duniya dekh tamasha dekh

The last week we went to Aurangabad for a vacation. Now its funny to me that people were actually wondering why I would go to Aurangabad for a vacation. I wonder if it isn’t obvious that Aurangabad is the home base for Ajanta and Ellora caves. But I guess the general level of common knowledge isn’t so high as one would expect it to be. Also it is finally a tourist destination and most people I know don’t really know too much about tourism,. It just passes them by on the interest level. Goa and Bangkok is where the buck stops.

I have been to Ajanta and Ellora twice before but that doesn’t stop me from going again. I first went there as a dumb ass teen and then I went around 10 years ago when I had no clue on how to see or appreciate anything historical. So going again with Jispa aged 11 was great fun. This time around we added Daulatabad and local Aurangabad to the platter. Daulatabad is a really wild underrated fort. With its crazy defense systems it probably was built by a highly insecure king. And locally Aurangabad is home to Bibi ka Maqbara. This monument is highly highly inspired by the Taj. I realized it later that with this monument I have completed three of the monuments of similar structures and inspiration. First came the Humayun’s tomb, followed by the Taj and finally this one. Once you see all three only will you realize what is so special about the proportions of the Taj. After completing the troika of sorts I also realize that I have one important missing piece to complete the quartet – the Safdarjung tomb. The next time I am in Delhi, I am sure to make some time available to visit this place. It is also referred to by historians as the “last flicker in the lamp of Mughal architecture”.

So back to Aurangabad. Nice lovely week spent. People finish off the trip in two days but since we went for 6 nights we had a blast and could devote time to whatever we thought was interesting. At Ellora we were lucky to have this amazing guide who answered almost every query of mine on various facets of Hinduism and boy was he knowledgeable. I wonder what he was doing as a simple guide in that place. With a little bit of spit and polish he should be addressing conferences. Serious. Ten minutes into the tour and told him – you don’t bother about time and I will not bother about money. We will see everything at my own pace and we will ask you all the questions in the world. He agreed. So in the end the 90 minute tour lasted more than two and a half hour and I happily paid him double. So next time you are in Ellora, look up for Madhu at 9890632629. Guides in India seem to have really improved, from the idiot out to fleece you to the characters who really help you learn. This one was like reading a book in 3 hours. I cannot recommend him less. He is up there with the best I have been with.

We got lucky with this one. When we first reached all the guides were hired. I was very angry with Jispa as she is extremely cranky when we wake her up. She takes a lot of time to get up. So this time too we were late thanks to her. And then afterwards when we got this guide Jispa was getting cheeky an d she was like ‘ say thanks to me’. And I was – you are very very lucky today. There is really no point in seeing the place without the guide. There is nothing you can understand. It’s almost boring. You can’t make out Shiva from Vishnu in some depictions or Buddha from Mahavir. So Jispa was very lucky, as we got him while we just about turning about to come back the next day.

Jispa has really become a big kid now. Since we had a lot of time, we also went to the only mall in Aurangabad. At the Westside there Jispa picked up something she liked. She put it in her shopping basket and roamed around with me when she suddenly exclaimed ‘oh, the kiddie section is here’. “yes” I answered her. “So I picked up my t shirts from….” “The adult section” I completed her sentence. Yup Jispa has suddenly grown mentally and physically. While we can handle the size bit, Jasmine and I are learning how to cope with her mental bit. She fights differently, argues differently, get upset in a different way. The last few vacations have really seen her grow and I think now we are bonding at a different level. We are understanding each other in a way that is completely new to me.

