Desicritics Author: Anuradha Goyal

Book Review: Romancing with Life by Dev Anand

Anuradha Goyal — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:31:40 EST

I have always loved Dev Anand for all the melodious songs in his films. Having grown up in the Doordarshan era, I have grown on all those black and white numbers, which still keep resonating in the ears. So, when his autobiography was published last year, it was definitely on my list of ‘to be read’ books.

Like most autobiographies, this book also moves in an absolute chronological order, except in the beginning where Dev Anand remembers his life before he moves to Bombay while on a train from Gurdaspur to Bombay. He briefly talks about his family and what he felt when he left them to pursue his dreams. Throughout the book Dev Anand comes across as a constant dreamer, who lives in his dreams and then wakes up to make those dreams come true both in his life and his films. His life is all about films and the women who walked with him in his journey, specially the ones which painted the silver screen with him. At times he met them while being a part of the film and at other times, he met them and then went ahead and made films for them. From the early forties to the 21st century what has not changed is the age of the women he fancied and romanced; it was less than twenty then and continues to be the same now.

In line with his image of an evergreen, timeless hero, he does not mention the years anywhere, though you can make out the rough timing by the films he mentions and the national events that he mentions here and there. But otherwise he has tried to keep the story more or less timeless. He is a man totally in love with himself; everyone else comes and plays a role in his life and goes. He also comes across as someone who lives only in the present, totally in the moment, with the person he is with, feeling the surroundings he is in and weaving out his future dreams from this present moment. He talks very romantically about all the women he romanced on and off screen.

His autobiography also brings out the businessman in Dev Anand. You would admire his networking skills and leveraging his fan following and start status as and when required. The fact that he once tried to launch a political party was a revelation to me. But what I admired about him was his ability to very quickly let go of the failures and move on to the next dream. I was amazed at the care and caution he takes to maintain his image in the minds of his audience, going to the extent of hiding his small disease that he had to suffer, going all the way to England to get a small operation done. All this so that none of his audience see him in a diseased state, something he thinks they can not imagine, their eternal hero can not fall down with a disease.

Before he could find himself a job in film industry, he worked for the military censor office and had the job of screening letters written by army officers. He probably got lots of romantic ideas from the letters written by army officers to their wives and girlfriends. He also got the idea of quitting the job from one of the letters, which said ‘just do it’. But wherever he was, and whatever he was doing, he was always a Casanova, trying to charm people and specially women around him, always believing he is the best. This phase also highlights his ability to draw inspiration from just about anywhere.

Dev Anand’s career spans almost the whole lifetime of Indian film industry and hence as he talks about himself, his films and his friends and colleagues in the industry, you also get the feel of how this industry has evolved over the ages, how things have changed. Here and there he also mentions his views on the social and political scenarios in the country and the world, giving a feeling of someone who is very connected to the outside world and its happenings and not just lost in his eccentricities.

Having been educated in the British era, he writes in flowery English.I guess the editors have not really changed the text. At places you feel that the language of the book could have been a bit better. There is a chapter for each of the films he made under his banner and some of the films he worked in. Though hardbound, the quality of the physical book could have been better along with the cover design. But now having read the book, I realize that the star might not have wanted anything except his picture on the cover. I would have wanted little more depth in the book, as there is so much the author has to share, but I guess in the interest of the length of the book, he has not gone into too much detail and just touched upon what he felt was important to share. He has hardly spoken about the music, which in my opinion is the biggest contributor to his success. The last portion of the book could have been compressed, as he talks about his films which not many people have seen and have starred people whom no one recognizes.

Read the book to see a man completely in love with himself. A star, who thrived on public adulation, who worked towards it, lived amongst the adulation poured on him from all directions and continued to seek more and more of it. An eternal optimist, who looks back at his life as if everything was picture perfect including the heart aches that we went through.

Navadarshanam: An Experiment in Alternative Living

Anuradha Goyal — Thu, 4 Sep 2008 09:08:25 EDT

Navadarshanam is a 120 acre self sustained settlement, 50 km south of Bangalore. It is an experiment in alternative living, living in a way that does not disturb the balance of the nature around you, unlike what most city dwellers end up doing intentionally or unintentionally.

The Navadarshanam (ND) campus is something that probably many of us would wish to be in, but may not have the necessary courage to create something like this. In its 120 acres, it has few cottages made with eco-friendly construction methods, a small space to process, manufacture and sell health foods, a common kitchen that cooks on health food principles, a gobar (cow dung) gas plant that supplies cooking gas to the kitchen, a wind mill and a few solar panels that generate the electricity for the campus, a cow shed that houses a few cows, some fruit trees and tons of self generated greenery. Anathu, founder member and permanent resident of ND, explains how the barren land regenerated itself, and lakhs of trees germinated out of nowhere, including thousands of sandalwood trees. There are interesting exercising devices that generate electricity and water plants as you exercise. The periphery of the campus is a cool 4km walking track, ideal for a morning and evening walk. You can buy health foods from their simple store, these foods are also available through select Namdhari outlets and a couple of other outlets in Bangalore.

