Living life KING SIZE....Jaipur

A special occasion calls for a special celebration...and in grand style. And what place can be better than Rajasthan to feel the grandeur....So some meticulous planning, impulsive shopping and last minute frantic packing later, we hopped onto our early morning flight to Jaipur.

Stop 1: Jaipur

The day began with a popat! Knowing R's love for omelettes, had planned to surprise him with breakfast at Sanjay's Omelette, a place reputed to dish out delectable varieties. Sadly, my driver informed me that the place wouldn't be open so early in the morning (is 7.30 am early for breakfast?!?). Disappointed, we proceeded directly to Hawa Mahal, enroute bowing our heads from a respectable distance to the deities housed in the Birla Mandir.

Almost as soon as we hit the roads in Rajasthan, we began missing our dear car (had originally planned to do a road trip). The roads in Rajasthan are...well, roads! What we have here in Mumbai should be called craters! With barely any traffic, we reached Hawa Mahal in no time.

Hawa Mahal, with crowds milling about

This famous five storied 'Palace of Winds' was constructed in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh so that the royal ladies could observe everyday life in the streets below, without themselves being seen. A quick look around and one can easily comprehend the scene that the royal ladies would have looked upon from their intricately carved jharokhas!

Even on a Sunday morning, the place was abuzz with activity. Endless stream of tourists pouring out of buses, cameras clicking all around, shopkeepers vying with each other to sell their ware, locals dressed in tradition garb offering to pose for photos and the constant flow of traffic....With so much crowd around, it was almost impossible to photograph the monument without random folks popping up in your pictures.

The Hawa Mahal

Undaunted, R spotted a row of shops opposite Hawa Mahal and got on to the terrace on the second floor. Promptly a shopkeeper materialized to claim an 'access fee' of Rs. 10 per person for using his terrace to photograph the monument! I am sure he made more money this way than by selling the stuff in his shop! Anyway, we didn't mind the fee as the terrace offered absolutely the best view of the honeycomb facade of Hawa Mahal. R once again unleashed his camera and got blissfully busy, while I soaked in the scene of the street below - two snake charmers attracting more attention from the foreign tourists than the famous monument itself!

Peacock Gate at the City Palace, Jaipur

We decided to skip going into the Hawa Mahal and a quick breakfast later, headed straight to the City Palace. As the royal family of Jaipur still resides here, only some parts (mostly outer courtyards) of the palace grounds are open to the public. Apart from two huge silver pots (largest in the world!) which were used to carry the sacred waters of the Ganga while the king travelled, the City Palace also houses some collections of garments, weapons, etc. It is perfectly alright to give these things a miss if you are pressed for time. What should not be missed though, (and the reason we were here) is staring in awe at the beautiful 'Peacock Gate'.  Embellished with intricate patterns of flowers, creepers and peacocks, this is one of the four beautifully painted gates (each depicting one season) in the innermost courtyard that finally leads into the royal residence. Public entry is restricted beyond this point. The courtyard, known as the Pritam Niwas Chowk, also offers a good view of the facade of the main palace structure.

We could have endlessly admired the Peacock Gate or the equally stunning Lotus Gate, but another architectural wonder, of an altogether different kind, beckoned to us - the Jantar Mantar.

Literally next door to the City Palace, the Jantar Mantar is a collection of astronomical instruments. 'Jantar' is the corrupted version of the Sanskrit word 'Yantra', meaning instrument and Mantar means (method of) calculation. One of the five such observatories built by Maharaja Jai Singh II, and the most well preserved, Jantar Mantar is included in the list of world heritage sites. This observatory consists of several geometric devices which are used to measure time, track the movement of the sun, stars and constellations, predict eclipses and monsoons, and finally, to prepare horoscopes or birth charts. The amazing 90 ft high sun dial, called the Samrat Yantra, shows the local time to a precision of 2 seconds! Most instruments are in perfect working condition and we were fortunate to have a very knowledgeable guide (Mr. Gaurav Singh Rathore) who explained the working of each one with great satisfaction. R and I spent a blissfully long amount of time here understanding and admiring how these instruments worked, quizzing our guide and exercising our grey cells. I shall not give any pictures of the Jantar Mantar here for the precision and beauty of these wonderful instruments really has to be admired first hand!

After a couple of happy hours here, we decided to move on, this time heading out of the city and towards the Jaigarh Fort. Enroute, we passed, and clicked photos of, the picturesque Jal Mahal - the lake palace. The palace is currently out of bounds for the public, but massive efforts have been undertaken to restore the beautiful lake, in the midst of which the palace is set. With the water now clean and replenished, the lake once again attracts hordes of birds, adding to the magical beauty of the place. Hopefully, this palace will soon open its doors to the public.

