Just as you land in arid Jaipur and drive out of the airport parking lot , you see an elaborate green signboard declaring profusely ‘Welcome to Pink city ’.
“Why is this called the Pink City ?, I asked my cabbie
‘Maharaja Jai Singh , the erstwhile ruler of Jaipur , had built a wall all around the old city which had the large windowed Hawa Mahal which was pink in color , so this came to be called Pink City ‘, said the cabbie authoritatively .
‘And why on earth is this road called Tonk Road ?’, I queried wondering what a peculiar name this was for a normal ‘Airport road ‘as it is called in any other city .
‘This road starts from a Muslim area where Tonks lived , so it must be one of the muslim names ‘, said the cabbie
As I found out later from the owners of one of the oldest movie theatres in the city , the pink color had been used at the time of its construction to create an impression of red sandstone buildings of Mughal cities of those times .
That cabbie was pretty well informed amused me . Mumbai cabbies would care a damn about why Victoria Terminus or Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus as it is called now was a built that way or where the architecture originated . They couldn’t tell their Borivalis from the Dombivilis as long as the meter was ticking and money was rolling each minute .
I landed in Jaipur to be greeted by thirty degree temperature at seven in the morning . The flight was packed with foreigners , eager to soak in Indian history . The terrain , when seen from above, is flat as flat can be and arid as arid can be . There are a minimal scattering of trees around the different parts of the city and a hillock on one side of the airport . A couple of forts can be spotted as the plane hits the runway .
The city was founded in 1727 AD , much after Shivaji had finished his fights with the Mughals in the Deccan , by one of the greatest rulers of the north , the astronomer king Sawai Jai Singh. A collection of complex astronomical instruments, chisseled out of stone- most of which continue to provide fairly accurate information to this day kept in the Jantar Mantar observatory stand testimony to the intellect and brilliance of the astrologers of those times till this day .
Forts never fail to impress me . Each piece of history that Forts hold and the amazing turn of story that each conquest holds grips me with a sense of awe . Achievement thrills me . And I consider a Fort a great military achievement and their conquests absolute strategies .
Take for instance the Sinhagarh fort thirty kilometers from Pune city , the mystery of its conquest , can goad me to to even today take a treck up the fort to feel the awesome daring of Tanaji Malasure , Shivaji’s trusted general who forsake his daughter’s weeding to conquer the fort from the Mughal King Afzal Shah . The Lizard , Yeshwanti , which stuck to the walls so that the Maratha guerillas could scale the mighty fort and attack a surprised enemy enthralls any audience . His death while fighting prompted Shivaji’s famous soundbyte ‘Gard aala , pan sinha gela ‘ , The Fort is Won , the Lion is Lost .
A poignant moment in conquests .
Another fort with a great twist of fate is the Murud-Jaljira fort one hundred and forty kilometers from Mumbai , bang in the middle of the Arabian sea on the coast a couple of miles from Alibag . legend has it that the fort was built by Siddhi Johar ,a South African King around the end of the sixteenth century over eleven years , each day seeing contruction on the outside during low tide and on the inside during the high tide . The fort with its three hundred and sixty five canons couldn’t be captured by Shivaji or by his son Shambhaji , who attempted to reach the fort many times but failed to find its entrance gate .He then tried to build a fort a couple of miles down the sea but left the fort incomplete as he had to fight other battles in Raigarh .
One can’t approach the fort directly . The canoe takes one in a zigzag manner to find the entrance , going south westward into the sea first , away from the fort , then the boatmen swing the sail the other way in a rapid well co-ordinated effort and the canoe changes direction to northeasterly and then a couple of hundred metres down the choppy sea waters , the sail is turned again so that the canoe can move south westwards again . And just as the canoe turns sailing over bouncy waves , one sees the hidden entrance to the fort . It is so deceptively hidden , no wonder Shanbaji couldn’t figure it out for his life . As you reach the entrance , the boat is held by ropes and you need to jump out in order not to be sucked by sea . A remarkable experience . The journey from the shore to the fort in the sea takes a good half hour , but you return in ten minutes as the sail is directed straight to the shore in a south eastwardly direction making it a swift journey .