There is an interesting story behind the origin of ND, how some people who were all very highly educated, lived across geographies and were a part of a study circle, came together to create ND. As you listen about this story from Ananthu, you see the elements of destiny, some good intentions and most importantly the intent of actually doing something that people usually keep talking about. And the fact that an external agent in the form of a Swamiji came and put the action into what was being studied, was being spoken about, discussed and written about. Swamiji in a way threw a challenge at this brilliant young team to actually create a space that lived by these principals that this team was inclined to explore. The story of the initial years, of being cheated for the land price and dealing with working on an absolutely new concept in an absolutely ambiguous situation. After all what do you do with so much of barren land, and nothing as your support system. I would like to sit with Ananthu again and explore their journey, because their ND journey is documented, but I want to know about the personal journeys that they have to tread, to create such a concept.

Team at ND is working primarily in five key areas:

1. Eco-restoration: Allowing the earth to create a cover for itself, with a belief that earth is alive just like us and has the power to regenerate for itself.
2. Natural farming: Farming without using any artificial chemicals and without destroying the ecosystem of the surroundings.
3. Health & Food: Research and production of foods that do not disturb the ecology of the body, by way of undigested food.
4. Energy: Generation of energy using wind power, solar energy, animal waste and Honge seeds, all of which are available in abundance.
5. Eco-housing: Construction of houses using the local material and labor, designed in such a way that need for energy is minimal.

ND is a completely Saatvik place, where a conscious effort is made to keep the Rajsik and Tamsik elements away. In that kind of an environment you feel one with nature and one with yourself. This is an environment that makes you question a lot of things that you are doing without questioning. It forces you to think about your purpose of existence. The biggest question that I had in mind was, why we complicate our lives so much, when everything we need is available right there with the nature, why we keep running after all the gadgets and collecting all that we really do not need. I got reminded of my Bhutan visit, where there were no garment stores and people weaved their own clothes, and everyone there was as well dressed as people in any other part of the world.

Though Navadarshanam does not encourage more people visiting it, at least not more than what it can handle, but if this post rings a bell somewhere, it is definitely a place to visit while you are in Bangalore.

The Psychology of Car Pooling

Anuradha Goyal — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:59:31 EDT

I have wanted to write this piece for quite sometime now, but yesterday a newspaper report made me sit down and write it finally. The report in yesterday’s TOI says that 78% people do not carpool at all. Going by my experience as someone who has carpooled for years, I would say the figure may be as high as 95%. People are just not open to car pool.

The most often stated reasons for car pooling are saving on the fuel cost and being eco-conscious by consuming less fuel and hence a lesser contribution to polluting. Some other perceived benefits are lesser congestion on the roads etc. All the above are well publicized and understood, but what most people who have not experimented with car pooling do not understand are the social benefits of car pooling. I used to car pool with 3 other people for more than 6 months or so and all of them remain by good friends till date. I have given lifts to a lot of my colleagues who lived in the vicinity, and all of them are my good friends today. They are not my friends because I obliged them by giving free lifts, but they are my friends because we got to spend quality time with each other.

The not so obvious benefits that I saw from car pooling were:
• Sharing of driving pressure– you drive only 50/33/25 % of the times, depending on how many people you pool with. This is a huge advantage, as driving in traffic jammed roads can be quite tiring as frustrating
• You do not get bored when you are stuck on a spot for hours, even during rains as you have people to talk to and think of alternatives
• You can have car parties when you expect to spend a lot of time in traffic. I remember in 2005, when Bangalore used to be flooded with rains everyday and 2 hours in the evening were a norm, we used to stuff our cars with all kinds of eatables and enjoy them while stuck on the road. It was fun to see guys in other cars envying us at times.
• If you have regular car pool partners, you start sharing your daily life with them, after all who else do you spend quality 2-3 hours everyday with. They become your buddies, something that a lot of us living metro lives miss, and of course buddies are your very strong support system.
• In case of any breakdown or accident, you are not alone.

There are small compromises that you may have to do when you car pool, especially with more than one person. You have to be little flexible with your timings, you have to at times go a little early or come a bit late if your partners need to vary timings. But once you start enjoying the company, you would be more than willing to do that for your friends.

I have come across a lot of people, in fact most people fall in this category, who are absolutely averse to car pooling. Their point of view is that I did not buy a car to share it with someone, or lose my flexibility. At times, I have found it ridiculous when people from the same large apartment complex go to the same organization with thousands of employees, but each goes in his or her own car. There is a sense of status in some people, who would not want to share it with anyone who is below in hierarchy to them, some would not want to be disturbed while they take their calls in the car, and most just want their own space and pace. I have heard remarks like, I did not buy the car to share it with others.

