Jaisalmer in Rajasthan

 As most people know, Jaisalmer is situated in Rajasthan right on the western border of India. It is well-known for its fort and the desert scenery nearby. It is connected by air and rail from the major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. 

 

The Jaisalmer fort is truly magnificent and towers over the city. The golden-yellow sandstone with which it has built given a spcial glow in the early or late sun-light. 

Inside it is equally impressive with beautifully designed pavilions and intricate carvings.

But it is the evening out in the desert together with a camel ride over the sand dunes that is most attractive to tourist.

West Bengal - Terracotta temples

Terracotta,  or unglazed fired clay products, is an ancient art form in India. It seems to have developed as an extension of pottery-making, which is possibly the oldest craft practised by mankind after the making of stone tools. 

It was of course much later, possibly around 700 or 800 CE, when temples began to be built in India that ways had be found to decorate the temples with sculptures, and it was mostly in stone in those days. Sophistication in temple architecture progressed with time and finer and more elaborate carvings began to be made by the 15/16^th centuries. 

Yet finer designs and in less time and less effort came with the development of terracotta tiles to decorate temples with. Necessarily, terracotta generally flourished where stone for temple building was scare and clays were abundant, as found in the numerous river basins, such as the Kangsabati, the Damodar, Ajoy, Rupnarain rivers and of course the Ganga (Hooghly) in West Bengal. It was of course to some extent deliberate because of the ease and the sophistication of designs that could be made in clay relative to that in stone.  This found a great flowering in the late 17^th, through the 18^th and into early 19^th century. A good part of this now has become part of Bangladesh but a great deal remains in West Bengal to be enjoyed in towns such as Bishnupur, Kalna, Ilambazar, Guptipara and elsewhere in the Bankura and Midnapur districts of the state. These sites are quite easily accessible from Kolkata by journeys of just three to five hours by bus, vehicle or train.

The "Jor-Bangla" temple in Bishnupur

"Raghunath" temple in Ilambazar

A hunting scene on Jor Bangla

A detail with Shri Krishna in Shyam Rai temple, Bishnupur

  

As the above illustrations indicate, the motifs for the sculptures in the terracotta are diverse, ranging from the secular, such as wars and royal hunts, to the common devotional theme of Shri Krishna with the gopinis in Vrindavan. Tile after terracotta tile is placed on the basic superstructure of the temple, made here mostly of laterite blocks, to create a wonderful piece of art. 

pdg-books: Books by Prosenjit Das Gupta

Over the years a number of books on history and wildlife by Prosenjit Das Gupta have been published. The first such was "10 Walks in Calcutta", published in 2000 by Harper Collins, which was on the Best Seller list of "The Statesman" newspaper for several weeks.
Over time, other books appeared and a consolidated list is as follows --
(i) "10 Walks in Calcutta" published in 2000 by Harper Collins and revised, enlarged edition published by Hermes Inc. in 2006.
(ii) "Walks in the Wild", published in 2002 by Penguin Books, being an account of the impressions and experiences in India's  wildlife in the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries from 1968 to 2000; this was subsequently revised and enlarged and published with the title "Wild Experiences"by Sanbun Publishers in 2011.
(iii) "Tracking Jim", published in 2005 by Penguin Books, documenting researches on the life and times of that legendary hunter, Jim Corbett, who shot many man-eating tigers in the Kumaon region of India and authored the well-known books on his experiences on those hunts. It also covers the search for the localities and places associated with Corbett's hunt for the man-eaters, and their descriptions, so that others interested may discover Jim Corbett in their own way.

(iv) "After Elwin", published in 2007 by Chronicle Books, deals with the life and researches by the well-known social worker and ethnographer, Dr, Verrier Elwin, on some of the tribes of eastern and central India, such as the Saora, the Baiga and the Muria. It goes on also to record the travels and experiences of the author in following up on the foot-prints of Dr. Elwin in those same tribal areas much later, in the 1970s. This was substantially revised and brought out with the title "Chasing a Dream" by CinnamonTeal Publishing in 2014.
(v) "Issues and Idioms", published in 2015 by CinnamonTeal Publishing, was the author's first foray into current affairs of India. This has attempted to unravel how the language of political communication and public discourse in both Parliament and the national media has changed over the 60-odd years since Independence of India in 1947 and why.
(vi) "A Conflict in This Air" published in 2016 by CinnamonTeal Publishing deals with the Sino-Indian border conflict in 1962 and covers the researches by the author into the history of the three main protagonists in the the issue, viz. China and Tibet since the 8th century, with British India coming into it since the early 19th century while Imperial Russia was ready to intervene at times. With the India-China border dispute cropping up every now and then, this provides useful background material. 

