mindscape

Few Days back on the way back from College...

2011-05-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

2009-03-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Life is a journey from the ' Knowledge' to the 'Information' and back to the 'Knowledge'!

2008-12-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

Meanings in the search of Words,
and Words in the search of meanings
both were lost, and both were found,
but still strangers to each other!!!

BHANDARDARA

2008-08-31T06:05:00.000-07:00

Amriteshwar Temple, 12th Century

Kund near temple

Kalsubai peak behind the clouds

Kokankada, Ghatghar

Backwaters of Bhandardara Dam

Monstrous Pipran from devrai

In the search of meaning..................

2006-12-18T11:28:00.000-08:00

......... I was in a room, only lit by the light penetrating through a window...........a window with a blue pyramid onto its low sill..............I know this pyramid!.......... I wanted to touch it but soon it disappeared in the darkness of the room!!!.................. Soon there was similar other window bringing in the light.............this time on the sill, was a toy........ a tiny fisherman with his fishing gear n a fish that he had caught; balancing himself on his tiny feet!...............but soon this window also disappeared into the darkness of that room!!!................I was wondering at whatever was happening...............I was searching hard for something....................n suddenly realised that i was standing in front of a window which was quite different than other two.............out of curiosity i just saw outside of that window.................n got surprised!.........................There was a beautiful windchime hanging from the white wall just outside of that window!.............I could clearly listen to its sweet sound when glittering glass pieces hang to it were used to hit the hanging bamboo sticks of it!!!................n strangely there was a wooden hand sort of an element attached to it which used to wave at me, with the rythm of the wind!

I had almost lost myself looking at that lovely windchime & listening to its sweet sound................ n suddenly realised that I was standing in front of something which infact I was searching for, since when.....???!!!

......................new places, new landscapes, new people , new experiences...........................last four months, especially last fifteen days, were full of extremes!! Sometimes connecting those missing linkages of realisation about this life n sometimes adding only the dots which will link somewhere in the future!!! but in the hustle-bustle of this life; one thing which my mind was constantly following was this dream..................a clue that i had asked for!......... which raised few more questions rather than answers!!!!

Jaduchi Shala.................!!!

2006-05-12T00:17:00.000-07:00

Yestrday I was just going through some of the photographs of Sadashiv Peth in Pune, one of my thesis case studies. While doing that I came across this particular snap………….

…………….I remember, when I was a kid, n whenever I used to go to my uncle’s place in Shaniwar Peth with my dad, we used to take a parallel road to Bajirao road which was a short cut. Next to Telephone Exchange building on Bajirao road there is one small park and just before that park there is a lane which takes us to that parallel road. Where u take a turn for that parallel road from this lane, there is this building. It must be 30-40 year old building……….quite similar to the other two storied houses in the surroundings. Only the thing which used to catch my attention was the pagoda styled nameplate at the top. Once I asked papa about that………….he told me that it is “Jaduchi Shala”……..school of magic………!

Then after whenever we used to pass this building I used to get excited and get scared also………..Sitting on the rear seat of the scooter, I used to wonder what all must be happening behind those walls?................there must be a big lab with number of glass flasks of different sizes n shapes………….few people r engaged in preparing strange colored solutions in them to use for magic………..few r trying to learn, how to gayab things or even human beings in fraction of seconds………few r experimenting how to transform human beings into some animals or animals into flowers or murgi into anda…………..n what not!................n yes offcourse the Jadugar in that strange kaftan like glittery costume, wearing tall conical cap on his head with long white beard ……….instructing all these guys who r there to learn magic from him…………..I used to think what kind of punishment they must be getting if they couldn’t complete their homework?.............he must be transforming them into some strange looking animal n put them inside a glass flask n must be showing to his students so they will do their homework on time!!!....................I always wanted to go there n see through one of the half open window pane, the big magic world inside that small box like building……………but what if that magician noticed me peeping into his world?...........he will capture me n transform into some animal n put me inside those one of the glass flask……………….???

With that thought only I used to get so scared that I used to hold papa more tightly than before so that magician won’t be able to gayab me from the rear seat of the scooter!!!

While doing my architecture one day I went there to find what is it exactly…………..as it was quite close to my college which is in a lane just previous to this one! I found that it is a simple residence where famous Jaduagar from Pune named Raghuvir stays n runs workshops for those who r interested in learning Jadu!