The Jaivan Cannon

Just a little further away, and up a hill, from the Jal Mahal is the Jaigarh Fort. The drive up the hill itself is a treat, with spectacular views of the city, the Amber Fort and the Jal Mahal. Would have loved to walk around the fort and along the amazingly intact ramparts, but lack of time forced us to drive all the way to the top where the famous Jaivan cannon reposes. At 20 ft long, and boasting a range of over 40 kms, Jaivan is the largest cannon in the world! It took the strength of FOUR elephants to simply swivel it around! The presence of this mean monster ensured that the ruling Kachwahas enjoyed a peaceful reign and thus the cannon never ended up being used in battle. Local legend has it that the Jaivan was test fired once, using 100 kgs of gun power. The shot ball, weighing 50 kg, landed near a village called Chaksu 40 km away. Today a pond marks the place of impact. Another popular local tale is that one elephant and eight people died by the shock wave created on firing the cannon. Shocking, eh!

Amer Fort, reflected in the Maota Lake

Well, if Jaivan is the largest cannon in the world, the meal (Rajasthani Thali) we had thereafter would have easily qualified for the largest meal in the world....well, atleast until we realized that its the norm out here! I barely managed to create a dent in the huge quantities of sumptuous food served on my plate and was more than glad when our next stop, the Amer Fort, presented me with the chance of digesting all the heavy food with some robust walking around.

Ganesh Pol

Situated atop a hill some 11 km out of Jaipur, the Amer Fort was the seat of the Kachwaha rulers from the 11th Century onwards, until they moved their capital to Jaipur in 1727. Like the Jaigarh Fort, Amer too has seen peaceful times and hence the structure is pretty much intact. However, unlike the Jaigarh Fort, which is purely a military structure, the Amer Fort is more of a palace complex tastefully constructed in four levels, each with a well adorned gate and courtyard. The most beautiful of the gates is the Ganesh Pol marking the entry to the third level. Decorated with numerous frescoes and dedicated to Lord Ganesha, this gate leads into the private quarters of the royal family.

Sukh Niwas and the garden

If the entry gate is so stunning, could the private quarters be any less? The Ganesh Pol leads into another courtyard consisting of the Sukh Niwas (Hall of Pleasure) which overlooks a garden with hexagonal designs. Currently the garden is in need of some tending, but once upon a time colorful flowers used to adorn the plants in the sunken beds. These were trimmed in a way that made the garden look like a colorful plush carpet. Fountains in the center spouted scented water which was run through concealed wall channels to cool the palaces.

Opposite the Sukh Niwas is the exquisite Sheesh Mahal or the Mirror Palace! Thousands of convex shaped mirrors carefully cut and laid in intricate patterns on the walls and ceiling give this palace the look of a 'glittering jewel box'. It is hardly difficult to imagine how the place would have glittered in the light of even a single lamp!

Ceiling of Sheesh Mahal

Sunlight reflecting off a panel in Sheesh Mahal...
Just imagine what the palace must look like with lamps lighted!

Discharging our guide, we decided to simply hang around at the fort. As closing time approached, the courtyards quickly became devoid of tourists and not before long we had the fort all to ourselves in near perfect solitude! We simply ambled around, clicking pictures and watching the sun disappear behind the ramparts....

But having seen the fort was not enough, so R and I headed for the sound and light show conducted at the Kesar Kyari complex. The location, at the Maota lake, offers excellent panoramic views of the Amer Fort, the nearby Jaigarh Fort and the surrounding hills. The hour long show introduced us to the history of the Amer Fort and its rulers, the Kachwahas. Tales of blood and gore have been intertwined beautifully with soulful folk music, offering a glimpse of the eternal spirit of Rajasthan. 

Our bored-to-death taxi driver breathed a visible sigh of relief when we emerged out of the sound-and-light-show complex. Infact, he even declared that he has never been this bored in his life - cooling his a** off for over 5 hours in the parking lot of the fort! Apparently, other tourists are done here in under 2 hours. Obviously he wasn't at all delighted when we announced our intention of heading back into the main fort complex - this time for dinner. 

Candle light dinner at 1135 AD

A beautiful moon smiling overhead, gentle breeze blowing over the ramparts, soft lighting around the fort walls and the fort all to ourselves! Could we ask for more?..... Well, why not! How about some mindblowing, finger-licking good traditional Rajasthani food served in best-of-its-class royal ambiance....1135 AD offered us just that! Fantastic food....impeccable service....superb ambiance....and the company of a loved one....I WAS THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD! 

