jayantiblogshere

The date sheet calendar at Anila teacher's house on the street next to Aaranmula Pathasarathy temple shows 15th august 2018. That was the day the River Pampa breached the banks and the floods drowned the possessions of the rich and the poor alike.  A couple of hours before the overflowing dam's shutters were opened up, the army picked people up on rescue boats and transported them to the first floor of the municipal school and to other safe locations. Soon the water levels would breach the first floor of the school building as well the police and everyone would flee to the terrace waiting for choppers to rescue them.  Their houses were submerged. Apparently from atop the helicopters, even the massive Aramula temple was submerged    Their houses, humble as well as the not so humble were nowhere to be seen.   In it were passports,progress reports, marksheets, title deeds , school homework, wedding albums. Winter clothes. mattresses an...

Victorian Bangalore Walk   I migrated to Bangalore two years ago.   Immigrants like me particularly from the IT industry have swarmed this city, stretched its limits and changed its identity.   What was it like before it became the IT Hub?   What was it like before the HAL, BEML, HMT and IISc other engineering institutions set   up base here ? A couple of weeks ago I chanced upon Peter Colaco’s book Bangalore – A century of Tales from City and Cantonment.   The small sleepy city that Colaco describes has indeed   grown too fast and too vast over the last one or two decades.   This Sunday I set out for a Victorian Bangalore walk.   It was recommended to me casually by my sister in law about four years ago when I took her around for a walk in London . I had totally forgotten about this until Peter Colaco’s book nudged me.     I had become interested in   history & culture through a series of Londo...

The Pilgrimage to Silicon Valley Long ago in 1938 a Prof. Frederick V….of Stanford university   encouraged two of his young Stanford graduates … a certain William   and David to start something of their own rather than go and seek a career with established companies. What was born out this advice was some work in this garage.   As I type this blog on a HP laptop ( nope no ipad as yet J ) , it gives me a great sense of awe to think that William Hewlett and David Packard went on to establish one of the pioneering corporations in this garage that paved way to the Information technology revolution that has changed the way we now live in this world. If you were not a Computer History nerd, you would never find this place.   Tucked in a unassuming street in one of the residential areas around   Standford university campus is this garage of what is still a private property .   ( HP – the corporation could have easily brought this place off for a sma...

Visited Mumbai ... for the NASSCOM leadership summit at the Grand Hyatt. The Summit was nothing to write home about but being a tourist guide to my Boss on a whirwind half day tour across Amchi Mumbai was an interesting and nostalgic experience. Amazing how a mundane routine commute from and into VT station went so unnoticed and how much of a nostalgic reaction it can evoke now. VT station looks prettier as a tourist than it did on that commute atop the double decker BEST bus from nariman point to catch the 8.02 Belapur local from VT station. Air India Building. Some nostalgic memories of the grind in the 10th and 11th floor. The much photographed mumbai skyline. From 2002 -2004 I had this view from my window at office. Strange .. it never really got noticed. Dhobi talao at MAHALAKSHMI... The opulent Antilla - Mukesh Ambani's residence. VT station at an off peak time.

A few weeks after clicking this photograph and experiencing the moment while on a ferry ride after an interesting walk across the Fort Kochi area in Cochin, Kerala, India , I chanced upon a wonderfully written article on fishing and varieties of fish in traditional kerala cuisine. This bit on the chinese fishing nets was particularly enlightening especially after experiencing the moment. I could not resist adding it here … It is so true ... when they say ... When the learner is ready the teacher merges … ‘ The best thirutha (mullet fish) are caught in the Chinese nets – an iconic symbol of Kochi –placed at the harbour mouth, where the river Periyar meets the Arabian sea. Parts of the contraption-though called Chinese-have portguese na mes. This could be because the Portuguese brought the nets from their Chinese outpost in Macau . In the 1960s, a couple of open-air ovens came up here to cook the fresh catch ( for the benefit of the more impatient fish lovers). Now,after ...

A 45 minute drive from Gurgaon to Chanakyapuri at an average of 60-70kmph was mind blowing. For someone visiting D elhi after a gap of 5 years the city’s landscape was simply unrecognizable. C ommon wealth games changed the face of landscape that once was Delhi and NCR. Lined with flyovers and 8 lane expressways the Leafy Lutyens Delhi has far outgrown its urban boundaries and r emains hidden in the ever expanding urban landscape. It is heartening to see that the grand Dilli designed by Lutyens still remains intact retaining its eternal grandeur reminding one of the immaculately designed urban planning and architecture that was a gift to many Indian cities from the British Raj. The tree lined Janpath, Rajghat , India gate, Rashtrapathi Bhavan and the South block where the political bigwigs hob nob remain unchanged atleast with the exteriors. If there is one lesson for other Indian cities to learn from D e lhi , it is the art of preserving the heritage and grandeur despit...