Sunday, June 28, 2015

Nek Chand's Dream

Bicycle track along a Chandigarh avenue
From the Rose Garden at Chandigarh
The city of Chandigarh is the capital of two States, Punjab and Haryana. Conceptualised by Le Corbusier, a city of wide avenues and wider slip roads with bicycle tracks, everything at right angles, a first class drainage system, vast acres of cultured greens, a wonderful system of traffic control and uniform blocks of utility buildings, it is nevertheless known for a unique park called the Rock Garden, created by otherwise, quite an ordinary person named Nek Chand Saini. Abandoned pieces of rock, dug up and thrown away during the time the city was being built, caught his attention and he worked on thousands of these pieces of rock, trying to give shape to his ideas. Gradually, he won acceptance and some land was allotted to him where put up his open air gallery and then, started to craft artificial hills and forts from cement, placing his rough hewn stones between them. He was only a public works inspector.

Nek Chand passed away a few days ago, past 90. To the last, he was agile and active. Since I had an opportunity to visit a few weeks back, let me share his visions, his dreams with you 

This looked like a gathering at some village fair
Maybe a forest goddess
Remembrances of his village hut

In the later stages, he has used such throwaways as ceramic power sockets, discarded and broken plates, broken paving tiles, broken ceramic tiles and the like. From all these, he has created likenesses of monkeys, jackals and leopards apart from human forms, arrayed along the serpentine pathways.

Such was his dream, a fantasy and apart from that, it remains of course, a unique experiment in urban renewal.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Rufous Treepie Calling

 

I tried to capture the treepie calling in video mode a few months back. With the zoom on, my hands were not steady enough. There was also a lot of background noise since a major road is nearby. And after transfer to the computer, it took me some time to figure out the movie maker and to make a wmv file. Could not resist adding a layer of music and thereby, my first video upload!

Friday, June 19, 2015

Tonight

Tonight

Thin sliver 
of a reddish moon

Waves of your
memories

The curve of
your mouth

You and me,
tonight 
__________

Just out of school, I got this cassette titled "Guilty", by Barbra Streisand. This is one of the songs I remember from that album and everytime I play it, can't but be amazed by the force and range of her voice and the passion with which she sings it. One of my favourites. Memory, by Barbra Streisand -



Thursday, June 4, 2015

Heritage buildings at Simla

I have always loved the hills but it has been quite a while.
This time, as soon as the hills appeared round the bends, I could somehow, feel their presence. 


It was as if these massive mounds of boulders and earth that are home to hundreds, thousands of plant and animal species, as if they were fulfilling their duties much like us lesser mortals, as if these mountains and ancient trees were living, breathing and we silently acknowledged each other. And I really, distinctly felt the warm hug of a welcome ...


As we ascended swiftly, suddenly my mind went blank. Stared out of the car window, bends and climbs, as if in a stupor

You, who walk with me in my living dream, you, who travel the same path with me in distant time


There are a just a handful of heritage buildings left in Shimla as I saw it, away from the urges of development as it is meant in modern terms

These are entirely woodbuilt, perched on steep hills and are extremely picturesque. This one has been taken over by the government, awaiting restoration and is definitely of sufficient vintage since the ground floor appears to have been built at least in the earlier parts of the 20th century


Inexplicably, this mansion set in sufficient acreage in a prominent part of Shimla seemed to be sadly decrepit and crumbling, a perfect setting for paranormal activities 


You, the other side of my existence, troubled as it might be, fraught with conflicts, questions and irreconcilable differences

It was extremely rewarding to find the Amateur Dramatics Club, founded in 1837 behind the Gaiety Theater and a bookshop selling only old books,some of them really old. And the popular cafes, favoured by the locals as well as the wandering soul. And the paratha stuffed with minced meat, served with a hot gravy and yogurt


Totally loved Shimla, its people and its produce in fruits. The apricots, the cherries were heavenly. Even though the density of population has to be seen to be believed, 


Finally, the temple dedicated to the Mother goddess Kali, a place for all people from the State of West Bengal to congregate. At one end of the Ridge, with a spectacular view

 
You, who take my breath away, you, who permeate my earth, you, who look down upon me in starched moonlight

One of those dark nights, lashed by storms and flashes of blue lightning. A bit of rain. Trees swaying madly with the wind, resenting the unrest. But the storm will subside, they will again be left standing peaceably, enjoying the sun.