Pankaj Varma's Blog: Author Pankaj Varma, page 2
May 25, 2006
Vellore
We spent a week in Vellore, which was quite an interesting experience. The town is surrounded by low hills on all sides - the visual impact is of a city cradled up in the mountains. Soon we realised it is one of the warmest places in South India. The hills store up the heat and block any breeze that might come in the town.
We looked up in the net about Vellore before reaching there. One quote described Vellore as "A river without any water, A Fort without a King, A temple without any diety, and Women without any Beauty". Well, the first two are quite true. The river is dry. The fort looks impressive from outside but once you get in, it seems so unlike a fort - all you see are Government offices, chaotic traffic, and a maze of un-fort like british period buildings. There is a jail in one part - a historic place in its own right as it housed several freedom fighters in India's independence struggle in the last century.
We stayed in a fifth floor corner suite in a Hotel called Darling Residency. Quite a darling little place really. The view was terrific - lots of greenry with hills in the background. The roof-top restaurant was very popular - we had to book in advance to get any table. The food was very good (except for one day when the chicken sizzler was a disaster). The North Indian food tasted quite North Indian (The Dal Makhani did not taste of Sambher Powder). We were told that this North Indian influence was due to the fact that people come from all over the country for treatment at the local Christian Medical College Hospital and sometimes stay for extended periods in the local hotels.
We had a problem going out for our morning walks. The roads, even early in the morning, are chaotic, and we could not find any park near enough for the morning constitutional. The fitness centre in the hotel boasts of a treadmill - a creaking old machine which proved a ted difficult to tame - and an old fashioned stationery cycle.
Well it was a good week we had in Vellore.
We looked up in the net about Vellore before reaching there. One quote described Vellore as "A river without any water, A Fort without a King, A temple without any diety, and Women without any Beauty". Well, the first two are quite true. The river is dry. The fort looks impressive from outside but once you get in, it seems so unlike a fort - all you see are Government offices, chaotic traffic, and a maze of un-fort like british period buildings. There is a jail in one part - a historic place in its own right as it housed several freedom fighters in India's independence struggle in the last century.
We stayed in a fifth floor corner suite in a Hotel called Darling Residency. Quite a darling little place really. The view was terrific - lots of greenry with hills in the background. The roof-top restaurant was very popular - we had to book in advance to get any table. The food was very good (except for one day when the chicken sizzler was a disaster). The North Indian food tasted quite North Indian (The Dal Makhani did not taste of Sambher Powder). We were told that this North Indian influence was due to the fact that people come from all over the country for treatment at the local Christian Medical College Hospital and sometimes stay for extended periods in the local hotels.
We had a problem going out for our morning walks. The roads, even early in the morning, are chaotic, and we could not find any park near enough for the morning constitutional. The fitness centre in the hotel boasts of a treadmill - a creaking old machine which proved a ted difficult to tame - and an old fashioned stationery cycle.
Well it was a good week we had in Vellore.
May 19, 2006
The beautiful Vizag beaches
We had a great time at Vizag. This port city on the Eastern Coast of India has some of the most beautiful beaches. Its surprising why this place has not made it to the tourist circuit. The place has three names - the official name is Visakhapatnam, the name used at the airport. The British always found that a mouthful and the city is affectionately called Vizag. An old name for the place is Waltair - the railway station goes by that name.
The main beach runs along the city for miles and beyond. There are several beaches which are untouched and unexplored. We used to go for a morning walk along the main Vizag beach. A very well maintained beach. Early morning sees a whole army of cleaning women in their colourful uniforms sweeping the whole place clean. The beach is not very wide, and not suitable for swimming. We did go into ankle deep water and did manage to get our knees wet but that was that. The continental shelf drops off quickly and the sea becomes deep just a short way from the beachfront (Thats where the ships are anchored while they wait for their berth at the port). We saw the submarine museum - an old submarine has been brought on the beach and holes cut in the hull to let you go in and see. A excellent feel of what the life in a sub is like. There is a cramped little space where a navy guy explains the stuff.He told us that some 30 odd bunks have been removed to make this little space where we are standing! Really cramped feeling there. When out at sea, the guys cannot bathe for months together. The only guy permitted a daily bath is the cook.
