद्धा गेलो होतो. पदवीधर झाल्यावर मी नोकरीच्या शोधात होतो. एका अत्यंत बड्या उद्योगसमुहाचे एक वरिष्ठ अधिकारी आमच्या परिचयाचे होते. त्यांना मी भेटलो व त्यांनी सांगितलेल्या पत्त्यावर माझा अर्ज पाठवून दिला होता. काही दिवसांनी मला मुलाखतीसाठी बोलावणे आले. मुंबईच्या फोर्ट भागातल्या एका टोलेजंग इमारतीतील एका वातानुकुलीत खोलीत माझी मुलाखत झाली. मी त्या खोलीत भीतभीतच शिरलो होतो. समोर सात आठ सुटाबुटातले वरिष्ठ अधिकारी होते. मी डावीकडे नजर टाकली आणि आश्चर्य म्हणजे फिलिप्स कंपनीतील ज्या अधिकार्‍याने माझी मुलाखत घेतली होती तोच तिथे बसला होता. मला एकदम बळ आले. माझी मुलाखत छानच झाली व मला ती नोकरी मिळाली. या अधिकार्‍याचे नाव होते के.पी.पी. नंबियार आणि पुढची काही वर्षे त्यांच्या हाताखालीच काम करण्याची संधी मला मिळाली.अतिशय धडाकेबाज रित्या, के.पी.पी. कोणतीही अडचण सोडवत असत. कोणत्याही नवीन प्रकल्पाचा आराखडा करणे, लागणार्‍या सर्व गोष्टींची जुळणी करणे हे काम अत्यंत तडफदारपणे ते करत. हे गृहस्थ पुढे केलट्रॉन कंपनीचे व्यवस्थापकीय संचालक झाले व त्या नंतर भारत सरकारच्या इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स विभागाचे ते सचीव होते.
माझे जिगसॉ पझल आता खरे म्हणजे खूपच भरत आले आहे. अनेक व्यक्ती आणि प्रसंगाच्या चित्रांनी ते भरून गेले आहे तरी आणखी एक चित्र मला दिसते आहे तात्या फाटकांचे. फाटकी शरीरयष्टी, अंगात स्वच्छ पांढरा बुशकोट घातलेले तात्या अतिशय सौहार्द्रपूर्ण स्वभावाचे होते. पुण्यातून पौडकडे जाणार्‍या रस्त्यावर असलेल्या वनाझ इंजिनीयर्स या कंपनीचे तात्या एक संस्थापक. एल.पी.जी. गॅस सिलिंडर्सना जो एक रेग्युलेटर लागतो त्याचे भारतात प्रथम उत्पादन यांनीच चालू केले होते. त्या वेळी मी एक नवीन उपकरण विकसित केले होते. तात्या असेच मला एकदा भेटले. सध्या काय चालले आहे अशी पृच्छा त्यांनी केली. नवीन विकसित केलेल्या उपकरणांबद्दल मी त्यांना माहिती दिली. त्यावर बाकी फारशी चौकशी न करता उद्या ऑफिसमधून ऑर्डर घेऊन जा एवढेच ते म्हणाले. नवीन विकसित उत्पादनाला पहिली ऑर्डर मिळविणे अतिशय कठिण असते. त्यामुळे नवीन उत्पादनाला प्रोत्साहन देण्याची तात्यांची ही पध्द्त मला फारच आवडली आणि पुढे जेंव्हा जेंव्हा शक्य झाले तेंव्हा इतरांना अशीच मदत करण्याचा मी प्रयत्न केला.
मला अशीच मदत करणारे, भाऊ जोशी यांचे चित्र तर अतिशय स्पष्ट आहे. धंद्यात भाऊ खरे म्हणजे माझे प्रतिस्पर्धी. पण मला कसलीही अडचण आली की मी भाऊंकडे धाव घेत असे. मशिनरी खरेदी, कच्च्या मालाच्या अडचणी, कामे करून घेण्याचे ठेकेदार, भाऊंनी मला नेहमीच मदत केली. उत्पादनाच्या रूक्ष धंद्यात असलेल्या या गृहस्थाला खरा रस होता छोट्या खेळातल्या आगगाड्या जमविण्याचा. पुढे जेंव्हा शक्य झाले तेंव्हा त्यांनी आपल्या कारखान्याच्या गच्चीवर, या आगगाड्यांचे एक संग्रहालयच उभारले. आजमितीलाही ते चालू आहे आणि खूप लोकप्रिय आहे.
मी आहे तोपर्यंत माझे हे जिगसॉ पझल मी लावतच रहाणार आहे. ते खूप भरले असले तरी आणखी किती तुकडे लावायचे आहेत? आणखी किती चित्रे तयार होणार आहेत? हे मला किंवा कोणालाच माहिती नाहीये. पण सगळ्यात गंमतीची गोष्ट म्हणजे मी शेवटचा तुकडा बसवला की माझ्याबरोबरच हे जिगसॉ पझल पण अदृष्यांत विरणार आहे, परत कोणालाच कधीच न दिसतां

Maharshi Karve Museum of Pune

2012-02-12T06:46:00.002+05:30

One of the western suburbs of the Pune city, Karvenagar, was earlier known as 'Hingne Budruk' village. Late Dr. D.G. Alias Annasaheb Karve had started in 1896 his institution for giving education to widows in this very village.. This institution today has bloomed into a major education center for women and is known as 'Maharshi Karve Institute for education of women'. The institute campus today is vast and quite picturesque. As we enter this campus, the first thing that we see is a huge playground with two small, but well laid out, buildings on the north side, one of which looks like a chapel.

This chapel alike building with a terracotta tiled roof, is actually a memorial to Late Dr. Annasaheb karve, founder of this institute, his wife Baya Karve and Baya's sister and first life member of the institute, Late Parvatibai Athavale.

As we enter the memorial, we see first, on the right side, a mini sized but full statue of Late Dr. Karve.

On the other side, we can see bronze reliefs of the portraits of the two sisters.

Next to this memorial, there is a distinct looking building with black basalt stone construction, that catches our eye. This is a museum that tells us Late Dr. karve's remarkable life story and also houses some of his personal belongings, the citations and awards received by him and photos of Dr.karve's associates in his work.

As we enter through the main gate, we first see the museum name plate, which also contains an engraved facsimile of Anna's signature.

Before proceeding further, we need to remove our shoes because the interiors are maintained in immaculately spic- and- span conditions. The interior of this museum carries same amount of respect and almost religious fervour for thousands of women, who have studied in this institution. The procedure of removing shoes at this point, therefore appears to be most appropriate and keeping with the inner feelings of many of the visitors.

Next come series of large sized panels describing Anna's life story with photograph and document facsimiles.

The highest award from the state and people of India, 'Bharat Ratna'

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Honorary degree of 'Doctor of Letters' by Pune University.

Many citations and awards received by Late Dr. Karve, are well arranged in the show cases here.

Though Anna's life achievements have been towering above all, as a person, he was very simple and modest. His cap and spectacles.

As we exit the museum, we automatically bow to this giant of a human, who has spent his life to uplift the widows of nineteenth century India, and has single handedly brought equality for countless number of women in this country.

