Here’s some pictures I clicked on the Hunsur road, off Mysore, during a recent trip to Coorg.

Off the Hunsur Road

Caught in hay while the sun shines

Haystacks – Hulkuris – a common sight in the villages

Bannikuppe Avarekai Santhe

School bags heavier than buckets?

Opposite Suntikoppa Bus Stand

Condiment Shop – being replaced by branded chains in Metros

The old Hyderabad area, the shopping centre around Charminar is a photographer’s paradise(apart from being a shoppers’ dream). The busy market area, the colour, the vibrancy will make a photographer go into a clicking frenzy, especially with a weather more pleasant than Bangalore(this was post monsoon time in 2009).

But with a cranky 3 year old, I could just take a few shots from a flying auto(still have to get used to hyderabad’s rickshaws) that raced through the area.

I have uploaded some photos of the area. In case you call them bad, try clicking snaps crouched in the back of an auto with a eager infant wanting to click some on his own.

The colourful Market Square.

I like the bright orange dress.

Charminar, a first glimpse.

I wonder how the area looked like when this structure first came up. Did the market sprout around the structure or the other way round?

A Bollywood message or a simple design on the auto?

Going back to the past on two feet

The venue for IITM (India International Travel Mart) event could not have been more apt. Set in the spacious grounds of Bangalore Palace, the summer home of the erstwhile ruler of Mysore, it exuded both royal comfort and verdant gardens that many urban dwellers desire. The huge garden in front of the palace was picturesque and so were the brochures that enticed the visitors and revealed how enchanting our country really is.

At the entrance, facing the beautiful lawns, were different types of horse drawn carriages, the automobiles of an early era. The exhibition stalls were set behind the Palace. Tickets were modestly priced Rs 20/- per head.

The stalls were huge and with many props that showcased the states’ attraction. While Andhra predictably put up a prop of the Charminar, Gujarat had a 4-winged frame in which each frame acted as a collage of attractions of a particular city. Kerala enticed both the elite and the backpackers. A set of stalls marketed affordable homestays while there were others which sold us dreams of luxury on a houseboat.

Karnataka’s section was designed after the Patadakkal temple. The Karnataka brochure encapsulated the state’s map & its attractions – beaches, waterfalls, culture, heritage, wildlife and adventure tourism – along with lists of travel agents and tour operators for the state.

Karnataka

The staff at the Puducherry (Pondicherry) stall handed me a brochure that showed that the place was more than just Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville. I knew that the city was mentioned in Sherlock Holmes stories but did not know that Man Booker prize winner -‘Life of PI’ – revolved around this city. A handy map of the city centre is also given in the brochure.

I also loved the stall Wandervogel who specialise in customised tours and adventure tourism in the North East and Ladakh.

There were also magazines like Travel Media, Safari Plus and World Travel to name a few. The international stalls in the exhibition were interesting – Jordan, Greece, Dubai and Thailand.

It was a head spinning time browsing at the various stalls. Busy Travel agents and tour operators flipped in and out of stalls. Small business operators, families and individuals like me were also a part of crowd. Looking at the number of people who thronged the exhibition, I wonder if  the recession’s over.

The diverse places, exotic holidays, adventures and leisure all contained in the handful of brochures, I walked out happily.

About the event

Bangalore: 18th – 20th July 2009

Venue: Bangalore Palace Grounds (from the entrance opp. Mount Carmel College)

Tickets: Rs 20/- per head.

Website: http://www.iitmindia.com/

“In this water, I invoke the presence of divine waters from the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri”

As a kid, I have heard my father recite this shloka (hymn) everyday before he took a bath. However, I had hardly realised the importance of this Vedic hymn at that time.

Rivers are an important source for the development of any community. Around the world, almost every famous city in the past or present are by the banks of a river. In India, we consider all our rivers as divine and worship them. Even the word ‘India’ is derived from  the  word ‘Indus’ or ‘Sindhu’.

As I grew older, from the school’s social studies curriculum I learnt that the Indus Valley civilizations – Harappa and Mohenjodaro – lie in Pakistan. My knowledge of the region was also very vague. I knew that their big cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad were similar to our cities and the rest , I assumed, consisted of feudal gun-toting tribesmen. That was before I read this book.

I bought Alice’s book since I had been told that it was a ‘best seller’ in the travel category. The book chronicles her Indus river journey and describes in detail the history, culture and important events that took place on the banks of this ancient river. As a historian and traveller, Alice leads one through different periods of history and its significance to the sacred Sindhu River – the bedrock of our very ancient civilization.