There is also a beautiful aquarium with a good collection of fish and turtles from around the world. We thought the space for the fish was a little cramped but the fish did not seem to mind.
Then there is the beach park - a little way along the beach at a slightly elevated place. The view is beautiful. We went to this place every day for our evening walk and to get our whiff of the cool sea breeze. Further down the road is the Rushikonda beach - a heavenly place still untouched by civilization. This beautiful golden beach is only 8 km from the city centre. The civilization seems to be catching up fast with an Engineering Complex just outside on the road and a couple of movie studios coming up just off the beach.
We went up to a place called Bhimli - a 30 km drive along the sea. The city was built by the dutch and was a bigger town than Vizag till a couple of decades ago. Industry did not catch up there and it is a small fishing village now.
While in Vizag we went to the port twice - once was to see the ship called Doulos. This is a 1914 vintage ship (it doesn't look that old), owned by a German charity whose name means "Good Books for All". DOULOS tries to promote international understanding and world-wide education through its many programmes. Its hold has place for 50000 books and the swimming pool has been converted into an on-board book fair. 6000 titles - many of them for children. It was a unique experience.
The second visit was to see the shipyard. Its great to see huge ships in the dry docks being "manufactured". A number of ships come for repairs also. There was a submarine under reairs in the dry dock but we didn't venture inside (we had seen tha submarine museum already).
One place which will remain in the mind's eye is the lighthouse on the hill called dolphin's nose. we went right up to the top, saw all the lights and the prisms and stepped out for a breathtaking view of the Bay of Bengal. The port, the fishing boats out at sea the ships still miles away - it was a beautiful view.
The main beach runs along the city for miles and beyond. There are several beaches which are untouched and unexplored. We used to go for a morning walk along the main Vizag beach. A very well maintained beach. Early morning sees a whole army of cleaning women in their colourful uniforms sweeping the whole place clean. The beach is not very wide, and not suitable for swimming. We did go into ankle deep water and did manage to get our knees wet but that was that. The continental shelf drops off quickly and the sea becomes deep just a short way from the beachfront (Thats where the ships are anchored while they wait for their berth at the port). We saw the submarine museum - an old submarine has been brought on the beach and holes cut in the hull to let you go in and see. A excellent feel of what the life in a sub is like. There is a cramped little space where a navy guy explains the stuff.He told us that some 30 odd bunks have been removed to make this little space where we are standing! Really cramped feeling there. When out at sea, the guys cannot bathe for months together. The only guy permitted a daily bath is the cook.
There is also a beautiful aquarium with a good collection of fish and turtles from around the world. We thought the space for the fish was a little cramped but the fish did not seem to mind.
Then there is the beach park - a little way along the beach at a slightly elevated place. The view is beautiful. We went to this place every day for our evening walk and to get our whiff of the cool sea breeze. Further down the road is the Rushikonda beach - a heavenly place still untouched by civilization. This beautiful golden beach is only 8 km from the city centre. The civilization seems to be catching up fast with an Engineering Complex just outside on the road and a couple of movie studios coming up just off the beach.
We went up to a place called Bhimli - a 30 km drive along the sea. The city was built by the dutch and was a bigger town than Vizag till a couple of decades ago. Industry did not catch up there and it is a small fishing village now.
While in Vizag we went to the port twice - once was to see the ship called Doulos. This is a 1914 vintage ship (it doesn't look that old), owned by a German charity whose name means "Good Books for All". DOULOS tries to promote international understanding and world-wide education through its many programmes. Its hold has place for 50000 books and the swimming pool has been converted into an on-board book fair. 6000 titles - many of them for children. It was a unique experience.