A Good Kill

2012-02-11T09:37:00.001+05:30

On the east coast of India it was a clear morning on Friday, 10^th of February. Just after 10.10 AM, the Long Range Tracking Radars near Puri city on Orissa coast, picked up a warning of a hostile missile, coming in to attack. The Missile was at an altitude of about 100 KM and was rapidly descending down. Multi Functional Radar at Paradip also started tracking the hostile missile and passed on the information to a guidance computer, which after computing the target's flight data, immediately issued a command to launch an Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile from the Wheeler Island base on east coast of India. Within minutes, the interceptor missile was launched. The interceptor missile, equipped with inertial navigation system, an on board hi-tech computer and a radio-frequency seeker, locked on to the target hostile missile. Travelling at supersonic speed, the AAD homed on to the target and blasted it to smithereens, around 10.15AM. at a height of about 15-km in the endo-atmosphere.

This is neither a fragment of imagination from me, nor a scene from some action flic. The action scenario actually took place. Only the attacker missile was not from some foreign country, but a modified surface-to-surface Prithvi missile launched from Launch Complex-3 at Chandipur, again on east coast of India and was sent to validate the new Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) capability for India.

The launches, that of the attacker missile and of the interceptor took place independently and both missiles were controlled by Radars in different places in the country, one by the Mission Control center and another by Launch control center. Fifteen computers stationed at Hyderabad, Balasore, Chandipur, Konark, Puri, Wheeler Island and so on, worked in unison and saw that the mission was a complete success. Defense research and development organization engineers, saw the tracks formed by the fragments of the destroyed attacker missile on their radar screens. The attacker missile belonged to 600 km range class, the interceptor missile is capable of defending against on missiles which have a range up to 2,000 km.

DRDO's Chief Controller for missiles and strategic systems certifies that it was an excellent interception and says that “the entire interception was automated with radars tracking the incoming target missile.” While the Launch Control Centre was situated in the Wheeler Island, the Mission Control Centre was situated a few “thousands of kilometers away from the launch point” of the attacker missile.

Director General of DRDO now confirms that India’s Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) programme in the endo-atmosphere (that is, below an altitude of 50 km) is now ready for deployment and the country is in a position to take it to the next phase of production and induction.. A user team from the Army, which was present in the Wheeler Island, watched the entire operation.

So far so good. We must congratulate the scientists and engineers of the DRDO for a sucessful missions. A nagging doubt however remains in my mind. We, Indians are good at creating new things. We build state of the art airports. Yet, after few years, we find that these are in a dire state, because of negligence and extremely poor maintenance. In a ballistic missile defense system, the defender missile has to be launched within minutes as the window available for defense can not exceed more that few minutes. This means that the defense system must be always maintained and kept in perfect condition so as to be ready for launch at any given instant. To build in, such high degree of readiness, is indeed a tall order and unless it can be achieved, just providing a Ballistic Missile Defense may not achieve much.

11^th February 2012

Too little; too late!

2012-02-10T15:29:00.000+05:30

Anyone, who knows something about Cambodian history, would heave a sigh of relief, as United Nations backed trial of Khmer Rouge leaders finally began in Cambodia on 21^st November 2011 after a long delay of 13 years since the death of the Khmer Rouge supreme leader, Pol Pot, who died in 1998.

Mock up of a Khmer Rouge outpost; Mines museum near Siem Reap

The heinous and horrifying war crimes and atrocities of this regime on the innocent people of Cambodia are unparalleled in history and would put even world war 2 war crimes committed by Nazis on innocent Jews, to a lighter shade. Approximately 1.7 million people or 25 % population of Cambodia was murdered or died of starvation, exhaustion or lack of medical care as a result of the Khmer Rouge’s brutal regime in one of the worst genocides of the twentieth century.

It all began in 1975 when Chinese backed Khmer Rouge or the Communist party of Cambodia captured power in PHNOM PENH under leadership of Pol Pot. During next four years the poor people of Combodia were subjected to leave their homes, work in fields and were tortured at the slightest suspicion of being anti communist.

If we have a brief look at the Cambodian history of last sixty or seventy years, we can not record anything else but civil war. In second world war, Japan captured this country from France. After the war French returned and were defeated by the Vietnamese army in Vietnam. Cambodia declared independence around this time. In 1965 Cambodia broke all diplomatic relations with USA and allowed Vietnam to open secret bases to supply ordinance to Vietnamese soldiers fighting US. This aggravated US and American air force started bombing targets in Cambodia after 1969.

In 1970 Pro Chinese Government of Prince Sihanouk was defeated by the forces under control of general Lon Nol and he captured power. Prince Sihanouk took refuge in China and formed Khmer Rouge or Communist party to fight the forces of general Lon Nol, who continued their fight with Vietnamese forces in Cambodia as well as Khmer Rouge. American war planes continued to bomb Cambodia. In 1975, Khmer Rouge defeated Lon Nol forces and assumed power in Phnom Penh. In 1978 Vietnamese forces again entered Cambodia and defeated Khmer Rouge. The Vietnamese continued their occupation for next 10 years and left only in 1989, under international pressure. In 1991 elections were held and first civilian Government came to power. During all these civil war years (1945-1979) Cambodian people continued to suffer because of battles between various forces, bombings and landmines. Out of this period, Pol Pot years could be considered as the worst.

‘Aki Ra’ is an ordinary Cambodian citizen. He was conscripted by Khmer Rouge at the tender age of 10 as a child soldier. He says that his parents were killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers in front of him and he grew up in the Khmer Rouge army camps. He says further that “ As soon as we were conscripted, we were given AK-47 rifles with live cartridges. We considered these rifles as some kind of play things and we had to handle this dangerous weapon continuously all along our training. These rifles were of about same height as me at that age and I found it very difficult to handle these. I learned using these rifles by targeting fruits on trees and fish in the rivers. Many of my friend got killed by their own bullets or bullets from the rifles of their friends because we were not properly able to handle the rifles. Later I learned to use weapons like Rocket launchers and mortars in the same fashion. “

Child soldiers of Khmer Rouge with their AK 47 rifles

‘Aki Ra’ fought along with Khmer Rouge soldiers first and then against them with Vietnamese soldiers. Having seen with his own eyes the horrors and the anguish of ordinary innocent Cambodians, he set up an organization for de-activation of land mines. Along with this his organization also helps in rehabilitation of children disabled because of land mines. He has set up a museum of land mines near Siem Reap in Cambodia and is well worth a visit.

Mines exhibited at the Mines museum Siem Reap

Having suffered so much at the hands of the communists, Cambodians today show remarkable patience when talking about this horrific regime. Yet, while talking to them, an occasional remark of frustration and anger is always heard in any conversation. At least this was my experience during my visit to Cambodia last year. Returning again to the trial of the close confederates of Pol Pot, which began this week, all those Cambodians who lost their near and dear once, must have heaved a sigh of relief no doubt. The trial began this week of 85-year-old Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge’s chief ideologist and No. 2 leader; 80-year-old Khieu Samphan, an ex-head of state; and 86-year-old Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister. A fourth defendant, 79-year-old Ieng Thirith, was ruled unfit to stand trial last week because she has Alzheimer’s disease. When the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975, they sealed off the country to the outside world. Intellectuals, entrepreneurs and anyone considered a threat were imprisoned, tortured and often executed. The charges against the surviving inner circle of the communist movement include crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture.

Even though a ordinary Cambodian would be happy at the commencement of the trial, his true feelings are bound to be “ Too little and Too late” without any doubt.