(vii) "A Partition in the Mind"published in 2018 by CinnamonTeal Publishing attempts to put the Partition of India in a historical perspective by trying to understand the basic philosophies of Islam and Hinduism and how this in one way or the other impacted the development of India as a nation. It also deals with the role of the colonial British administration, which directly or indirectly played an important role in this process.  It is to be hoped that this would lead to a better understanding of how the Partition of India came about.

The more current books will be available On-line from CinnamonTeal Publishing. Some of the earlier books have become out-of-print over the years but copies may still  be obtained from Amazon, Goodreads, and several other agencies.

Wildlife in India - Multitude of Experiences

There are those for whom viewing wildlife is an outing, and for some it is a passion. If it had not been a passion for me, I could not have been at it from 1968 onwards, partly for the thrills of the experience and partly in discovering the panorama of life all around.
India is blessed as few countries are in enjoying varied wildlife landscapes: from the heights of the Nandadevi and the Kanchenjungha National Parks at 12000 feet or more, to the Desert National Park near Jaisalmer and the Marine National Park near Jamnagar in Gujarat. Added to this are the fifty odd Tiger Reserves all over India covering more than 70,000 sq. kms. and the Protected Areas such as National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries designated under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 (including the tiger reserves)  numbering over 600 and accounting for about 170,000 sq. kms. across India.
Having started visiting these wilderness areas over fifty years ago, I was able to see many of them, and not once but several times, over these years. Also, regulation of visitors was not so strict in those times and I could move around on my own or with a tracker in many places, especially in Palamau, Simlipal, Dudhwa and Corbett.

I had many interesting  impressions and experiences over this time and I wanted to share this with others who may not be able to spare the time to go out frequently into the forests, and this resulted in the book "Walks in the Wild", published in 2002 by Penguin. The book was well-received and was
favourably reviewed by the Bombay Natural History Society and the Sanctuary Asia magazine; the review by Sanctuary magazine is given below:

"Palamau, Simlipal, Betla, Bandhavgarh, Dudhwa, Corbett, Ranthambhore, Bharatpur, Manas, Kaziranga, Madumalai, Nagarahole, Bandipur, Chilika… all magnificent wildlife destinations that every nature-lover dreams of visiting.

For decades, Prosenjit Das Gupta has explored the wilds of India from evergreen forests to scrub habitat driven just by his passionate interest in wildlife and nature. In this pursuit of adventure and his quest to record the beauty of nature, he has been charged at by elephants and rhinos, has had a tiger walking right towards him and has been stranded all alone in the middle of the forest.

The book covers his fascinating experiences of his sojourns to various sanctuaries and national parks mostly between the mid-70s and early 90s. Central and northeast Indian reserves are more widely covered in the book, probably because the author is based in Kolkata. He writes of his first love – the Palamau National Park, tiger sightings in Kanha, birdwatching, exciting afternoons spent on machaans and his gratitude to trackers and knowledgeable forest guards who taught him so much about wildlife. His experiences at a Goalpara police station in Assam, an elephant exploring with its trunk and trying to catch the scent of the author, who was crouched on a machaan and seeing flying lizards make interesting reading.

His wild encounters on foot, elephant back and bicycle are written with humour and captures the high drama of the jungle. It reveals the author’s love for the wilds and his passion for wildlife photography. Unfortunately, the black and white plates in the book are reproduced rather badly and are quite unremarkable. The author also touches upon the pioneers of wildlife biology and conservationists in India and also discusses the ill-effects of tourism. A compelling read that will want you to drop everything and set off on a trip right away to discover wild India.

http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/conservation/reviews/book-reviews/1232-walks-in-the-wild.html"

That this brought me several new friends was an unexpected bonus. There are plans now to update and enlarge this publication.

"10 Walks in Calcutta" - the book

Calcutta (now officially called Kolkata since 2001) was once the capital city of British India from 1858 to 1912 (when the capital was shifted to Delhi) is a fascinating city with its amalgam of a great deal of cultural, political and social history (not only of Bengal but of India as a whole), colonial Renaissance-style architecture, the Indo-Saracenic mode and of course, examples of the native "ath-chala" and "pancha-ratna" mode of buildings.