The second visit was to see the shipyard. Its great to see huge ships in the dry docks being "manufactured". A number of ships come for repairs also. There was a submarine under reairs in the dry dock but we didn't venture inside (we had seen tha submarine museum already).
One place which will remain in the mind's eye is the lighthouse on the hill called dolphin's nose. we went right up to the top, saw all the lights and the prisms and stepped out for a breathtaking view of the Bay of Bengal. The port, the fishing boats out at sea the ships still miles away - it was a beautiful view.
May 15, 2006
Our stay at Kolkata
We were in Cal (as old timers still like to call Kolkata) from end of January 2006 till start of May. We really quite enjoyed our stay there. For one thing we were staying in Oberoi Grand which has an excellent tradition of service. Their staff went out of the way to make sure that we had a good time. The food was really really superb.
Kolkata is a city of eateries. There is are all kinds of places for all kinds of moods, all kinds of pockets and all kinds of taste. There are great road side eating places also. My fourite is the Puchka - the Cal version of Gol Gappa. It is good, except it doesn't have any Tamarind like the Punjabi & UP versions and is not as sour. A popular food in Cal is the Kathi Roll. An incredible variety is available - from the Rs.6/- vegetable roll from the guy selling just outside the Victoria Memorial to the fancy rolls in 5-star places to the special eateries specialising in only rolls. The shop in Park Street sells as many as 25 variants. Then there are the chinese joints. I could go on forever about about the Cal food.
Cal specializes in sweets. The typical Bong things like Mishti Doi and Sondesh besides the ubiquitous rassogola. Personally, the rest of the country has caught up with Cal in Rassogola making so we did not find anything exciting there, but all the variants of Mishti Doi and Sondesh were exciting.
Cal is a city of surprises. Such a large city, but so relaxed you almost feel you are in a small town. The slow moving trams holding up the traffic, the underground Metro that is not only not air-conditioned, but also has the ricketyness of old fashioned trains, the buses which stop in the middle of the road, the large hoard of pedestrians who throng the main roads as if they own they own the place - they all add up to the charm of an old slow moving city. To top it all is the Calcutta's famous processions. There is a procession everywhere everyday holding up the traffic. This is, mind you, not a new political phenomenon - the old British literature also talks of these processions or 'jaloos' or 'machaas' (as my driver called them when taking a long winding diversion).
This is only the outer veneer. Underneath, you can feel a vibrant city waking up. Cal was the country's biggest city, and was the trading and political capital in the nineteenth century but lost out in the 20th century to Delhi and Mumbai. The long years of Jyoti Basu' communist regime has put Cal at least a few decades behind. Ten years ago when I visited Cal I got the impression of a dying city. The whole place stank of decay and was far from being the "City of Joy" it was supposed to be. Cal today is different. It is as if the City is hurrying up to catch up with what it has missed. There are new roads, bye-passes, flyovers, malls, multiplexes,flats keeping pace with the new industries and businesses coming up. The CPM Chief Minister wins the elections saying that he can't follow communist policies even if he tried to - he has to follow the requirements of FDI (Foreign Direct Investments).
No description of the City is complete without a mention of the Maidan. The British, when they set up base at Fort William, laid out a two mile radius area around it as a green belt where no construction was permitted. The natives were asked to build theie houses outside this area which was given the name "Esplanade". Today it is still a green belt, perhaps the largest urban feature that can be seen from the space with unaided eyes. It is criss-crossed with many main roads which carry huge traffic. There have mushroomed hundreds of sports clubs in this area which operate out of temporary wooden structures (pucca in not allowed) - you have the press club, a sports journalist's club, and so on. On any given day you can see some 40 different cricket matches in progress! There are innumerable foot ball and soccer matches on and the inter club rivalries are quite strong. You also find young executives (MBA types) playing Football in the morning insted of golf!! This really should be called the sports capital of India.