I have been trying to think of the reasons behind this thought process and one of the reasons that I can think of is probably the fact that most people are owning the cars for the first time and have not grown up with cars. And it is when they owned the car that they separated themselves from the crowds or the shared spaces, and by car pooling they do not want to again share this hard earned space. I am not sure if this random thought of mine makes any sense. I have seen efforts at large organizations to promote car pool just falling flat, as no one wants to adjust even a wee bit for someone they would carpool with.

I hope some people would look at the social benefits of car pooling, which are more personal in nature and at least experiment with carpooling sometime. Like I say for everything in life, Experiment and Explore, if you like it stick to it, if not move on or go back!

Travel Review: Ulsoor Walk, Bangalore

Anuradha Goyal — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:14:27 EDT

This seems to be a season of city walks. This Sunday I had the opportunity to go for the Ulsoor walk organized by INTACH. INTACH is in the process of organizing ‘Parichay’ series of walks, and this was the third walk in that series. The idea is to make people aware of the rich culture and heritage that is scattered around us, both in terms of built heritage and living heritage.

Here is an excerpt from the invitation mail for the walk:

The Ulsoor walk started from Someshwara temple, which is one of Bangalore's oldest temples. It dates back to the Chola period with several additions made during the Vijayanagar period by the founder of Bangalore, Kempegowda. The interesting thing is you can see the architectural elements from both these periods quite clearly in the temple. Ulsoor is, of course, one of Bangalore's oldest settlements.

I had always wondered what the Vijayanagara style of architecture is, and it was on this walk that I could understand it a bit. When you visit Hampi, look at the stone pillars, notice that pillars are square at the bottom and the top and round or with many faces in the middle. This is the typicality of the Vijayanagara style of architecture. I was also told that all the colored Gopurams that we say at the temple entrances and on top of the temples were originally not supposed to be colored, they were plain carvings in stone, but over the time they have been painted in multiple colors. INTACH team also introduced to the various carving and motifs on the temple walls, and shared the stories behind a lot of them. They told us how to identify the insignias of the Kempegowdas, which would typically tell that the construction had an association with the Kempegowdas, either by way of building it or patronizing it. They shared a story which indicates that temple was built way before the actual settlement happened around it. It is associated with Markandeya (not sure of the name though) rishi, who was doing his tapasaya and Lord Shiva instructed him to construct a temple at that spot.

There was a festival going on in the temple premises and there were celebrations with music and dance. Another interesting but intriguing thing that we saw was piercing of tongue by some of the dancers of the festival. There were small dagger like objects that they held in the middle of their tongue, which forced them to have their tongue stuck out all the while, and these people, including few old women were dancing while holding their dragger pierced tongues out.

I had written after my visit to Madurai temple about the bad state of Hindu temples and the absence of basic cleanliness. The same holds true for almost all temples including the Someshwara temple in Ulsoor. The inner areas of the temple have been completely changed by putting granite and ceramic tiles, which by logic would have been put to keep the temple clean, but I guess once the tiles were laid they assumed that cleanliness has been taken care of by itself. Things stick to your feet all the time as you walk around. The beauty of the temples is lost when the modern electrical fittings are fixed without any thought and wires are hanging everywhere.

We were also told that Ulsoor derives its name from Halasuru which is Jackfruit in Kannada. Apparently, the area was once a huge Jackfruit plantation. Like the rest of Bangalore, Ulsoor had people from various parts of the region coming and settling down. The area has some 150+ year old houses with centre courtyards, and had well developed water management system so that the area would never get flooded.

We had to miss the last part of the walk as it starting raining heavily. But look forward to more such walks to know the city that I live in…. :-)

Book Review: The New Age of Innovation by C K Prahalad

Anuradha Goyal — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:01:16 EDT

I had to read this book as a part of my professional requirement, to be able to talk about what C K Prahalad and M K Krishnan, the gurus of Innovation have to say in their latest book, The New Age of Innovation. The book obviously has been launched in various cities with the author’s tours, huge publicity on all kinds of media and through paid seminars.

The book talks one major new concept, or rather I would say documents it in the form of a model as this concept had always existed in certain segments. The concept is N=1, R=G. This primarily means that to serve one customer, you have to access / use / leverage global resources, and a corollary to which is that you have to customize the offerings for each customer and cater to their unique requirements. To do this there are certain capacities / capabilities and flexibilities that you need to build in your business systems, in your human capital and your geographical reach. There are two diagrams in the book that summarize the whole book. The first one is a diagram showing a transformation from ‘one organization serving multiple customers’ to ‘many organizations or global resources coming together to serve a single customer’. The second diagram is the house kind of structure which says to enable N=1, R=G, you need to enable your technical architecture and your social architecture. This is all explained in the first two chapters.