Vacations are all about this. Growing up, exposing yourself to various things, doing new things, doing old things and more importantly knowing each other a little better. For a relatively young family like ours – possibly the greatest gift is the latter.

emptying shelves filling minds

I look forward to getting books that form some sort of series. When you get two or more that form a series in your head and you get to read them back to back, they make for an interesting argument in your mind. But that is not always possible. The next best thing is to get a series of unputdownable interesting books that one reads back to back. When I get these unputdownables, the reading progresses rapidly with the books rapidly flying off my table. I keep the to-read books on my table and the rest get pushed into the cupboards. And I also control myself and don’t buy books till I clear my backlog, else it will rapidly spin out of control with books filling up shelves but not filling minds. Hahaha. I liked that last bit of corn philosophy. Filling shelves without filling minds. I should put that up in the library that one day I will design. Hah!
The last few weeks I have got extremely lucky with my books. I first got the book ‘Born to run’ by Christopher McDougall followed by a book on the Taj Mahal, followed by ‘Employees first, Customers second’ by Vineet Nayyar followed by ‘Into Thin Air’ by Jon Krakauer. They were as disparate as they could get.
Born to Run (see link which also has an interesting video by the author) is about Ultra marathoners and an ancient tribe that loves to run really long distances. I loved it as according to me the marathon / ultra marathon is the greatest ever sport. In my pecking order it lies at the very top. While you compete with others you largely end up fighting with yourself. The ability to pound the ground every step, continuously for hours at a stretch is simply magical. The author also argues that perhaps we survived as a species largely thanks to our unique ability to run long, real long distances. It explains how humans probably survived by simply running down the animals. They would most certainly outrun in the short run, but if you understand them and are able to track them, then you can most certainly run them down by sheer determination and grit. The gazelle will simply run like hell till its body gets over heated and dies. Poop. That’s it. Of course there is a little more skill to it that the book describes in detail. It also talks about our running styles and how with the advent of padded shoes we have been susceptible to more and more running related injuries. And interspersed throughout the book are lovely descriptions of ultra marathon races. They keep you riveted to the book, waiting to see who wins. All in all an amazing book that has immediately moved to my top ten list.
It also makes a point that I completely agree with. It says that one of the most important things about an ultra marathoner is the mind and how ‘nice’ a person he is. The general sociable or amiability of a person is completely important in a long distance runner. This is a slightly less fleshed out point in the book but it makes enough references to keep my mind active to the concept. I think its worth having a look at in detail.
The next book was about the Taj. From when I remember I have always had a fascination for the Taj. I grew up thinking about it. When I first visited it I was a kid, I next visited it when I was 23. At 23 when I saw it I thought it was highly over rated. Over time I have come to think deeply about it. There has to be some mystery about it. What is it that makes the Taj, THE TAJ. Is it merely a makbara or does it have greater significance. Slowly I started understanding it a bit better. I started reading about it at every chance I got. Reading more and more gave me further insights and glimpses into the monument. I can safely say that today I understand it enough to know much more than the average guide who does not understand it nor it nuances. I understood the value of walking slowly from the front entrances and seeing the arches in line. Letting the Taj slowly emerge. Also one great insight to me is to slightly lower yourself and see the image from the pathways before the gate. Then you will realise the perfect form that architect is letting you see. It must emerge, slowly. There is a reason for it to have a gate that shields the monument from view. Else they would have just put it up without the surrounding walls. Why lower yourself. My theory is that over time we have rebuilt roads and pavement to a point higher than what was the original. If you lower yourself on the path towards the monument you will the perfect angle where all the gates come in a beautiful line of sight. But then that’s my theory. It worked for me. Another thing is to visualise the Taj with garden in front being full of fruit bearing trees a ala Eden. It would not look as naked as it is looking now. It was supposed to be full of fruit bearing trees that possibly even contributed to its upkeep. There are old paintings of the Taj that show it with trees in front. Imagine a beautiful white relief in contrast to the dense green eden. The Humayun tomb in Delhi also always held a strong fascination for me. The book also explains the taj in relation to eth tomb. I always suspected that you cannot fully appreciate the Taj without first appreciating the Humayun’s tomb. I was right there. I would like to again and again to Taj to understand it deeper and deeper. So many myths and so many explanations. It is a mystery that needs explanation and resolving.
Next in line was the book ‘Employees first, customer second’ by Vineet Nayyar. I have come to this conclusion since the lat six months that the key to happy customers is happy employees. Satisfied happy and motivated employees make for a great set of customers. Putting customers first takes the focus away from the enablers and is a recipe ripe for disaster. This book I picked up in crosswords and read it back to back, in two hours flat without leaving the shop. I simply placed it back on the shelf. No, I will not deny the author the royalty, but I promised my self that I will figure a way to buy not one but at least 200 books. And get him to speak to as many forums as possible. He has a very valid point of view. He is attempting to change the way we as companies think. I will do everything in power to ensure that the message is spread as far and wide as possible. Putting that one book down will ensure that I will remember to figure out a way to get my signed copy from the 200. How? Wait and watch. Things are already in motion. Vineet – if you are reading this. Trust me. I think I know what you are aiming for and I think I can deliver your objectives. Message will be received very very wide.
Then the next book was about the ill fated expedition on Mount Everest. Another very high endurance sport. A book that kept me awake at night and made me read like crazy. To give you an idea on how much I enjoyed this book – I woke up at 730 am when I was in Bangalore and I just picked it and continued reading it till I finished it at 830 am. I just wanted to complete it.
Now the book on hand is called ‘the human zoo’. I just started reading it. I have no clue how good it is but the opening two paras in the introduction is one of the most hard hitting ones I have ever read – I reproduce it here.

