Bloemfontein

January 31, 2012 Leave a Comment

I was aware of the city before I knew that I had to come here. Of course the reference was cricket.

The city is Hansie Cronje and Allan Donald’s hometown. And it was at this ground that Virender Sehwag hit his first test century in 2001. For the LoTR lovers, this is the city where J.R.R. Tolkien was born.

Apart from that, the city, known as ‘city of roses’ is the judicial capital of South Africa (South Africa has 3 capitals). And like Chandigarh, there is an annual rose festival organized here too.  Another similarity with Chandigarh is the size of the airport.

Travel from India encompassed 3 different size of aircrafts. A moderate Airbus 330 to Dubai. Then a massive A-380 to Johannesburg and then a small turboprop Havilland to Bloemfontein over the huge – many of them exactly circular, farms of free state province. Outside the small airport there was only one taxi. And the first car I sat in, in South Africa, was a Hyundai Santro. Only that it is called Atos here.

The city is of course beautiful – mainly because you can see the huge expansive, dome like sky stretching out 360 degrees around you. There are only 2 buildings which can be called skyscrapers. The weather is somewhat like Bangalore – at least in January. Hot during the day and really cool in the evenings. Or such is the case in the particular area where I am putting up – Dan Piennar.

It is situated on a small hill overlooking the entire city of the Bloemfontein. Sitting in the room, you can even see the cricket stadium far away (or at least the flood lights). The breeze (and it is a wind today) has an inhibited access – from any direction which makes it cool in the morning and the evenings. And like Bangalore, it rains whenever the temperature crosses a threshold and more often than
not you can see a rainbow (though I don’t think that is the reason it is called the rainbow nation).

The sunsets are to die for. Everyday there is a different hue to the sky – Purple, orange, Blue. And the beautiful and rich houses..err. bunglows around the area form the perfect foreground.

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Shimla – after years!!

December 28, 2011 2 Comments

Shimla – the queen of hills. No matter how commercial it gets or how crowded it gets, it still holds a special place for some of us friends. On a recent ‘official’ tour there, I tried hard to remember when I was there the last time. It was on a new year’s eve when we were there to inaugurate 2007. There are plenty of good memories before that of course – cricket with a fractured hand, ‘Naldhera’, the super expensive ice cream which was priced at an exorbitant Rs 30 but was compulsory on a cold night, experiencing the snow fall for the first time and sitting beside a warm fireplace at Vishesh’s home on Dec 31st, 2006.

Shimla essentially remains the same – the mall road, the ridge, the church and the famous Gandhi statue. But this time some things stood out. One is a huge statue of lord Hanuman on the top of a hill just behind the church. So if you click the church from certain angles, you will get the orange statue in the background.

Another notable difference was the absence of Barista on mall road. During college days, Barista was an aspirational place and we had hoped to be able to come to the Mall road barista café one day. Sadly, it was not to be. One another expensive eating joint used to be the Baljees, again on the mall road. But when I went there this time, it seemed as one of the cheapest. Times change. Things change. Shimla.. well the same.

Church with Hanuman statue in the background

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Maldives

December 26, 2011 Leave a Comment

Maldives – a country of islands which are an extension of the Lakshadweep islands in the Arabian Sea. We had a chance to primarily on one of them and it was undoubtedly beautiful.

At Male, it seems you are landing on the water itself. From the inside (or even outside) it is not a very attractive airport – certainly no match for the beauty of the rest of the place. As you get out of the airport, the first thing that strikes is the clarity of the water. It is almost as clear as in a swimming pool and you can see the bottom of the ocean floor.

A speed boat took us to our island. It was my first ride on a really fast speed boat and as it floated over the waves, it gave that funny feeling in the stomach – the same as you get on a roller coaster.

The island we went to (for the honeymoon) was more famously called the Paradise Island. The waters close to the island were greenish and not deep. Far away you could see it distinctly change to dark blue – indicating a sudden fall in the ocean floor. There were beach cottages along the circumference of the island and the water villas which were right in the middle of the water.

The whole island had been converted into a resort with a wide range of facilities and activities to do. You could take a ride on one of those planes which land on the water (I had seen them in the movies only), go fishing at night, have a private beach barbecue or play a wide range of games at the island itself.

But more than this man-made fun, it was the nature which was at its best. Strolling on the beach with a bright moon light, cool breeze and sounds of the waves was one such experience where the nature brings it all together to make it a perfect moment. Or maybe sitting on the beach restaurant – candle light, staring out at the vast dark expanse in front of you with an absolutely blank mind. During the day you could snorkel for hours together and be close to a range of variety of fish and pick up an assortment of sea shells – right from the sea bed.

