Cdr Hemanth Kumar - Kaundinya a Stitched Ship

I know of Cdr Hemant Kumar as an avid cricketer, a dedicated student who wrote a book about his beloved Coach Baig sir and a wonderful human being full of curiosity and humility. As a naval architect Hemant, who enjoys academia and research, took up one of the most exciting projects I have heard of, executed it and actually sailed it. Let me begin at the beginning. 

Kaundinya at sea (pic courtesy Hemant)

Sometime in the past Sanjeev Sanyal, economist and member of the Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council, thought of the concept of a Stitched Ship, the kind that ancient mariners sailed in the 1st century. Based on the painting of a 5th century CE ship depicted in cave 17 of the Ajanta caves, Cdr Hemant, who was on the project since its conceptualisation stage,  and his team got down to actually designing and building a Stitched Ship made of stitched wooden planking (on the ship's hull) using coir rope, coconut fibre and natural resin - a 2000 year old technique. The ship would have no engine, no rudder , no deep keel - just sails and steering. 

Hemant manning the ship

The idea was there. Now it had to be funded. The Indian Navy entered into a tripartite agreement with the Ministry of Culture and Hodi Innovations, a private ship builder - with the Ministry funding the project. After the keel laying, the construction of the ship was made by a team of skilled artisans from Kerala led by master shipwright Babu Sankaran and builder Prathamesh Dandekar. The ship building started in 2023. The vessel (19.6 mtrs long, 6.5 mtr beam, 3.3 mtr draught) was validated by IIT, Madras for hydrodynamics and behaviour at sea. Once completed the 15 member crew was trained at the Karwar Naval base on rigging and carpentry. A lot of work is manual. Spare sails and steering oars were provided. 

At work, at sea - open to the elements

Launched in February 2025, the ship was named after Kaundinya, the legendary first century mariner who sailed across the Indian Ocean to the Mekong Delta where his story had a fairy tale ending - surrounded by enemy led by Queen Soma of Funan - he found the Queen falling in love with him and marrying him making him the second king of Cambodia. The ship also has motifs of Gandabherunda, the two headed eagle which is a form of Vishnu, a symbol of the Sun, the bow has a sculpted Simha Yali and a symbolic Harappan style stone anchor on deck.

In February 2025 the ship was launched. Led by Cdr Vivek Sheoran, the 15 member crew sailed to Porbandar from where they set off to Oman using the ancient martime route. Hemant is the Officer In Charge.

Lovely pic (all pics courtesy Hemant)

The fantastic voyage took off on December 29, 2025 from Porbandar. After the initial hiccups of bad weather, wines pushing the ship back to Gujarat, facing continuous rolling which results in severe sea sickness, it finally hit good weather and as on date is 50 NM short of Oman. Prime Minister Modi tweeted about it. Apparently he is doing a video conference with the crew. Sanjeev Sanyal tweets from the boat.

Reading Amish on this fantastic journey

I have been following the progress of this fantastic project from the time Hemant first mentioned it. It looked too fantastic to come true but it happened and they are almost at the finish line. It's just incredible and could not have happened to a nicer guy than Hemant. Well done Hemant and I am looking forward to your next book on how you made this dream come true.

Many congratulations in advance to all the stakeholders, the crew members and all concerned. Great work.

Interesting TED Talk - Why We Suck at Making Friends

 I found this interesting. This term 'Friendship Recession'. 

On wards then. Start a Friendship revolution. 

Thought for the Day - Consciousness is Bound by Fear

 Our consciousness is bound by our fears. A limitless consciousness can accept anything, handle anything. A fearful consciousness restricts, limits. Our fears come from thoughts. Of past conditioning.

Be fearless. Be thoughtless. Just open up for limitless good.

Hyderabad by Walk - Nampally

I was looking for heritage walks this year and saw Tanya's message about a Nampally walk. Decided to hop on and Vasu agreed to join. More interestingly Dilip's daughter Surabhi who is studying Fine Arts in Mumbai wanted to join as well.

Nampally Sarai

Nampally Sarai was built in 1919 for travellers to rest - as all sarais are built for. It was also known as Tipu Khan sarai, after the noble who built it, Tipu Khan Bahadur.  Now it is in a dilapidated condition and functions like a parking place. It's right opposite the Nampally Railway station which is undergoing a lot of changes was built in 1907 - initially as a goods terminus and in 1922 for passengers. Was known as Hyderabad Deccan then.  

Ek Minar Masjid (Pic Vasu)

Back to our story. So we went. I first drove Surabhi along the Necklace Road where she glimpsed the Ambedkar statue, the Buddha statue, several other statues, the Mythri symbol, the Secretariat, the Saidanima tomb, the Lok Ayukta building, Moazzam Jahi market etc.

Shop around the corner

Hyderabad Naan opp Subhan bakery

Another one

Interesting old buildings

We stopped at Diamond Cafe at Ek Minar and had a chai and lukmi, a khajoor and then met Tanya and others. 

Yousufain dargah

Nampally has several dargahs - Yousufain dargah, Shah Khamosh dargah are among the popular ones. The place has a strong association with Sufism and attract people across religions and cultures. Sufi traditions emphasise inclusivity, service and spiritual harmony. Yousufain dargah is the burial place of Yousufuddin and Sharifuddin who passed away around 1703. It is a very popular place with devotees coming from all over.  

