A Tale of Two Lakes

It is the monsoon season and we seem to be enjoying a normal monsoon here in Hyderabad. With the water crisis in Chennai being in the news, can't help but feel thankful to be in a city that hasn't reached that crisis point.   We see quite a few lakes within the city of Hyderabad still filled with water especially during the business end of the monsoon season and this year I look at them with a bit more appreciation.

My wife recently told me about the Aminpur Lake which is less than 5km from our house. She thought it could be a nice picnic spot. The lake is reachable from Miyapur by hanging a left off of the Bolaram Road. To reach the lake you have to continue as the street becomes a dirt road perhaps better navigated on a vehicle with high clearance. You have to walk across an expanse of brush to reach the lake. Along the way there is enough flat ground for kids nearby to have appropriated as a cricket field. Past the makeshift cricket field, as you approach the lake, if you're lucky, you will see - what do you know? - a flock of flamingos, pink ones!  As we walked closer for a better look, we must have breached their safety zone and the entire flock took to flight and settled themselves further inside in the lake.  Clearly the lake is not very deep even in the middle.

The entire flock assuming their flight pose of outstretched legs and long necks was a sight to behold. I was too stunned, that I missed the moment to capture it on camera. Apparently flamingos have been transiting through this lake every year as a stop in their migratory route. Word has it that in recent years, they - confused allegedly by climate change - have settled here in the lake for good.

The other lake that we have come across recently is the Shaikpet Kotha (New) Cheruvu (Lake). Multiple NGOs are attempting a cleanup of this lake (see recent Indian Express news article). This lake is right in the middle of town with settlements all around. The lake has clearly seen better days and looks anything but new. At some point the city saw fit to build a wall around the lake with what looks like a walkway that goes around the lake inside the wall. However, the whole setup is in a sad state of disrepair. The walkway is overrun with vegetation. The wall has been breached on one end close to the main road and GHMC seems to be using it as a garbage dump area. Sewage is being dumped on the other side. Plastic and construction waste is everywhere. Places that are clean enough are taken up by vendor stalls and vehicles many of them old and abandoned.

The lake itself is brimming with water and could be a great place to hang out for the neighbourhood if it can be cleaned up and the already existing walkway around the lake is made usable. Right now, it looks like a herculean task but there are some tenacious folks from Ananda Foundation and Krithi Foundation who are on this, so here is hoping for the best.

- Balaji

சு. வெங்கடேசனின் வேள்பாரி

தமிழில் எழுதும் முயற்சி, வெகு நாட்களுக்கு பிறகு.

வீரநாயகன் வேள்பாரி ஆனந்த விகடனில் தொடராக வந்த மிகவும் பரபரப்பாக பேசப் பட்ட நாவல். சமீபத்தில் புத்தக வடிவில் வெளியிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. நான்கு பாகங்கள் இரண்டு புத்தகங்களாக வந்துள்ளன.

இதற்கு முன்பு சு. வெங்கடேசனின் காவல் கோட்டம் நாவல் பாதி வரைக்கும் படித்தேன். அப்புத்தகத்தின்  ஆழத்தையும்  பரப்பையும் அனுபவிப்பதற்கு  மிகுந்த பொறுமை வேண்டும். அது அந்த சமயத்தில் என்னிடம் இல்லை. வேள்பாரி படித்த பிறகு காவல் கோட்டம் மீது மற்றொரு முயற்சி எடுப்பேன் என்று நம்புகிறேன்.

பாரி நாம் பள்ளியில் படித்த முல்லைக்கு கொடியாக தனது தேரைக்  கொடை கொடுத்த அதே வள்ளல் தான். கதை எழுதப்பட்ட காலத்தில் காடு, மலை நிலங்களில் வாழும் வேளிர் குலங்களின் வாழ்க்கை முறை மூவேந்த்தர் நாட்டு மக்களின் வாழ்க்கை முறைக்கு முற்றிலும் வேறாக சித்தரிக்கப் பட்டுள்ளது. அவ்வேளிர் குலங்களுக்குள் பறம்பு நாட்டுக்குலத்தின் தலைவன்  பாரி. வேளிர் மக்களின் வாழ்க்கை இயற்கையோடு ஒன்றி இருக்கிறது. அவர்கள் விவசாயம், வணிகம் ஆகியவற்றில் ஈடுபடடுவதில்லை. வன விலங்கு மாமிசம், பழ கிழங்கு வகைகளே அவர்களுக்கு  உணவாகும். 