In the initial chapters one learns the importance of Pakistan’s low caste Hindus (Shudras) who keep the sewers clean in the fabric of Pakistan’s society. The chapter then describes the period of vivisection of India and Pakistan and reveals the stories of the refugees. At this stage, it did not speak much about the river itself. However, as one reads further, it becomes quite clear on what Alice is trying to achieve. She provides the socio-political events as a context to explain its impact on the Indus. Going through the travails of Sindh, the follies of the British and the power struggle in present Pakistan government, the tale is so absorbing that one feels that he is a silent spectator during the Pakistan’s  evolution.

Her journey is in reality as a set of travelogues interspersed with history. The volume of her travels is so huge that each chapter can become a story by itself. Whether it’s the rise of Sikhism or Buddhism or Islam on the banks of the river or the conquests of Alexander or Ghazni, the river becomes an important backbone to every tale.

Until she explained the similarities between Islam and Buddhism – intense religious learning, non-idolatry worship– one could have never believed that such a concept can exist. Swat, a place that has become a victim to Taliban was once known as Uddiyana, an ancient thoroughfare of trans-Asian Silk Road. This and many other similar facts unfolds the roots to early Vedic and Buddhist history of India. In fact, if  the Taliban had read this book they would never have destroyed the huge carving of Maitreya Buddha in Swat.

The famous Alexander and Puru’s battle on the banks of Indus has been often told with glorification of either of the great Kings. A much distorted (read Americanised) Hollywood movie, where Alexander speaks with a North American accent, was released a few years back. To understand the actual facts on how Alexander met his match at the Indus river and used his military tactics to defeat Puru’s huge army is a captivating tale in this book.

The migration of early Vedic civilizations from the Indus to the banks of Ganga, a more fertile region, the tempting but unsubstantiated claim of the Aryan-Dravidian theory and the distorted theory that the Aryans were early migrants from Europe depict the extent of research that has been done for the book.

As she travels further north into the vast spaces of Tibet and Ladakh in her quest to seek the source of Indus, civilizations and cultures are left behind and the river and the landscape takes over. The Indus is Senge Tsampo (Lion’s mouth) here, her guides are Drokpas, the terrain are mountains and valleys.  The last few pages narrate the end of her journey, to the source of a river that was known as ‘Saaransh’ (flowing for ever) in the ancient Vedas, and ends with a warning that the river might be ‘dammed out of existence’ due to man’s costly mistakes.

You can’t read this book in a day. Nor can you finish reading it just one time. Close the book now. I can guarantee that you’ll reopen it; maybe to read about a tribe or history of a conqueror or life of a Wajiristan’s tribal or about the ‘older than vedic age’ and yet surviving Kalash culture or about the Indus river herself. Awards or no awards, its a very spellbinding tale of a river that gave a name – India – to our country.

(Image courtesy: Wikipedia)

‘Sikh student becomes 20th Indian victim in Oz’, ‘Aussie teens try to cut Sikh youth’s hair’ announced today’s newspaper. But what caught my eye in yet another repetitive news clip about the Oz ‘racism’ attacks was the word ‘Dandenong Station’ and a ‘Singh’.

Dandenong is a place that I have been to and know very well. I was sent to work in the General Motors (GM) office in Dandenong for a few months. Every morning, I took a train from Flinders Station to this far-off suburb. The suburb is nearly an hour’s journey on train from the city. At the Dandenong station, it was another 15 minute taxi ride to the GM office in Dandenong Industrial zone. As you ride out of Dandenong town, you can see the factories or ware houses in the industrial zone that borders the town. Dandenong once thrived due to automobile economy.

Then as the auto slump happened, the factories were shifted to China; the warehouses either closed or just have a token presence here. Scores of factory workers were displaced. An Aussie colleague told me that this was huge impact on the locals and the living standards declined. If you take a train from Dandenong to the city on a friday evening or in the weekends, you can see the antics of alcohol induced morons who take the train back home.

However, the suburb has also got a strong South Asian presence. Like any other suburb of big cities, the cost of living is cheaper here and the immigrant community thrives on small businesses. Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indians all have storefronts that have names like ‘Taj Mahal’, ‘Zamzam’, ‘Kohinoor’ etc that cater to every Indian need. GM’s canteen was not very vegetarian friendly. So I used to frequent one of the hotels in Dandenong town for a much needed masala dosa or a channa masala, especially on fridays, when work was low.

