Happy New Year....... Namaste does Nadu!

Happy New Year!!
For January 2012, Namaste Londoner will be blogging from, on and around TAMIL NADU!!! My nerve centres are Tiruvannamallai, Pondy, Madurai and Coimbatore. Plus of course some coverage on the Pongal festival starting from January 14th.
Tamil Nadu is one of my most favourite and enduring states to visit in India. It has many fascinating and colurful sights to share....back soon!!

Health + Safety Paintings, Kochi

This was one of those stop-the-rickshaw moments. Crossing one of the myriad bridges that link the islands of Kochi in Kerala. I believe it is either Vallarpadam Bridge or  Goshree Bridge but cannot find any further info on the net! There is an enormous seemingly never-ending row of murals dealing with health, safety and environmental themes.All very eye-catching, but you would not be able to digest the work speeding along in your vehicle.....I asked the rickshawallah to return in one hour while I snapped away....some quite beautiful and comic moments amongst the dozens of paintings, here are a few of my faves......

We Vishnu a Merry Krishnamas!

FROM JAIPUR

 

FROM KOCHI

 

FROM EVERYWHERE!!

Cinema Trip: Raj Mandir, Jaipur

Raj Mandir cinema is the jewel in the Indian cinema circuit.

This huge deluxe art deco/moderne confection was opened in 1976

in Jaipur, Rajhasthan.

It has played to full houses ever since, with many a Bollywood film

making its premier screening here. If you are in town, you must go

quite regardless of whatever is screening! 

The exterior beckons like a spaceship, or some kind of time travel

device that will transport us back to a mythical era of elegance and aesthetic paradise.

 The lobby is extremely opulent ,chandeliers abound and huge sweeping ramps

transport patrons to the heavens (ie. the balcony!), sumptuous plush communal

seating areas and deep carpets invite one to arrive early and mingle in the 

turquiose and pink pastels

Inside the meringue-shaped auditorium the seats swallow you up like quicksand

and the meringue glowers through the colour spectrum during intervals, lending

a womb-like atmosphere to proceedings.

It reminds me of a cinema trip that never quite happened in my childhood, or

perhaps occured during an earlier incarnation in 1920s New York!?

Thoroughly over-the-top and all the better for it!

Goodbye Ghats :(

LOL on Lali Ghat!

LIVE FROM VARANASI!!

Here we are at one of the many walk-thru public laundries that periodically pop-up at Varanasi's famous ghats. This one, In Lali Ghat sees the dhobiwallahs (washermen/women) washing the laundry  from the hospital, beating the fabric on large flat stones and leaving out to dry across any available surface. The ghat was built in 1778 by the Raja of Banaras.

Feels like a quintissentially Indian experience to walk thru these landscapes.......

 To heighten the 'anything is possible here in India' vibe the ghat is neighboured by an electric crematorium and human bodies are also being cremated on bonfires around the clock. (Not pictured - lol).

Despite these apparent disadvantages to a thorough washing cycle I put my own garments to the dhobiwallah test and they came back beautifully clean and pristinely folded and as good as new. Not only that, they have been washed in the divine River Ganges - and you can't get more purifying than that!

For a panoramic view of the ghat, click here

SHIVER

We Can Work It Out.......

...with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev!

My Top 3 Photogenic Places in India!

The Most Photogenic Place In India!

My Top 3:

1.Varanasi, UP

2.Bundi, Rajhasthan

3.Srinagar, Kashmir

Runners up: Udaipur, McLeodGanj, Madurai, Amritsar

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3. SRINAGAR

Mmmm Srinagar. Houseboats, Lakes, Mountains and glaciers. Famed gardens, elaborate and ornate mosques. Check out my previous posts for a visual feast!

2. BUNDI

....literally is an open-air art gallery. Once inside the city walls every available surface will feature an elaborate alcove, painting or mural. Brass bands line the street. Palace, forts, temples command the landscape and dogs and pigs abound, even cats (a rarity in India?)

The artistry extends to signpainting, smaller independent businesses mean less corporate plastic monstrosities and the human touch flourishes at every turn.
There are a couple of internet cafes here, but regular load shedding will stop you getting too engaged in cyber folly and leave you in the spell of a town which seems suspended in time. Put simply, Bundi is the perfect size and pace to re-connect you with the art of nature and the nature of art.
Go for a walkabout after dawn after a light shower to catch Bundi at its most picturesque.
I shall blog more on Bundi some time soon..........

1.........winner!.......VARANASI

I reckon Varanasi has an aura around it that renders every subject and situation into a postcard composition.
An awareness that has brought everybody here to be dissolved by Shiva seems to have sieved their gestures. In addition the old city in particular has kept the monoculture at bay. Anything modern in appearance seems to have been screened out. Gaze out over the arc of ghats and one feels like one is in a historical painting. Though none of the present buildings date back over 200 years, the feeling of timetravel is active here. This is the classic Hindu visual distillation beloved of travel docs everywhere.
Much has been mentioned about the special light which hangs over the Ganges, and boat trips just serve to promote our itch to click

Encountering the intricate rituals of the devout, from all corners of India............

when you see the intent and devotion on their faces it's another world entirely.

It's that which we do not see everyday; that which inspires; that which bears witness to a higher reality. For this reason photographers come from all over the world.
The ghats also double up as a parade of expensive photographic hardware and enormo-zoomlens hanging off every other tourist.

The final irony is that this is the one Indian town where the cremation grounds are in the very centre of the town – what could be a more dramatically photogenic subject?, but understandably, No Photography Allowed.
(Even here there is a game where you can basically pay a fine to, er, avoid being fined!)

So for putting spirituality in its most visibly public and celebrated context, Varanasi is awarded the special 32GB memory card!

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Of worthy addition would be Amritsar with its endlessly photogenic Golden Temple and Madurai with its jaw-dropping Meenakshi temple. But take the temple from the town, and the photogenic qualities begin to unravel. Likewise Udaipur with its lake palace, Agra and Taj Mahal etc etc. Too frontloaded for my list!!

Reluctantly I have decided to discount Delhi! Yes it has the Red Fort, Lotus Temple, Akshardham temple etc etc but feels more like a compilation of towns (which it is.) Also, there are huge stretches of featureless or unappealing urban sprawl between the attractions.

Also also, I haven't visited everywhere in India.....yet!!

Travelogue: Srinagar Pt.2: Dal Lake

Houseboat accomodation had been arranged back in my previous town McLeodGanj, and I was very happy with the deal..7 or 800rps a day including meals, plus I had the entire boat to myself most of the time.
I always forget that most people travel in couples so get a cheaper deal! This figure is entirely elastic depending on the time of year, whether you share, the accom itself blah blah
The potential for unlimited luxury and a tariff to match abounds if one is feeling spendy, but I prefer clean, friendly and economically valid!

The houseboat experience really is one where all your cares disappear. It's a fantasy, a playground, a little outcrop of childhood wonderland. Just living on a boat and not on the street, I felt the psychological space away from the communal drama of the society. And you're not entirely on your own, anyway. The Mall comes to you!!! That is to say, every now and then a mobile 'shop' will paddle to your veranda and whatever you could imagine needing, or fancying, of course they will have it in stock!

Your boat is moored, but to get out on the lake itself requires the services of a shikara. That's a very pleasant and unique few hours being paddled around the vegetable market or the lake at sunset. One can even play dress up thanks to the 'Digital Photoshop' experience. Pure tack, I settled on a Kashmiri Warrier pose and costume, within 10 minutes I was just 150rps lighter and  had a nice glossy instant souvenir in my hands.

Hooray!