கதையின் முதல் பாதி மிகவும் மெதுவாகவே நகர்கிறது. சங்கப் புலவர் கபிலர், பாரியின் பெருமைகைளைப் பற்றிக் கேள்விப்பட்டு அவற்றை நேரில் காண பறம்பு நாட்டுக்குச்  செல்கிறார். அவருடைய கண்களின் மூலம் பறம்பு நாட்டின் வாழ்க்கை முறையைக் காண்கிறோம்.  பாரியைத் தவிர, குல ஆசான் தேக்கன்,  மாவீரன் நீலன் போன்ற கதாபாத்திரங்களும் நமக்கு அறிமுகம் செய்யப்படுகின்றனர். பாண்டிய நாட்டில் இளவரசன் பொதிய வெற்பனுக்கும், பெருவணிகர் குலத்து மங்கை  பொற்சுவைக்கும் திருமண ஏற்பாடுகள் மதுரையில் நடக்கின்றன. தற்செயலாக தேவாங்கு எனும் பறம்பு நாட்டு விலங்கு ஒன்றின் விசித்திரமான குணம் ஒன்று பாண்டிய நாட்டுத்  தலைவர்களுக்குத்  தெரிய வருகிறது. கப்பல் பயணம் மற்றும் வணிகத்துக்கு  அக்குணத்தின் முக்கியத்துவம் பறம்பு நாட்டின் மேல் தாக்குதல் செய்ய சாக்காக அமைகிறது. 

காதல், காமம் முதற்கொண்டு வானியல், அரசியல், போர் என்று எல்லாவற்றிலும் வெங்கடேசனின்  தனிப்பட்ட நடை, ஆழம், யதார்த்தத்தோடு மிளிர்கின்றது.  

கதையில் வரும் எண்ணற்ற கதா பாத்திரங்களில் என்னைக் கவர்ந்த இரண்டு பேர் -  பாண்டிய நாட்டு ஆஸ்தான வானியல் நிபுணர் (கணியர்) திசை வேழரும், மேலே குறிப்பிட்ட பொற்சுவையும் தான். இரண்டாம் பாதியில் நடைபெறும் பெரும் போரில் பாண்டியர் தரப்பில் நடுவராக (கோள்சொல்லி என்று அழைக்கப்படும்) திசை வேழர் தயக்கத்துடன் ஆற்றும் பணி இக்கதையின் மிகவும் அருமையான ஒரு உபகதையாகஅமைந்துள்ளது. பொற்சுவையோ வெகு சில பக்கங்களே வந்தாலும்  தனது அறிவு, கலை ரசனை, தியாகம் மற்றும் மகத்தான செயல்களால் படிப்பவர் உள்ளத்தில் இடம் பிடிக்கின்றாள்.  

வெங்கடேசனின் போர்ச் சித்தரிப்பு இரண்டாம் பாதியின் தலையம்சம். மிகவும் சிறிய படையுடன் பறம்பு நாட்டுப் படையினரின்  போர்த் தந்திரங்களும், இயற்கையைத் தங்களுக்கு அனுகூலமாக எப்படி பயன்படுத்துகின்றனர் என்பதும் குறிப்பிடத்தக்கன. போரில் பயன்படுத்தும் ஒவ்வொரு ஆயுதத்திலும் பறம்பு நாட்டினரின்  (வாட்களை கூறு செய்யும் சிறப்புக் கல் முதல் முயல் இரத்தத்தில் தோய்த்த வில்லின்  நாண்  வரை) மேலாண்மை தெரிகிறது. ஆனால் சில இடங்களில் இது கொஞ்சம் அதிகம் என்றே  தோன்ற வைக்கின்றது. 

பாரியின் சிறப்புகளை அவனது செய்கைகளைவிட அவனது தளபதிகள், வீரர்கள், கபிலர் ஆகியோர் அவன் மீது காட்டும் மதிப்பு, விசுவாசம் மூலமாக சித்தரிப்பது ரசிக்கக் கூடிய அம்சம்.  

ஒரு சின்ன நெருடல் - நாம் பெருமையுடன் நோக்கும் தமிழ் மூவேந்தர்களும் வில்லர்களாக வருகின்றனர். அவர்களில் ஒருவரை மையமாக வைத்து கூடிய சீக்கிரத்தில் இன்னொரு நாவலை வெங்கடேசன் நமக்குப் படைப்பார் என்று நம்புகிறேன். 