In the next three chapters authors explain the technical architecture. They emphasize the need of IT, the commodity and non-commodity part of IT, the needs of analytics and the way analytics can contribute to the insights for next innovations in the organizations, and how legacy systems need to be replaced to make the organization more flexible to accommodate the N=1, R=G model. It presents a case of lot of Indian companies who have adapted this model and have built flexibilities in their systems. He makes a case for the strategic importance of IT and how organizations can not afford to write it off as a commodity.

In the next three chapters he explains the mindset changes that the managers need to go through to accept and be the change that would enable the organization for this new model. It talks about the new requirements in talent management which again needs to be both flexible and mobile. Authors also talk about the role of leadership in bringing in these changes in the organization.

While I like the way the concept has been packaged and presented, I am not sure if I agree with the universality of this concept. It is definitely applicable to service industry, but it had been there in that industry in some basic form. Say in medical services, each case is a unique case and a doctor or a surgeon has to bring different resources, may be from different sources every time to serve the patient. Authors themselves talk about layers in the structure which are commoditized, and these commodity providers obviously do not adhere to this model. They would still go with standard / universal offerings and everything else will be designed according to their standards.

At times the book gives a feeling of being written for IT companies, especially those having their primary base in India. You get to see a lot of their point of views. I wish there were as many cases or examples from old traditional companies who have transformed or remodeled themselves to adapt to the model proposed in the book.

It is an easy reading for anyone who has been a part of business at any point in time, with a lot of case studies and examples.

Travel Review: Bangalore's Innovative Film City

Anuradha Goyal — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:11:55 EDT

If you have enough money in your pocket, all the wonders and attractions in the world will walk up to you and park themselves near you, so that you can visit them as and when you want, without having to go around the world and hop cities. The Innovative Film City is one such ambitious project that brings a lot of world attractions to India. It is a place that is aiming to be one stop shop for all forms of modern day entertainment.

The Innovative Film City is located about 40 kms from Bangalore on Mysore road, a good strategic location as it will be accessible from both Bangalore and Mysore. The whole city is said to be spread over 58 acres, but to me it looks slightly larger than that. The place is still under construction but was opened formally in April, 2008. There are few attractions and amusements which are operational, some are in the process of coming up and some are planned to come.

The Film City is planned to provide 360 degree solutions for entertainment, both for the customers of entertainment industry and the industry itself. Its website says three major planned sections of entertainment. The first is Innovative Attractions which covers amusements, attractions, museums and entertainment. The second is Innovative Style which covers shopping, dining, leisure & lifestyle. The third is Innovative Studio which would have an academy, studio and facilities for film shooting and production.

Of the attractions, most are ready or almost ready. There are museums like Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum, Guinness Book of World Records and Jurassic Fossil museum. There are attractions like Dinosaur world, miniature city, Snow Park, mock sets, cartoon city, haunted mansion. In Amusements, they have Funplex where you can play many video and high end games and also see a 4-D movie. Then there is go-karting, mirror maze, mini golf, aqua kingdom where you can go and play around for some time. There are two amphitheaters - one an open one with a seating capacity of more than 5000 people and another for children. A 21 screen multiplex is planned too. The other two segments Style and Studio are yet to come up.

The facade of the city gives a magnificent look. As you take a turn from the road, and enter the city it makes you feel as if you are entering something majestic. As you go inside, at this point in time you see a lot of construction going on, but you can also see that something world class is being built, both in terms of attractions and the way the facility is being managed. There are a lot of employees spread across the length and breadth of the city who keep guiding you towards various places, though there are well printed maps and guides that they hand you over with the tickets. The facility is very well maintained even though half of it is still under construction. There is a food court where you get various cuisines at reasonable prices, and there are Cafe Coffee Day outlets for your caffeine and snacking needs. Drinking water is available at various places.

Entry to the city is priced at Rs 50/- per person and each attraction comes at an additional cost which ranges from Rs 50/- to Rs 200/- . You can plan for Rs 800-1000 per person for a day to visit to the film city, and I am sure you can see only a part of it in a day. Once it is complete, it looks like there will be many things that will keep bringing people back to the film city, especially the huge and well designed amphitheater. I think this is going to become a major destination for the future shows in the city. Parking is outside the film city on the road at the moment, I am not sure if a proper parking area is planned, but I hope there is one, otherwise that may become a bottleneck very soon. Probably they may also want to come up with differential pricing for people who might not be able to afford the current or the future pricing. Maybe something like happy hours on weekdays…

Overall, this is a good project that brings something new and different to the city to keep it engaged. I usually do not like visiting artificial places but I would still say that it is definitely worth one visit, post which you can take a call if you want to visit it again.

