Review: Golden Dragon, Taj Krishna, Hyderabad

Golden Dragon is a well-known Chinese restaurant in Hyderabad, located in what I think is the most popular hotel in the city – Taj Krishna. Last week courtesy this blog, I was invited for a Moon Fest lunch there and I discovered the Mid Autum Festival that the Chinese celebrate and the restaurants also celebrates every year.

Mid Autum festival is a harvest festival in China, also known as Moon festival as it is celebrated on full moon day or Mooncake festival, as Mooncakes is the delicacy of the festival. Traditionally it is filled with meat but in India they make it using Red Beans and it almost looks like chocolate cake till you put it on your tongue.

Chef Ajai of Golden Dragon speaks about the festival and how they celebrate it at the restaurant. He also narrates a few interesting anecdotes associated with the festival.

What stands out in my memory is this long nose teakettle that the staff used to serve Chinese tea, something that everyone’s attention, specially the cameras.

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Go Goa III: Krishnadas Shama State Central Library, Goa

All my professions have taken me to Goa, from visiting a manufacturing plant to recruiting management graduates to luxury trains and this time my Book Reviews blog. I was there to speak at the Publishing Next conference and the venue was the Krishnadas Shama State central library of Goa. I was excited about the venue as I have never seen such big events being hosted by a library and it sounded just prefect place for a publishing conference. When we landed at the library it was pleasant discovery to see a public library that is so well maintained and is such a live and lively place.

There are modern art installations inspired by Mario Miranda welcoming you at the entrance and then many interesting sculptures scattered around the well-designed library. A huge contemplating face made with recycled tyre rubber stood out and lots of us were seen posing with it. There were other sculptures across the big hall that had curious seating benches in the shape of a Swastika. Conference and lecture halls with all modern amenities made it a usable place for small to medium gatherings. They do not allow footwear inside these halls, I guess to maintain the carpet flooring, but it was such a delight to be able to move around bare feet for two days and I think it brought in a bit of informality into the gathering. Cafetaria again had murals of Mario Miranda and there was an exhibition going on of Konkani Books.

I discovered that this is the oldest public library in India dating back to 1832, and had seen many changes of hands as the state itself went through changes. The present building is fairly new though. Curator of the library Carlos Fernandes was kind enough to take me for a tour of the library and while he passionately showed me various floors and sections of the library, I discovered why this library is such a living space unlike most other public libraries in India – he was a man so passionate about the place, he knew where each book was and who the regular visitors are. The pride in his voice was overwhelming. They have used technology intelligently to increase the usefulness of the library. Each book here is RFID tagged, another first for a public library.

The rare book section has books from 16^th CE including the first book ever printed in India, many manuscripts and a great deal of Indo-Portugese literature, complete collection of newspapers ever published in Goa and a fair section of books in local language Konkani. All the rare and old books have been digitized and only digital copies are made available and an internal conservation lab conserves the originals. As I stood in the rare book section, I felt I am standing in the richest place on earth. Constitution of India, an original copy signed by the founders of India is proudly displayed for anyone to see. All state libraries have a copy of the same but how many of them display is a question. I liked the fact that library is named after the 16^th CE Goan author who wrote Krishna Charitakatha and other stories from Puranas and not a politician.

I saw many school children getting down from school bus and visiting the library, standing in the queue to exchange books, reading, browsing and roughly spending an hour or so at the library. We met the ex-CM of Goa Smt Shashikala Kakodakar sitting and reading old newspaper archives and was eager to talk and tell us the political history of Goa. I was told that it is not unusual to see the present CM walking in at times. Children’s section was colorful and had stuffed toys along with books and we could see children running around and enjoying themselves. Here and there people were sitting and talking to each other. Local participants in the conference told me that they visited the library regularly.

Is this not how a public space should be – actually used by the public, a common place for them to meet and enjoy the common heritage?

May be it is time to re-start a libraries movement in India.

