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The Rock Garden Of Chandigarh

The little known but very famous Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a folk artist's paradise with thousands of figures set amongst 25 acres of walled courtyards, terraces and waterfalls. The garden is the vibrant child of  one man's imagination...Nek Chand...who close to 40 years ago started building the garden of his dreams in a small hilly patch of abandoned land using recycled materials and scrap which he collected from all over Chandigarh. After overcoming multiple travails during the years including threats of demolition by the government to acts of vandalism, the garden is today one of the wonders of modern India and the second most visited place after the Taj Mahal. Here are some glimpses into this magical world...

Vignettes Of Durga Puja

This festive season we stayed back in Delhi and did the obligatory pandal tours of the Bengali enclave of Chittaranjan Park. However the probashi Durga Pujas in Delhi are positively tame when compared to the madness and mayhem that is Calcutta during the festive season. Eating chicken rolls and kobiraji cutlets at midnight did ease some of the pangs but I was left pining for the majestic pandals, jostling crowds and joi de vivre which transforms Calcutta into a throbbing mass of energy. Reaching back into memory, here are some vignettes of life during the Pujas...

Of Gods Demons And Monkeys

During the the period of the Navratras, families gather with their neighbors to view episodes of the Ramayana, enacted over the period of nine nights (hence Nav Ratra). The arrangements range from quiet neighborhood ones with the local children playing roles with great gusto, to mega events which have professional actors, huge budgets and fairgrounds attached.

Last week, we went to a Ram Lila in the Kamla Market area of Old Delhi and rediscovered the charms of the epic triumph of good over evil. Memories of Amar Chitra Katha flashed by as we watched Rama display his archery skills, Hanuman fly over mountains to give his master's ring to Sita and Ravana gloat over his prize catch. We laughed aloud as the children dressed as monkeys scampered around trying to avoid tripping on their tails and the microphone belonging to one of the demons' malfunctioned.

The adjoining mela with shows of the snake man from Itawa and other assorted gems, the daredevil drivers in the speed globe and photo studio's where you could click a photo with Aishwarya or Aamir were the icing on a perfect evening out in Old Delhi...

Breaking The Fast

The street opposite Gate No 1 of Jama Masjid has long been one of my favorite haunts. For those of you who are gastronomes, yes it is the same lane that houses Karim's the legendary restaurant of Old Delhi. This being the month of Ramzan, the street takes on a whole new character in the evenings, with shops piled to the roof with sweets and sevaian. As families break their fast after sunset and come out into the streets, it is as if the night has turned into day...

Landslides In Paradise

An hour out of Munsiyari, we noticed that oncoming traffic had become non existent. The big grins on our faces at the prospect of some fast hill driving were soon wiped out when we slammed on the brakes on seeing a lonely red flag standing in front of the largest loose boulder I had seen in my life. Standing at the side were a bunch of  people gesticulating upwards towards some more of its precariously perched brethren. Thus began our three day stay at Virthi a small village in the middle of nowhere. Blessed with a spectacular waterfall, friendly villagers, two tea stalls and a tourist bungalow with two rooms and a dorm but no lights and of course no telephones, those days will forever remain one of the best times we have had in all our travels. I learned the lives of the villagers,  befriended the neighborhood kids, unraveled the  food chain of the local government bureaucracy dispatched to clear the landslide, drank endless glasses of tea and even learned how to blast a mountain...

Dev Bhumi Uttaranchal

This Independence Day weekend, bored with the listless weather of New Delhi, we dumped our stuff into the trunk of our car and with less than half a days planning, started the drive to Munsiyari, the start of the old trade routes to Tibet. Here is a photo chronicle of our drive through the rain drenched hills of Kumaon which took us through distinguished Almora, sacred  Bageshwar, mystic Patal Bhuvaneshwar and finally to Munsiyari nestled in the heart of Dev Bhumi or Land Of The Gods...

Cotton Candy Man

Woke up from my slumber on a lazy Sunday afternoon and glanced outside the window to view some flashes of brilliant pink against the parked cars and the garden shrubs. On a closer look, it was a man on a cycle with a wierd looking machine attached to its back, churning out giant webs. I ran downstairs and introduced myself to..Surender...the neighborhood Cotton Candy Man. As we chatted, I saw him work his magic using his tools...a manual cotton candy maker, hand powered and heated by a spirit lamp, sugar and color. Surender has been in this business since 1981 and his machine was an 'original' made in Aligarh. I could see him crinkle his nose in disdain as he mentioned the cheaper 'local' ones made in Delhi and the electric cotton candy makers which were slowly making inroads into his livelihood. We talked about how the neighborhood has changed, how his clientele has shrunk since children are 'different' these days, how the rich madams try and bargain with him for a few rupees as they contract to him for their children's parties and the white sahibs who sent him to Aligarh in their car to buy three machines for themselves. I ended the conversation by thanking him for bearing with my camera and also bought two pieces for Rs 5 each, not because I particularly like sweets but because i felt that I was paying a tribute to master craftsman and his trade...