The fort itself is huge , and they say a complete town settled in the three storey fort with schools , marketyards , houses and freshwater ponds inside .Architechturally , it is brilliant with its many alleys and carefully designed township .
The fort in Jhansi is also spectacular , more for its place in history as the battleground of one of India’s most outstanding queens who fought the british till the end , than for its plain architecture . The Indian Army uses it as a base now .
Alexander , like Shivaji many years later , must have mastered the art of breaking forts for in his time , 326 BC , he had captured half of the known world with sheer chutpazh and valour . Think leading a contingent of thirty thousand fighters across Persian , Egyptian and Indian soil conquering whoever came in the way . Alexander did at a ripe young age of twenty six .
That brings me to the forts in Jaipur , each of which are exceptionally functional and served their time in history . There are six forts in Jaipur and as I see some of their designs , they still look ready for battle , worn by time but built for ever .
We begin a different battle for marketshare in the Pink City tomorrow . We have to fight to win , guarding our turf , customers , listeners . The forts in Jaipur have stood testimony to great strategies and big victories by many Kings .
And they will all be around to see ours , a couple of weeks from now .
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Lungs of London
One of the first things that beckoned was a visit to the ‘ Lungs of London ’ , The Hampstead heath , four miles north of London , a huge green land mass with its various ponds , and houses that once had sought after occupants . Promptly catching the Tube’s Northern line from King’s Cross station to Hampstead , we were greeted by Emily just outside the Patisserie on the other side of the station’s exit . A petite , young woman , hazel-eyed Emily had served as a guide for the Walking Company for the last couple of years . The brochure said that she was an effervescent and smoky-voiced actress , who had shot to fame for her role in the production , Nicholas Nikleby . She wore an old bag slung across her shoulders , and a tanned blue french cap and worn jeans .
‘How are we this afternoon’, she asked all of us who had assembled , three british girls on a study trip , one Spanish women , five Americans with one of whom was massively built and the two of us .
‘Ready to roll ‘, said the Spanish woman .
The girls giggled .
‘I must tell you we have to walk all the way up the heath and then across a lot of great greens and then through large moors . Is everyone upto it ?’ She smiled .
Everyone nodded their heads happily .
‘ You can expect the most picturesque and perfectly preserved Georgian neighbourhood . Most of the people who came here came to breathe its fresh air and hoped to live a long life .’
‘I must begin with the story of John Constable , the painter of Hampstead ‘,said Emily as we crossed St.John’s dilapidated church .
John Constable was a painter and had earned fame for the story of his life more than his paintings . He fell in love with a girl called Mary and their romance over years and their four children born out of wedlock , forms part of the folklore of the heath.
Then we walked past the long and winding cobblestoned pathways with some very pretty cottages . The houses here were architecturally brilliant and very well created , though a lot of them were identical .
We stopped near the Kenwood house , some of the large windows of which were covered with blocks of wood .
‘The window tax was created to identify and tax the rich . The more windows the house had , the richer were its inmates .’added Emily emphatically , ‘So some of the rich blocked their windows to avoid paying the tax !’ Must tell her that some of the Indian businessmen were even more ingenious when it came to tax –aversion !
Soon , we reached the highest point of Hampstead Heath , called parliament hill , Emily asked us to pause and look over the hill for a great view of the city , just four miles away .On the left was the Canary warf area , with its financial epicenter and the stock indices in an electronic ticker circulating around the main building there .The Saint Pauls cathedral’s dome could be seen at a distance . We resumed our walk towards one of the larger ponds in the Heath , half of which was frozen and had birds walking on the icier part of the pond . A couple of swans made up the scenary .
