Jaipur Chronicles: A Unique Approach

[Reposted after a lot of fine tuning]

The Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts visit to Rajasthan for the Jaipur Literature Festival wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to one of the forts that lie around the city centre.

When we all finally rose on the 19^th morning, we loaded into two buses and headed off into Jaipur with our destination being the ever popular Amber Fort. I had gone to the fort before, nearly 6 years earlier, but I still recognized the landmarks as we left Jaipur and up the rocky pass that we moved through. This also meant that I knew what we were expecting when we got there.

The last time I had come to Amber Fort, my school had treated us to elephant rides to scale the mountain that Amber Fort rested upon, going up by elephant was is an incredible experience as you cringe at the smell emitted by the dung-encrusted elephants but can’t help but keep your mouth open as you move from the small town, up the stone-paved path that takes you higher with each lurch of the mighty pachyderm.

This time, my college had organised for a convoy of Jeeps, these Jeeps would take a maximum of 8 students up the side routes to the 'back door' of the fort. So when we reached the bus-bay to move from the buses to the jeeps, I immediately requested if I could walk up to the fort, since I’d been up before, I knew the route up so there wouldn’t be any chance of me getting lost...

 After the flat response of "NO", we took some more photos at the dried up lake before, me and my friend Viren circumvented the chain of command, by asking another professor who was much more agreeable and gave us permission to walk up to the fort. And here is where this trip became well and truly spectacular.

From the bus bay, there was a solitary, surprisingly well paved road that led to the wall of the fort. As we walked, I was completely engulfed by the majesty of the fort, something that my younger self, could appreciate, but never truly grasp. Coming back, it was like a circle getting completed. I could now understand the scale of its construction, and how tactically, it was beautifully placed. The fort was on a spur of a mountain so that it faced the valley like a peninsula, it could face any army that would approach it from any side. The lake that once must have been filled, would have provided the fort with enough sustenance to ensure that even in the event of a siege they would be in a position to draw water.

Viren Strikes a Pose

The path less taken is surprisingly well paved

 

Viren and I kept walking and eventually came across a bridge and our excitement doubled; Not only were we coming by a largely unorthodox method, but we were going to enter by a bridge! We started walking across and suddenly out of one of the windows; a man popped his head out and told us that we couldn't enter from here! I had a moment of panic; we would get into so much trouble if we had to get one of the Jeeps come back and get us.

As I had my moment of panic, the man explained that while that door was closed, there was another route in. He indicated below us, to the dried up riverbed. I remember that right then both of us just said something along the lines of "Wow, this is awesome". As we climbed down to the riverbed, we could not stop talking about how this was the way one was to experience the true majesty of a fort.

The walk into the fort was something, ethereal. From the shade cast by the wall, we came up the dried channel which must have allowed fleets of fishing boats to travel through or perhaps, where a Raja would take his Queen out onto the lake.

As we calmed down we noticed the fort above us and the path that the lights from the sound and light show that marked a path towards the main entrance which lay above a small garden which tourists flocked to and a small lake where cranes flocked to.

We began climbing and found some vendors selling Pagri's, we probably should have haggled a bit, but I was just so happy and full of enthusiasm at the fact that we had taken this different approach and not chosen to go up by Jeep that we simply smiled and paid. Our mood was very evident as we conversed with Hawkers about the fort and the people that visited it with a clear sense of enthusiasm.

We hung around for a bit at the crossroads of the walking path and the elephant’s path. Ecstatic tourists smiled as they snapped photos from the top of the mighty beasts and simultaneously, tried to shoo away hawkers who, even though their client were elevated a good meter above them, attempted to sell them some puppets or elephant carvings – A true testament to the determination of an Indian Hawker.

As we carried on, we came across a simple man, sitting with a small, covered, basket and a few pipes. Instantly, we knew that he was a snake charmer and we had to do this! We were tourists today, not Indians.

I sat and the man took out a small flute and passed it to me, trying to make me feel more part of the experience I figured. He took off the lid and began to play the flute, instantly, the pair of black snakes began to unravel from one another and rise. I tried to play the flute, but I simply lacked the lung power. So I began observing the snakes, they seemed to move based on the direction of noise; this led me to realise that they had been blinded. As if that wasn’t bad enough, they had also been defanged. I guess the business norms were simple; the snakes can’t have any ability to hurt the clients.

 

We noticed the time and we sprinted up the final staircase, finally making it to the gigantic gate. As we squeezed between two elephants that occupied both lanes of the entrance, I couldn't help but feel like I had gotten a journey up the fort that no one else would have ever experienced. It was one spectacular walk up and as we walked towards the rest of our group, we both knew that we'd get a scolding, but the look on the batches face as Viren and I walked towards them; Pagri's on our heads, a unique memory and an enormous smile pasted on (at least) my face I knew that it was worth it! 