After a long leisurely dinner, it was finally time to head for the railway station to board our late night train to Jaisalmer. Waiting for the TC to check our tickets before we called it a day, I sat glancing through some of the photos we had clicked during the day. The quintessential snake charmer to the Jantar Mantar,  one of the best private astronomical observatories in the world....Jaivan, the largest cannon in the world to the Sheesh Mahal, a palace of exquisite beauty - Jaipur is a perfect reflection of the contradiction that is India!....I am sure we'll be back to explore more of this city soon, but for now, I was looking forward to our next stop - Jaisalmer....

Kala Virasaat - A Cultural Treat

Was randomly flipping through the Bombay Times when an ad caught my eye - Pt. Birju Maharaj was performing in Mumbai on 26 Aug! In a flash I was onto my lappy picking up the tickets. Mumbai had waited for five long years, and I had waited many more to watch this legend perform live. There was no way I was going to miss this!

R was scheduled to travel on work, but my cousin P decided to join me. Together, we braved an hour and half of nasty traffic snarl-ups before we managed to reach the venue, Nehru Centre, Worli, just in time for the first performance.

Taal India
The first item lined up on the agenda of this two day cultural festival organized by Banyan Tree Events was Taal India. A concept created and directed by Mr. Mahesh Babu, MD of Banyan Tree Events, and led by Anubrata Chatterjee on the Tabla, Taal India is a percussion ensemble of folk and classical drums from across India which features instruments such as the Dholak and Khadtaal from Rajasthan, Dhol from Punjab, Pung from Manipur (also commonly known as the Manipuri Mridanga), Edakka, Chenda and Mizhavu Thayambaka from Kerala, Tabla, etc.

Taal India (photo courtesy www.mumbaimirror.com)

To begin with, each percussionist played a short solo piece, followed by an impromptu jugalbandi which culminates into a unified pulsating crescendo. The audience was not to be left behind even for a moment as they spontaneously clapped to the beats.

Here is a video clip from a past performance by Taal India (courtesy YouTube):

Even though this video is thoroughly enjoyable, it does not convey the electrifying atmosphere created by the artists as they performed live for an hour! Taal India is a MUST WATCH if you ever get the chance. I would love to watch them again!

Odissi
If Taal India was electrifying and pulsating, the second item on the agenda transported the audiences into a totally different world of tranquil grace - an Odissi performance by Madhavi Mudgal and her group.

Madhvi Mudgal and her Group
(photo courtesy www.mumbaivibes.com)

An internationally acclaimed Odissi danseuse, Madhavi Mudgal learnt Odissi under the tutelage of the renowned guru Padmavibhushan Late Shri Kelucharan Mahapatra and has been the recipient of several awards and honors including the prestigious Padmashree (1990) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2000).

The first composition presented by the troupe was Gangastavan, an invocation depicting the river Ganga's descent from Lord Shiva's tresses. The superb choreography (by Madhavi Mudgal) evoked images of the majestic river cascading down the mountains, purifying everything it touched.

The second composition, Vistaar, an exploration of Odissi in its pure classical form, was a visual treat with Madhaviji and her troupe maintaining perfect balance and grace as they executed sensuous movements and struck sculpturesque poses!

The third, and sadly final (I could have watched them all night!), composition presented by the troupe was an excerpt from the great Sanskrit poet Kalidasa's Kumara Sambhavam.

Madhavi Mudgal (left) and Arushi Mudgal (right)
(photo curtesy www.google.com)

Oppressed by the demon Tarakasura, the Devas realize that Kartikeya, the son born of Shiva and Parvati, would be their protector and savior. Kamadeva, the god of love, is commissioned to bestir Shiva out of his deep meditation, but fails. The story opens with Kamadeva being burned to ashes by Shiva's third eye. On witnessing Kamadeva's destruction, Parvati realizes that beauty and lust will not stir the great ascetic Shiva. Hence, discarding all comforts and luxuries, Parvati engages in the severest of austerities. The enchanting woods, the scorching summer, the terrifying thunder nor the freezing winter deter her from her rigorous penance. Overwhelmed by her devotion, Shiva playfully decides to engage with her. Disguised as an ascetic and feigning ignorance, he inquires from her the reason for such harsh penance. Parvati, through a friend, coyly indicates that she seeks Shiva as a groom. Horrified, the ascetic describes the repulsive appearance of Shiva and belittles him. Outraged, Parvati retorts that the ascetic obviously knows nothing of the real Shiva, the Lord of the Three Worlds, reciting whose name alone is enough to bestow salvation. She bids the ascetic to depart, only to find revealed in him her heart's desire - Shiva! Dumbstruck, her senses reel, and she becomes like the flowing river obstructed by an immovable mountain - neither able to halt nor move away.

