Jaipur - The beginnings

My name is Ram Singh Gehlot. Jaipur had been a safe haven for us for five generations. Our great forefathers were traders of semi-precious stones. I retired from the Indian Army (Rajputana Rifles regiment) last year. I had never thought life existed beyond Jaipur, for our Maharaj had brought the splendors that the heavens can offer right into our doorsteps.I am coughing now, and years of army rum has given a slight metallic taste to the cough. The reverse process of becoming a civilian from army man is not always simple. There will be high profile parties, more visits to Delhi(hardly five hours from Jaipur) and more wine. What else..?

I find the past more beautiful and prominent, than the present and the future. The city of Jaipur has history written on it walls. Its royal clan has the the valor running in their blood, for how else they would have survived the most tumultuous of invaders with the might of their sword and their mind. I have to do my little bit to Jaipur.It was then i decided to write about Jaipur.

But I had to ask myself about how much I know about my hometown?.

I had visited many of its historical monuments over the years and have taken photos.

As I child, I had gone to see the Jaigarh fort in Amber. There, I had stood near the largest cannon in Asia. Those days, photography is only for firangees.

Later, After my marriage I had visited the Amber palace sometimes. By then, I had bought a canon model F1n camera (with power winder). We clicked a few snaps Jodily. Later my job took me to different parts of India and landed me finally back to Jaipur couple of years back.

Now, I have a lot of time for reading. Its one thing that keeps me going to forget the loneliness that my wife`s departure had brought. I socialize so little, as i always say it too difficult to become a civilian back again. Rather I find solace in visiting the past.

The next day I took my contessa classic car for service to some second hand repair shop near sindhi camp. I had to cross the walled city of old Jaipur at two places to reach there. I had got up early and whizzed past the old pink city. The red sandstone walls stood ablaze in the morning sun. My car flunked on the Tripolia bazaar and refused to start. The bonnet let out fumes of vapour from it sides. I opened the bonnet and let some hawa to enter. Somewhere do

wn the road is a structure known for its forced circulation of air, the Hawa Mahal. But my cars cooling system seemed to have given up.

As I was sipping a tea to cool myself as the car cools itself down, I saw a an elephant driven towards the direction of Amber town in a truck. It would have completed it regular service unlike my Contessa.

A day later, I decided to drive towards Amber with my loyal palanquin called as Contessa classic (1980 model) which churns out 39 horses power and gives a maximum speed of 30kmph.

It would have been the beginning days of Jaipur, Sawai Jai Singh I formed the new city of Jaipur on the foothills of the ancestral town of Amber. I had always loved to visit the town of Amber which is around 15 mins drive from Jaipur. In my contessa, it took more than an hour. The carburettor breathed heavily as it neared the Amber. With a lot of ooomph-imphhh I reached the foothill of the mountains which house the Amber palace, Jaigarh and Nahargarh forts. Understanding this place is important to know about what made our kings so strong.

For this we have to go back a little, to the humble beginnings of Kachchwaha clan of Rajputs.

Amber had been the seat of power for the Kachchwaha clan of Rajputs (Jaipur Rajputs) right from the 11th century when the procured the state from the meena tribesmen.

Once our kings were the most powerful among the Rajputs, but fate had made us to be defeated by the moghuls.

Our Kings served as distinguished governors and generals for the imperial mughal empire. Mirza Raja Man Singh served as governor of Bengal under Akbar. Later when he was deputed to tackle the troubling tribesmen in Afghan by Akbar, Man Singh secretly learnt the science of making cannon. He then made a cannon foundry in Jaigarh fort in Amber.

Mirza Raja Man Singh was a loyal general to Akbar and was connected to him through a marital alliance. His later days were not so smooth as Jahangir badshah had a bitter relation with him.

At the top of the Jaigarh fort , I saw the five coloured Jaipur flag fluttering in the breeze. The five colours are from the flags of the five troubling tribesmen in Kabul whom Man Singh I tackled.

As I finally parked my car, I decided to take a more reliable form of travel to reach the Amber palace in the top - Well, How about an elephant ride.?

A prologue for a Travelouge

What makes the train journeys in India so special.? Is it the people we meet or the rustic countryside that swiftly passes through your window.? Is it that little beggar boy who sings in a metallic voice or that American traveller with a mineral water bottle, a dirty backpack and a big travel book.? If you have not travelled in second class compartment in a train in India, You are really missing something.