With the continuing interest of the reading public and of visitors to the city in the book, it is proposed to bring out a new, revised and considerably enlarged edition of this book shortly. 

The book, "10 Walks in Calcutta) came about in 1998 as a result of the walks I had actually undertaken from about 1984, along the roads, lanes and by-lanes of the city, exploring new neighbourhoods, marveling at the architecture,  meeting and talking with people, researching history, taking photographs and so on. The book was published in 1999 by Harper Collins and was well revived and the reviews given below will show; a further, enlarged edition was published in 2004 and again 2006 by Hermes Inc., and a Bengali edition, called "Paye Paye Kolkata" was published in 2018 by Ananda Publishers.
A couple of reviews of the book are as follows --

"On Foot -- If you don't mind breaking a sweat and rubbing shoulders with the aam janta (common man), Kolkata is quite a walkable city, at least in parts, with its pavements lined end to end with makeshift shacks selling practically anything that is sellable! Early morning is the best time to get out and stroll through the streets; it's still relatively quiet, and the air is cooler and less choked by pollution. Pick up a cup of tea from the chai-wallas who serve their sweet brew in tiny unfired clay cups -- India's answer to the polystyrene cup, these are simply discarded after use. A great way to get acquainted with Kolkata is to pick up a copy of Ten Walks in Calcutta by Prosenjit Das Gupta (Hermes Inc.) from a bookstore.

Read more: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/kolkata/274375#ixzz4Hvr5"

"Urban safari

Prosenjit Das Gupta has logged over 150 miles simply walking around the city, Pentax 1000 slung over shoulder, notebook in hand.

Labonita Ghosh – India Today, April 3, 2000 | UPDATED 16:44 IST

For Prosenjit Das Gupta, going around in circles can be a good thing. Now he's telling others how to do it. In his recently published 10 Walks in Calcutta (HarperCollins) - a literary global positioning system - Das Gupta, 55, combines maps, history and philosophical asides to allow readers a zoom-in on the city. You must be a walkaholic to write this one. Das Gupta qualifies: he's logged over 150 miles simply walking around the city, Pentax 1000 slung over shoulder, notebook in hand.

The book is more discerning. It picks the 10 most picturesque and heritage-dotted routes to give walkers a "feel" of the city.

There's the labyrinthine Chitpore Road past the crumbling mansions of old, affluent Bengali families including the Tagores' house in Jorasanko; the riverfront stroll past the ghats; the "path of knowledge" through the city's academic district of College Street.

Das Gupta prefers the offbeat road, cramming the book with minutia rather than textbook history. He actually barged into people's houses collecting facts, and at times got into trouble with the law. Like when he was shooting a photograph of Writers' Building and the security men thought him to be a terrorist.

The book took Das Gupta - a Presidency College alumnus who now works with a refractories firm - 12 years to compile. He was inspired by a leaflet on walking in Aachen, Germany, and Desmond Doig's Calcutta: An Artist's Impressions.

It's hard to tell who the book is for. Tips on clothing, about carrying water and taking a hepatitis shot before eating out, smack of a manual for foreign tourists. But Das Gupta insists it is "first and foremost" for Calcuttans.
"They never really see their city, they never look up," he says. "If you want to study the jungle, you'll have to get down from your jeep." Meanwhile, the book's writer himself may be on the road to Part II. But that's another story.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/prosenjit-das-gupta-talks-about-his-book-10-walks-in-calcutta/1/243805"


The book gives the readers easy-to-follow maps and descriptions of locations and sites in a convenient manner so that even a casual visitor to Calcutta can actually stroll down the various roads and streets and discover the various localities and their specialties in culture or cuisine, and enjoy the experience in one's own way.  

Barrackpore - once a colonial outpost

Much has been lost in Kolkata (till 2000 known much more widely as Calcutta, the first capital of British India) over the last one hundred years or so; but much still remains. Thanks to the personal interest taken by Shri Somen Mitra, Additional Director General of Police (West Bengal Police), the Governors' House in Barrackpore near Kolkata has received a new lease of life. Slowly, the classical architecture with the Doric facade is emerging out of the dust and shadows of years of neglect.