24 November 2011

No Milk Please, we drink wine only!

2012-02-10T07:25:00.014+05:30

Mr. Baburao Patel was a remarkable personality from the pre-independence India, who made a mark on the society with his thinking and life. Baburao was born in Konkan on the west coast of India. However, it remains a kind of mystery, why he adopted a Gujarati surname like Patel later in his life. This man, in cricket term, was an all rounder. He got elected to India's parliament on Jansangh (Predecessor to present BJP) ticket from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. He was the publisher and editor of two magazines being published regularly. One was named as FilmIndia and dealt with Bollywood films and actor,actresses. The other magazine was named as Mother India and used to have a wide acceptance. I remember having read in this magazine about the questions Baburao had asked in the Parliament and the answers he obtained from the Government. Baburao was trained in Homeopathy and used to manufacture Homeopathic medicines under a brand name, 'Mother India Products'. Some of his medicines, which are still available, were quite effective for specific ailments. He used to manufacture a home treatment box consisting of 14 different medicines numbered from 1 to 14 with ready manual about treatment. This box is still available and is quite popular in Maharashtra. A lady Doctor I know, treats her kids for minor ailments using these medicines.

I am reminded of Baburao Patel today, for a pet theory of his. He used to call Sugar, Milk and Maida flour as three white poisons and always advocated that all grown up persons should give up these poisons.

It now appears that Sirsa district from Indian state of Haryana has decided to take up Baburao's advice, if not fully, at least one third part of it. The average daily sale of milk in this state is about 1.5 Million Rupees. But the sale of liquors and wine has now crossed 7.0 Million Rupees per day. During my young age, there used to be a wide spread shortage of milk all over India, in particular all the big cities. To get half a liter of milk from a Government run dairy, most of the people had to stand long queues early in the morning in front of Milk booths. Sirsa people, since they have discarded milk now, have started standing in front of liquor and wine shops in long queues.

Milk sellers federation says that members of the federation supply approximately 46,000 litres of milk every day in the city, whereas Dairy Association says that 35 small milk diaries, situated in the city only have a cumulative sales of 5,000 litres of milk daily. This way, total sale of milk doesn't cross Rs1.5 Million, daily in the city. There is another milk plant in the city named as Vita Milk. It produces about 3,500 litres of milk, of which only a small quantity is supplied in the city as the balance is sent to other cities for consumption or used for making skimmed milk. Sirsa city was earlier famous for its boiled creamy milk prepared by traditional confectioners and was very popular amongst the young people. Most of the confectioners no longer prepare this as there is no demand. Some have even closed their shops.

On the other hand, as per government records, there are 35 licensed liquor vendors scattered across the district. Out of which 14 shops sell IMFL or Indian made foreign liquor and balance 20 sell country liquor. Shops located in Industrial Area, Rania Bazar, Begu Road, Lalbati Chowk, JJ Colony road, auto market, Shiv Chowk, Barnala road and near bus stand of Sirsa city, have broken their previous sales records this year. IMFL liquor shops sales are around Rs 44.5 lakh per day while sales of country made liquor shops are about Rs 30 lakh per day. In addition to this there are illegal shop who are doing equally whopping sale.

What a wonderful scenario this Sirsa district has? They have totally broken away with silly old traditions of drinking that white poisonous stuff called Milk and have embarked on a spree to enjoy natures most healthy drink made from liquor. I am confident that Sirsa soon would have the healthiest people from whole of India. This is the real secret of Haryana state, becoming one of the most progressive state of the country.

No Milk please, We drink only wine and liquor.

10 February 2012

Pune Police present their own Colaveri De

2012-02-09T15:50:00.002+05:30

The Police from City of Pune have come out with their own version of the hit song, Colaveri De, for educating people of Pune about traffic rules; real tough job by any standards

Enjoy

Nizam's Hot Rod

2012-02-09T07:23:00.002+05:30

Some of the programmes, broadcast on the Discovery TV channel, are my all time favourites. One such programmes is called 'American Hot Rod'. This programme shows the restoration work on the old cars by a California car shop located in a place called La Habre and owned by one Boyd Coddington. The programmes usually revolves around Boyd, his team and a car being restored at that time. This programme, first shown in 2004-2005 is still shown and I make it a point to see it again and again. I have always admired the clients, who come to Boyd to get some old car restored and are ready to pay a huge price for it. I always thought that because these guys are from US, they are able to afford that kind of money spending. I never ever imagined that any person in his senses would this kind of car restoration at such a huge price in India. So, when I saw the photographs yesterday, of the 100^th birth-day celebrations of a century old Roll-Royce car belonging to 6^th Nizam of Hyderabad state, Mir Mahboob ali khan, recently restored, I could not believe my own eyes. I am forced to change my view now, that such enthusiastic car restorers are also there in India.

The restoration of the 'Silver Ghost Throne' Rolls Royce has been done by Princess Esra Jah, ex-wife of Prince Mukarram Jah of Hyderabad. She has spent Rs. 50,00,000 on the restoration. Many people think that this car is a symbol of the royal heritage as well as pride and culture of Hyderabad state. The car therefore has been placed on the bandstand in the compound of Chomahalla Palace after enclosing it in a half inch thick toughened glass box.

Mir Usman Ali

6^th Nizam Mir Mahboob had passed away by the time delivery of this car was made. The 7^th Nizam, Mir Usman, Ali khan received this car as apresent from his departed father. This car bearing chasis number 2117, has a 40 horse poser engine and run around 8 miles per gallon. Mir Usman ali used it only for ceremonial purposes and the responsibility of maintaining it was given to Hyderabad state railway.

The car before restoration

After death of Usman Ali, the car was lying in Chiran Fort Palace. 3 years back, Princess Esra decided to restore the car and gave the work to Rana Manavendrasingh Barwani of Indore. From the quality of his workmanship,we can certainly call Rana Manavendrasingh as Boyd Coddington of India.

100the birth-day of this car was celebrated with great pomp and show in the Chomahalla palace. Chief chef of Sri Sakti College of Hotel management, Mr. Annadurai had made a special cake in the form of a replica of this car. Using normal sponge cake, sugar paste,royal icing, whipped cream, pineapple and berries, he laboured for 72 hours to bake this cake. Princess Esra and her step son. Prince Azamet Jah, cut the cake to celebrate the birth-day of the car. Mir Usman Ali was an accomplished Urdu Gazal writer. A musical programme also was arranged at the venue of celebrations.

Princess Isra has now planned to restore many cars for Nizam's collection of cars. Next year french fashion house Cartier is arranging a travel concourse in Mumbai. Princess Isra plans to have tow Napier cars, owned by Nizam , restored for this meet.

I am sure to be reminded of Princess Esra and Rana Manavendrasingh, if I can see ever again the programme 'American Hot Rod' on Boyd Coddington's car shop.

