When I heard that Hemanth was heading to Oman on the stitched ship project, I told Mony who lives in Muscat that he could probably meet if time permits. Turns out that not only did they meet, but they also had a meal together and even better, Hemanth invited both of them to see the ship. It must have been one hell of a great experience to be aboard the historic ship.
Mony shared a few pics. Obviously they were thrilled.
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| Kaundinya - Mony, Hemanth and Keerthi |
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| Hemanth gifting Mony a copy of his book on Baig sir |
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| A yali like figure on the ship's mast |
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| Keerthi and Hemanth on board the ship |
'Change Your Breath, Change Your Life'
Really interesting stuff!
The 1968 classic by Shrilal Shukla was originally written in Hindi and fetched the beaurocrat a Sahitya Academy award. It was translated from the Hindi by Gillian Wright in the 1990s. Much has been surely lost in translation but thanks to Wright I could get a sense of the original.
The story is set in a fictional town called Shivpalganj (inhabited by a bunch of chilled out villagers who called themselves ganjahas). One young man Rangnath, fresh from University with his head full of noble ideas of the world comes to the place to regain his health and stays with his uncle Vaidyaji. Vaidyaji is an ayurvedic doctor, President of the Cooperative Union, founder of the college and be all and end all of the village. His two sons. Badri, a wrestler and Ruppan Babu, a student leader, lend him their muscle. Vaidyaji rules the village and controls everything through his stooges such as the Principal of the college, a no gooder who he props as the village pradhan and so on. Trouble brews when Rangnath's ideas of justice and fairness upset the equilibrium of the village and others such as Khanna master who protests against the Principal rebel. A disturbed Vaidyaji resigns from his post and promptly props his eldest son to the post of President and gets rid of the masters and so on. Rangnath also leaves, when he finds that his health is much better but not before experiencing the full gamut of the ways and means of society's machinations and manipulations. Posts, cops, common men, lies, emotions, grandstanding all work together and create a satirical take on life as we know it.
Raad Darbari is a complex tune they say and the novel which represents a microcosm of India and its complexity is named after it. Shrilal Shukla brings to life the rhythm of society in India - privilege, caste, politics, duplicity, hypocrisy, helplessness - all within that little town and its few characters. It's funny because its just too true and Shrilal Shukla captures every bit as it is. Thanks Vinod bhai for the book. Loved it.
This time there were no names I knew so it was more to check out the place. Vinod said he would go all three days and I found a nice gap on the afternoon of the 26th so I headed straight there from the Heritage walk. We went straight into lunch at the food court, ate a bit and then sat in a panel discussing Digital something - Santosh Desai (I liked his 'Mother Pious Lady') and Vandana Vasudevan. Then we strolled over to get a look at Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee and it was full house so we sauntered back to the food court and snacked on stuff.
The best venue for HLF for me has been HPS. I loved the food court there - a nice open tent where you could sit for hours!
Met Vijay of Blue Pencil, Praveen, Suresh, Sridhar Sattiraju, Vinod Pavarala, Serish Nanisetty, Naren, Shwetha among others Bought Serish's book on Hyderabad 'Golconda Bagnagar' and got it signed. Vinod recommended it highly. I also wanted to meet Namita Devidayal if I could but missed her. I loved her 'Music Room' which I remember was instrumental in making me visit the Mahalakshmi Temple in Kolhapur.
I never get the energy at Sattwa which is too dissipated.
Anyway, we split at around 430 because I had to go someplace.
I did visit British Residency twice before last year - once in one of my tanhai walks and once with Tanya - but this one was different. It was by Deccan Archives and I quickly checked if Vasu was game and he was. So a quick breakfast at Poorna Tiffins and we joined Safwan and gang for a dekko at the British Residency. Dheeraj led the walk in the absence of Sibgat and Wahaj. There were some 15 participants which included Ajay and Mukhtiar.
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| The British Residency from the back (or front) |
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| Empress Gate |
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| Empress Gate |
Off we went to the Empress Gate which was the gate that was the main entrance - huge to let elephant's pass. Anyway it faces the Musi and the old city which is where the Nizam's lived.
A High Flood Level mark indicates the height to which the flood rose. Then to the cannon presented by Mahbub Ali Khan to the Resident. Through the Lansdowne gate to the Rang Mahal garden where the renovated British Residency model stands.
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| Stepwell |
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| Cannon presented by the VIth Nizam to the British Resident |
Going right through the middle of all this are excavators, trucks and stuff which are engaged in constructing a new sports field in the place where the kitchen once stood. Anyway I walked through the small cemetery where several Britishers are laid to rest.
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| Model of the Residency |
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| Cemetery |
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| Darbar Hall |
Then to the British Residency itself where there is now a few of 100/150 bucks to enter and another 100 or so to take pics inside. We saw the lions outside (earlier sphinxes), the columns, the pediment, the capitals, the coat of arms. Then the darbar hall, its magnificent ceiling fully restored, the climb down to the dungeons, the climb up to the Oval office. Dheeraj said this design may have influenced the design of the White House.
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| Oval Office |
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| Some advice to the girls |
Many pics and such. This one written on the wall - A girl should be like a butterfly, pretty to see, hard to catch!
Vasu, Mukhtiar and me walked out, had a chai and then I got dropped off at Jubilee Hills to go to the Hyderabad Literary Festival where Vinod was waiting to have lunch.
It is not failure or success one needs to focus on - the word is 'trying'. One must die 'trying' which means one keeps at it despite ups and downs.
Our life is not about the ends - it is actually the journey or the process. Our life ends when we reach a 'success' or 'failure' so until then we must keep 'trying'. And if we are at it, chances are we will crack something, enjoy the journey and be able to smile.
That is all there is to it. Try and try again - until the end.