Shah Khamosh dargah

Hazrat Shah Khamosh whose birth name was Syed Shah Moinuddin Hussaini was born in Bidar and has a history of staying silent - hence Khamosh. The dargah has European elements in its architecture and is very well maintained and striking.

We walked from Nampally Serai to Ek Minar and saw some old buildings on the way to Subhan Bakery where she ordered fresh Rots. 

Subhan Bakery

Naan shop 

Then the Yousufain dargah and the Shah Khamosh dargah.

Saidanima tomb (Pic Surabhi)

I had to go to the airport to drop A so I left midway. Vasu and Surabhi continued the walk though. Not a bad start to 2026 by way of Heritage Walks.

Treasurer of Piggy Banks - Vinod Kumar Shukla (Translated from Hindi by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra)

It is a collection of poems by well known writer Vinod Kumar Shukla. I do not understand poetry much but his poems I could make sense of more than others (though the blurb made no sense to me as it compared his poems to maths - another subject I do not understand very well). 

But, as with his stories which I read the other day, there is a stillness that comes into his thought, in his writing. The themes are about birds, rooms, windows, money, bazaars, trees, forests, mountains, keys, wells, rivers, deer, cheetahs,rains, arriving, leaving, ageing, birth, death, things half remembered, writing a poem, adivasis, old age and a few poems for children. Each with an angle that is unique and compassionate, that goes beyond what is said simply by being where it is. He sees life so clearly that we are left wondering at all that his vision encompasses. 

The poems were luckily printed in Hindi on one side and the English translation on the other. I read both and certainly the Hindi original had a different quality. Glad I could read both.

Some excerpts.

'Writing a poem,
worldly matters occupy me
and there's a knock on the door,
I go open it
when I hear the sound.'

As simple as that.

'It hasn't rained yet,
The tree in front of our house
had been cut down,
Is that the reason?"

'Oh adivasis, The trees did not desert you,
nor did you leave the forest on your own,
I saw groups of you walking down city streets this year,
bedraggled children in tow, forest people without forests,
Is that the reason?'   

'The year's now ended,
In the groups of families
I noticed there were no infants,
Is this the beginning
of the end of the adivasis?'

or

"Wherever I go, I carry this inborn death with me,
I'll save it
for as long as I live."

And so much more. Enjoyed reading it a lot. 

Acts of Love - Vinod Gives Me Two of His Favorite Books

It all started with the article on Vinod in the Indian Express. 

About his now legendary status in the Abids second hand browsing and buying clientele. And his amazing collection of fabulous books of all genres. Much of my better reading has been thanks to him.

After reading the article I told Vinod that there were a couple of books in his favourites list I would like to read. We identified then as 'All About H. Hatter' by GV Desani and 'Raag Darbari' by Shrilal Shukla. I couldn't wait till the next meeting so I said I would come to Abids second hand book market this Sunday to pick them up.

Yesterday I got a call from him saying he could not wait till Sunday to give me the books because he was excited to share them with me and could we meet again today (we had met yesterday). I said I would love to and that's how I got my hands on these two lovely books that I cannot wait to read. 

Even better - Vinod told me that 'All About H. Hatterr' is a book he had searched high and low for and found the initial copy with great difficulty and over time he acquired 6-7 copies. 'It's such a lovely book that I would not want to give it to anyone how many ever copies I have,' he said. 'You can keep this if you want.' Now, that's a true honour, a cherished gift from someone who values it so much. I will keep it with my collection of cherished books (I have separate shelf for those!). An act of love indeed.

   

This year, I hope to get a little more into Vinod bhai's recommendations. His choices have always been excellent and have widened my reading perspective by miles. Thanks Vinod bhai. Looking forward to more quality reading.

Blue is Like Blue - Vinod Kumar Shukla (translated from the Hindi by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai)

 One forward from a friend about someone who reviewed Shukla ji's work and then for some reason many more stories started coming in. A documentary on his life. The award winning Hindi writer, poet and novelist caught my eye. He had impacted many as could be seen from the tributes that flowed. Shukla ji passed away in December.

So I searched for his books and did not have the courage to attempt to read his Hindi novels so I ordered translations. 'Blue is like Blue' came first, short stories translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Bai. The themes are of the 60s but very relatable even now of course. About money to be sent home that's missing which makes the son apologetic to the extent that he plans to go hungry to make up for that twenty rupees. A man who thinks he has forgotten to lock the door to his room and goes back to check only to find that he had - the difference of how he feels about the lock when there's money in the room and when there is not. A tenant who wants squirrels to come into his room from the tree next to his window but cannot explain that to his landlord and ends up leaving. A man telling his friend perhaps out of jealousy to inflict pain on his wife who has a tattoo on her arm by using a knife or putting acid on it (this one was different from his other gentle stuff). A weird gathering of people discussing a road, a man and his shoes that pinch him. An old veranda that had always been part of his house which seemed to have come from their old house. And life at college for a young man who is not sure he will get a job, but his father wants to marry him off.

Definitely a pace that slows you down. The stories take you into the thoughts or spaces where we semi notice things, feelings, people, even colours. Shukla ji sees those spaces and its a bit like Murakami, only more real and relatable. Many times he does not use names for his characters, most of whom are very normal people even for the 60s - cycle riding, single room tenants, few clothes, living away from families, money issues and stuff like that. But the world is very real and relatable and so are the characters and their motives and fears.  Enjoyed reading.