Barrackpore can be easily reached by a short drive of less than an hour from Kolkata along the Barrackpore Trunk Road, turning left at Chiria More, or four-way crossing, towards the Barrackpore Cantonment; the main sites are to the left shortly beyond the small Lady Hardinge Bridge. One may go in a shorter time of about half an hour from Sealdah Railway station by suburban train up to Barrackpore; but such trains tend to be quite crowded.
The history of the governor's house at Barrackpore goes back to the life and  times of Lord Wellesley, governor-general at the Fort William in Calcutta in 1798. Since then it has served as the country residence of successive Governors-general and Viceroys of India under the British colonial rule, till India achieved Independence in 1947.

 

It was in the adjoining military cantonment at Barrackpore, that Mangal Pandey, a sepoy in the Native Infantry, lit the lamp of revolt against the British military establishment, that saw its rise into the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 (also known as India's first War of Independence) against British misrule in India. 

Barrackpore is a short journey by local suburban train (best over a week-end) or by car from Kolkata. After passing "Lat Bagan" (literally, the governor's garden) at Barrackpore,  one would have get permission from the local Directorate of Police Training and proceed to the Lady Hardinge Bridge a short distance from the "White Tiger Statue". The small museum in the basement of the Governor's House is a "must see" for local history - indeed for modern Indian history.

  

Kolkata - a city that grows on you

Tucked away in the far south-eastern corner of the Gangetic plains, about 1400 kms away from the bustling capital city of Delhi, Kolkata ( earlier known as Calcutta - once the second city of the British Empire) had not been given much attention earlier by tourists. It is overlooked that Calcutta was the administrative centre of British India during the days of the East India Company from about 1695 and later, from 1858, the seat of the British colonial administration in India. It was, in fact, capital of British India upto 1912, when this was shifted to Delhi. 

Now it is coming increasingly into its own. Teeming with people of all colours and creeds, with notable historical sites, a major centre for art and culture, cuisine of all sorts at affordable prices, many places to "chill-out" with friends, Kolkata seems to grow on you.

                                            The Calcutta Collectorate

Walking through the streets of Kolkata there are so many sights and sounds that one can experience: there is the Flower Market on way to the Howrah railway station, church bells on a Sunday morning, or chanting of prayers at a temple, or a horse carriage ride near the Victoria Memorial. The archtecture in the city is varied, from a ixture of Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque during the British adminitsration, to the Indo-Saracenic, to "ath-chala" of native Bengal; a few of these are illustrated on this page.

                                            Victoria Memorial

                                                        The Flower market

                                                        St John's Chirch

There is so much to see and do, so many interesting art galleries and museums, theatres (though mainly of Bengali plays). There are many books on the history and architecture of Calcutta, and the work "10 Walks in Calcutta" is a useful read, appreciated by Lonely Planet and Frommers. This book guides the visitor through easy walks to discover the city. For those who can read Bengali, one can leaf through the "Paye Paye Kolkata" recently published by Ananda Publishers, that should give a visitor a good introduction to the city.

Vanghat - close to Corbett National Park

Many people visit Corbett Tiger Reserve each year and, it is certainly one of the premier wilderness areas in India. Perhaps not quite as many people know about Vanghat and, fewer still take the trouble to visit it. 

Vanghat is located about thirty five kilometres from the town of Ramnagar, itself accessible by a six-hour road or rail journey from Delhi, past the village of Mohan on the way to Marchula in the Kumaon Hills. 

The first sense of excitement comes with seeing the Ramganga River glittering like a streamer of light and winding its course through the high cliffs on either side of it. This excitement increases when one is walking with a guide about two kilometre along a footpath that clings to the hillside through scattered forests, where a ghoral, a Yellow-throated Marten,  a Yellow-billed Blue Magpie or a Kaleej Pheasant can be seen with equal ease. The alternative is to ford the Ramganga River in a 4-wheel drive vehicle at five places and to do the last stretch on a bamboo raft. 

Making the last stretch by bamboo raft

Cottages at Vanghat

A Brown Fish Owl close to the river

Grey-headed Tree pie in the campus

I took it easy this time, my fourth visit to Vanghat in twelve years: the intervening years had taken some toll. Sumantha Ghosh, in spite of his very heavy schedule, provided all the consideration and ensured all my comfort.  So in the end, I could just stand or sit anywhere in the campus and soak up the sun as it moved across the sky or listen to the sound of the  Ramganga River as it brushed past the black rock-face of the cliffs. In the process, I managed - without really trying -to see about 45 species of birds just within the Vanghat campus, including a pair of Kaleej Pheasants, a flight of Long-tailed Minivets and an unexpected bonus of a Rufous-bellied Niltava; Grey-headed Tree-pie seemed to have taken over the dining area, with a Blue Whistling Thrush keeping them company. The alarm calls of the kakar and of the sambar on the second evening on sighting the tiger that at times comes in to the neighborhood, was the icing on the cake.