Royal Rajasthan XIII: Jaisalmer Fort & Around

Jaisalmer fort is one of the few living forts in India. Only other one that I have seen is at Orchha. This fort gives city its name and in turn was named after its Bhati ruler Rao Jaisal who moved the capital on Trikuta hill here from Ludurva, a few miles away, in mid 12^th CE. It is also known as Solar Qila or Golden fort as the yellow sandstone that it is made of makes it look like it was carved in gold when the light is right. Common people started living around the fort on its slopes sometime around mid 18^th CE. Many Havelis and complimenting buildings were built around the fort till end of 19^th CE.

You can walk into the living fort with many colorful shops vying for your attention. Beautiful gypsy women in heavy silver jewelery and colorful ghaghras will show you the jewelery and lure you to buy them. Then one by one you pass through huge gates that are placed in a zig zag way and remind you that it is a fort and not an old locality that the living environment can make you feel. The height of the fort all around is overwhelming and your neck would need some stretching to look at the kanguras on top, and intricately carved jharokhas jutting out of the walls – that have become such a symbol of Rajasthani architecture. We noticed the colorful wedding invitations painted on the outside walls of many houses and the dates indicated very recent marriages. It seems this is a way of the fortwallahs to invite people around or may be to tell people which is the house hosting the wedding.

The lanes through the gates lead to a chauraha or a central courtyard called Dussehra Chowk and I infer that the festival must have been celebrated here or may be is still celebrated. Around this courtyard are royal palaces including the one belonging to the ladies of the palace. A door has palms marks painted around it and I was told that these were by the Satis – that is ladies who burnt themselves on the pyres of their husbands and hence were revered. As you look around you can see the life of the residents revolving pretty much around the tourists walking in, as they try to sell their souvenirs like leather products or colorful garments. Incidentally they are not too much interested in Indians unless their intuitive intelligence classifies them as NRIs. Amusingly, you can find almost all popular world cuisines within the walls of this ancient fort. I could not miss the Gol Gappe wala who stood most visibly in the courtyard or were it my eyes that made the stall stand out.

Fort is also known for 7 Jain temples that are inside it. I managed to see only one that too from outside and the entrance was very similar to the temple at Lodurva with its latticed slanted walls, and this gave me a hint that it was probably the dominant style of this space and that time. Temples are open in the mornings and evenings and there may be restriction on entry of Non-Jains at certain times.

It is a massive fort with 5 kms circumference and thick walls with 99 odd bastions. There are two parallel walls in the ancient tradition of Mori – a security strategy. I could not walk on the wall and it reamins pending for the next time. I am told that till few months back this fort was not so clean, but due to a unique citizen’s initiative called I Love Jaisalmer the fort and the area around it has been cleaned. My first time eyes thought there was still a lot of scope for cleanliness. I wonder if this also helped the fort to be included in the UNESCO world heritage list along with 5 other hill forts of Rajasthan.

What made me most happy about this fort was the fact it is is still living space. Not many ancient places have a tradition of continued living.

Germany Gems III: Walk around Dresden Old Town

City of Dredsen likes to call itself the city of Augustus the Strong – its most famous king who ruled in early 18^th CE. His stories are scattered all around the city even today, on its walls as murals, in its squares as statues, in its gardens and monuments that he had built then. It was during his time that the city saw its peak, as he was the elector of Germany and king of Poland. A walk around the old town by the river Elbe takes the visitors through old buildings and monuments, most of which have been re-built recently but unless explicitly explained you will never be able to make this fact out.

Dresden’s most vivid memory comes from Feb 13^th 1945 when it was bombed and almost all the city was destroyed in bombing. As you hear personal stories of that night from the citizens as they have heard it from their parents or grand parents, you almost feel as if the psyche of the city is divided between before this date and after this date. As part of East Germany, the ruins of buildings along the river were left just like that and rest of the city was cleaned to make way for the more socialist buildings that to me looked like boxes - straight and tasteless. After the 1970s a lot of the old structures have been revived to their old glory using the old paintings, drawings and photographs.

Our walk began from the riverside where a piece of original wall still stands. We walk around the old buildings, look at the narrow streets filled with eateries and through the tram tracks reach the opera house that has been completely re-built and was re-opened with the same performance that was playing in 1945 when the bombing happened. From here we entered a building called Zwinger – as in to swing. It was built as a party place and a place to showcase the collections of Augustus the Strong who was obessesed with collecting oriental pocelain. I found this building very fascinating, as it has no allegiance to any religion; it shows drunken men and nymphs with water as a key element. There are fountains in the middle of the huge garden and there is a bath much like ancient roman baths with sculpted walls all around. Porcelain collection is still housed in a part of this structure along with a museum of mathematical and physical instruments and a gallery of old masters – a collection of original paintings.