This time I was there for my case study……………..as a part of which I was trying to do cognitive mapping of that area……….though hardly people could draw the map of that area…………..but while interviewing them I got to know that almost 70% people mentioned this building, in the list of places which they know, which they normally use while giving directions, with which they associate themselves!!

That whole day I kept on thinking what kind of associations all these people must be having about that building?.................were they must be having similar memories as that of me from my childhood or else???.....................what r those memories, those associations which made that ordinary building, a landmark?

We urban designers always try to make responsive environments for people…………..try to make landmarks to improve legibility of a area by putting a building which will stand out from others…………by making its form different than others, or by putting some strange color or by providing foreground to it so it will become noticeable, sometimes making it tall……………n what not………….so many ways we try out!!…………….but can we ever able to induce such associations in the buildings that we design……………..which makes even an ordinary building a landmark? The thing which connects our psychological world to physical realities so strongly?

Sometimes I thinks that gap between the intension behind a certain building and its actual meanings for different people will always remain……………….n it must remain also………….as that is something which makes every place different than other!!!

Sometimes I just wonder if we try to collect such associations and imaginations of different places from a city and try to translate them in the form of a drawing or a painting……………………how big will it be……………n how complex will it be?.............what it will look like?.....................but definitely it will unfold an entirely a new world of complex human imaginations in front of us!!!

Once again.....................Bridge!

2006-05-05T07:39:00.000-07:00

people enjoying bhel-puri on the bridge!

view of river and lakadi bridge from the bridge

It was around 10 o’clock in the night. I just had my dinner and decided to work after watching my favourite marathi serial “Bedhundh Manachya Lahari” (ripples of unfettered mind) ………………….Suddenly the phone rang. It was a call from Chinmay……..one of my classmate………….saying that we are meeting at the “Pul” i.e. Bridge in next 15 minutes..and he kept the phone down.

I wanted to watch that serial but at the same time I had to reach there within next 15minutes too…………so I got up, told my mom that I m going………will come back in hour or so………took out my bike…………and left.

By the time I reached there everyone from our gang of 12 people was already there…….obviously except Sharada……..who is always late……….anyways……….Actually it was our prefinal submission of A.D. next day……….and no one has finished their work for next day………..and chances were very less…………..everyone was asking that how much the other person has completed the work…………..after knowing that everyone is in the same water, we all collectively decided to not to submit sheets on the next day………………………..and decided to call our professor n tell him about our decision…………..in that Sharada came and told that Supriya’s group had already talked to sir n submission had been postponed. That is what we wanted!!!………….Everyone was now quite confident that they will finish the work by the next studio………………suddenly everyone relaxed as if a burden of so many kgs has been removed……………………………I felt a nice cool breeze touching my body…………relaxing my mind!!!!

I just looked around………… Bridge, lit in sodium vapour lamps was looking quite calm……..people with their kids and families were enjoying a nightwalk in that cool refreshing breeze……..few were sitting on the curb and chatting…….very few vehicles were crossing the bridge………..few of the vehicles especially two wheelers were parked along the curb………few couples were sitting in the shadow of these vehicles………..which was a barrier for them but definitely not for others!!...........Few bunches of people were engaged in cracking nonsense jokes and laughing on them……..pulling each others legs……….our gang was one of them……………….Bhelwalas were shutting down their stalls and going back ………….as their time was over………….on the other hand gradually the icecream stalls were becoming crowded…………and that tiny Chinese joint was overflowing………Sometimes we also used to be the part of that overflowing crowd!!!

Really……..it is an amazing place………..Life on this Bridge begins much before the sun rise………At around 5 o’clock in the morning people start coming here for their morning walk…………cycling…….it is quite quiet at that time…….only few things breaks this peace…………birds, the soft sound of bells in the Shiva temple just below the bridge and two temples Ganesh Temple and Vithhal mandir at both the ends of this bridge which are the favourite places for grandpas and grandmas in this area………..and bells of cycles of newspaperwalas and dudhwalas who are only the people at work………………………………………………..

As the sun starts rising up in the sky………..little traffic of office buses and school buses………and few two wheelers start occupying it…………people going to the offices, kids going to school with their parents starts taking its charge………..circle near Vridhashram at one end and Venkat Hatcheries at the other end become the pick up points for many company buses and school buses………….and towards evening they become drop off points for the same………..