Fiction: Looking For Answers

Anuradha Goyal — Thu, 3 Jul 2008 00:27:52 EDT

Everyone called her Aarti Aunty. She stood tall, with an elegant posture. Like a true Punjabi, she had the milky white complexion and a flawless skin even at the age of 60. And this was complemented by the features that could have well helped her to be a part of the fashion or glamor industry. But what was more important than all this was her ever smiling face, with which she brought life to any gathering and a sunshine cheer wherever she went. She had the ability to cook for any number of people at the mere mention of the food. She took care of everyone around her like her own children.

In no time, she became the emotional anchor for everyone around her. People would call her to discuss their day to day problems, their marriages, their kids, their relationships, their work stress, their plans, their disappointments and their joys. She would patiently listen to everyone and she could effortlessly empathize with everyone she listened to. She was the perfect listener and everyone felt lighter in their hearts after they had her ears.

She loved good food. More often than not she would cook your favorite dish and pamper you. If you give her the bland continental food, she would add her own tadka to it and with a twinkle in her eyes ask ‘is is not more eatable now?’ She loved going to movies. Any new movie in town and she had to watch it as soon as possible. You could see sheer joy on her face while watching movies. She enjoyed even the silliest of the movies just like a teenager or a college student.

She was too good to be true, but she was there, right there in front of your eyes smiling at you, listening to you and making you feel being taken care of. In this time and day when no one seems to care for anyone, she was like a God sent angel who was like a stereotypical warm and caring mother and a fun loving friend rolled into one. She symbolized life, she lived it completely and made life look worth living not only for herself but for everyone around her.

No one knew anything about her past, where did she come from and where has she lived all these years before popping up this town one day put of the blue. She had such an influence on anyone who came in touch with her that no one ever thought of her past. Everyone was just too happy to have her around.

She was a cancer patient with one of her breasts visibly removed. She made frequent trips to the hospital, but she never complained or cribbed about it. She would go to the hospital and get her chemotherapy done. She would also take any alternate therapies that others suggested, whether it helped her or not, but again always with a smiling face. Her room had a few books on nature cure for cancer. Though she never mentioned her cancer to anyone, people whom she shared the house with knew about it. She managed her monstrous disease with amazing courage and kept it camouflaged under her calm exterior.

She used to follow the most renowned guru in town and had lived in his ashram for sometime, and that is how everyone came in touch with her and started knowing her. I came across her through the people she shared the house with. Friendly person that she was, she became friendly with me too. And I discovered Arti Aunty.

A few months later, she was invited by a co-devotee to visit her in Singapore. This was a lady who spoke to Arti Aunty for at least two hours everyday, who left the setting up of her house in India to Aunty and when everything was done wanted Aunty to come and spend time with her. Though she insisted she wanted Aunty to come and relax but probably she wanted to use her shoulder to unload her emotional traumas.

Aunty left for Singapore in January and never came back to the city. When she did not return weeks after her scheduled date of return, it became a case of concern. Her mobile phone was constantly not reachable. Calls to Singapore revealed that she had left from there on the scheduled date. Where was she, is what was on everyone’s mind? Then came the news that she has a family in Chennai and as she was not feeling well, and needed to undergo some major surgeries, she has decided to stay back with her family for a while.

Then, came a lady who had almost lived with Arti Aunty in last few months and she said she has news to break. And I held my breath with my imagination going everywhere as to what the bad news is going to be. I was silently praying for the news not to be too bad. And as she started speaking, I was in total shock and I could not believe a word of what she said. Her words kept ringing in my ears but my heart refused to believe every single sound that I had heard in last few minutes. How was it possible? How can she do that? Can there be an element of truth in what I just heard? Am I awake or am I dreaming? Slowly my feelings settled down and my rationale started juggling itself. Should I believe the lady I just heard? Are there any data points that tally with what she just said? Who should I call and try to validate what I just heard? Reluctantly, I called up the person who had introduced me to Aunty and she said whatever I have heard is true, and there is enough evidence to prove it. It goes without saying that I was hoping not to hear these words.

For next few days I was upset and started doubting everyone around. I could not speak about what I heard about Aunty to anyone. I was not sure if what I heard is true or not as Aunty was not around to give her version of truth. As the luck would have it, I also had to travel to Singapore for few weeks and obviously had questions for someone who was the last person to have spent time with Aunty. I call up this lady with lot of anxiety and inquisitiveness and asked her the same question. She also confirmed whatever was earlier told to me. I was keen to meet her but when she figured out that my intention is only to find out the truth about Aunty, she avoided me. She was a party to whatever happened to Aunty and her guilt smiled through her voice. Her words and her tone did not complement each other.

Aunty had been blamed for stealing and running away with a lot of money, jewelry and valuables. All the people who were common between me and Aunty believed and confirmed it.