I feel that trains are subtle microcosms of the diversified yet strangely united country of India. Well, I travelled alone this year. Many Indians don`t do that really. I took a backpack with some books, a couple of tardy jeans, few economy class T-shirts , some underwear and a Olympus camera. With this minimal luggage, and with the assurance that mineral water bottles will be available all over India, I travelled around 7000kms during this vacation. Sounds a bit Forrest Gump'y, but as know 'Travelling alone is like a box of chocolates'..

October is a month, when the rain gods had gone back to slumber and leave a little time before they cover themselves with blanket for the cold Decembers. But the fog never gives up, as they keep kissing the landscape even after sunrays made the eastern sky ablaze. The mornings in north India is the most photogenic landscapes one can see on earth.

As the evening draws a curtain, and as the womenfolk cook the rotis with the stove fuelled by the cow dung that they had collected the morning before, another kind of fog covers the land.

But these are pictures only of landscapes in the countryside.

I have always felt that globalization had made our cities flat. They wear a same look all over India. It was beyond those buzzing cities and the crowded bazaars lies the real places where one can find solace.

Watching the ruins of Tughlaqabad where honey bees have made a dynasty of their own, During the elephant rides to the top of Amber palace in Rajasthan, When you stand below the magnificient Mughal arches of Buland darwaza in Fathepur sikri, And when you view the mighty Ganga mata in Varanasi.. you begin to feel the minutest part of timescale that our lifetime is composed of in the face of earth.

In the coming posts, lets know more about India. As we proceed..We will together travel to a city which was a dream for every king during the medieval age, to the most beautiful building in the world, to the most sacred places one can visit , to the most planned city in India and so on. Sometimes we will be travelling through Camels or elephants. Briefly We will be eating some real spicy Kachoris and some sweets which brings heaven to earth for a brief moment. Come lets travel..

God and Krish!

Its a strange thing. God never pays visit to earth in this kalyug. But he did so yesterday afternoon in unforseen circumstances. Krish was waiting for his girlfriend in coffee day and the god just took a seat nearby.

God! Krish would have been pissed off coz of that. Reshma is always late and now a puffy guy with a long hair sits next to him with a coffee.

"I like this Irish coffee with Hazlenut" said god.

"Hmm! If you dont mind, I am waiting for someone." krish was restless.

"I know that dude, but I am sure I could give you a good company till that someone comes".

'Goddamn' thought Krish. "I dont talk that much to strangers, you know" Krish reverted back.

"Oh! Sorry. I have not introduced myself. My name is Kailash. I am from North... We are no longer strangers Krish" said god.

"Holy cow! How did you know my name" said Krish putting back the ID tag of a popular software company in his pocket.

"I know. So, I have come" said God with a sarcastic smile.

"What the heck you want from me.. Mr.Kailash something.."

"I just wanna know if there is any referral in the esteemed company. I am just fed up of my previous work." Said god.

"Brrr..Yet another job seeker.. by the where are you employed now.?" asked Krish.

"Well.. I cant disclose now. But to say for sure, I have a quite an experiance to fit into any software company"

"So.. Why switching jobs.. no hike.. no onsite..ah..? Its same old stuff here dude. You know, the recession has really hit the rock bottom" grunted Krish.

"Not really.. I just wanna see more people... you know.. contacts really help" said God.

"Hmmm.. then.. new to Bangalore ah..?" asked Krish.

"Ya.. first time.. It looks so developed and advanced.. But only minus point is the traffic"

"Ya.. Chill up dude.. you will get used to it. Swalpa adjust maadi.. as simple as that" said Krish.

"I have got myself chilled up already.. Kingfisher" said god with a smile.

"Oh! ya.. Thank God its a Friday. I will buy a can or two.." said Krish.

"Thank me.. I am the god" said god.

"You are #$#$$# drunk.. Get lost.." said Krish.

(A neo modern adaptation of Kadavulum Kandasamypillaium)

Kubera Halli

Kuberahalli is a place not known for its wealth, If you can ignore the evening crowd in its wineshop.

Its a beautiful place when it rains, The gutter overflows into the road and the rainwater and sand forms a colloid with it. Children with weather beaten looks play in the rain and brazen the harshness of the reality.