In Oz, most of the Indian taxi cab drivers are Sikhs or Punjabis; the other huge community, the Telugu speaking Andhra students prefer manning the stores. Many Punjabis who come to study here also have a motive of settling in Australia. A ‘resident’ status for a Punjabi is an obsession. I once met a friendly Punjabi who joked, “If it was declared that Punjabis do not need visas to go abroad, the entire Punjab will become empty in a day”. They work in night shifts, drive cabs on weekends all in the process of making money for their living expenses and also for residency application fees.

The life of an International student is quite tough. The business of ‘education’ is quite cruel as it lures International students by marketing the country’s ‘standard of living’. They have to take up odd jobs to make ends meet.  An andhrite once told me, “After spending much money(read dollars) on an MBA, why would I go back to India?”. Makes sense.

But a racist attack in Dandenong is very surprising considering that the strong South Asian population here. Though the teens are noisy and boisterous on trains or in cabs, I hadn’t expected them to be racist in Melbourne. In fact I felt more alienated by my own very ‘Indian’ project team than any white Aussie however drunk he may be. But then I never travelled beyond 9 pm.

I  have frequently heard that Indians or Chinese are attacked as they are ‘soft’ targets in all Western countries like the US, the UK, Germany and also in the ‘eastern’ Australia and ‘New Zealand’. What’s surprising is its coverage now in Indian media. Why has it woken up now? Is it because of ‘racism’ in Cricket? The Indian Media bristles at every Aussie jibe on the Indian team. Maybe now they are ‘giving it back’?

Whatever the reason maybe, it has worked well. Australia has now woken up to this problem. It might not be always ‘racist’ as the media suggests, but the bad press has made Australia try to curb this problem.

Ending on a lighter note, a tip for all the Indian journos out there – try the ‘masala dosa’ in Dandenong restaurants. Best I ever had in Australia.

Among the many names the city has, Bangalore is also known as the ‘Garden City’. But you would be surprised to know that this city – during the time which Tipu Sultan fought fierce battles with the British – was a barren land. To know more about the evolution of our city’s colourful gulmohurs, jacarandas and the many rain trees read my article -  ‘Bangalore: how it became Green’ – published in Chillibreeze.

(Image Courtesy: Wikimedia.org)

My blog posts had somewhat temporarily stalled. The reason was simple. There was a marriage – my brother-in-law’s – around the corner. I was gently advised not to take up any ‘new work coming my way’, until THE events were over.

In the last few months not a day has passed without a talk about the impending event.  My brother-in-law liked this girl and they had finally announced it to the elders. You’d think its simple, but that’s when the ‘Project Wedding’ starts. I have tried to unfold the event’s highlights.

‘First Meeting’: There was the first ‘meeting’ of the ‘other’ family.  An event in itself where families assess each other, praise their respective children and the talk invariably turns to setting the  date, booking a choultry (marriage hall) etc.

Shopping: Sarees, jewellery, invitations, suits or dresses for everyone in the family and the cousins, relations etc were painstakingly chosen over the next few weeks. It takes quite a bit of financial juggling  to go on such sprees – especially if you have made wise investments and do not want to break a fixed deposit even if the ‘Gold rate’ is low. Any new item that is not necessarily required for the marriage – e.g. an Ipod – is postponed until the ‘wedding is over’.

Visitors: There were visitors to the house every week. Aunties who wanted to ’see’ the sarees – silk for the girl, and her mother, cotton silk for elderly matrons – and jewellery – the diamond ring, thali, necklace etc. They were also updated on the ‘latest news’ from the ‘girl’s’ family – E.g. ‘her mother had called to finalise on the lunch menu’, ‘her grandmother slipped & fell’ etc. Uncles were more interested about the girl than the shopping. The story of how their boy met the girl was narrated umpteen times. Sometimes the males do appreciate the shopping and it can lead to some peculiar situations. Looking back, I don’t know how I kept a straight face when a male cousin held a ‘lehenga’ (skirt) to his waist while appreciating the design and assessing its weight.

As the D-day arrived, meticulous planning was done to the last minute detail. All ‘what-if’ situations had backup plans charted out.

Marriage: The ‘baraat’ (I use the more commonly known North Indian term here) was welcomed the previous evening at the choultry by the girl’s side. The marriage was early next day.  A ‘reception’, that generally follows the marriage, had been thankfully cancelled as both the families decided against it.