8th February 2012

Motoring in the South Sahyadri's - Part V

2012-02-08T06:43:00.003+05:30

To overcome my disappointment with the Jog falls, someone suggested yesterday evening, a visit to Magod falls, another fall in the vicinity of Yellapur. The idea has been approved by everyone and after sumptuous breakfast of south Indian snacks and egg omelets, I am ready for another jungle adventure. The only road to Magod falls, branches off from National Highway No.63 (Hubli-Karwar Road) roughly 3 Kilometers west of Yellapur and immediately heads south. We therefore head for Yellapur first. Yellapur is a medium sized town with a population of about 25000 people. It is a typical highway town with Hubli-Karwar road passing through it. Number of tea stalls, vehicle maintenance shops and eateries can be seen along the main road. Today happens to be the Deepavali day and Yellapur market is flooded with flowers. Marigolds and Jasmins are being sold by heaps. Houses, cars, two wheelers are all adorned with garlands. It feels kind of nice to pass through such heady intoxicating fragrance of the flowers, instead of usual unpleasant smells of open gutters, that always exist in such small towns. Yellapur appears to be a wealthy town doing brisk business in selling Arecanuts. I also see many lush green paddy fields on the outskirts.

As we branch off on the Magod road, a dense forest welcomes us. The road is very narrow and the trees on both sides are so tall and big that their branches are intermingling somewhere above, blocking all sun light completely.

Way to Magod falls

A giant anthill

I decide to walk some distance and alight from the vehicle. I am no botanist yet I can identify few trees here like Teak wood, Jamba, Silk cotton or Sawar, Kindal or Kinjal, Jambhul etc. There must have been a thunderstorm here last night because the road is still wet and at many places, I see number of broken branches and twigs lying on the road. I see a tall (at least couple of feet high) anthill, sculptured in a a very systematic fashion. Magod village is just 15 kilometers from Yellapur, with this branch road covering about 12 Kilometers. Yet, with that kind of road and the conditions, we take more than a hour to reach the destination. Magod village is a kind of scattered village with few houses spread over a large area. The final approach to Magod is through a very thick evergreen forest. At the village, few tourist facilities such as toilets can be seen. From Magod village, a path slips down the hill for a short distance and crosses a narrow ridge. Beyond the ridge it climbs a round outstanding hill, thick with bamboo shoots. The hill top, commands an easterly view of the upper Bedthi river valley. Vista points have been created all along this path with good steel railings for protection, to view the grand panoramic view of this river falling over 800 feet down at Magod falls.

Panaromic view of Magod falls

Magod falls: main body of water

Magod falls; mist and rainbow

I go round the various vista points, looking for suitable spots to take photographs of the falls. Unlike Jog falls, there is plenty of water in the river and the falls are worth a visit. However there is no straight line fall here like Jog. The Bedthi river tumbles first along a series of gentle rapids into a big pool of water, gathers speed and then hurls itself over a cliff more than 200 feet high high. From that point the river, hemmed by a sheer rock wall at least 800 feet high , forces its way along a rugged channel round the base of the hill, on whose top I am standing now. On the other side the river is joined by another stream coming down in a fall called Buttermilk fall. The Bedthi river is named as Gangavalli river after this point and flows west. The main body of water hurling itself down hammers the bottom so hard that even from such a height I can clearly see the mist formed and as afternoon sun shines brightly at the top, I can see two beautiful rainbows formed at the bottom. I spend as much time as possible at the falls, thoroughly enjoying the amazing spectacle. However the time passes quickly and I have to leave the place. While returning, I see for the first time, many black eyes watching me sharply. I realize that there are monkeys everywhere here watching my every step for an opportunity to grab any bites of food.

Dense forests near Chandguli

In the temple of bells

While returning by the same jungle path, we make a detour and stop at a place called ‘Chandaguli’. It is really a hamlet with few small buildings standing there. One of the buildings is with a tower and a sign board has been put up there to indicate to the visitors that it is a Ganesha or the elephant God temple. There is nothing exciting about this place except for one little fact. Each and every visitor to this temple presents to the God a metal bell, the size of which varies according to his financial ability. The temple has become a museum of bells. There are bells of all sizes and shapes. Bells hang on the walls, roof, entrance and walls of the temple. From tiny bells to huge church bells, all sizes are accommodated here. For this reason, the temple is known as Ganta Ganesha temple or the Ganesha temple of bells.
I get back to the vehicle and we move on. All of us are really hungry now, yet we make another stop over on our way back at a moderately sized lake called Kavadikere lake. There is also a temple of a Goddess there. The lake waters look very placid, tranquil and serene. After a brief visit to the temple, we are on our way back. Today has been a good day for sight seeing. After lunch, there would be plenty of time to relax.

Kavadikeke lake

Sahyadri mountains are not new to me. My home city of Pune sits right in the middle of these mountains. In fact some of the foot hills are so near my house, that right from my childhood, I have been wandering over the hills. Yet, motoring in the southern end of the same mountain range of Sahaydris has given immense pleasure to me for last few days. Southern Sahyadris really differ from the north. The dense and deep woods, Jungles, pristine lakes, water falls, its a different world here altogether. My trip to this part of India may be over now, but, for sure, I would remember these wonderful sights for rest of my life.
(Concluded)
20 November 2011

Motoring in the South Sahyadri's- Part IV

2012-02-07T07:54:00.001+05:30

There is something special about schooldays memories. Yet, most of school memories for me somehow, are sort of still, black and white photographs, like past moments frozen in time. Around 1954-55, I had toured Karnataka region, as a school going lad, on an school excursion.

Whatever little memories of that trip remain with me are like black and white, still pictures. One of the pictures from that tour that remains permanently etched in my memory is of a huge water fall, very wide, with 4 or 5 distinct water flows. I had seen this water fall then, from a cliff on the opposite side of the water falls. I can vividly remember, the water falling over great height and creating a mist that had filed the entire valley between me and the fall on the other side. This water fall was one of the world’s highest water falls and was known as Gersappa falls then. I am recollecting this old and long forgotten memory, because our plan for today, includes a visit to this water fall. This waterfall is widely known today as “Jog falls”. I was told a story by someone yesterday, that this fall is called “Jog falls” because the contractor for a large dam built upstream of the falls in 1964, was a firm from Pune with this name. After checking up the history with my computer, I know for sure, that this story is absolutely rubbish. Gersappa is a small village on the banks of Sharavati river located about 16 miles east of coastal town of Honavar. “Jog” also happens to be a name of a nearby village. The falls were always locally known as Jog falls and this name was made official later.
I am on my way to Jog falls. State highway number 93 goes from Sirsi town to a place called Siddapur. The stretch of this road from a village known as Kansur to Siddapur passes through dense forests. At Siddapur an interior road to Mavingundi branches off. We take this road up to Mavingundi town and then join National Highway no.206, which takes us right up to a bridge on Sharavati river. After crossing this bridge, vista point for the Jog falls, is just a kilometer away.
Our vehicle comes to a hault. I get out of the vehicle and look around. Karnataka state tourism department has developed a huge parking space here with all kinds of tourist amenities like wash rooms, restaurants and places available for lodging around it. There is a well built stepped path, which takes a visitor right up to the edge of the cliff and around it’s periphery.