Move a little ahead and a gorgeous church with a huge stone copula captures your eyes. This Church of Our Lady has a story parallel to that of Dresden.It was built by Augustus the Strong when he became the king of Poland and turned catholic. One can safely assume that this would have been the center of attraction in the city. In the 1945 bombing the church survived on 13^th Feb and many people took shelter inside the church only to be burnt on 14^th as the copula fell due to intense heat. The ruins of the church stood as it is till 1989 and after the German re-union there was an open letter issued for support to re-build this church as a gesture of friendship. 80 % of the money to re-build the church came from individuals. Cross on top of the church was built entirely by the British money and installed by the son of the pilot Allan Smith who had bombed the city, in an act of re-conciliation. Re-building itself is an example of engineering precision as each stone was numbered and placed exactly where it would have been in original church while the new ones replaced the lost stones. As you stand there you can see old stones in burnt black color and as you see them in pictures of the ruins, you can see the part that was not damanged standing as such.

From here we came back towards the riverside to admire a 102 meters long wall mural in yellow, known as the procession of the princes, on the outer wall of the royal stable. It shows the 826 years of the rule of house Wettins depicting the 35 kings along with a symbol depicting what each of them stood for. It was originally painted towards the end of 19^th CE to commemorate the 800 years of Wettins but was replaced by porcelain pieces to make it waterproof soon after. With 23000 Meissen porcelain pieces, this may be the larget porcelain artwork in the world. I thought this was a brilliant way to put history literally on the walls, in the open for everyone to see and remember where we came from. On a lighter note history lessons will become easier to remember.

I am always a bit overwhelmed after a walk in and around around old parts of the cities, but this one was a bit different, as it is the only old town that I have seen that was completely destroyed and has been re-constructured as it is. A bright example of respect for the history and the legacy that forefathers of the city intended to leave behind.

Sanchi Picture in Orientations Magazine

Honk Kong based Arts Magazine Orientations has once again published a picture from this blog. This is as part of an article on ancient porcelain of China and the motifs thereof. 

Happy that the my art pictures from India are being used to establish connections across cultures.

Hyderabad Hues XXVIII: Ganesha and his Laddu

This is my third year in Hyderabad and somehow I always ended up missing the popular festivals here. Some of it may have to do with my aversion to go to places that are too crowded. This time I did step out on the Day 1 of Ganesh Utsav and what I saw was something I could not have imagined, had I not gone to the old city.

We started by visiting the most famous pandal of the city in Khairatabad – a huge Ganpati stood tall suurounded by a thick yellow border promoting Idea cellular. I almost felt as if he is the brand ambassador of the company. The laddu he was holding in his hand weighs around 4000 kgs and there was a crane stationed there to put the Laddu in his hand and may be hold it there. Since it was raining and it was still afternoon, we could get on top of the building opposite the idol and admire the upper half of the statue that had four faces of Ganesha, one on top of the other and two on the side with a Naga hood behind it. This was strange iconography for me, but there was a far bigger variety wating ahead. The size of the idol can be estimated from how it makes the crane look like a toy. If you look at the man standing on the trunk, you would know that the face itself is 7-8 feet tall. 

We drove through the Begum Bazar, and this was supposed to be the area we wanted to walk around, but there was no way to stop and park, so we slowly drove through the colorful bazaars selling Ganesh idols and all the other accessories to decoarate the deity. We managed parking around Purana Pul and from here we walked in a lane towards Dhoolpet and it was an experience. Usual shops have been converted into shops selling Ganesha. Artists were still giving finishing touched to their idols. The size of idols varied right from palm top to a size that needs a crane to lift it. There were many tempos and mini trucks transporting the deity amidst song and dance. Dholak sellers were selling their dholaks but would also play it for small fees for a procession. I asked them where do they get their dholaks from and first they said Delhi, and when I asked where in Delhi, they said Amroha and when I told them I had got my Dholak from Amroha, they were amused. When I asked the price, there were two numbers quoted, one if I wanted to buy and one if I wanted to write about it and it had both of us smiling. 