Vanghat! Long may you continue to give this unalloyed delight to lovers of wildlife in India.

"Artful" cities of Shekhawati and Bundi

India has so many beautiful cities, some boasting great antiquity, such as Benaras or Ujjain, or cultural institutions as at Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, or fine architecture as at Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, and  Jaipur and in quite a few others. Almost lost among these numbers are two from Rajasthan that are "artful" in the true sense of the term. As one walks down almost any street in the towns of Bundi and Shekhawati, there are the beautiful paintings on the wall, finely executed and bright in colours that leave one lost in wonder.
Bundi, often overlooked by visitors thronging to Jaipur and Udaipur, lies to the south-east of Rajasthan, close to the industrial centre of Kota..It is a lovely city to go walking about in, with painted walls greeting one almost at every turn of a winding street.

Shekhawati, which lies to the north of Jaipur, is somewhat better known for the lovely paintings in the "havelis" of the some well-known business families, but is not commonly visited, except by the aficionados of the Rajasthani style of miniature paintings.

Some of the examples of the art to be seen at Bundi ( the 3 pictures above) and at Shekhawati (  the 2 below) should perhaps interest more visitors to see these two "artful" towns.

Partition of India, 1947 - another look

For most persons in India over the age of 70 or 75, the Partition of India in 1947 was a traumatic experience. So many people in Bengal and Punjab lost a hearth and home or loss of livelihood or worst, a loved one. There have been many books, highlighting one aspect or the other of that tragic event. The "blame game" has been on now for the past 50 to 60 years; but "finger-pointing" has not helped the people of the sub-continent really to come to terms with the unfortunate developments. For that, perhaps a look inwards into ourselves, as we are with our respective identities, would help.

I have attempted this in my book , "A Partition in the Mind" (published by CinnamonTeal Design and Publishing). But identities do not develop overnight and I had to go back quite a good bit into time and into history of the sub-continent for this purpose. There were many strands of events and experiences to be followed up, some hardly ever thought to be even remotely associated with the Partition. There was, of course, a large "dramatis personae", ranging from social, political and religious reformers, British governors-general and vice-roys and officials, as well as politicians like Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah who played major roles at one point of time or the other.
An interesting aspect  of this work has been the repeated confrontation with "historiography": not only "who" said "what", but also "why".
I am particularly beholden to the many scholars whose prior work - over a 100 books are mentioned in the Bibliography - helped me to get closer to the subject matter in its many dimensions.  Hopefully, this book will interest others also to delve into their pioneering work.

Iran - I, National Museum, Tehran

Tehran is a large, cosmopolitan city with many fine buildings, grand boulevards, etc. It has many attractions for the tourists, one of the first being the National Museum of Iran. In the pre-Islamic Section of the Museum, there is a fine collection of  artifacts dating back to 5000 BC or even earlier. It is interesting that quite a number of Stone-Age tools are on display that are quite identical with stone tools that have been found in India, strongly suggesting that man, in those very early ages, had similar compulsions for food and shelter, across a wide part of the world. Then there is a wide collection of painted pottery-ware dating back to 4500/4000 BC that clearly indicate the time when pottery became widespread in Persia as also the prevailing level of cultural sophistication.

 

The above is a picture of a spouted vessel of 4500 BC

There are many interesting items of bronze and of stone, including an image of Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC) that show draping of clothes quite similar to that found on statues in Greece and well as in Gandharan art of India.

All in all, the National Museum is an excellent introduction to the history and culture of Iran. 