Gersappa or Jog falls; before and after

My mind again goes back to fifties, when I had come here to see the famous water fall. There were hardly any amenities during those days. Our bus had stopped in an open space and we had carefully walked along a path under direct supervision of our teachers. On reaching the edge of the cliff, which was known as Watkin’s platform, what I had seen with my eyes, can never be forgotten. Ahead of me, was a deep cleft or a gorge at least 1000 feet deep. On the other side of the cleft, a sharp rocky cliff shaped like a hook with an handle was seen. From this rocky cliff four giant bodies of water were jumping or crashing down at least eight hundred feet. The water bodies were so big that they had formed white sheets of water. A huge cloud of white mist was formed from the water, which hammerd down the cleft, with a tremendous force. The mist was so thick that sometimes half of the fall disappeared behind it. And finally what I still remember was the massive roaring sound made by the water, which I could hear even where our bus was parked.
The Gersappa falls of the fifties can be seen these days very rarely only in rainy season (July-August). This is primarily because the Sharavati river has been stopped by a huge dam named as “Linganmakki dam”, constructed in 1964, about 6 kilometers upstream of the falls, this dam has reduced the water flow going down the falls. Only during rainy season, when the dam reservoir is overflowing, one can see the full fury of Gersappa falls.

Jog falls today

Waters of raja, Roarer and rocket hit the pool of water at bottom

Having known that I would not be able to see the glory and the majesty of the yesteryear’s, I am sort of resigned to see, whatever that remains, of a much depleted water fall. I move along the stepped path and go right up to the edge of the cliff. Ahead of me again is the same deep cleft and the same rocky cliff shaped like a hook with a handle. Its almost mid day with Sun blazing from overhead. I am able to see clearly pools of water formed by the water falling from the top, the river and rocks in the bed and there is no mist. Not even traces of it. May be because it is mid day, the mist has disappeared, or with depleted quantity of water falling, it never forms now. Without the mist, the Gersappa or Jog falls have lost their mystery and the magic for sure.

Watkin’s platform

The four falls still exist. The ‘Raja” or the King fall, is also known as Grand fall or Main fall or Horse-shoe fall. It falls over the cleft, 830 feet down in an unbroken sheet, from deeply cut back right side of the hook shaped cliff, forming a little white mass, a mere trickle of water, sweeping a smooth and graceful curve and finally looses itself in clouds of spray as it hits the pool of water at the bottom.
About 1000 feet to the left and still in the bend of the hook, is the second fall. This one is well known as the Roarer, because of the noisy fury it used to create. Now a days it falls meekly from a point somewhere half way down and meets the water of Raja fall almost at the bottom. During days of its glory, Roarer used to fall from the top of the cliff and it’s water used to hit against the Raja fall somewhere mid air creating that mystical and magic mist in the cleft. As I see it today, I feel that it should be called whimperer and not Roarer. The third fall about 700 feet left of Roarer and in the handle of the hook, is known as “ Rocket” and has fortunately maintained somewhat of its previous glory. It first falls a sheer drop of about 100 feet on an projecting rock and then rockets itself into the cleft to turn down later downwards in a graceful sweep 700 feet down. 500 feet to the left of the “Rocket” fall, a gentle fall earlier known as “La Dame Blanche” or popularly known today as “Rani” or queen fall, glides quietly over the slope looking like a white strip of muslin.
Gersappa or Jog falls used to be compared with the major water falls in the world. It is no longer comparable even with the mid sized water falls of the world and can be considered as a major water fall of the world only during days of monsoon fury.

Captain Cruickshank’s Bungalow?

On the right side of the “Raja fall” I can see some nicely built Bungalows. I do not know whether these are the old structures or have been built in recent days. This is the site where one Captain Cruickshank of the garrison of Royal Engineers, had built a masonry bungalow in 1868 for high ranked British officers. In those days, view of the falls from this place was something out of this world. It was so close to the fall that the roar of the water sometimes used to shake the windows and the doors. Today, I am doubtful whether the falls can be even seen from this site. The roar of the falls now turned down to whimper, may not be even heard today.
I go around various vista points and nicely constructed suspension bridges around the periphery of the Watkin’s platform. I have to hunt for a place so that I can get all the falls from top to bottom in a single photograph. I find a place, but the photographs disappoint me thoroughly.
I get into the vehicle again and we leave for our onwards journey. We branch off to a road on right going to a place called Kargal, just before the bridge on Sharavati river. I pass through another bridge on a river like water body. This is a man made river and takes the Sharavati waters to the head works of the Hydro Electric Power generating project run by Karnataka Power Corporation. I am now traveling southwards on this road, which runs through the land situated in between two huge water reservoirs. On my left, is the lake formed by Sharavati river itself, because of the Linganmakki dam and on my right, is a reservoir called Talakalale, which is actually a sort of storage reservoir for the excess waters of the river. The road has been laid for a continuous stretch along hill tops, which stand as a barrier between these two water bodies. The entire area between these two water bodies is now densely forested. Many of the jungles here must have come up during last half a century, since this dam was built. I pass through Kargal village. Few kilometers down the road I see a narrow earthen track, which can barely allow our vehicle to pass. There is a welcome arch with a gate, which incidentally is closed. A sign board on the arch says that “Welcome to the Muppane Wildlife Sanctuary ”. In reality, we are locked out of it. There is some confusion. We are told that we should have obtained entry permits at the Kargal village, through which we passed through little while ago. After further confusion, heated discussions and further delays a forest guard finally appears with the keys. After spending about 30 to 40 minutes on the roadside, appreciating the beauty of forest land, we are finally let in.

The Jungle path

The vehicle turns, heaves and whimpers as the narrow earthen track turns at impossible angles and inclinations. We are now in the middle of a dense forest. After traveling roughly 3 kilometers I see some open space ahead for parking. Vehicle is parked and I get down. I look around on all sides, but only thing that I can see around, are thick forests, not allowing even sun light to filter through. Ahead of me, I can see an even smaller earthen track, going deeper into forests. To negotiate this track, one needs a station wagon, which we do not have. I have therefore no choice but to move on foot along this track. In spite of heavy forest cover, walking along this track is a pleasure. Traveling down about half a kilometer, I see a huge body of water. The water and the trees create a scene of pristine beauty.

Pristine beauty of Muppane wild life preserve

This place is actually a tourist camp organized by the tourism department. There is guest house and space for tents. For jungle lovers, this is one of the ideal spots to spend few days. The water is clean and absolutely tranquil. It is possible to cook here, swim and spend time without any hassles of the modern urban life. I am not sure whether this body of water is the Linganmakki dam reservoir or the Talakalale balancing reservoir. However my guess is in favour of the latter. It is of no use asking anyone, because no one knows for sure. The tourist handouts talk only about Linganmakki reservoir, so it could be just that also.

The waterfront

Walking through the Jungle

After spending some time here, I am now on my return journey to the resort. As we pass through the Jog falls area once again, I wonder that in future what may remain in my memory? The Gersappa falls that I have seen as a school going lad or the pathetic water trickles of Jog falls, which I have seen today. You may as well guess the answer. My school days Gersappa scores over Jog falls any day and on any count.
(To be continued)
17 November 2011

Motoring in the South Sahyadri's- Part III

2012-02-06T06:46:00.001+05:30

Historically speaking, perhaps the most important place in South Sahyadris region, in the vicinity of Yellapur, is the town of ‘Banvasi’. This town has know history of at least 2250 years. There is recorded history that shows that in the year BC 242 or shortly after the great council of the eighteenth year of Maurya Emperor Ashoka , a Buddhist missionary called “Rakshita” was sent to Banvasi to spread Buddhist religion. This ‘Banvasi’ town is located on the left bank of the ‘Varda’ river about 22 kilometers South-East of Sirsi.