Madhavi Mudgal plays the ascetic, while her niece Arushi Mudgal plays Parvati. Wonderful choreography (by Madhavi Mudgal), beautiful lighting and soulful background score (by Madhup Mudgal) transport you into a surreal world. But what really takes your breath away are the delicate expressions and striking poses struck by the dancers, especially Arushi Mudgal.

Needless to say, the audience bestowed the troupe with thundering applause and a standing ovation! After having watched them for an hour, I was still greedy for more! My cousin P, who has learnt Bharatanatyam, thoroughly enjoyed the performances.

Kathak
The clock struck 9 pm and it was finally time for what most people had come there for - to watch Pt. Birju Maharaj live!

Pt. Birju Maharaj
(photo courtesy www.google.com) 

Born on 4 February 1938, Pandit Brijmohan Nath Mishra, popularly known as Birju Maharaj, is undoubtedly India's foremost Kathak exponent. Belonging to the Lucknow Gharana of Kathak dance, Birju Maharaj has learnt kathak from his father Late Shri Jagannath Maharaj (popularly known as Acchan Maharaj) and his uncles Late Shri Lachhu Maharaj and Late Shri Shambhu Maharaj, all of whom were renowned kathak dancers. Apart from being a Kathak expert, Pandjitji is also an accomplished Hindustani Classical vocalist and a poet. Birju Maharaj has won several accolades including the Padmavibhushan (1986) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1964).

Instead of letting it remain the privilege of an elite few, Birju Maharaj has taken Kathak to the masses, establishing a deep connection with his audiences where ever he has performed. Today's performance was no different. Dance is no rocket science, it is just a simple expression of what we feel, what we observe, Panditji explained. The dancer's ghungroo (anklets) are like the heroine of a story and the tabla is the hero. Sometimes the heroine teases the hero, at other times the hero flirts with her. But in the end, they always meet. Other accompanying musicians are like the runway at an airport, Birju Maharaj quipped. After all their flights of fancies, the dancer and the percussionist have to ultimately land on the runway - the tune being played by the accompanying musicians. Mudras, movements of hands and facial expressions, are nothing but brush strokes of a painter through which he brings alive his painting. There is music in everything, there is rhythm in everything - he explained as he demonstrated this through his dance depicting the flight of birds, the dance of a peacock, the waddling of a duck, a bird feeding its young ones...Kathak, or any dance for that matter, is just a way of expressing this rhythm, this music!

It was simply awesome to watch Birju Maharaj in such extempore mode. After an hour of dancing, Birju Maharaj was just warming up and had barely progressed to depicting larger creatures. His energy and his passion for dance is amazing! But, sadly, it was close to 10:30 pm and I had a long drive back home. So P and I, very unhappily, decided to leave the concert midway. Wonder how long Panditji carried on! The kind of mood he was in, I am sure he could have danced through the night. I would have really loved to see the entire performance, but hey, no regrets. The entire evening had turned out to be a fabulous treat, something that I will relish for a long time to come!

Here is a video of Pt. Birju Maharaj giving one such performance (courtesy YouTube):

As my taxi crawled through bumper to bumper traffic (Yes! At 11:00 pm!) and jolted violently over potholed roads, I recalled Birju Maharaj's words - there is music in everything, there is rhythm in everything...Would I be able to find rhythm and music in Mumbai's potholed roads? I wonder....

(Photo courtesy www.google.com)

P.S - The second day of the two day festival featured performances by the young Santoor maestro Rahul Sharma, accompanied by Oud maestro Mohammed Farghaly from Egypt and renowned harpist Gwyneth Wentink from Netherlands, followed by Sufi Qawwali by the famous Sabri Brothers of Jaipur. Unfortunately was not able to attend the second day of this festival.

Wings of Joy



The Striped Tiger

Mumbai - a city choking with pollution and population! Would you believe that tucked away somewhere not far away from this madness is a piece of heaven? Where countless butterflies spread their colourful wings in joy!



The Oakleaf Butterfly

Unbelievable, yet true. This piece of heaven is created through the hard work of a single man - Rajendra Ovalekar, who decided to convert his 2 acre plot of agricultural land into a garden for butterflies. India's foremost expert on butterflies, Isaac Kehimkar, lent his expertise and support in making this garden a reality.