Oh yeah. Like a Boss.

Photoblog - Windchimes

My uncles house in Coonoor has a wind chime, this winter, the wind really picked up so those chimes got the tune battered out of them, yet, they really sounded lovely... I decided to take some snaps of them as these massive clouds engulfed the house on the last day of 2011

And then I decided to take a self-portrait from the reflection of the window:

Photoblog - 11th Floor

So, last night there was a full moon out. I figured that it would be the best time to use my nice 55-250 lens and the tripod I have tucked deep in my closet.

It was fun, only thing is I honestly think it was a little creepy to be on the 11th floor at night taking photos in absolute darkness...

I am Sherlocked.

Recently, I have become a slave to a newly popularised phenomenon known as Sherlock Holmes. As some of you know, Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows has come out.

What some of you might not know is of a BBC show, called Sherlock which is creatively re-imagining the mythos of Sherlock Holmes and putting it in Modern London.

Both the film and TV shows are so imaginative and so spectacular in their imagination of the Holmes character that it is impossible to compare the two.

A Game of Shadows, is a must watch, being carried over from the end of 2011, it should really be the first movie that you watch in 2012. Really. No joke. Guy Richie has done a spectacular job in ensuring that the feel of a bad-ass and lovable asshole of a Sherlock is still there while keeping the plot moving. I have to say, that aside from a few witty one liners and scenes in the first half, the second half of the movie is what one will remember forever. The second half of the movie, starts of at a pretty decent level and just flies, it flies and turns the stereotypical boring second half into the most enjoyable hour that can be legally had at the age of 19.

There are a few scenes which are very interestingly and, that being said, creatively done. The first one is the reversal of the fast paced chase sequence into a slow motion detailed depiction of how close each and every character come to facing death. Not many film makers would take the risk of eating up time to expand a 2 minute chase sequence into a 10 minute artistic delight, especially an hour and a half into the movie, but Ritchie does a great job at it.

The next brilliantly written and executed scene is the climax. I will leave it for the reader to watch it, but my god. What. A. Climax. Very eery with little dialogue but the meaning gets conveyed in other ways making it truly spectacular.

On the other hand, there is Sherlock, the creative re-depiction of each Arthur Conan Doyle Book into an hour and a half masterpiece of an episode. Sherlock is much more detached and Watson writes a blog. Characters like Moriarty and Mycroft have much more of a role in the series when compared to the impact they had in the books. It's important to understand that this is not a spin-off of the films as in this show, Holmes doesn't really have the Matrix fight sequences that the film has.

In the end, Sherlock Holmes really seems to be taking a forefront in the entertainment sphere. If you like the sound of the show and the film, be sure to check it out. You won't be disappointed. I guarantee.

Avkaash - a play that transcends language

The Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts as put by our director, likes to support students in whatever they might be working on as extra-curricular activities.

On the 7th of January, we were able to support one of our own in a play. Avkaash had been presented earlier, so this event was an encore performance which SSLA proudly hosted at the Symbiosis Vishwabhavan Auditorium.

The play is made in Marathi, a language that I personally do not understand at all... well maybe a little bit, but certainly not enough to watch a play!

In the days leading up to the play it was great to see Aditya Joshi, the student who was acting in the play running around all excited about the upcoming event. He came up to me an he said,

"Vir, your coming for the play right?"
"Joshi, I'm not so sure, I mean I won't understand anything!"
"There's a bunch of us that speak Marathi, sit next to them! Oh and also attendance is compulsory."

Looking back now, I'm really having a good laugh, because, I really was pushed against a wall to come for this play. I took to passes with the immediate objective to find a Marathi translator.

Whether through some roll of the dice, the girl who was going to help me understand the play, got stuck in Bombay and wouldn't be attending the play. As I slid into my seat with my camera in hand, I was prepared to be bored for the next 1 hour.

I was so so wrong.

The play was unbelievable, from the script, the casting and the ultimate problem that the play sought to address. The play was about social networking and the problems it can have on a persons psyche. Granted, a story about a 18 year old schizophrenic facebook addict is a little hard to call normal, but the complexity of the story gave it a conclusion that allowed the play to move faster.

The actors were all in their late teens, but that had no impact on their acting skill as people in the audience next to me were in awe of the sheer intensity that all of them had on their face. And to me, that is the biggest problem for an actor, its to get into the role of the character so that the character becomes you. These guys got it down in spades.

Personally, the play at first was hard to understand since I didn't understand Marathi, but through a creative opening sequence I wasn't that confused. The director also ensured that a lot of what happened was understood and derived from their actions rather than their words.

At the end of the day, it was a truly spectacular play and one which I look forward to watching again if I ever have the chance.