The street-lamp is not glowing today. Ahh! Its a full moon today. The municipality had made an agreement with lunar gods and poor chap I did`nt know that. But alas, the municipality have not made an agreement still with the wavering clouds which makes the full moon night into a pitch dark canvas. I walk through the streets of Kuberahalli trusting nothing other than my next step.

The outskirt has railway line close to it and a railway station half a mile away. But of course these children have a strange liking to play on the rails when the trains are about to come. What if a steamer hits a kid or two?

No wonder, their parents would be happy if it had by it wilder probability hit a girl child.

My neighbour in Kuberahalli, Malappa makes a living by driving an auto rickshaw. Everyday morning he fuels his rickshaw in the HP gas station in Bomannahalli, and late in the evening he fuels himself in the kuberahalli wineshop.

That day he fuelled himself more and therby hit a rammed his rickshaw with a raging truck. His right arm got jammed and his eyesight partially lost. But good in the bad, he was drunk for he didnt know the pain. Parvathamma, his wife, cried so loud that night that the entire kuberahalli gathered to console her.

These days she visits the VAO office so often in the late evening and returns back home in the veil of darkness. She gets a few thousands from the officer every month and pities the sane world which talks of something called - Culture!

A great week of movie-ing

Last week had been dull and sultry in bangalore. The monsoons have officialy failed and the Indian cricket team got banished in the carribean. Thank god, there is a DVD lending library near my office which has a decent collection of movies. Here are the few movies worth mentioning (which i saw last week... listed in no particular order)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:

Academy awards nominee for Best film and Best Actor of 2008, Just to lose behind Slumdog millionaire. Brad Pitt in his best performance ever. The lead character in the movie undergoes a reverse ageing process wherin he grows younger as years pass by.

Certainly a noteworthy movie for it 'out-of-the-bush' theme and some very good art direction.

1947-Earth:

Second movie in the elements trilogy of Deepa Mehta. Story is set in Lahore during the partition times and shows the real pain of partition atleast in couple of scenes. Solid performances by Aamir Khan and Nandita Das and some good music by none other than the legend - A R Rahman.

If you want to see an off the shelf hindi movie with some real life characters, then here is one.

Seven Pounds:

The same team that worked for 'In Pursuit of happyness' have paired up for this masterpiece, though you cannot avoid drawing parallels with the former. The story becomes very emotional towards the end and is ideally suited for people who have the tear bags overflowing in their eyes. But this sullen looking and slow moving movie suddenly becomes watchable because of one man - Will Smith.

Fight Club:

The second David Fincher movie that I saw in the week (following 'TCCBB') . A movie that remained in my 'to-watch' list for a long time and it surely didnt disappoint my long wait. Brad Pitt again in the lead again with Edward Norton with a psycho realistic storyline. A stylish and trendy screenplay typical of Fincher`s movies stand apart. If you like movies like Memento, you should never miss this one.

The Onion Movie:

Its a 'good-for-nothing' movie and its USP is it being 'good-for-nothing'. In US of A..You can make movies in which you can make racial abuses, unparliamentry abuses on popular people and policies all in the name of 'Satire'. If have a long and stressful day in office and want a laugh without applying your mind, then here is one.

Mystic River:

I always wanted to see this one dark movie from Clint Eastwood. It was his 'Million dollar baby' which I liked most. But preceding that, this Sean Penn starrer set a critical acclaim in box-office.

A movie to watch on late saturday night.

The GodFather:

May be this is the 17th time i was watching this movie. And to tell you the truth, each time I see the movie i understand how movie-making should be.

The one scene where Marlon Brondo talks to Al Pacino (towards the end, where he says someone is going to be traitor) is an epic and should be framed and shown to all those people who aspire to be directors.

GODFATHER - A legend.

Blogo-Maniac

A few non-blogging months had nothing so special in it. Firstly I gave my lappie to my bro. Secondly got fully into reading a novel. Thirdly, the IPL.

It had been a pretty dull sunday form me till now. Saw a couple of movies in lappie and then some solid day-dreaming. Then I realised that I have a blog  to maintain. A cold feeling went through my spine. Prepared some coffee and here I sit down for the 42nd post of my blog. 

It was a humble beginning of sorts for my blog after flopping badly with my first attempt. 