இரா. பாலாஜி 

Trip to Kanchipuram - Vaikunta Perumal Temple

As mentioned in my previous entry about the trip to the Kailasanathar Temple, Kanchipuram warrants multiple trips given the number of Pallava and Chola era temples that should be in anyone's itinerary. In this trip, I visited the Vaikunta Perumal temple and the Ekambareswarar temple along with a couple of smaller temples. In this post, I will cover the Vaikunta Perumal temple. One thing to note about the Kanchi Pallava temples is that they are made of sandstone unlike Mamallapuram where the Pallavas used granite. Sandstone being a much softer stone, the sculptures and temple structures from the Pallava period really show their age.

The Vaikunta Perumal temple is from the 8th century built during the reign of the Pallava king Nandivarman II. Nandivarman is from a parallel line of the ruling Pallavas, a descendant of Bhimavarman, who was the brother of Pallava king Simhavishnu. After Paramesvaravarman II's death in 729, there was a succession conflict since Paramesvaran did not have a heir who could ascend the throne. As per inscriptions in the Vaikunta Perumal temple, the Pallava nobles traveled to a distant land crossing mountains and water bodies to appeal to Hiranyavarman. Hiranyavarman declined to take on the Pallava throne and instead asked his sons. Interestingly enough, the elder sons also declined and the youngest son Paramesvara agreed to become king and ascended the throne at Kanchi at the age of 12 and ruled under the name Nandivarman (II) for more than 60 years.

A noteworthy feature of the temple is the three-tiered sanctum with Vishnu in a seated pose in the ground level, reclined on Adiseshan in the middle level and in a standing posture on the top tier. The middle level is accessible through a staircase, but there is no access left to the top tier. At the ground level, the shrine is surrounded by cloisters on the inner side of which is a colonnade adorned with seated lions, a typical Pallava feature. The cloister walls have a sequence of relief sculptures depicting the history of the Pallava dynasty as per the interpretation of Dr. C. Minakshi who has written a book on the temple; the following iconography is as per Dr. Chithra Madhavan's lecture where she cites this book as her primary source. In the space below the panels, inscriptions can be found below some of them describing the scene, while many others do not have inscriptions or the inscriptions have faded and we need to rely on scholar's educated guesses.

The first set of panels show the supposedly divine lineage of the Pallavas starting from Brahma, followed by Angiras, Brihaspathi, Bharadvaja, Drona and Ashvatthama. The panel showing Drona has a pot near his feet which is a clue to the identity as Drona is said to have been gestated in a pot. Asvatthama is shown in penance (see photo above) and there is a rather crude sculpture of what appears to be an over-sized baby to his right, who is supposedly the first Pallava king. These panels are followed by panels depicting the actual Pallava kings themselves. A typical panel shows the king on the left frame of the panel. In some cases, the coronation of the king is shown as can be seen by priests pouring sacred water on his head. The right side of the panel shows battle scenes or other events during that monarch's reign. The panel that shows Simhavishnu curiously shows another coronation on the top right side (see picture below). C. Minakshi's interpretation is that this must be Simhavishnu's brother Bhimavarman who was crowned elsewhere to head a parallel dynasty. Bhimavarman is the ancestor of Nandivarman II, as was mentioned above.

There is one mysterious spot, right after the panel showing Vishnugopa's coronation, where the space is left empty. This purportedly - again highly speculative - shows the invasion and defeat of the Pallava kingdom by Samudragupta from the North. Samudragupta's inscriptions in the Allahabad pillar do mention his victory over Vishnugopa of Kanchi. The panels of Mahendravarman and Narasimhavarman show the battles with Pulakesin II of the Vatapi Chalukyas. Finally, we have the panels that show the search and the finding of a successor after Paramesvaravarman II's early death described earlier.
The panels in the ground tier are thus of interest from a historic perspective and less from an artistic perspective. The patchwork done by Architecture Survey of India (ASI) is at times rather crude. For artistic merit, perhaps the sculpture on the outer wall of the shrine in the middle tier are better examples. They mostly depict the avatars of Vishnu, notably Narasimha, Krishna and Vamana. These include a damaged but very rarely depicted scene of Vishnu as Mohini distributing nectar to the devas. The sculpture might be in ruins, but you still can't help but notice the beautifully delicate stance of Mohini.

- Balaji

The Amaravathi Gallery at the Chennai Museum

I had been to the Bronze Gallery at the Chennai museum two years ago and written about the remarkable Chola bronzes and their iconography as explained by the erudite Chithra Madhavan. Last week, I was in the company of my friend of comparable scholarship on the Amaravathi Gallery at the same museum. He has given a nearly 2 hour lecture on the history and artistic merit of the limestone sculptures at this gallery.