……………..Two ends of the bridge which are essentially the junctions which were the domain of phoolwalas and newspaperwalas………..and that maruti van which is nothing but onwheel juice bar…….where one uncle sells medicinal juices every morning………now become the domain of bhelwalas…….kachhi dabeliwalas, icecreamwalas………….Actually the road widens at the junction near venkat hatcheries than the bridge, which provides considerably wide niche for these stalls…….leaving behind the wide footpath for walking; where families can walk together without breaking them in groups of two. Same is the case with other end of the bridge, which is nothing but a perpendicular junction with a roundabout ………..the triangular corner on this turning provides space for that tiny Chinese joint. whereas the plastered wall of Vridhashram and the stone wall of very old house provides background for it. Towards evening this corner get filled with tempting smells of delicious Manchurians, noodles………

…………….Just before this stall, one kachha road descends down to the Shiva temple, below the bridge, which used to be our favourite spot when we were in school………..at that time this bridge was not there……..and the temple was also very small……..only the stone plinth used to be there and at a distance of 15-20 feet, its broken kalasha was laying ………telling the story of the disastrous flood of 1972 in Pune………the inner surface of dome of this kalasha used to be sitting place for we kids as it used to form a nice cozy space………we used to park our cycles near this kalasha and used to go to black stone steps giving access to the river…………..many times we used to try fishing there with homemade fishing traps…………sometimes we used to wash our cycles there………Main attraction was to watch people catching crabs in the marshes along the river. On the other side of the river there used to be a long stretch of rock above which high compound wall of Venkat Hatcheries. Just next to it there were brick kilns and small settlement of people working there………….now they have been shifted out and apartments have come up…………….these people used to come on the river to wash cloths……….cows and buffalos from the farms along the river used to enjoy their bath in river on the other side of the broken wall of barrage,……now where is this Bridge. This broken wall about 2 feet wide which was 4-5feet above water surface on one side and 10-15 feet above water surface on the other side, was only the physical connection between two banks of river earlier. For many people working in workshops and small industries on the other side of the river this used to be the shortcut……….many times we also tried to cross this narrow broken wall just for adventure……………………!!!

…………………Small stretch of steps which normally used to be vacant except in evening when people used to visit temple…………..used to become absolutely crowded during Ganapati Festival as it used to offer a platform for Ganapati visarjan. A place which otherwise used to be quiet, suddenly used to become vibrant……….filled with sounds of Ganesh araties, scents of flowers and dhoop………adding a totally a different essence into this place, especially on the day of Ganesh Chathurdashi…………………......

………….Today also the same essence one experiences on that occasion………though it has changed a lot physically…………..now that small roofless temple has grown quite big………has a nice paving around with nice flowering trees and benches to sit……..dwarf walls around it also provides for sitting………..but that kalasha has gone now…………..steps to water are made quite wide making the access to the river more easy and safe……….only thing which disturbs me is the fence around the temple, which I always find as a barrier between the temple and the steps in front and hence the river……………………but now there is a precinct………..and many people come here every morning and evening than earlier making it more live!

While playing on that broken wall, we kids have never thought that one day there will be a bridge adding to our list of places where we can hang out, in our future…….sometimes I feel this place has also grown with me……….. providing ‘the place’ which I always needed at different stages of my life………….just to hang out with any reason or without any reason!!!

Still whenever our gang decides to go anywhere out or to meet, we meet at this bridge. Today when everyone from our gang has dispersed in different directions, sometimes this bridge really bridges the distances amongst us!

Today when I walked down this bridge, it bridges me to those moments spent there when this bridge was not there………………….one of the reason why I like that serial ‘Bedhundh Manachya Lahari’, is that it was shot in this area only, even on this bridge!!!

(this post i m posting again on this blog................on special demand from Sorabh. Snaps above r of the Balgandharva bridge.............another popular hangout point in pune!)

My first creation on potter's wheel!!!

2006-04-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

Its an amazing experience to work with mud on potter's wheel.................... thing that excites me the most is the way block of mud get transformed into a pot in few seconds!!!

A New Beginning........................Once again!!!!

2006-04-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hey hi everybody,
hope this time it will cover a long journey unlike my earlier blog "VITHEE",
here is a new beginning........................!!!