Everything was excellent but in hospitality industry often the physical beauty alone is not quite enough to give you an ‘experience’. You need the accompanying service. And that was one downside at this specific island.

The rooms were big and comfortable but there were no soaps in the bathroom. And though only a limited people watch TV while in Maldives, but still the condition of the TV was pathetic – the remote control broken. A bottle of water ordered at the room took hours to come (and not just once). The behavior seemed ‘taught’ and may be did not come from inside.

Well, some of these glitches apart, the place (a one hour flight from Sri Lanka) is worth a visit – especially considering that it is feared that these islands may be under water in few years.

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On Road in China

September 12, 2011 9 Comments

It was a short – lasting 36 hours – trip to China.

To be very frank, I expected an India-like feeling on the roads – no traffic sense, people jumping lines and crossing traffic lights, crossing roads wherever and whenever they wanted. But it was exact opposite.

The flight landed in Hong Kong. “The airport is huge”, I thought.  “But what the hell, we also have a T3″.
The proud Indian ego had countered the first impression.
(And why did people complain so much about the thick carpet at T3. HK airport also had a similar carpet adorning its floors.)

But the other impressions which followed were difficult to be countered.

kuch kuch BSE jaise lagti hai...

The taxi which was to take us to Mainland China was called Limousine on paper. It was not that long car we generally have in mind but was a huge MUV – a Toyota Alphard – Pretty awesome. It had run 2,50,000 kms but still was ‘fresh as a daisy’.

One of the major reasons for that was explained by the next impression – the road infrastructure. If they had those kinds of roads why wouldn’t the life of the vehicle be multiplied. And it was not just the highways but all around. It was told that even the villages had same kind of ‘makhan-like’ roads.

Most of the 36 hours was spent on the roads so there were more observations about that. There were plenty of tolls on the way and almost all of them were ‘manned’ by women – even at late hours. And they looked happy doing the job. They smiled, greeted and after the payment was done, thanked and held their hand out in a guiding direction towards the exit. It was a pleasant change from what you see at the Indian toll stops.

One of the tallest building

The most surprising part though was that people had patience and the traffic sense. The pedestrians waited for the traffic light to turn green before crossing the roads. Vehicles generally followed lanes. They were not in a hurry to get ahead on tolls. The height of such behavior was actually observed near the airport where one had to cross a really narrow stretch of road to reach the terminal. There was a light installed which was red for pedestrians. But there was not a single vehicle on that road. Still people stood there for good 5 minutes and moved ahead only when light turned green. I stood there, behind in the line for few seconds trying to understand why so many people were just standing there and was simply dumbstruck when I realised the reason for it.

Another interesting thing was street lights being run by windmills. Small windmill fans were installed on top of the lights along with solar panels which, I guess is an excellent way ‘go green’. Though not sure how viable it is.

Lastly, I found the large bill boards on road sides were a bit banal there (at least along the roads around Shenzhen which I roamed). Unlike India where we have actors and actresses or at least some images along with them, most of the bill boards there lacked such things. May be there is something that India can give China – a Shahrukh Khan perhaps!!

Cheen ka heero

A billboard with a Hero

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The British Magazine

May 29, 2011 Leave a Comment

During the 1857 uprising, hundreds of sepoys came into Delhi after a  mutiny in Meerut where they killed all the British. In Delhi too they went about killing all the English – men, women, children they could find. By the afternoon, almost all of them in the city had been killed. At around 4 PM, the sepoys went to the Mughal king – Bahadur Shah Zafar to seek his blessing and support for the uprising.
The old king, having very less options, reluctantly agreed to it. As soon as he came back to his quarters after announcing this publicly, there was a huge blast north to the Palace (The Red Fort). It was so strong that it was heard 20 miles away.

The epicenter of this blast was the British Magazine – North India’s largest arsenal of ammunition and guns. Lieutenant Willoughby was defending this Magazine since morning. By the afternoon he was fully surrounded by the sepoys. To prevent such a large cache of arms and ammunition landing in the mutineer’s hands, Willoughby blew up the whole building along with a large mob of the sepoys who were attacking it and of course himself.

What remains of this magazine are the two entrances around 100 meters apart. Kashmiri Gate Post office stands where perhaps  there was a warehouse of the ‘modern’ Enfield rifles which were the primary reason for the 1857 uprising.