The Amaravathi we are talking about is an ancient town dating from the 2nd century BC, located 35km from Guntur. You might know that the Andhra government is now building a new capital city of the same name near this town. One of the great Buddhist stupas (called Mahachaityas) was built in Amaravathi over a 400 year period spanning 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE. In 1797, the ruins of the stupa was discovered by the East India Company's Colin Mackenzie who later returned to excavate and also arranged for the limestone slabs bearing the Buddhist sculptures to be moved to the Madras Museum.

So that is what you see in the Amaravathi Gallery, a big air-conditioned hall containing a sizable collection of relief - rectangular slabs and circular panels called medallions - and other sculptures. Many of the sculptures depict stories and scenes from the Jataka Tales and others portray events in the life of Buddha. The sculptural composition might seem chaotic to an untrained eye, but starts making magical sense, when an expert describes the story behind and delineates the various sections of the panel that are sequenced chronologically, often from bottom to top. To take a simpler example, the medallion to the right shows one of the miracles performed by Buddha where he tames Nalagiri, an elephant that was sent to kill him. The left part of the panel is the first frame where you see the elephant charging, frightening people running helter skelter with maidens looking on from their windows on top. On the right, you see the subdued elephant in front of Buddha who you see in the far right.

The Jataka Tales are stories of previous births of Buddha as Bodhisatvas, in some of which he is born as an animal. The fascinating story of Chaddanta, the 6 tusked elephant is shown in one of the more complex panels. Chaddanta had two wives, Culasubhadda and Mahasubhadda. Culasubbha felt Chaddanta had a preference for Mahasubhadda and leaves him ( the bottom of the panel shows her moving away and the other two elephants show Chaddanta and his other wife) and is reborn as queen Subhadda . Chaddanta is still alive and she sends a hunter to kill him and get his tusks. Chaddanta charges the hunter, but seeing his saffron robes stops and learns his intent. The noble beyond belief Chaddanta then offers to have his tusks cut. But since the hunter could not do it, Chaddanta cuts the tusks using its own trunk, gives them to him and dies. When Subhadda looks at the tusks the hunter brings back, she realizes her folly and dies repenting her deeds.

Perhaps the most stunning panel at the gallery is the one depicting the ascension of Buddha's begging bowl to heaven. A man who has renounced everything has few possessions and you can imagine the reverence that Buddhists have for the begging bowl he used. You see a total of 43 human figures surrounding and lifting up the bowl. The composition is unique, where you see the back of some of the figures which is quite unconventional. Everyone's body and face seem to be turned towards the central figure - the bowl - which is placed off center as it is higher up closer to heaven.

The sculptures of Amaravati are unique in the use of limestone and they are reminiscent of European sculptures made of similarly colored white marble (although limestone is not quite marble). We see granite and sandstone in most Indian temples. My friend tells me that these are probably the oldest surviving stone sculptures from the historic period in South India. After visiting many Hindu monuments in the last few years, it was nice to see these great examples of Buddhist art and to hear the stories they tell.

- Balaji

Some books I liked

I have been on a reading spree the last few months, now that I have some time in my hands. Thought I would share the noteworthy ones (putting my 1-5* rating, with 5 being the best).

To be followed hopefully soon by another post on non-fiction.

Scott Turow - Presumed Innocent (4.5*)
A legal drama/murder mystery with heavy emphasis on the former. Really high quality writing and arguably among the all time greats as crime/legal dramas go. Works well at multiple levels; a public prosecutor is indicted for murder of a woman who he has had an affair with. Turow focuses with poignant empathy, the anguish the prosecutor and his family go through as the trial progresses. Not to mention the fact that it is a well crafted murder mystery.  Will say no more. Read to find out why.

John Le-Carre A Most Wanted Man (4.5*), The Mission Song (4.0*)
John Le Carre writes authentic spy novels with British Intelligence protagonists. Over the years, like many spy novelists, Le Carre  has moved on from MI6 butting heads with the KGB and the Russians to combating middle-eastern terrorists in his later novels. I have always liked his writing style. His narrative moves at a velocity that is Pujara-like than say Sehwag, but his recent novels are a bit more pacy. His writing has a lot of humanity (or bleeding heart sentimentality depending on your perspective). His protagonists are extremely noble, often naive, trying to do the right thing fighting domestic obstacles - such as the doddering British bureaucracy and outright moral corruption of politicians - more than the actual villains.  Among the many I read recently (Our kind of traitor, A Most wanted man, Our Game and now reading The Delicate Truth), I highly recommend A Most Wanted Man which captures this fine author at his best. A Most Wanted Man has also been made into a critically acclaimed movie. The other book I liked is The Mission Song.