Just as we walked around the pool under the thick foliage , there was a small patch of land with a lot of stationary wagons , most of whose tyres were deflated and was were very sad sight . A couple of people walked around , looking very poverty stricken , a strange sight in London , for sure .
‘The gypsies ‘, Emily said ‘have been around for as long as I can remember . They are extremely proud of themselves and don’t like anyone peeping into their homes . There are over thirty ponds in the heath and most served as reservoirs for water in the 17th and 18th centuries . Different ponds were used by men and women for bathing with one of them being a common public one , that one over there .’
On the northern fringes of Hampstead Heath lies Kenwood House, one of the most glorious country houses in London , which was in 1754 was acquired by Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, and one of the great British lawyers who, when a slave was brought before him, made the great judgment that England had always been free, and that when any slave set foot in England, he was automatically free .
Much further down the heath , we came across the Highgate Cemetery with its long winding pathways , one of the 'garden cemeteries' of the Victorian era. ‘There are in fact two cemeteries at Highgate . The original one, created by Stephen Geary , the short bespectacled architect , stands on the west of Swains's Lane, and was established in 1839 as a joint-stock company .’Emily added .
This is where we found the original communist , Karl Marx , resting . It’s an irony that within a couple of miles of the cemetery of Karl Marx are the houses of the last James Bond , the debonair Pierce Brosnan and Madame Jude Dench , the irrepressible M in 007’s life .
Irving Wallace would have turned in his grave at the thought of having the creator of communist Russia , arch rival and key target of master dapper spy , Marx staying in the same neighbourhood as Bond himself .
‘How are we this afternoon’, she asked all of us who had assembled , three british girls on a study trip , one Spanish women , five Americans with one of whom was massively built and the two of us .
‘Ready to roll ‘, said the Spanish woman .
The girls giggled .
‘I must tell you we have to walk all the way up the heath and then across a lot of great greens and then through large moors . Is everyone upto it ?’ She smiled .
Everyone nodded their heads happily .
‘ You can expect the most picturesque and perfectly preserved Georgian neighbourhood . Most of the people who came here came to breathe its fresh air and hoped to live a long life .’
‘I must begin with the story of John Constable , the painter of Hampstead ‘,said Emily as we crossed St.John’s dilapidated church .
John Constable was a painter and had earned fame for the story of his life more than his paintings . He fell in love with a girl called Mary and their romance over years and their four children born out of wedlock , forms part of the folklore of the heath.
Then we walked past the long and winding cobblestoned pathways with some very pretty cottages . The houses here were architecturally brilliant and very well created , though a lot of them were identical .
We stopped near the Kenwood house , some of the large windows of which were covered with blocks of wood .
‘The window tax was created to identify and tax the rich . The more windows the house had , the richer were its inmates .’added Emily emphatically , ‘So some of the rich blocked their windows to avoid paying the tax !’ Must tell her that some of the Indian businessmen were even more ingenious when it came to tax –aversion !
Soon , we reached the highest point of Hampstead Heath , called parliament hill , Emily asked us to pause and look over the hill for a great view of the city , just four miles away .On the left was the Canary warf area , with its financial epicenter and the stock indices in an electronic ticker circulating around the main building there .The Saint Pauls cathedral’s dome could be seen at a distance . We resumed our walk towards one of the larger ponds in the Heath , half of which was frozen and had birds walking on the icier part of the pond . A couple of swans made up the scenary .
Just as we walked around the pool under the thick foliage , there was a small patch of land with a lot of stationary wagons , most of whose tyres were deflated and was were very sad sight . A couple of people walked around , looking very poverty stricken , a strange sight in London , for sure .
‘The gypsies ‘, Emily said ‘have been around for as long as I can remember . They are extremely proud of themselves and don’t like anyone peeping into their homes . There are over thirty ponds in the heath and most served as reservoirs for water in the 17th and 18th centuries . Different ponds were used by men and women for bathing with one of them being a common public one , that one over there .’