As the boy’s ‘relations’ we were garlanded and invited in. What followed was general conversation among the relations while the boy and the girl were herded off by the family ‘priests’ (there was one from either side).  The same scene was re-enacted on the day of marriage – with more guests. Here’s a bird’s eye view of what happens generally in a South Indian marriage. The couple mumbles whatever the priest dictates, while the guests make polite conversations. Usually the ladies catch up on the latest news in the family and the gentlemen talk about politics or cricket.

Of course, as the immediate family, we had a lot of work. One was always stationed near the priest to provide whatever he asks for. One played the role of a host urging everyone to have a good time and handing over ‘tambula’ (coconut) while I was asked to go around offering ‘kumkum’ and ‘blouse piece’ to all female guests in the hall.

Once the ‘tying the knot’, that signifies & sanctifies the marriage, was over there was a flurry of guests to the mandapam to hand over the gifts so that they can go for lunch. Here again there was one stationed to collect the gifts from the harried couple. At last, when we did have lunch, it was time to pack up and clear the hall.

I now know why Hindus ‘get married only once in a lifetime’.

The Kote Venkataramanswamy temple, stands squeezed between the busy street and the sprawling gardens of Tipu’s Summer Palace in Bangalore.

Built in 1695 during the time of Chikka Deva Raya, the temple has witnessed a 300 year-old tale of the city. This was the period of the Mysore rulers, the Wodeyars,  purchasing the city from the Mughals and fortifying it. The word ‘Kote’ means Fort in Kannada language. Once the seat of Royalty, thetemple now stands in the commercial nerve centre of the city.

Tipu Sultan

During the brief rule of Tipu Sultan, a Palace was built adjacent to this temple. This was not exactly due to religious tolerance. Those were the days when the Kings were treated as God and it was usually the norm in those days to built the palace near the city’s temples. Tipu merely followed this norm!

The Temple has a huge Gopuram built in typical Dravidian Style. The passage leads to a mukha mantapa, navaranga, and an inner garbha griha (sanctum sanctorum). Though it has been a Vishnu temple since Wodeyars’ rule, there are some claims made by  scholars that the temple is much older and with Shaivite origins. The basis for this statement is the Girija Kalyana (Parvathi’s marriage to Shiva) carvings on the outer walls of the temple; which is rather odd in a Vishnu temple.

As I came out of the temple, I was also blessed by another ‘venkataramana’ at the entrance.

However on Vaikunta Ekadashi day, I dont think even this Venkataramana will have time for a photo shoot. In an otherwise busy street, devotees form huge queues to visit the Lord on this auspicious day.

I will start the series with this post on Tulasi Thota, behind Chikka Lalbagh in Balepet-Akkipet area.

The temple’s two main deities are Lord Krishna and Rama. During March April every year the area sees a ‘Brahma Rathothsavam’ for Lord Krishna and Ramothsavam for Lord Rama.

The main deity of this temple is Lord Krishna, in the classic picture, as a child with a cup of butter. The age of this temple is a mystery. While one source says the temple was built in 1844 by Sri Chamaraja Wodeyar, the ruler of Mysore, another source mentions its age to be much older.

However what is known is that the temple was maintained and expanded during the time of Rao Bahadur B K Garudachar, one of Bangalore’s earliest mayors. Garudachar was known as a man of action and minimum speech. Every morning he would walk through the streets and by lanes of the city to personally check on the things that required immediate repair or action. When there was work to be done, he would personally visit the field worker whether it was a plumber or a clerk or a sweeper. Later in the day, he would solve around 20 to 25 action items in an hour. Needless to say, many a grievance was solved before its discussion came to the table.

The name of the temple – Tulasi Thota (Basil Grove) - has an interesting story behind it. In 1908, the famous Saint Tulasi Ramdas came to Bangalore with an intention of setting up a Ram temple and perform Ramothsavams every year. Impressed by Garudachar’s hospitality and the temple upkeep, he decided to consecrate the idol of Lord Ram in a small temple next to the Krishna deity. From then on, the area was known as Tulasi Thota(Basil Grove) or Tulasi Vanam(Basil Forest). However there’s also a disputed theory that there might have been a tulasi grove in this area.

 The temple and its courtyard is maintained by the successors of the Late Rao Bahadur Garudachar. There are a few houses for the people who work in the temple premises.

The area has also had its share of illegal encroachment.

 Still it is one of a few lung spaces in the otherwise congested Majestic area.