All the Ganeshas had the essential elephant head, but it could take any avatar in this street – he could be his father Shiva, he could be the Krishna, he could be Venkateshwara and even flaunt his six-pack abs. I would have wanted the aesthetics to be better but then the enthusiasm and liveliness made up for the lack of it. The sheer numbers and varieties of Ganesha indicated the scale at which the festival is celebrated.

From here we moved to Shah Ali Banda, closer to Charminar to see the big Laddus that Sweetshops there sell. Our first stop was on the main road that had big conical motichoor laddus from less than a Kg to 20+ kgs, decorated with silver foil. There were white modaks as well but in their small usual shapes.

In the Khowa Gali we spotted these Laddus that were in the shape of a Kalash or a pot – bright yellow colored Laddus covered with silver foil, decorated with green colored leaves and then painted in red with auspicious signs lie Swastika and Om. Babu Singh proudly posed with his laddu and let us peep into his work area where these Laddus were being crafted. Rarely do we go behind the shops to see how the Mithai is being made, so it was a learning to see the Bundi being made in the far corner, then pedas being given shape in the palm of the hands, followed by the food artist who spent an hour decorating each of the big laddus. He answered our questions with a smile and shyly asked which newspaper will his picture come in, when I said – Internet – he was confused – is it bigger or smaller than the newspaper is what he could not place.

What was intended to be a Ganesha Pandal walk turned out to be a discovery of his favorite Laddu and we are not complaining!

Malaysia Marvel XIII: Royal Selangor Pewter Factory

Royal Selangor is an iconic Malaysian Brand known for its handcrafted Pewter products with a history dating back to late 19^th CE. Today, they have an elaborate visitor center that presents a glimpse of the history, product range, exquisite products, techniques and methods used in the factory along with a shopping center to buy these products. This is a story of a small business started by a single man that goes on to become a global brand. Pewter is an alloy that primarily consists of Tin that was found in abundance in and around Kuala Lumpur and actually brought the first communities to this land.

We entered this well designed center on a day when it was raining heavily and it was nearly impossible to hear what the guide was telling us, so it became more of a visual tour. The visit begins with a dose of history beginning with Yong Koon, the man who set this up in 1885, methods and techniques he used and the first pieces he crafted. Old photographs interspersed with pewter frames tell the story of this family owned business that also owns brands like Selberan and Comyns. There are earlier products like small animal figurines that were used as currency, the money trees and utensils for everyday use on display. In fact till ceramics became popular, Pewter was the metal of choice for household utility items. Iconic Twin towers of KL, made from pewter tumblers, stand across the floors. Walls are adorned with palm marks of the workers in the factory.  Murals on walls tell the story of iconic pieces from the collection like Four Gentlemen represented by four flowers, a melon shaped teakettle that has a World War II story and the story of the Tankards. A small demo area showcases how the moulds are prepared, how the surfaces are smoothened, how the designed are carved on them and how the final finishing touches are given. There are some prized pieces that have been designed by the organization like sports trophies and shields and they bring out the design element of the place.

There is a huge shopping area where you can buy the Pewter products or at least feast your eyes on them. There are photo frames, animal figurines, bookends and even paintings in pewter besides the usable items like utensils, vases, glasses and jewellery. You are served some limewater in pewter glasses to experience the use of it. At the exit, you pass through exquisitely designed latticed frames that along with the play of light create an elegant ambience.

There are two small workshops offered at the center – School of Hard Knock and The Foundry. I participated in the first one. I was given an apron to wear along with a flat piece of metal and basic equipment like a hammer and carved resting board. There were moulds of English Letters that could be used to engrave names. Some young children were already hammering their pieces with all possible enthusiasm. With simple instructions, we began by engraving our initials on the round metal piece, followed by gentle hammering while rotating the metal in the groove. It was fairly simple, but it required concentration and muscle power. It was pleasure to hold in hand the product of my own hands, a pleasure that comes naturally with creating something. The piece you create is yours to keep so you can flaunt for the rest of your life that you created this.