On the northern fringes of Hampstead Heath lies Kenwood House, one of the most glorious country houses in London , which was in 1754 was acquired by Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, and one of the great British lawyers who, when a slave was brought before him, made the great judgment that England had always been free, and that when any slave set foot in England, he was automatically free .
Much further down the heath , we came across the Highgate Cemetery with its long winding pathways , one of the 'garden cemeteries' of the Victorian era. ‘There are in fact two cemeteries at Highgate . The original one, created by Stephen Geary , the short bespectacled architect , stands on the west of Swains's Lane, and was established in 1839 as a joint-stock company .’Emily added .
This is where we found the original communist , Karl Marx , resting . It’s an irony that within a couple of miles of the cemetery of Karl Marx are the houses of the last James Bond , the debonair Pierce Brosnan and Madame Jude Dench , the irrepressible M in 007’s life .
Irving Wallace would have turned in his grave at the thought of having the creator of communist Russia , arch rival and key target of master dapper spy , Marx staying in the same neighbourhood as Bond himself .
Sunday, March 12, 2006
History
The graphic representation on the airlines passenger information system of the map of the world and the flight path showed how the sun was setting in Africa and parts of India as we closed in on London . The sun had set on the British Empire !
The weather report on page two of The Daily Mail forecasted two degrees in London for the whole of the week , with a maximum temperature of five degrees and four hours of sunlight thrown in . Whoever coined the term ‘trecherous London weather ’ , was right . We would soon find out .
It is true that once upon a time , the sun never set on the British Empire . The Empire span from the East Asian countries to the Australian continent and most of Africa and to the discovered lands of Americas and Canada . It is also true that they amassed vast wealth over the passage of centuries and its former colonies are still called ‘commonwealth ’ .That even much later in the years , they attacked Argentina in a Falklands war or recently jointly ran through Iraq shows that their conquering spirit still exists. History and culture is part of most of the European cities . Spanish explorers discovered parts of the world , Portugese sailors uncovered cities as far as India from around the African continent , Romans conquered many countries , Greeks fought amongst themselves prompting Alexander’s expedition , even the landlocked Moghuls invaded India and spread their religion and architecture .With six thousand kilometers of coastline , India never put a single ship out to sea , never once attempted to reach a country ,never attempted to go to any country and challenge its beliefs or understand the world . Raja Raja Chola , the only king who did so , came back half way from Ceylon when one of his ships collapsed . We witnessed a Anglo-Dutch war in our country . Imagine two countries fighting for control of India . Our history , therefore , is reactive history . We reacted to Moghuls , Portugese , French , Dutch , Britishers , Spaniards and now react to the Americans .
That is was makes London interesting as a destination , drawing people from all countries who can drop in to see a piece of their own history in the city. A Spanish Armada ship , the Kohinoor diamond , the sword of Tipu Sultan , houses of authors from all over the world who stayed here from Rabindranath tagore to Shakespeare .
Thousands of years of culture mark everything in the London , unlike other world cities like New York which is just a boiling cauldron of commerce and capitalism . It is to their credit that they created most of the educational and political systems across the cities they ruled in . How on earth would such a sparsely populated country dream of ruling over most of civilized world is as amazing as it is mystifying . Even today , as New York stands as the ultimate destination for any enterprise , London has reinvented itself to be a world city worthy of a visit . Its transport systems are created to serve the needs of twenty million people everyday ,a number that’s thrice its seven million residents ,
Walking down different lanes in London gives a feeling of exhilaration not felt in any other world city , even New York . Even though 5th Avenue and Manhattan are great walks with its brilliant facades and colourful shopfronts , Oxford street is better . More organized , more stylish and definitely more expensive . People dress well, there’s a sense of fashion . Women are pretty , impeccably dressed and extremely perfect with their lissome profiles . The chill winter breeze also makes them wear high leather boots and loosely wrapped around mufflers .