I am on my way to Banvasi town now. A straight road in the interior, connects Sirsi with Banvasi and after first few kilometers, where there are dense forests on both sides of the road, it passes through much cultivated lands. Beside paddy fields, I can also see fruit orchards and pineapple cultivations. We pass through many small villages, with neat and good looking buildings. Farmers here, appear to be doing quite well. The villages appear politically very active with flags of BJP (a political party) flying everywhere. The main road through Banvasi town itself is a narrow single lane road and in case two vehicles confront each other, one needs to back out a considerable distance, before traffic can smoothen out again.
It gives me kind of strange feeling that I am visiting a town, which is couple of millenniums old. Near my home town Pune, there are famous ancient cave temples at Karle village. Apparently, one of the cave temples there was built by a merchant from this Banvasi town sometime in BC 100. Banvasi was known as Vaijayanti then and similarly a mention is found in the famous Buddhist cave (numbered II) at Nashik in Maharashtra about the great Vaijayanti army.^{Ref 1} In the second century, Greek geographer Ptolemy mentions this city as Banaausi or Banauasi. From an stone inscription found in Banvasi, it is believed that a king named “ Haritiputra Shatkarni ” from the Satavahan Dynasty of Mahrashtra ruled this town during Ptolemy’s time ( 2^nd century).
However, Banvasi is well known as the capital of the kingdom of Kadamba kings, who ruled from here since fourth or fifth century and the first Kadamba king is believed to be “ Trilochana ”. An indirect proof of their rule is found in the famous inscription about Chalukya King Pulakeshi II (AD 647), which mentions a siege laid by this famous king around Banwasi. Chalukya kings however won control over Banavasi at some later date and established rule over it. In those times (AD 947-48) Banvasi kingdom comprised of 12000 villages. In the year 1020, Arab geographer Al-Baruni mentions this place in his book as Banvas. From eleventh to thirteenth century, Banvasi was again ruled by second line of Kadamba kings, who lost it to the Devgiri Yadava kings. From fourteenth century it was ruled by Vijayanagara kings till their overthrow. After fall of Vijayanagara, Banvasi was ruled by the Sonde kingdom mentioned by me above in connection with another site worth visiting, Sahasralingam. Arsappa and Raghu Naik were the first two Sonde kings of Banvasi during that period.
In spite of availability of such detailed record of its glorious history, not many remnants can be found in the village, except for a temple of Lord Shiva, named as Madhukeshwara. I am on my way to this temple now. Though the main road leading to the temple is extremely narrow, enough space is available for parking of vehicles in front of the temple entrance. As I get down, I see a huge wooden chariot with beautifully engraved sides. kept in a garage like shade. This chariot is used for parading the idol through Banvasi town in the month of February every year, to celebrate the auspicious day of Mahashivaratri.

Elephant sculptures at the temple entrance

Sunlight shines on a stone pillar on the portico

Garuda Stambha or the pillar of the eagle

Engraved figure at the base of the pillar

The temple courtyard propper is enclosed by a stone wall, at least 12 to 15 feet high. Two huge statues of elephants welcome the visitors. Behind the elephant statues, an elevated portico has been built with beautifully carved stone pillars to support the roof. Intricate carvings are also seen on the sides of the elevated pedestal of the portico. As I enter the temple courtyard through the main gate, I see a tall square pillar in the front, called Garuda stambh or the Pillar of the Eagle, with an eagle carving at the base. The temple has 3 halls or mandapas, all having similar construction of an elevated pedestal and round stone pillars to support the roof, in a line before the sanctum sanctorum, which houses a Shiva linga made from a honey coloured stone. This temple, built by Architect Jakhanacharya, a Hemadpant of the Kannada Desh, gets the name Madhukeshwara, from this honey coloured deity.

Madhukeshwara temple Banvasi; smaller shrine on the right is that of Madhumati

Side view of the temple showing three halls or mandapas in line

The Bull; Nandi ; Keeping an eye on the Lord and his wife

A huge 7 feet high sculptured stone bull or Nandi is placed in the first hall next to the Garuda stambha or the Pillar of the Eagle. The middle hall or mandapa has a circular raised platform, where danseuses used to perform in front of the Idol. This roof of this hall is supported on round stone pillars of intricate design. These pillars have convex and concave surfaces adjacent to each other, so that simultaneous reflections of the danseuses can be clearly seen on all sides creating a spectacular kind of optical effect. In the third mandapa, near the main entry door to the temple sanctum, an elaborately carved stone structure called Trailokya mandapa (Hall of heaven, earth and hell) is kept.

Trailokya mandap ; representing Heaven, Earth and Hell

5 hooded serpant : symbolic representation of hell

Shiv and Parvati ride a bull ; symbolic representation of heaven

Figure engraved on the Trailokya mandapa

On the left hand side of the principal deity of Madhukeshwara, a smaller temple of Madhumati or Parvati is seen. The huge Bull in the first hall, is so sculptured that its one eye can be seen from the sanctum of the Madhukeshwara temple whereas its second eye can be seen from the sanctum of the Madhumati temple. The Bull appears to be keeping the eye on both Lord Madhukeshwara and his wife Madhumati. Near the outer courtyard wall, many rooms and shrines have been built, housing many deities such as Ganpati, which has only the right half here, the left half is supposed to be in Kashi (Benares), Nrusinha and Lord Kadambeshwar.

Fine architecture of Madhukeshwara temple

Intricate carvings on temple dome

An elaborately carved stone bed is kept in one of the courtyard rooms. Legs and posters of this bed are finely carved. This stone bed is used to carry the idol during February rath yatra or car festival and is a gift of King Raghu Naik of Sonde. In another shrine along the courtyard wall, a slab stone with a five hooded cobra engraving is kept. This slate has written words, which state that this slab was presented to the temple by “Haritaputra Shatkarni” sometime during first or second century. Banvasi temple without any doubt, is a store house of wealth of information for the people, who love history. There are as many as 11 stone inscriptions in the temple courtyard, most of these in ancient Kannada script.

Finely crafted stone bed poster

Idol of Vishnu

Engraving on door panel

A panel with Bass relief

I leave the Banvasi temple with a sad heart. This temple represents history of India for last 2250 years and yet has not been preserved the way it should be. This temple is a must see for anyone interested in ancient Indian history.
In front of the temple there is small stall selling freshly cut pineapples. I decide to have few slices. The tangy, sour taste is so delightful that I have some more. The return journey is uneventful. By the time, I reach my resort, I am extremely tired. I have early dinner and just hit the bed.
(To be continued)
Ref. 1 :- Bombay Gazetteer Vol XV Part I
11 November 2011

Motoring in the South Sahydri's- Part II

2012-02-05T07:53:00.003+05:30

Dawn arrives late in the middle of a jungle. The golden rays of the morning sun get effectively blocked by the tall trees all around. I open my eyes after a very peaceful night’s sleep. Its is still dark outside. Yet I am awakened by the chirping, cooing,squawking, hooting and warbling, going all around me. It is fascinating to hear the bird songs so clearly, and so early in the morning. I look out of the window. I see nothing. Well above me, I can trace the first faint bluish tinge in the eastern sky. I remember that a very interesting visit has been planned today to a nearby site.
After a hearty breakfast, consisting of some fabulous local dishes along with bread and omelet, we leave the resort for our day’s excursion. The morning is rather pleasant , though I would have preferred a slightly lower temperature. We take the Yellapur-Sirsi road, a narrow and much pot holed path. The Sirsi town is just a medium sized town with fairly modern facilities like hospitals and even a sports stadium. There is a state highway No. 69 which joins Kumta town on the sea shore with Sirsi. After traveling on this highway for about 40 kilometers, we branch of to a much smaller road (single lane at the best.) This road passes through some of the dense jungle patches on the Sahyadris. After rattling and bumping for about 10 kilometers, the vehicle comes to a stop. There is no motorable road any further. I get down and look ahead. There is a path straight ahead, sharply sloping downwards. It must have rained here last night because soil is completely wet and slippery. The dense forest around me has still retained that moisture in the air and I feel very damp and sticky. I start walking down the slippery path with abundant caution, firmly keeping my eyes on the ground. After some distance, the path curves to left. On the corner, I locate a dry spot. I decide to pause there for few seconds and look up.