The Common Grass Yellow (this fellow is really tiny!)



At the Ovalekarwadi Butterfly Garden, butterflies are not bred in an artificial environment. Instead, special varieties of plants are cultivated here that provide ideal food and breeding grounds for butterflies, thereby attracting these delicate winged creatures in large numbers.



The Danaid Eggfly



As can be expected, the garden has become a favourite hangout for butterflies, naturalists and shutterbugs alike.

The garden is home to more than 70 species of butterflies, with several migratory species visiting as well. On any good morning, it wouldn't be too difficult to spot atleast 20 to 25 varieties. We spotted quite a few ourselves....



The Common Crow



But capturing these creatures of flight in a camera is quite a task in itself! It requires tremendous amounts of patience and luck to get the right shot. And it is absolutely essential to stay quiet and not disturb the butterflies (sadly, something that a lot of visitors there simply refused to understand).



The Striped Tiger



The Blue Tiger

In order to really enjoy the Butterfly Garden and get good photographs, it is best to arrive as early in the morning as possible when butterflies are at their slowest. Butterflies become increasingly active as the day progresses.

The Common Jezebel



The Common Rose



Mr. Ovalekar and his team are always available at hand to guide the amateur visitors in spotting butterflies, cocoons, caterpillars and other interesting creatures found in the garden.

Located off Godhbunder Road, Thane (West), the Butterfly Garden is open on Sundays between 07:00 am to 02:00 pm. A nominal entry fee is charged. Space to park cars is available at the garden and breakfast can be arranged if adequate advance notice is provided to the team. Contact numbers are: +919892138338/ +919869323383.

For the Mumbaikar tired of seeing concrete jungles, the Ovalekarwadi Butterfly Garden is truly a sight for sore eyes....




The Great Eggfly Female

 
Photos contributed by Mr. Raman Sharaph















Debit what comes in....

In response to a frantic call from my neighbour (who is a professor), I recently found myself addressing a classroom of some 40 odd 3rd year law students of the Pravin Gandhi College of Law, Mumbai. Earlier known as the SVKM College of Law, this is part of the Sri VileParle Kelavani Mandal (SVKM) which runs several educational institutes across Mumbai, including the prestigious Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Mithibai College of Arts, Commerce & Science and the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.

As part of a student skill development program, the College had decided to conduct short (2 hours) sessions on various topics which would be useful, interesting as well as fun for the students. I was roped in to deliver a talk on 'Fundamentals of Accounting' (which honestly is neither useful, nor interesting nor fun). Wondering why law students need to know fundamentals of accounting? Well, that was the very first question I put to my prof neighbour who was part of the faculty incharge of organizing the skill sessions.

The fact of the matter is that lawyers are involved where there are disputes. Disputes occur over things that are worth some money. Where money is involved, accountants are surely involved. And when the lawyer and the accountant have to deal with each other, all hell usually breaks loose. So, the objective of the session was to familiarize the would-be lawyers with atleast the basic concepts and jargons of accounting so that they are on the same page as the accountants (which rarely is the case). Fair enough!

So I quickly put together a few slides on the topic and enthusiastically presented myself to the class (I dont know how much of my enthusiasm was shared by the class :-) ). Luckily for me, a good share of the class had opted for commerce in their Class 11 and 12 and had a decent idea of what I was talking about. For a subject as dry as accounting, I had a phenomenal amount of class participation (may be it was because of the fact that all my examples to explain the concepts had something to do with pocket money, pizzas and mobile phones). Just as we were discussing the golden rules of accounting, one of our latecomers walked into the class and the entire class erupted into 'Debit what comes in....'. Imagine applying one of the rules of accounting on flesh and blood persons!

Anyway, the session went well (nobody hooted, booed or threw stuff at me!) and one of the students even got me a nice cup of hot coffee during the break. It was great interacting with the younger generation (sad, but true, we are all aging), but what I enjoyed even more was interacting with other guest lecturers. One session which particularly interested me was on collecting forensic evidence from the crime scene. The lady who conducted the session is a professor at the Institute of Forensic Sciences, Mumbai, and was carrying this extremely interesting kit with all sorts of finger print dusting powers and what not. Obviously couldnt get to attend her session, but managed to get a few minutes with her where she explained some of the stuff they teach. Quite an interesting field of study!

Really look forward to more such opportunities to break away from the monotony of regular work and broaden my horizons!