I cannot tolerate the stillness and dumbness these blogs impart on me. In my own eyes, I have seen myself transform change my opinion about blogging.But I still like blogging because of other bloggers. I get to know some charecters here. Here I take some moment to hav a look into my fella frequent bloggers.

RG was/is my friend from my school days. He is as creative as a NASA supercomputer. He keeps writing blogs with thinking at the speed of light and with vocabulary which will make those phoren sahibs to pee on their pants. I have once told him that blogging is a nice time pass and is a good way to express the emotions. He said 'Well..may be.. but also write something which will make sense'. 

The second blogger I know is SM who likes to call himself insane. When he is not taking pictures of himself in his K800 he writes some really good blogs. Something which really questions the social setup and leaves you with no answers. He told me once that his real problem is reading so much books. I told 'Virtue of one may be a vice for another'.. He nooded and wrote a blog about that also.

One other blogger always writes aboout the people he meets in the bar. His neurons make better connections only when catalysed by ethyl alcohol. He had denied his invitation for dinner more than once.

Recently, this blogosphere has got into some real limelight with the fake IPL blogger from the Kolkata Knight riders outfit.

I feel that somewhere above the stratosphere lies a zone called blogosphere where minds meet over the dumb world below which is obsessed with matter.

 

L.A.S.E.R (Life As a Software EngineeR)

My job involves:

- Sendin useless mails to wierd ppl, with a billion ppl in CC
- doing a bulk 'mark as read' once i have 50 unread mails.
- long and mind numbing meetings about stuff i don't understand.

- Handling crisis custom made to make life a hell
- Browsing and wastin time in general

My Skillset:

- Delegating work...
- Askin so many clarifications that the person who delegated work to me felt he was better of doing the work himself.
- Takin frequent sick leaves.
- Finding proxies to open emails.
- Playing flash games

- Pulling pranks on my co-workers.

- Drinking 4 mugs of coffee per day.

Future Plans:

- Nothin :-|

who said there is no learning in software industry?

Kalyani

I prayed it should not be.. I had hopes that it wont be.. It could have been but it should have been later.. But it had....

Kalyani was our neighbour. When I was 7, we moved to southern part of Salem. South Salem is really calm and quiet. Its dotted with gardens and the rare peepal tree that you can come across.Mostly I used to go to a garden after my school hours to play. The game will continue till the evening sun makes way and a curtain of darkness is pulled by the night. Soaked with dust, I used to go back to my house. Kalyani never came for playing.

I saw Kalyani last week. As you know, I take off weekends to learn about myself. In this software job, thats the only time where you can find something meaningful. 

The long walk to the hospital had made my legs pain. Note that, I preferred to walk rather than to drive so that I could think about myself. I buy time out of the world. 

Kalyani yelled "Ah, Japan. You have come at last. " as she saw me.

No one calls me 'Japan' but for Kalyani. I remember she christened me with that name when I was 10. I had/ have a small nose and tough hairstyle which makes me japanese look-alike. I didnt like the name then. I have a weird reason for that. It sounded like 'chappani' which translates to 'dumb guy' in Tamil. But she kept calling me 'Japan' [spelt as 'Chapan']. It was irritating. I had slapped her once and had thrashed her with my school belt one more time in connection with this issue.

Last week when she pronounced 'Japan' correctly,I was surprised. She wont give up things easily. . 

"You havent got me anything during this visit.?" she asked.

"Ya. I have. will give you later" I said.

Again this was her childhood habit. She always looks for some new things to be brought in every meeting. If you dont take any gift, she will speak with a disappointment in her voice. But that will only be for a couple of minutes. I used to wonder how a small gift can make this girl`s world so bright. 

"What have you brought.?" she asked.

"I wont tell you"

Regular chemotherapy had made her bald. Cruel. She had hair that was jet black before getting this cancer. She was looking like a 80 year old. She was just 26. And she had knocked the gates of heaven 5 times already. Life is a cruel design.

"Tell me what have you brought" She ordered and then broke to a chain of cough.

I dont want to describe Kalyani in this part of her life. She was beautiful for me, no matter what people claim for the definition of beauty.

"Something special and its suspense" I said.

I never thought that a person like Kalyani could die so young. Yesterday she died. I got a SMS from her brother about the same!

After that, I walked all the way to hospital. 

During my walk,I thought about the fitting present that I gave her a week back. I will miss her.