Aunty never came back and is not there to explain herself. Is it plain and simple to blame her as she is not there? Was Aunty charming her way through all of us to act one fine day? Is she the victim or is she the one who victimized whole lot of people?

All that bothers me today is that I want to know the answer. I want to know given all the behaviors and circumstances, who did what and who reacted how. I wish to find an answer some day if and when I meet Aunty somewhere sometime. It is like watching a long serial and then missing the final episode where all the masks go down and you finally know the truth.

Bangalore: Following the Kempegowda Tower Trail

Anuradha Goyal — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:01:07 EDT

There are a lot of things that seem too big today and there are things that are beyond our imagination at this point in time. But a few generations from now, our descendants might peep into our imagination and smile, try to imagine the world as we inhabited it and may be do a subtle comparison in their subconscious. This Sunday, I along with 3 co-explorers had similar experience. We decided to do a trail around the four Kempegowda towers in the four corners of the erstwhile Bangalore, erected by the Kempegowdas, chieftains of Yelahanka and nearby regions, sometime in mid 16th century when they founded the city of Bangalore. The Kempegowdas are said to have established their kingdom in 13th century with Yelanka as their capital. These towers in four directions were the limits to which the then kings thought that the Bangalore city may extend to. As you would see the trail today, all the four towers are very much in the core city and most of us may be actually living way outside these expected limits of the city.

As a part of the CouchSurfing community, there are a few trails that we are trying to create that help us discover the city that we live in. This is the second trail that we did after the Old Bangalore heritage walk. Now what was amazing was that at every tower we saw something more than just the tower. Each of the towers had a water body and a park close to it, though we are not very sure if it was the way when they were erected or if they were added at later dates. Each tower had the same stone stating exactly the same information about towers, though the information is clearly visible only on the stone in the Ulsoor tower.

We started at 6:30 AM in the morning and since most of us lived in the south of Bangalore, we decided to start from the south tower at Lalbagh. This also happened to be the only tower whose location we knew absolutely. I had been to this tower many a times, but this is the first time I went around it and looked at it more carefully. It is a structure with four pillars and a gumbaj on the top. On all four sides there are figurines of deities symbolizing their directions. There was Shiva in the south, Ganesha in the east, Karthikeya in the North and Vishnu in the west. There were two statues of each of these deities, the top one in sitting position and the bottom one in a standing position. This tower is mounted on a rock that is supposed to be one of the oldest rocks known in the world. It’s an easy climb and if the weather is good, it gives you a good view of the surroundings.

Early mornings in Lalbagh are always delightful, with fresh air, greenery, space, silence and whole lot of people doing the morning walks, yoga and exercises. There is a new gate being erected in Lalbagh in a Japanese / Chinese kind of architecture. As we walked along the pathways, we could hear some soothing music and unknowingly we started walking towards the music. And this was the surprise discovery that there was live music being played at the Band Stand. There was a lady, I was told her name is Shashikala, who was singing with people sitting around her informally. It was a delight to listen to that music right in the morning. As I looked around at the faces of the people who were listening to her, it almost gave a feeling of ‘moments to live for in life’.

After the south tower, it was the actual beginning of our discovery of towers. We proceeded towards the west tower with maps in our hands. We reached Chamrajpet and this is an area which none of us had ever visited before. By this time, the city had started waking up a little bit and I am sure this is the only time when we could drive almost without braking. We had to ask a few times for Kempebudhi Lake or kere as it is known locally. This tower is slightly dicy to find, as it is hidden among the trees and there are multiple structures around the lake that give you an impression of being the sought after tower. There is a kali temple at one end of the lake, KG tower is on a rock behind the temple. This was the worst maintained towers of all. There is a stairway to climb up to the tower, but you get good views of the city if you jump around on the rocks besides the tower. You get to see the topology of the city and see the houses on hillocks around that area. On this tower, there were altars for the all four sides of the gumbaj for the deities, but there were no idols, probably they have either been taken away or have withered away with time.

As you get down from the tower, you would notice two more ancient structures similar to the towers, but without any gumbaj. We tried to figure what they could be but all that we could make out was they were in alignment to the KG tower and were probably used to reach the tower at some point in time. Both these structures have a huge stone in the middle with a hole in it. The whole was smooth enough and gave an impression of being a mill stone.

Kempebudhi lake is a huge lake but is in a very bad shape. Ironically there is a decent pathway that surrounds the lake and leads to the West KG tower. On the other side of the lake is a BWSSB facility that also houses a nice park with a toy train with an engine that looks like steam engine. This was the surprise discovery around this tower. We understand there is a deer park also close to this tower, but we did not venture out to find that out.