Iran - great country, beautiful people

My plans since 2011 to visit Iran finally worked in early October 2017. It was part of my desire to visit historic sites in the world that date back to about 500 BC. It was relatively easy in India with its numerous Indus Valley civilisation sites, and in Egypt, Turkey, Jordan (with its great Elamite site at Petra) and Greece.  It was only with some effort that I could locate and visit the Etruscan civilisation sites near Rome, that are quite out of the usual tourist circuit. That really left Iran, with its history and civilisation stretching back to about 2000 BC.
While it had all begun with the Elamites and the Medes expanding into Iran, the incursions by people from Central Asia,  speaking Indo-European languages,  began soon thereafter. Then came that great sage and preacher, Zarathustra, around 1730 BC or thereabouts, who told the world about the one God, Ahura Mazda, and recorded his thoughts in the "Zend Avesta", that is almost contemporaneous with the Rig Veda in India. By 560 BC, the Achaemedians had gained ascendancy and Cyrus the Great, followed by Darius the Great and Xerxes, extended their empire to the borders of Greece and India. They had left their their stamp in several places in Iran, the most notable being their capital, Persepolis, near Shiraz and the Behistun Inscription further north near Hamadan. With the sack of Persepolis by Alexander the Great around 330 BC, there came the Sassanians kings like Ardeshir and  Shapur around 240 CE who subdued the Roman emperor, Valerian,  in battle and ruled Iran with a firm hand.

(The above pictures are, respectively, of Nasir-ul-Mulk Mosque at Shiraz, a couple at the Siyasopol in Esfahan, and a bas-relief panel at Persepolis)

By the 6th century CE, Islam had emerged and swiftly extended its influence in the Middle East and north Africa and had entered Iran by 642 CE. This was the time of the Seljuk, Mongol and Saffavid kings (notably Shah Abbas the Great) who left their stamp and influence across Iran.
While Persepolis certainly attracts visitors with its antiquity (dating back to about 550 BC), and its excellent sculptures in bas-relief, the lofty columns and the iconic griffins, etc., the Saffavid architecture and art dating back to the 16th and 17th century CE are equally fascinating .Thus is especially true of the Imam Mosque and Sayid Lotfullah Mosque in Esfahan, Jameh Mosque at Yazd as also the Nasir-ul-Mulk Misque at Shiraz, although this is of a later date.  Also very enjoyable are the frescos at Chehel Sotun in Esfahan and at the Fin Garden in Kashan.
But what of the people at large? They are among the most courteous and   hospitable that I have so far encountered in my travels. They were curious to know about us, and at the word "Hind" or "Indians" their eyes would light  up and a broad smile would spread across their face, as if they had found a long-lost friend or relative. They would be only too happy to give a free cup of tea or a special discount on purchases (or even give something for free) or a free entry into a historic site. The fund of goodwill that they had for India has to be seen to be believed. It is my earnest wish that we should be able to reciprocate a little of this.

Bundi (Rajasthan) - A Good Place to go to

Rajasthan is the place to see forts and palaces to one's heart's content. Bundi, a quaint, small town in south-east Rajasthan has somethings more to offer. Made memorable by the poem "Nakal Garh" by the poet Rabindranath Tagore about Bundi's chivalrous past, but somewhat far from the "maddening crowds" the town trundles along carrying its considerable history without much ado. But within the fort walls, in the "Garh Palace", is one of the finest range of paintings that one could expect to find in the Rajasthani miniature style. In the "mahals" of the Garh Palace that rise tier upon tier clinging to the hill-side, these paintings take the place of the inlay work and the pilaster decoratives that one finds in other palaces elsewhere - and is the better for it. Going back 300 to 400 years, these paintings - though somewhat faded in some places with passage of time - still glow with a light and a life all their own. It is one of the finest and largest "art exhibitions" of its type one could expect to see anytime anywhere.

A view of the "Garh Palace", Bundi

 One of the many murals in the Rajasthani miniature style at Garh Palace

But where Bundi really scores over the others is in the wide range of "rock art" that have been found near and around by a local "aficionado", Om Prakash Sharma, popularly known as "Kukki-ji" in the locality. Single-handedly Kukki-ji has explored hillocks and stream-beds around Bundi and today he can rightly boast of having identified over 100 rock art sites within about 15 to 20 kms of the town. Thus with Kukki-ji as the guide, one can literally and metaphorically travel from enjoying 17th century miniature paintings in the Garh Palace to pre-historic paintings by early man in India, possibly 6000 to 7000 years old in the course of a day. It is not an experience easily to be had. It is perhaps not an exaggeration to consider that these 100 odd sites (and still counting) along about a 35 kms. stretch as discovered by Kukki-ji  near Bundi equal the famous assemblage of rock art at Bhimbhetka near Bhopal. 

"Kukki-ji" at one of the rock art sites

A rock art painting of a buffalo, made by early man

All in all, a visit to Bundi can be quite be quite satisfying. The local "kachouris" and "samosa"  are delicious add-ons. 