There’s also a sense of content around people . They are peaceful , satisfied and happy .Even blacks here dress well , unlike the ones in New York or San Fransisco , whose stench can be felt from far . They wear breaded hair , torn jeans and worn threaded sneakers whether in New York or Minneapolis , not in London though . Here , they carry themselves very well .
Leisceter Square and its theatre headquarters is an amazing place to spend any leisurely evening . It’s buzzing with activity till early hours of the next day .We caught the play ‘Phantom of the opera ‘ at Her Majesty’s Theatre , now in its twentieth year and it was a packed house .
The cabs of London are fresh and different , all of them look freshly painted and clean. Specially made by a firm called London Taxi Industries in acontract from the government , they cost a good thirty fve thousand pounds , very expensive. Also , unlike elsewhere , the public cabs cost more per commute than local dial-a-cab services .
There are no cops on london streets , or atleast I couldn’t see one the whole week , except the few gun-totting ones patrolling outside Scotland yard with its no-window building . Instead , I caught a lot of close-circuit cameras all over London . Streets from Kings Cross to lanes in Hampstead , the Tube , Oxford Streets , everywhere .Guess the cops keep a hawk-eye view on London’s happenings without being present . 221B Baker street , the lane housing the famous detective Sherlock Holmes had a close circuit camera too .
‘Ridiculous , Watson . That’s no way to keep an eye on crime ’, the purist Holmes would have shouted , had he seen such technology take over the sheer thrill of deduction .
It was very cold .It was the last week of February and summer was nowhere in sight . The sun rose early and set by afternoon , a chilly breeze swept through most parts of the day . It snowed in the afternoons and it rained heavily for four hours the day before we left . As we walked through Hyde park towards Buckingham palace , it snowed again .And just as we had the time of our life in Spearmint Rhino , the gentleman’s club , and emerged at one am in the morning , it drizzled all the way for fifteen minutes as we crossed streets to get to the Italian restaurant on the other side . Half the pond in Hampstead Heath was frozen and the other half had swans basking in the mild morning sun .
Must say , the weather did have us baffled .
Fact is London doesn’t play a role in the world theatre anymore is ample proof , no global businesses are British , no bog brands are British , they don’t win soccer world cups , cricket world cups , Ashes , they don’t export anything , they send forces wherever Americans do , their move to make Euro the common currency has fallen flat on their face with France saying no ,none of their banks are present in most parts of the world , the queen is forgotten , nothing British matters anymore. London is just plan history .
Yet , for that alone , it still is a great place to be .
As Dr.Samuel Johnson says ,
When a man is tired of London , he is tired of Life ;
For there is in London , all that life can afford .
The weather report on page two of The Daily Mail forecasted two degrees in London for the whole of the week , with a maximum temperature of five degrees and four hours of sunlight thrown in . Whoever coined the term ‘trecherous London weather ’ , was right . We would soon find out .
It is true that once upon a time , the sun never set on the British Empire . The Empire span from the East Asian countries to the Australian continent and most of Africa and to the discovered lands of Americas and Canada . It is also true that they amassed vast wealth over the passage of centuries and its former colonies are still called ‘commonwealth ’ .That even much later in the years , they attacked Argentina in a Falklands war or recently jointly ran through Iraq shows that their conquering spirit still exists. History and culture is part of most of the European cities . Spanish explorers discovered parts of the world , Portugese sailors uncovered cities as far as India from around the African continent , Romans conquered many countries , Greeks fought amongst themselves prompting Alexander’s expedition , even the landlocked Moghuls invaded India and spread their religion and architecture .With six thousand kilometers of coastline , India never put a single ship out to sea , never once attempted to reach a country ,never attempted to go to any country and challenge its beliefs or understand the world . Raja Raja Chola , the only king who did so , came back half way from Ceylon when one of his ships collapsed . We witnessed a Anglo-Dutch war in our country . Imagine two countries fighting for control of India . Our history , therefore , is reactive history . We reacted to Moghuls , Portugese , French , Dutch , Britishers , Spaniards and now react to the Americans .