Third tower in the North is near Mekhri circle, on C V Raman road and in a park called KG Tower Park. This should not be very difficult to locate, but we did go around a bit before we reached this tower. The tower stands in the middle of a well maintained garden, and is the best maintained tower. The upper part of the tower appears restored. This tower is mounted on a tiered platform. The carvings on this tower are little more intricate than the other towers. Unlike other towers this tower does not seem to be on an explicit elevation, but then the topology of the surroundings may have undergone a change over the centuries. The park timings are 5:00 – 9:00 AM and 4:00 – 8:00 PM. We reached around 10:00 AM and we thought we will have to view this tower from outside the boundary wall of the park, which was quite high for my height. But then we discovered a way to sneak into the park through a gate that was not so high.

On our way back from the tower we discovered the Ramanna Maharishi shrine in one corner of the park, which was open. And you can use the entrance of the shrine to enter the park if you happen to reach here when it is not open. The shrine has a golden statue of Ramanna Maharishi in a big hall with interestingly done roof. It was a quite place and there was just one Pujari there and no one else. Probably you can sit inside this shrine and meditate after a good morning walk in the park. This was the unexpected discovery at this tower.

Between the third and fourth tower we had to stop and respond to out hunger pangs. We stopped at the Jayamahal palace hotel for a breakfast, which was almost as serene as the KG Park with north tower. The breakfast was ok, but we had a chance to read the morning paper, chat a bit, as till now we were all deciphering the maps and trying to match them with the known one-ways to reach from one tower to another.

Fourth or the east tower is also easy to reach as it is at an one end of the Ulsoor lake. You have to go towards the Old Madras road after crossing the Ulsoor Gurudwara. This lake is owned by Madras Sappers, a division of Indian Army, and hence it is usually inaccessible for general public. But it seems the luck was in out favor this Sunday and there was a national rowing competition going on, and we could enter and climb up to the tower without any hassles. Like the south and the west tower, this tower is also on top of a rock and gives a panoramic view of the lake. Like the west tower, this tower also had empty altars. We got to see the national junior rowing championship, reminded me of my long forgotten sports days and participation in such competitions.

We finished around 12:00 Noon and it felt like having lived through a period. There was a joy of discovery when we saw the west tower, there was thrill when we managed to enter the park with north tower, there was serenity in listening to music right in the morning and there was a feeling of serendipity when we saw the Madras Sappers gate open for East tower. And there was a sense of satisfaction completing this trail that we had been planning to do for sometime now.

If you take a comfortable pace, with a breakfast break, the trail should take 4-5 hours, provided you go in non-peak hours.

Some links that helped us design this trail:

History of Bangalore

Kempegowda Trail on Google Maps

The Bangalore International Airport - The Day One Experience

Anuradha Goyal — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:57:03 EDT

I was to land in Bangalore on 24th May in the morning at 8:45 AM, and this turned out to be the exact date on which Bangalore’s new international airport was to commence operations. To be honest, I was sincerely hoping that I land at the old airport as it is a hop. skip, and jump from my place. And the closer you were to the old Bangalore, the farther you are from the new airport in Devanahalli. But now that I have landed at BIAL on day one and got comfortably back home, it feels good to be a part of the history. There have been so many debates, arguments, views and controversies around opening of BIAL that I want to share the experience if being there on Day 1.

As we were landing at 8:30 AM on Saturday morning, all those who were returning home wanted to peep out and have a glimpse of the new airport from the top. While landing at HAL, I could always see my apartment complex, and a whole lot of other identifiable landmarks. At BIAL, it was a vast empty space all around and then there were two airstrips in the middle of nowhere. The first look at airport from the plane window did not give a great impression, it looked like a building still under construction. It is definitely much bigger and better than HAL, but is it big enough to take care of the potential air traffic of Bangalore in coming years, I am not sure. As we landed through an aerobridge, which used to be a rarity at HAL, it felt nice to go through an absolutely new aerobridge still to be adorned with advertisements or any other kind of messages or notices. As we walked out, the place looked a little deserted, but none the less everyone carried a curious look on their faces as they walked towards the immigration counters.

The counters look ported from the old airport, not very different and I think they could have been better designed. They look like counters in old time banks and are situated too close to each other. The yellow line to separate the queues and the counters is yet to be drawn. The number of counters was good enough to clear most passengers within 5-6 minutes. I spoke to the immigration officer who was excited to be at the new airport. When I asked him is he happy about being in the new facility he said, 'Its day 1 - lets see how it goes’.

The toilets were a big disappointment. Less than 9 hours of operations and the toilets were dirty, filthy and it appeared that they had not been cleaned at all since being opened. The down escalator was not working, but there were people attending to it and it started working in about 30 mins or so. Baggage carousels are well designed, a lot of people can stand by them and collect their baggage. While immigration was finished in 5 mins, we had to wait at least an hour before the carousel started moving, which everyone applauded loudly. I was lucky to get my baggage very fast after it started moving. While waiting for the baggage, I moved around to see the airport and strolled around a few retail outlets, most of which were still in the setup mode and were fixing things. The prices mentioned were in dollars and I wonder why.