‘When the pressures of modern living become heavy, the harassed city dweller often refers to his teeming world as a concrete jungle. This is a colourful way of describing the pattern of life in a dense urban community, but it is also grossly inaccurate, as anyone who has studied a real jungle will confirm.
Under normal living conditions, in their natural habitants, wild animals do not mutilate themselves, masturbate, attack their offspring, develop stomach ulcers, become fetishists, suffer from obesity, form homosexual pair-bonds, or commit murder. Among human city dwellers, needless to say, all of these things occur. Does this, then, reveal a basic difference between the human species and other animals? At first glance it seems to do so. But this is deceptive. Other animals do behave in these ways under certain circumstances, namely when they are confined in the unnatural conditions of captivity. The zoo animal in a cage exhibits all these abnormalities that we know so well from our human companions. Clearly, then, the city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo.’

Very rare that a book’s opening paragraphs slap you so hard. Very rare. I am dying to read the book to find out how hard the slaps turn out to be.

jumping jack

When you run out of ideas to blog about… you open the photos folders and think of something to upload. Here is something interesting. This was in 2007 when we were visiting Ranthambore and Bharatpur. While we were at Rathambore fort I just this wild idea and made Jispa jump before taking this snap.

Then we got all excited with the results and made Jispa jump in front of the Taj Mahal which we visited a few days later. I think we completely missed the point of the great mausoleum. Poor shah jahan must turned in his grave. Clicking the Taj with you kid jumping in front of it. haha.


We went to Bharatpur again the following year with some friends and visited the Taj again. This time around I was pretty shocked to see the official photographers there talking photos of kids while encouraging them to jump on his count, before capturing the moment. They copied my style. Hell now we will have a large bunch of photos of people jumping in front the tomb. Now millions more will miss the point. What have I started? But on second thoughts, let me look at the market it replaced. These idiots were normally the guys who would have posed with their hand outstretched and their fingers joined as if they were picking up the Taj.

Have you seen those? Let me see if I can google a few images. “taj in your fingertips’ did not get me the desired results, but ‘holding the taj mahal’, now that’s another matter altogether. Here is one such photo… now when you look at the thing I replaced; it’s probably not so bad after all.

kya scene hai

The 18th anniversary of meeting each other. Easier to remember as it was the 31st of December. Could it have been more clichéd? Its even around the same time. Even more clichéd. I even have a moustache like I had when I first met her. Clichés never cease. Hahahhahahah. This is so funny. I feel like an 18 year old.