Mohini Shikhar or Pinnacle

In front of me, stands a most amazing spectacle, I have ever seen. Behind the thick undergrowth of the jungle, a jet black rock with a cragged and pinnacled shape rises above the trees. The rock is huge and has muliple sharp crests, crevices and cracks going down all the way, well below my sight. The crests and cracks, having faced the weather for ages, are rough and absolutely razor sharp. I have seen such kind of rock shapes only in sci- fi- book pictures as that from some other planet and had never even imagined that such kind of rock pinnacles can really exist anywhere on earth. This rock, except for its black shape, looks as if it has just come from some other planet. This craggy rock is called by the local people as Mohini Shikhar or Mohini Peak.

Another view of Mohini Pinnacle

I continue walking. Few meters away on left, the land becomes flat and on this flat land stands a magnified version of the smaller Mohini peak. This is the rock, known locally as Bhairav shikhara and rises 120 meters feet above the ground. The smaller Mohini shikhar rises to a height of 90 meters. This large pinnacled rock rises from the hillside over the tree tops, like the battlements of a castle. The nearest village from this place is called Yana and hence these pinnacles are commonly called as Yana rocks.

The magnificent Yana rocks

The Sahyadri mountain range mainly consists of black basalt rocks formed from solidification of Lava from an ancient volcanic eruption about 65 million years before. Surprisingly both pinnacles at Yana are pure crystalline limestone. Such rocks are usually formed by decay of marine animals or by crystal formation of calcium salts dissolved in water. Such ragged pinnacles formed by dripping water are found inside caves at many places around the world. The presence of such huge pinnacles on the ground and that too having jet black colour is a real natural wonder.

Another view of Yana rocks

The flat piece of land where I stand, ends at about mid way in height of Bhairav pinnacle. There is a natural cave formed here inside the rock. A shiva temple with a Linga has been built inside the cave. I have a casual glance at it and come out to photograph the rock. From the left side of the rock a path with built in steps, leads to a great horizontal gap or a cave like fissure. Since this rock is considered as some kind of religious place , one needs to remove his footwear to go up the steps. The walking surface looks rather rough and someone cautions me about the Leeches that are in abundance around the rock. Even then, having come here all the way, I just cannot avoid the temptation of an adventurous journey through this cave like structure. I remove my footwear and climb the first few steps.

Wall of the vertical fissure showing deep ravines

After climbing for some distance, I stand facing the cave, which is actually a deep crevice and I happen to be at the bottom of it. This fissure or cleft in the rock, actually almost splits the Bhairava Pinnacle into two halves. I walk into the cave. At few places the top is open to sky. At few places it gets closed with oval shaped openings bringing in bright sunlight. Even then these holes in the roof are at such an height that inside the crevice the air is still stuffy and smelly. The sides of the cave have deep vertical ravines or hollows with razor sharp edges. There are plenty of horizontal ledges which form a natural pathway for walking through. I can see many bee combs hanging from ledges at much higher level. A flock of bronze coloured flying creatures ( I really can not tell you whether they are bats or pigeons.) make a noisy exit. I keep walking. After few turns, the cleft becomes so narrow that I can barely walk through. There are few tall steps formed naturally by rocks. The going gets tougher and tougher. After doing about 80 to 90% of the round, I finally give up and return back. While returning I do see some beautiful white flowers on the side rocks.

View of Cave top

Another view of cave top

Narrow path through Cave

This place, as it happens with almost any natural wonder in India, has a mythological story. Naming the smaller pinnacle Mohini, which means a temptress, really beats my imagination. Who would be tempted by this jagged and ragged pinnacle? except may be few geologists or rock climbers. I keep my thoughts to myself and return to our vehicle and then to our resort for my lunch.
After lunch, we start again, in another direction, to visit another wonder. This time not a natural wonder but something created by human hands. I am back again on the Sirsi-Yellapur road. About 17 kilometers from Sirsi, a small road branches off towards Hulgol village. We take a turn and continue for a small distance. Ahead of us is a neat parking place for vehicles surrounded by trees from all sides. There is also a small shop on a side, selling cold drinks and snacks. Obviously this is some kind of tourist place. There is a small opening in the trees, where steps have been built to take you down on a steep slope. I start walking down the steps. The steep slope turns out to be a bank of a river. After walking number of steps I manage to reach the river bed. The river does not have much water and hundreds of rocks and stones from the river bed lying bare. Yet, when I look closely at the rocks and stones, first with my bare eyes and later through my binoculars, a feeling of amazement fills my mind. Some one has converted hundreds of these rocks, into lingas of God Shiva accompanied by his bull, Nandi. This place is known as Sahasralingam, which literally means thousand lingas. This river is known as Shalmala. This river originates somewhere near Dharwar and joins the Arabian Sea on the west. The spot is really beautiful and well deserves a visit.

A couple of Shiva Lingas in the bed of Shalmala river

The Shiva bulls or nandis carved in river bed rocks

Yet no one knows for sure, who carved out these many lingas and the Nandi bulls in the river bed. However it is known that this place belonged to the king of Sonde, a place nearby, which now is just a village. Only sign of this ancient kingdom today is an old fort lying in ruins nearby. This King of Sonde had invited 29^th successor Guru of one Vishvavandya Sarswati, who was appointed by Great Hindu Guru Shankarachraya at Kashi (Benares) as Guru of Havig Brahmanas of Gokarna temple, to come to this place and settle down. The Sonde king built a monastery for him and endowed it with land . This 29^th Guru and his successors lived at this place quietly. This place was known as Sahasralinga even then because of the natural shapes of rocks in river bed, which looked like Linga of Shiva even in those times. It is obvious that for a long time people from this Math or monastery must have commissioned sculptures to create Shiva Lingas and the bulls in the river bed, so that these look more authentic. Whatever may be the true history, no one can deny the fact that this place is an extremely beautiful natural picnic spot. The local government has now built a suspension or a hanging bridge at some distance. An excellent vies of the river bed is available from the bridge.

Hanging bridge on Shalmala river

After so much of site seeing in a day. I am feeling tired no doubt. I decide to have some Tea, hot, sweet and milky, in the true Indian style. The Tea, even in this hot weather, refreshes me and I am ready for the next spot on my itinerary.
(To be continued.)
6 November 2011

It happens only in India

2012-02-04T16:02:00.001+05:30

On 9^th January 2012, Airport Deputy manager Mr. Janarthan at Tirupati Airport, had a major problem on his hand. His air traffic controllers had not reported for duty as usual, at 7.00 AM and the control tower was unmanned. Tirupati airport handles only 7 flights every day, but it is the nearest landing point for Tirmala shrines. One of the most revered temples for Hindus, particularly from south India..