Daniel Silva (Gabriel Allon series) (3.0-4.0*)
I read every Gabriel Allon the Israeli agent book except the latest one. It was the reading equivalent of binge-watching a TV show. If you have a (grudging or otherwise) respect for Mossad as a highly effective Intelligence Service, you might enjoy sampling this series. I would not recommend reading the entire series like I did; it does get repetitive with a certain plot and story structure that almost all the novels have. However I found the characters likable, especially the middle aged hero Gabriel Allon, complete with supreme ability at what he does, a tormented past and the works and Ari Shamron, his petulant boss, also once a super agent.

Daniel Silva - An Unlikely Spy (4.0*)
A good old-fashioned spy vs. spy yarn set in the second world war where British and German Intelligence agencies are engaged in endless deception and counter deception as to the time and location of the allied invasion of France.

I also read Ken Follett's Triple (3.5*) (another Israel vs. Enemies spy novel) and Jackdaws. Triple is not bad, but nowhere close to Ken Follett's best novels (such as Eye of the Needle). Jackdaws is below average (2.75*) and can be given a miss.

I dusted up my copy of Nancy Pearl's More Book Lust to find some recommendations when I was running out of ideas. In addition to leading to Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent, Nancy led me to some non-English authors:

Batya Gur (Murder in Jerusalem) (4.0*)
High marks for this taut murder mystery set in a Television Station in Jeruasalem, where the tension seems to never let up. You get this feeling that this is how Israelis actually live, in constant tension. Not a book to read if you're looking to relieve some stress.

Henning Mankell (original Swedish - Firewall) (3.75*)
A solid police procedural starring Kurt Wallander who features in a number of Mankell's books. True to a vaguely melancholic atmosphere I associate with all places up in the temperate/Arctic zone, Wallander seems to be battling inner demons and has a miserable personal life while solving crime.

- Balaji

Trip to Manali (via Chandigarh)

One of  my resolutions when I returned to India was to travel all over the country. It is more than 10 years now since we returned and we have hardly averaged a trip every year. Noteworthy trips to places of culture and history include Hampi, Ajanta & Ellora, Mahabalipuram and Tanjore. I wrote about the Hampi trip earlier in this blog. As for places of nature there is a lot to cover. This summer, we decided on Manali. After looking at the exorbitant flight tickets that take us close to Manali (Kullu), we decided to fly to Chandigarh and drive the 300km to Manali.

We had heard about how organized a city Chandigarh is, and it did live up to its reputation. In addition to the grid layout of the streets, what was remarkable was the homogeneity of the architecture. The streets were lined with long red brick buildings, which housed all the shops and retail outlets. While one might argue this is rather boring, it was part and parcel of the infrastructure that included paved walkways and curbed roads, things that are sorely missed in Indian metros. And the food was great, wholesome Punjabi (and Haryanvi?) food at its authentic best.

We made the last minute decision to cancel the self-drive rental and booked an Innova with savaari.com to get to Manali. This ended up being a smart decision, as the drive was a grueling 10 hour bumpathon on middling to terrible roads. There is work happening to widen the road which meant that the roads were in worse condition than usual as we waded through work crews chipping away at the mountain side to create room for the wider road. In the last 60 km however, the Kullu valley's beauty recharged our tired bodies.  Our driver knew all the good eateries along the way and we enjoyed real Malai Kofta and rotis doused in white butter.

The Club Mahindra resort (White Meadows) did live up to its premium designation with big rooms that were luxuriously appointed.

This being early in summer, the road to Rohtang pass had not thawed out yet and we were allowed only up to the scenic Solang valley which is another 15 km up the mountain. A pony ride took us up to a point where we could hang out in the rocks and the rollicking snow-melt. The snow itself was elusive, a good 200 ft further up. On the drive back from Solang valley, we stopped at a point, where we could go sit on the rocks by the river. Sitting on a rock and putting your feet into a gushing river in the mountains has got to be one of the defining pleasures on planet earth. Missing out on Rohtang Pass was a disappointment; I guess you will have to travel after May if you want to get up there.

On the way back from Manali, my wife and daughter decided to brave the rains and went river rafting on the Beas and had a rollicking good time.

- Balaji