On one corner of the Maidan is the Victoria Memorial. This was an effort by the British to outdo the Taj Mahal. The structure is grand but the romance is missing. We went a number of times to look at the museum inside. Beautiful gardens. There is a sound and light show in the evening which captures the history of Cal quite beautifully. We used to go for our evening walk to the Citizen's Park just ouside. It has dancing fountains - we thought they are the best fountains in the world until we went to the factory and saw the fountains being made( What they were demonstrating was even better!)
Kolkata is a city of eateries. There is are all kinds of places for all kinds of moods, all kinds of pockets and all kinds of taste. There are great road side eating places also. My fourite is the Puchka - the Cal version of Gol Gappa. It is good, except it doesn't have any Tamarind like the Punjabi & UP versions and is not as sour. A popular food in Cal is the Kathi Roll. An incredible variety is available - from the Rs.6/- vegetable roll from the guy selling just outside the Victoria Memorial to the fancy rolls in 5-star places to the special eateries specialising in only rolls. The shop in Park Street sells as many as 25 variants. Then there are the chinese joints. I could go on forever about about the Cal food.
Cal specializes in sweets. The typical Bong things like Mishti Doi and Sondesh besides the ubiquitous rassogola. Personally, the rest of the country has caught up with Cal in Rassogola making so we did not find anything exciting there, but all the variants of Mishti Doi and Sondesh were exciting.
Cal is a city of surprises. Such a large city, but so relaxed you almost feel you are in a small town. The slow moving trams holding up the traffic, the underground Metro that is not only not air-conditioned, but also has the ricketyness of old fashioned trains, the buses which stop in the middle of the road, the large hoard of pedestrians who throng the main roads as if they own they own the place - they all add up to the charm of an old slow moving city. To top it all is the Calcutta's famous processions. There is a procession everywhere everyday holding up the traffic. This is, mind you, not a new political phenomenon - the old British literature also talks of these processions or 'jaloos' or 'machaas' (as my driver called them when taking a long winding diversion).
This is only the outer veneer. Underneath, you can feel a vibrant city waking up. Cal was the country's biggest city, and was the trading and political capital in the nineteenth century but lost out in the 20th century to Delhi and Mumbai. The long years of Jyoti Basu' communist regime has put Cal at least a few decades behind. Ten years ago when I visited Cal I got the impression of a dying city. The whole place stank of decay and was far from being the "City of Joy" it was supposed to be. Cal today is different. It is as if the City is hurrying up to catch up with what it has missed. There are new roads, bye-passes, flyovers, malls, multiplexes,flats keeping pace with the new industries and businesses coming up. The CPM Chief Minister wins the elections saying that he can't follow communist policies even if he tried to - he has to follow the requirements of FDI (Foreign Direct Investments).
No description of the City is complete without a mention of the Maidan. The British, when they set up base at Fort William, laid out a two mile radius area around it as a green belt where no construction was permitted. The natives were asked to build theie houses outside this area which was given the name "Esplanade". Today it is still a green belt, perhaps the largest urban feature that can be seen from the space with unaided eyes. It is criss-crossed with many main roads which carry huge traffic. There have mushroomed hundreds of sports clubs in this area which operate out of temporary wooden structures (pucca in not allowed) - you have the press club, a sports journalist's club, and so on. On any given day you can see some 40 different cricket matches in progress! There are innumerable foot ball and soccer matches on and the inter club rivalries are quite strong. You also find young executives (MBA types) playing Football in the morning insted of golf!! This really should be called the sports capital of India.
On one corner of the Maidan is the Victoria Memorial. This was an effort by the British to outdo the Taj Mahal. The structure is grand but the romance is missing. We went a number of times to look at the museum inside. Beautiful gardens. There is a sound and light show in the evening which captures the history of Cal quite beautifully. We used to go for our evening walk to the Citizen's Park just ouside. It has dancing fountains - we thought they are the best fountains in the world until we went to the factory and saw the fountains being made( What they were demonstrating was even better!)
Author Pankaj Varma
Pankaj Varma has written a Novel 'Silver Haze' which has been received well with a rating of 5 out of 5 in 7 Amazon reviews and one on Goodreads.
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