To add to his worries, Jet Airlines flight 9W2761 had already taken off from Hyderabad and was scheduled to reach Tirupati, within one and half hours .

He made frantic calls to the air traffic controller, who told him that he simply forgot to report for duty. However ATC told Mr.Janarthan that he would immediately start for the airport and would be there as soon as possible.

Tirupati airport has no approach radar and pilots rely on air traffic controllers to provide runway and weather information and give landing clearance.

Since pilots rely mainly on visual approach to land their planes, they need to have all the support information at least 40 minutes before the aircraft reaches over Tirupati. Mr. Janarthan knew that the pilots of the Jet Airlines flight from Hyderabad, would ask for this information on radio and by then, the ATC just can not arrive at the airport.

Doing some quick thinking, he requested Mr.Pasha, a fireman at the airport, to furnish necessary information to the pilots of Jet Airways flight on radio. Mr Pasha speaks only broken English but managed to give the required information on the radio. 40 minutes later, when the aircraft reached the Tirupati airport, ATC had already arrived and was in his seat to guide the aircraft to land safely.

Mr Janarrthan might have solved a crisis in hand , but he is now facing an inquiry along with Mr Pasha, how they undertook ATC duties, without authorization.

Airport Authority of India says that Mr Pasha had good intentions but he is untrained and he should not have done ATC's job. Mere good intentions are not enough to do a job.

This can happen only in India.

4 February 2012

Motoring in the South Sahyadris- Part I

2012-02-04T07:32:00.003+05:30

Western Ghat mountain range (Sahyadri mountains) is one of the major mountain range system of the Indian Sub continent. Located at an average distance of sixty to seventy (definitely less than a hundred kilometers) from the Western Sea Board of India, the Sahyadri mountain range extends in the North-South direction for sixteen hundred Kilometers from Nashik (Maharashtra state of India) in the North to Kanyakumari. (Southern tip of Indian sub continent). The mountain range is endowed with superb tropical rain forests on both sides, extending almost to the sea shore, in few places.

There are two ways from the North, to approach the jungles of the south Sahyadri mountains. The first route, which appears on the map as the easiest and simple, is to take the Mumbai-Goa highway near Panvel and travel up to Goa,where the road continues as National Highway 17 to reach Ankola town. At Ankola, turning left on National Highway 63, takes you to Yellapur town, which is located in the heart of the jungles of southern Sahyadri mountains. This route is actually a pain in the neck, as far as motoring is considered. This highway, in most places, is just a two lane road with very heavy traffic consisting of all sorts of vehicles and is a nightmare to drive. The other longer route is to take Mumbai-Pune expressway and then continue along the beautiful Pune-Bangalore highway right up to Hubli town and then turn on the National Highway 63 to reach Yellapur.

I am on my way to Yellapur town, which is about seventy kilometers away from Hubli city. As I leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind me, the road passes first through a rich agricultural tract, with standing Jowar and other crops almost ready for harvesting. After another ten or fifteen kilometers, the landscape starts changing rapidly. Fields with standing crops are still there, but now I can see only paddy fields everywhere around me, lush green in few places and ripened to golden yellow in other places. As I travel further towards Yellapur town, paddy fields appear more and more intermittently, mingling seamlessly with beautiful bluish ponds, grass and isolated patches of tall trees. Slowly the huge tall trees start dominating and substitute for everything else. Very soon I am in the midst of a thick tropical rain forest. There is nothing really to see on either side of the road now, except for countless number of huge trees with large leaves, small leaves, whitish leaves and blackish leaves. There is a very heavy undergrowth of shrubs and grasses in the open spaces below the tress. Once in a while, a dried trunk of a tree lying on the ground and covered completely with creeper plants, projects out like a sore thumb through the undergrowth.

Lush Green Paddy fields

Soon I reach Yellapur town. I decide to have a cup of the tea in a roadside cafe. The town itself is just an ordinary Indian town with relaxed atmosphere. The cafe owner is not very communicative in spite of my best efforts. I drink my tea rather quietly and proceed further. From Yellapur, we branch off to a smaller and badly pot holed road, which leads to another town called Sirsi.

Forests of the south Sahyadries

I have made reservation in a jungle resort located somewhere along this road. A narrow track covered with red soil leads me to the resort built in an opening right in the middle of the jungle. Surprisingly, there are a large number of coconut and aracknut trees spread all around this place. Neat little cottages stand in two rows to house the visitors. A larger building on a side perhaps is the dining hall. The resort claims to provide all modern facilities like electricity, running hot water and cable television. However I soon find out that these modern day luxuries are dependent on couple of cables and electrical lines brought all the way from Sirsi town and at slightest vagaries of the mother nature are likely to go out of function. Yet this uncertainty does not bother me much as the place has a built in calm and relaxed atmosphere, which somehow makes me realize the unimportance of any of these modern day requirements.
After a much delayed lunch, I doze off a little in the supreme serenity of the surroundings and wake up completely freshened up from a rather tiring road journey. The time is is around 4 PM . The dark shadows of the surrounding tall trees have already started to grab the open spaces even though the sunset is still couple of hours away. I am served a cup of hot tea and told to be ready to visit a nearby Tibetan Manastery. There are two large Tibetan monasteries in Karnataka. One is located near Kushal Nagar in Coorg district and the other one at Mundgod village, which is not very far off from my resort.
Since, I have visited the Kushal Nagar monastery about a year back and have also visited number of Monasteries in Ladakh very recently, I am not greatly interested in this visit. Finally I decide to go along.

Mondgod Monastery

After Chinese take over of Tibet in 1955, a large number of Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama escaped to India from Chinese communist rule. Many of the immigrants were given land and other facilities by Government of India and were settled in the two colonies in Karnataka state. Tibetans settled in Mundgod village have built this monastery and is known as “ Gaden Jangtse Thoesam Norling Monastery”.

Maitreya Buddha

Idol of Tara

Banner depicting guardian of a cardinal direction

The Monastery prayer hall building is huge with curved stair case on a side. A climb up leads me to a large main prayer hall or Du-Khang of the monastery. At one end of the hall, there is a raised platform. Several idol figures are arranged behind a huge glass show case. I can easily identify the Maitreya Buddha and Tara idols. Huge painted banners, displaying brightly coloured paintings of the four guardian kings of the cardinal directions and other paintings of religious significance adorn the side walls and the spaces between the idols. As I leave the hall, a gong starts striking repeatedly with a booming sound. Suddenly the sitting places in front of the raised platform start getting filled with young monks wearing deep red or saffron robes. They sit down in rows parallel to the length of the hall. I leave the monastery as monks begin their evening prayers. When I reach my resort, it is already dark. The lights in the rows of huts appears to be the only sign of life in the vast darkness of the jungle. Dinner is served later in the main dining hall.

As I lie down on my bed, I switch off the lights. Complete darkness spreads around me. It is difficult even to see my own raised hand. Surprisingly, there are no chirping crickets or other insects to create a background sound track. I never thought that jungles could be that silent. The total darkness and silence is like an void, which absorbs me in an instant. I fall asleep in just few seconds.
(To be continued)

2 November 2011