The whole airport carries a resemblance to the Infosys campus, especially the washrooms. Similar designs and materials have been used, probably because of the Mr Narayana Murthy being at the helm of affairs at both places…There was a huge board saying ‘I came here First’ with the lovely BIAL logo, open to everyone to sign on it. It felt great to sign on it. If you happen to see it, look out for my signature right on I.

As I came out of the airport, the view outside was almost similar to the one at HAL, loads and loads of taxi guys with placards waiting for their customers. It is when you go past them that you are able to see the other options to get back home. Thanks to the very active association of my apartment complex, I knew that I have to take the Electronic City bus to reach home. The Volvo bus station is about 200-300 mts from the arrival gate. You can take the trolley right up to the bus. The conductor helped me load the luggage on the bus. The buses are well designed to carry lots of luggage and can seat 31 persons. The conductor had a small machine around his neck which he used to issue tickets. The ticket to Sarjapur road junction on ORR costs Rs 150/-. You can also take taxis, which are flat priced at Rs 15/- per km. For most of us living in south Bangalore, I guess the bus is a better option than taxis, especially for women traveling alone as its one long stretch of lonely roads. The bus was comfortable and it took me 1 hour and 20 mins to cover approx imately 50 kms. It was a Saturday, so it might take a little longer on weekdays and during peak hours.

I think the Volvo buses are going to be a huge hit, provided there are enough of them. With only a capacity of 31 persons, we would need a lot of them. Buses are a good option to come back from the airport, but to go there they may end up serving only those who board them from the starting point. This would mean we need many more starting points or routes for the buses. Another idea may be exploring Taxi pooling to and from huge apartment complexes, organizations and hotels. This can reduce pressure on everything: roads, environment and pockets.

In my opinion it would take another 3-4 months by the time everything smoothens out, and the airport wears its planned swanky look. Overall, it was a nice experience to be there on Day 1, far better than what most newspapers made it out to be.

Smallest Format Retail - The Pani Puri Wala

Anuradha Goyal — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:17:44 EDT

While writing on retail, what attracted my attention recently is the mushrooming of the smallest format retail all over Bangalore. It is the ubiquitous Pani Puri stalls that have come up in last year or so. I used to miss good Gol Gappas in Bangalore, and there were few places in town where you could go and savor this delightful snack. But over the last year or so, they have emerged in every nook and cranny of the city. You can easily spot one outside almost every big retail store.

These Pani Puri walas are probably the smallest format of retail. They just sell one item: Pani Puris and that too in maybe not more than couple of variants i.e. khatta or meetha (sour or sweet). The format is simple, you stand around the stall and you are given a disposable bowl made up of dried and compressed leaves. So by eating a Pani puri you are not impacting the environment in any way, unlike the more sophisticated places where you get disposable holders made up of paper, plastic or thermocol, all of which have a degrading impact on the environment. You will be served Pani puris in turns, and the last Pani puri is usually a dry one. You can ask for extra water at the end if you like having an extra serving of it at no extra cost. Pay Ra 10/- or so, and make way for the people waiting for their turn.

The outlet or the stall occupies around 1ft X 1ft space on the floor and about 3ft X 3ft space on the platform. The way the compact space is managed is an excellent example of optimized space utilization. In that small space they have some thousand odd Pani Puris, which are stacked in such a way that these fragile beings are not hurt and lost. It is probably a good example of how packaging should be done. Along with this, there are at least three large vessels containing the yummy water in two varieties and fillings of potatoes and chhole or chick peas. There is a box stacked on top of these vessels somewhere that stores the masalas. There are various polythene bags hanging from the bottom of the platform, which hold things like disposable bowls, paper napkins, lemons for that last dry pani puri, boiled potatoes and chic peas for refilling as and when the vessel goes empty. All the items are creatively tied with a rope and nothing ever falls.

They sell only in the evenings, typically from 5 PM – 9 PM, a neat 4 hour work day. I spoke with a few of them and most of them hail from Allahabad in UP and are in some way or other related to each other. One big family in business, literally dominating the Pani puri business in Bangalore. The typical turnover per day is about Rs. 800-1000 a day for a strategically located stall. Owning a stall costs around Rs. 2000-2500. The pricing of the items is interesting, a plate of Pani puri is invariably priced at Rs. 10/-, and what changes from vendor to vendor or rather location to location is the no. of puris that you get for that Rs. 10. Now is this not an interesting pricing model, where the price point is fixed, no matter where you eat across the city, but depending on my costs and advantage points I change the quantity that I serve. The price point is small enough to attract repeat customers from every strata of society every time the stall is in their sight.

If you think I have written this piece with a huge bias towards Pani Puris and the people who provide them, you are absolutely right!