deponti

Having walked all over Forest Park when I read in the local newspaper that there would be a guided walking tour in the Park, I could not miss the opportunity

Tuesday was the only day they had a walk in the evening...with the temperatures in the high 90's, there was no way I was going walking in Forest Park at 10 am or 1 pm!

I was at the Visitors' Center at five minutes to six, and met Harry Leip, a volunteer, whom you can see just outside the Center as we started our walk:






Yes, indeed he was Harry Leip:




( some more images.... )


Oh, well, it was the end of another day!

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/989


For all other Lalbagh posts:

click here .

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/981-bengaluru-heritage-walks

Some Heritage Walk guides are wise, some are otherwise.... :)

I think (I am not sure) I had mentioned a few months ago, that "Harmony", a magazine for Senior Citizens, had asked me if they could interview me about my cycling....and today, a sweet-sounding (they always sound sweet if they allow me to talk about myself!) Rajashri Balaram called me up from Mumbai to ask me about how I cycle.

I felt a total fraud because a. I am not (technically, being 54) a Senior Citizen and b. for the past two months, on doctor's orders, I have been off cycling, and so am not, technically, a cyclist...but she said that since I have been cycling for about 17 years now, and I am over 50, I qualify!

So I shot my mouth off (hopefully, not too badly)...and their photographer, Anuradha Joshi, will be coming to take a photograph of me on my little Ladybird-with-a-basket....soon....

Oh, I forgot to ask her if this magazine is online, too...stupid oversight! :)

But I got to talk about myself, which I can normally do only on LJ....I talked about cycling, quizzing, music, activism, wildlife, photography,writing.... I only hope the poor young woman was not as flooded as I was last week!

I must compliment her; she conducted a conversation with me, not a dry interview; that means, she was very good!

Looking forward to see how I am quoted (or misquoted)...watch this space!

Not been able to upload my photographs of the Lalbagh Heritage Walk last Sunday, or the lovely birding morning I spent with Madhusmita on Tuesday (How lucky can one be, to go birding on a weekday morning!!)...so those posts will wait awhile....but let me give you a little taste of it, with this picture of the gloriously blooming CANNONBALL tree (nAgalinga marA) in Lalbagh...



( some more photos )

Finally, this lovely Australian tree, called CAREA ARBOREA, which Karthik had pointed out to us earlier, also charmed us by its beautiful blooms...





But meanwhile.... a group of us are going tomorrow morning to the Bannerghatta beyond-the-quarry area...so more pictures (hopefully)!

I have not yet got my MLC back, though the projected bill is 7.7K!!! :((((




Meanwhile, you lot, have a great weekend! I have the feeling of the sands running out as I prepare for the "paati animal" trip....

Max Mueller Bhavan, along with two heritage architects, Kripa and Pankaj, (who also conducted the Shivaji Nagar walk) organized a Heritage Walk in Malleswaram on Feb 28, 2009..

Here are some photographs and my account,

here

I am writing a critiques of how I feel such walks should be conducted, for maximum benefit....watch out for it on Citizen Matters!

The visit to Hampi was undertaken as a postscript to the Daroji visit; but it is such a huge complex, that I realized very quickly that I was not going to do much more than just scratch the surface of this World Heritage Site. So here are some of the highlights of the trip....

The detail on the monuments is so incredibly beautiful, let me start with a closeup of the Lotus Mahal:





( many more pictures )


The beauty of the temple tower in the evening light was indescribable...





I will close with this unusual three-headed Nandi idol that I found at the entrance of the Virupaksha temple. The treasures of Hampi would take one months to soak in....I need to go back there again...





Hope you enjoyed your Hampi e-tour! For photos that I have not put in here, click on one of these snaps, and it will take you to my Photobucket site where you can see the rest, too! I have included many snaps of the various signboards that describe the various heritage monuments.

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/838-intach-heritage-walk-avenue-road

For more pics, look at




http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm205/depontis/?start=120



http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm205/depontis/?start=100




and


http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm205/depontis/?start=80

One sample:

I generally do not write about current affairs because I always feel that many others say it better than I could. And here, indeed, are two people who have said what I want to say, and have done it so well...


http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Feb82009/sundayherald20090207117139.asp


I am, sometimes, seriously worried about this country of mine...my mother seems to have the canker of hate and hypocrisy rotting her from inside.

....and it doesn't help when even goddesses are caged. What's that, you ask? Well, here they are....at the Balaji Temple on Avenue Road, the temple has the "ashta lakshmi" (eight Lakshmis or Goddesses of Prosperity), four on either wall...and here's how they look:





Made me feel, for a minute, that the Rama Sene were here, too, protecting the goddesses against "western pub culture"!

I feel that the "pink chaddi" (pink panties) campaign (sending pink panties to the Rama Sene people) is, in its own way, as ridiculous as what the Rama Sene people are saying and doing. But perhaps, such a ridiculous protest brings home the folly of the Sene members....

My personal solution? I would crown myself Queen of Hearts, and like she did in "Alice in Wonderland", would shout, "Off with his head!" meaning, every Rama Sene worker, of course.

Here's where I would go before I had my coronation, to get my crown:




So from now, you lot can address me as "Your Majesty"....

At the Heritage Walk, we were not the only beings watching the world go by:





After the hot sunny walk, if one wanted a Badam Shake, one could get it at:





I really loved the canny pricing of this one:




True to the marketing policy of charging more when something is NOT added! (In this case, water, presumably, that comes in several different flavours, typhoid, salmonella, jaundice, and so on...)

And...beat this one for honesty...





This is as opposed to the parents of a bride looking for a wedding hall.they want "hall cheap"!