Outside the center stands a huge Tankard or a giant Beer Mug, of course in Pewter that has the Guinness world record for being the biggest of its kind. Almost 2 meters in height with a capacity to hold 2800 litters of liquid in it, this was crafted to commemorate the 100 years of Royal Selangor. It is a favorite picture point today and you would see visitors queuing up around it get a shot of themselves with it.

I really enjoyed the visit to this museum cum workshop cum shopping space, and I am happy holding that bowl in my hand as I write this.

Royal Rajasthan XII: Haunted trails through the Abandoned Cursed Villages of Jaisalmer

Legend of Paliwals and their abandoned and cursed villages is spread across the outskirts of Jaisalmer. Rajasthan tourism has done its bit by converting them into tourists attractions without really disturbing them and maintaining their essence. We visited the villages twice, once during the day and once as part of the haunted trail past midnight. At night, Himmat Singh, our driver who took us on the haunted trail also called ‘Chudail Trail’ was the one who was most scared. It was well past mid night, at the Shiva temples next to a haunted well, we all sat chatting as if it is just a garden outside our homes, but Himmat Singh kept signaling through the car lights that we should get up and immediately leave. We could have reasoned with him that we did not feel anything but then it is all about the belief, if he believed that the spirits inhabited these places and they like to be left alone at night, then his discomfort at our casual attitude was justified. The trail followed a well where it is said many people were killed and thrown, a temple that was closed at night and many cremation grounds with memorial stones and cenotaphs and finally the abandoned and cursed village of Kuldhara, that is in ruins now. Some of my co-travelers felt that the room in village chief’s house felt spooky, but I did not feel any thing – no fear except the fear of tripping over the uneven surfaces in complete darkness.

The legend of Kuldhara has couple of versions. It is said that Paliwal community inhabited the 84 villages in this area. One version says that the ruler of Jaisalmer levied heavy taxes on them and the other one says the ruler was eyeing the girls of the community and one fine day they all decided to leave the place and move away and this was done overnight – leaving everyone wondering about where they went. Before leaving they left a curse for their abandoned houses that no one would be ever able to inhabit them and they will lie abandoned as they have left them, and they do lie the same way even today.  A particular house supposedly belonging to the village head, whose daughter was the target of the king has been restored and a room in the house is said to be the place where the chieftain left the dead body of the girl along with the curse. This is the place where some people felt something was there.

At daytime, Yellow stone ruins almost merge with the similar colored sand but the memorial stone and canopies sprout out here and there in the wide vistas of the Thar Desert. We drove up a hill to see the vast vistas of the Great Indian Desert. There was a simple and small temple on top of this hill, and if you went around the temple with your back towards it, you would see the 360-degree view of the vast plane expanse of the desert. Some depressions show the places where water would collect as and when it rains. It was like letting your eyes see as far as possible. At one point we were just about 20kms from the Indo-Pak border.

From here as we drove towards Lodurva temple, we stopped at clusters of cremation places. Some were just stones standing with an image on it – sometimes a man, sometimes a couple and sometimes a man with two women. There were cenotaphs on top of some while others were free standing. All of them had a citation in Devnagari and a date that as per my limited knowledge should put them in late 17^th early 18^th CE. A freestanding tall stone with a figure of God carved on it indicates a water body close by. How I wish we could document these old techniques of mapping the places and creating markers to help people locate common necessities.

Khaba fort stands on another hillock and can be seen around all sides as you drive towards it the winding road. From top of the ruins of this fort you see another village just like Kuldhara – abandoned but highly organized and urban. Everyone kept telling us about villages, but these ruins indicate an old urban settlement as the houses are along straight lines with roads running in between them, have very similar structures and are very dense. Incidentally stonewalls still stands as if they are outgrown from the foundation, but the almost none of them had a roof on top of them. It does not look like a village from few centuries’ back but urban settlement of ancient times. I would have been inclined to believe them as part of Indus Valley civilization except that there is a fort and the stone has been used in construction instead of bricks. Sanitation system I could not see, but since I spent very little time, it is possible I missed it altogether.

I hope I get to visit this place again with some historian who can explain more than what the tourism industry can.