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Khooni Darwaza

May 26, 2011 3 Comments

Khooni Darwaza

Khooni Darwaza – the name itself has horror written all over it. Had this place not been in the middle of a road, it could easily have been an ideal place for shooting of a supernatural themed movie. There is already an original story in place for the movie.
Khooni darwaza was originally called Kabuli Darwaza and formed the boundary of Shergarh – the city which was originally built by Humayun and later taken over by Sher Shah Suri. Kabuli Darwaza became Khooni darwaza 300 years later in 1857.

When the British re-captured the city after the sepoy  uprising, Bahadur Shah Zafar – the last Mughal King went into hiding at the Humayun’s tomb along with his family. The British offered to spare his life if he surrendered. He did so. But his sons (who had led forces against the English army) kept on hiding. Some time later, when British came to know about them, they asked them to surrender too. Thinking that their lives would be spared like their father, they surrendered too. The British, meanwhile had no intentions to keep them alive. While Captain Hodson was taking them back to the city, a crowd started gathering, threatening to rescue the princes (this fact is disputed though).
Hodson then stripped the princes and shot them in cold blood at point-blank range. This happened at the Khooni Darwaza.

It is said that the spirit of the princes still haunts the place. Though they did not disturb me but the place does have the haunted look to it. It lies hidden among the trees with an old chowkidar mysteriously sitting there all by himself. While I was clicking some photos, I day dreamed about the chowkidaar slowly walking up to me and in his shaky voice telling me that he was a Mughal descendent and had royal blood in his veins.

Oh Damn. Was that a day dream or did it really happen!!!

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Lake….. again…

May 15, 2011 4 Comments

Aaj main upaar asmaan neeche

Nothing new to say about the Lake.. Just a few lines from Pink Floyd come to mind.

Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun
Along the long road and on down to the causeway
Do they still LIVE there by the cut
There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
With friends surrounded
The nights of wonder

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Ishq-e-Dilli

April 24, 2011 Leave a Comment

Ishq - e - Dilli Ishq-e-Dilli

If you live in Delhi and have not seen Ishq-e-Dilli, you have missed something. Ishq-e-Dilli is a sound and light show held in the evenings at Purana Quila. Both the show and the environment is a pleasant change from the regular pathetic movies watched after spending thousands at the malls. The ruins of the southern gate of the city built by Humayun is used as the screen for the show which revisits Delhi’s history from the time of Prithiviraj chauhan (13th century). Even if you are not interested in history, the show is interesting enough to keep you engrossed for an hour with two songs thrown in too. The visual effects are worth a dekko and in the period of one hour, you will also develop a soft corner for the history.
To warm up, one can come a bit early and roam about the sixteenth century city. The guards then force everyone out at around 6. You have to buy another ticket to experience ishq-e-dilli. While the normal ticket costs Rs 5, the show comes at an additional Rs 80 and it is worth it.

Humayun climbing downThe scene where Humayun died while climbing down the steps

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The day I missed my camera

April 11, 2011 2 Comments

Fields at Chhindwara


It was a trip to the so called roots of India, the bottom of the pyramid – the villages of Madhya Pradesh. It was work related but I did carry my camera along hoping to get some good shots – something different from the monuments which have been in focus for some time now.
But that was not to be. The days I tugged the camera along to work, there were no real opportunities for clicks. And the one day when everything came together for a perfect photo op, I did not have the equipment.

Perfect it really was. Evening time, cloudy skies with sun playing hide and seek and acres of picture perfect yellow wheat fields. The work carried on long into the night and the area did not enjoy the benefits of electricity making the starry night sky look simply beautiful and a dream for any kind of night photography. But sadly, this time there were only the eyes and mobile’s camera to capture these lovely sights.


Wheat fields

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Sukhna Lake

March 20, 2011 8 Comments

Chandigarh is a modern city, built 10 years after independence. Unlike Delhi, there is no real history associated with it. But Sukhna Lake is a place which is associated with my own life’s history. It has been a go-to spot since childhood with the peak of Sukhna attachment coming during the 4 years of college when we were there every other day.
There have been a lot of changes at lake. First a small amusement park came up with joy rides for children. Now, it is almost finished. A windmill was installed. The entrance was beautified. Then there was a tower on an island within the lake which was had become iconic and a symbol for the lake. Today too, if you google for Sukhna lake, you will see that tower in almost all the pictures. One fine day, on visit to Chandigarh something felt different. The tower was absent. It had burned down.

But all these changes have happened only at the entrance. Once you move beyond this commercialised space into the real lake – everything is same. It has been the same for years. The ‘suicide tower’, the big banyan tree, a high lookout platform, the classical music playing in the background, the sweet smell of flowers, cool shade of trees, calm waters, lots of green and unforgettable memories.

All coming together to make the Sukhna Lake one of my favorite places !

 

 

 

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