Most religious and social functions are accompanied by the adornment of the venue by "kOlam" or "rangOli"...but I have not before seen such beautiful use of vibrant colours for a "hOmam" or sacrificial fire worship.

In my community, we tend to use rice flour and some red mud ( like the kOlam I made in this post ) but not other colours as you can see here , so I found this rangOli on the homakundam (pit where the hOma fire is kindled) lovely:



and at a different place in my friends' new home, where I had gone for the Griha PravEsham ("entry into the new home"), this kOlam/rangOli was lovely, too:




Of course, it was a little the worse for wear with people having passed by, but it was still really striking!

I wonder if the use of these colours is a Kannadiga custom? The words seem to be in Hindi..did the family have some priests from north India?

And meanwhile..the "get a flat stomach" ads are still here, next to the window I am typing on...

Hyderabad and Secunderabad are twin cities, and it amuses some Hyderabadis to refer to the other city as "Second" erabad!

I have seen the usual "touristy" Hyderabad...the Char Minar, the Lad Bazar, the Golconda Fort, the Salar Jung Museum, and so on...

But on this trip, I saw more of the heritage buildings of Secunderabad.


This was the first time I had taken a train to Kachiguda Railway Station instead of Secunderabad; I didn't know that it was a heritage building, having won the INTACH award for heritage preservation in 2004:





An old engine (I remember books full of different types of engines for locomotive fans to help with the id!) has been put on display outside:





( Secunderbad Club, and Chiraan Fort...e-trip here )

But for the most part, the maintenance is pretty good, as symbolized by this globe, cleaned and in good condition:



Saw a lot of the twin city this time, and since the weather was cloudy and cool and not in the least the baking hot sun that I expected, I loved the trip!

I do love the art of "kOlam"....it's called "rangOli" in the north, but is executed very differently, and the designs are very different, too.

In south India, we have two ways of making kOlams; the wet (izhai kOlam) and dry (podi kOlam). I am reasonably good at both, but watched someone making the second type at a wedding, and thought I would document that.


Some kOlams are very simple, yet neat and geometrical; they speak of a few minutes devoted to the art as the housewife (or the maid!) has a lot of other work to attend to...




( more kOlams, and a lady creating a kOlam, here )


I do love decorating the front of my home to welcome visitors...there is also the superstition that the rice powder or paste will be eaten by small creatures such as ants and give them sustenance....

It's still an art that's vibrantly alive in our cities and villages! In the month of "mArgazhi" (mid Dec to mid Jan), women vie with one another to produce large, intricate kOlams, and competitions are held, too....

When I had been on the "pEtEy,kerEy,kOtEy,thOta" heritage walk, I spotted these shirts near the Bangalore Fort...


You may be a celebrity if you wear this shirt, but.....no autographs!




And in Bangalore, the Software City, it's appropriate to have a shirt that says...



Pity I didn't get actual people wearing these shirts!

I was just waiting for this article to come out, because I didn't want to put up anything on my LJ on the same topic beforehand.

The article is

to be found if you click here

I really like the design of this article, which Meera and Subbu put together for me. I can do more photo/text essays now...I can document my beloved city, warts and all.

Anyone who wants to see more pictures that I took on the heritage walk (how nice, it is not called the hisitage walk! *feminist smile*).... can go to

this Flickr account and see page 1 and a few more pics on page 2.

While we were on the Heritage Inner-City walk (will let you know when it goes live on Citizen Matters....have written it as a photo-essay and it might be chopped down....) we visited a Dargah which attracts visitors from every religion, and welcomes them, too.

Here are some Gerberas, which are votive offerings....





I just *loved* the bold colours in the photograph!


The flight that our friend is on, is late, so our drive is also postponed...and I don't know when we are going to reach Dindugul, our night halt...I suspect, in time for breakfast!

Will try to find some "Arignar Anna INayam" parlour (some internet parlour named after a politician, I mean!) and will see if I can keep contact....but if not, sayonara for a week...!

I was *going* to blog in detail about my experiences on this heritage train but then I found that anitab has done a much better job of it at


http://www.anitabora.com/blog/2008/02/27/a-golden-experience-on-wheels/


But you can see my pics ( a HORRIBLE BSNL broadband connection for the past few days that I could not upload pictures except few and far between) at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23935835@N05/


I suggest you start at the last page (Page 7) and work your way back to Page 1...that's the right chronology of events. That's the way you have to do it on Flickr!

Any questions from anyone, anyonymous (please do give your name) or LJ-ers, I will be happy to answer.

First question, am I taking up the job? Don't know yet...depends on several parameters.

So...my job offer.

Refer to

http://deponti.livejournal.com/349485.html


...I was, out of the blue, offered a job with Bangalore Walks which is partnering with the Govt of Karnataka, Maple, the caterers, and the Indian Railways (or should I say the Southern Railways) to do this heritage train tour.

The train ride is brand new so the job content will evolve. Hopefully, I will have the skills required, and learn some of them.

I am leaving on the trial train ride today, and it will be a trial for me, too, as I am rated on my abilities; I too will have a chance to see if I can bring the right skills to this, and add value to the tourists' experience of this great State of mine.

I am suffering collywobbles. I am afraid of falling flat on my face. But I also know that given the right circumstances the fit will be good. I was very impressed with Arun Pai and his presentation was excellent, as are his walks. I would like to work for this....

So...wish me luck, someone net the butterflies in my stomach....I am off in a short while.

The train is supposed to be wifi enabled throughout. I am photo-documenting the trip, too. And keeping notes for further improvement on the train run. So you might hear more from me.