That is was makes London interesting as a destination , drawing people from all countries who can drop in to see a piece of their own history in the city. A Spanish Armada ship , the Kohinoor diamond , the sword of Tipu Sultan , houses of authors from all over the world who stayed here from Rabindranath tagore to Shakespeare .
Thousands of years of culture mark everything in the London , unlike other world cities like New York which is just a boiling cauldron of commerce and capitalism . It is to their credit that they created most of the educational and political systems across the cities they ruled in . How on earth would such a sparsely populated country dream of ruling over most of civilized world is as amazing as it is mystifying . Even today , as New York stands as the ultimate destination for any enterprise , London has reinvented itself to be a world city worthy of a visit . Its transport systems are created to serve the needs of twenty million people everyday ,a number that’s thrice its seven million residents ,
Walking down different lanes in London gives a feeling of exhilaration not felt in any other world city , even New York . Even though 5th Avenue and Manhattan are great walks with its brilliant facades and colourful shopfronts , Oxford street is better . More organized , more stylish and definitely more expensive . People dress well, there’s a sense of fashion . Women are pretty , impeccably dressed and extremely perfect with their lissome profiles . The chill winter breeze also makes them wear high leather boots and loosely wrapped around mufflers .
There’s also a sense of content around people . They are peaceful , satisfied and happy .Even blacks here dress well , unlike the ones in New York or San Fransisco , whose stench can be felt from far . They wear breaded hair , torn jeans and worn threaded sneakers whether in New York or Minneapolis , not in London though . Here , they carry themselves very well .
Leisceter Square and its theatre headquarters is an amazing place to spend any leisurely evening . It’s buzzing with activity till early hours of the next day .We caught the play ‘Phantom of the opera ‘ at Her Majesty’s Theatre , now in its twentieth year and it was a packed house .
The cabs of London are fresh and different , all of them look freshly painted and clean. Specially made by a firm called London Taxi Industries in acontract from the government , they cost a good thirty fve thousand pounds , very expensive. Also , unlike elsewhere , the public cabs cost more per commute than local dial-a-cab services .
There are no cops on london streets , or atleast I couldn’t see one the whole week , except the few gun-totting ones patrolling outside Scotland yard with its no-window building . Instead , I caught a lot of close-circuit cameras all over London . Streets from Kings Cross to lanes in Hampstead , the Tube , Oxford Streets , everywhere .Guess the cops keep a hawk-eye view on London’s happenings without being present . 221B Baker street , the lane housing the famous detective Sherlock Holmes had a close circuit camera too .
‘Ridiculous , Watson . That’s no way to keep an eye on crime ’, the purist Holmes would have shouted , had he seen such technology take over the sheer thrill of deduction .
It was very cold .It was the last week of February and summer was nowhere in sight . The sun rose early and set by afternoon , a chilly breeze swept through most parts of the day . It snowed in the afternoons and it rained heavily for four hours the day before we left . As we walked through Hyde park towards Buckingham palace , it snowed again .And just as we had the time of our life in Spearmint Rhino , the gentleman’s club , and emerged at one am in the morning , it drizzled all the way for fifteen minutes as we crossed streets to get to the Italian restaurant on the other side . Half the pond in Hampstead Heath was frozen and the other half had swans basking in the mild morning sun .
Must say , the weather did have us baffled .
Fact is London doesn’t play a role in the world theatre anymore is ample proof , no global businesses are British , no bog brands are British , they don’t win soccer world cups , cricket world cups , Ashes , they don’t export anything , they send forces wherever Americans do , their move to make Euro the common currency has fallen flat on their face with France saying no ,none of their banks are present in most parts of the world , the queen is forgotten , nothing British matters anymore. London is just plan history .
Yet , for that alone , it still is a great place to be .
As Dr.Samuel Johnson says ,
When a man is tired of London , he is tired of Life ;
For there is in London , all that life can afford .
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