Folk Art - Madhubani

Folk art is a fascinating subject: how people of different cultures see themselves and their world in different ways - and yet with a good deal of similarity.
The folk art of Madhubani in North Bihar has been practised for generations by the womenfolk in painting the walls of their humble dwellings at times of seasonal festivities. But it is only in the last fifty or sixty years that Madhubani art has broken out of its regional limits and has come to be accepted all over India and the world as a most interesting art form.
Even today, it is the women  who mostly do the paintings - now done on handmade paper for easy access by all - poring over their work for days, first with the rough outline and then filling in all the imagined images of gods and goddesses that populate their belief systems.

Vibrant primary colours of blue, red, yellow mark out the Madhubani paintings as do the detailed ornamentation of their favourite, Lord Krishna, in his many moods,  at times playing his flute, at times herding cows, with Radha, his consort, waiting in a bower of flowering plants or on a swing. In the midst of the stylization, there are different visualizations, different moods, that makes Madhubani paintings so interesting.

Kolkata - College Street Coffee House

Coffee parlours are to be found in many places  in Kolkata, They offer a variety of flavours to match most tastes. But for the "regulars" - and   I mean regulars who would go to the same place day in and day out - it is the College Street Coffee House that stands out leagues ahead. Housed in what was once the Albert Hall (named after the Prince Consort to Queen Victoria) right in the middle of academia with the Sanskrit College on one side and the Presidency College on the other, with the Calcutta University and the Calcutta Medical College a short distance away, it was here that the students of all hues and interests thronged in their spare time away from the classes and library work.
Approached by an ancient winding staircase, the Coffee House became a focal point for informal debate, discussions, assignments for generations of students for the last eighty or ninety years. Completely unprepossessing, the drab and dingy place provided that essential ingredient for a vibrant student life - freedom: freedom to say what you like, as you like, feel what you like - provided you don't really hurt the feelings of some one else.

A bit of the Coffee House remains with one all the time, once one has sat at a table there, whether one is now working in Australia or in Canada, whether one is forty or seventy. For it is part of one's growing up.

Konarak Sun Temple in Odisha

Konarak, or more correctly, "Konark", or the Place of the Sun, in Odisha was one of the first places of historical interest  that I visited over the last fifty years or so.It was way back in 1967. There are three sun temples in India, these being Konarak near the temple town of Puri in Odisha, at Modhera in Gujarat and at Martand in Kashmir. The great Sun Temple at Konarak fascinated me not only for its great size but, equally, for the intricacy of its carvings. The marvelous sculpted wheels of the "Chariot of the Sun", as the temple resembles, are masterpieces, as are the finely carved figures of dancers.

But for an inveterate nature lover such as myself, it was the wondrous frieze of elephants right at the bottom of the structure that completely fascinated me. For possibly one hundred metres this frieze runs around the base of the Konarak temple, each metre depicting elephants in different poses and postures, in the most natural way that told of the long association of the sculptors with the elephants and their ways. It is not only great art, but a study in natural history. 

The "toy" train of Darjeeling

Some of the childhood memories and impressions stay on for ever. One such were the trips to Darjeeling in North Bengal in the 1950s, when the journey was quite difficult - certainly for a ten-year old child. One had then to proceed up to Sakrigali Ghat on the south bank of the Ganga (where it enters West Bengal from Bihar), go over by steamer from there to Manihari Ghat on the north bank of the river, board another (metre-gauge) train that would take one to Siliguri, reaching only early in the morning. But all that strain and hardship were forgotten as soon as one boarded the "toy" train, the narrow-gauge "Darjeeling Himalayan Railways".

Then one entered into a dreamland of sights and sounds: the child of the flat-lands of Calcutta was treated to great forested ridges, the "jhoras" or the leaping waterfalls that sprinkled water over the train coaches, and the chug-chug, chug-chug-chug of the engine as it struggled past the "zig-zags" and the loops, stations with names like Tung, Sonada,  Ghoom, and people jumping on and off the train as if  it was a tram-car, before the "toy train" chugged into the railway station at Darjeeling.

There was much fun, with hot water bottles under the rugs, sitting up in bed watching through the open window the morning sun light up peak after peak of the Kanchenjungha range, pony rides around the Mall, and the mist creeping up over the landscape. The sweet current buns from Glenaries and Plivas, would be a bonus.

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The Siberian Cranes at Bharatpur

For most bird-watchers the name Siberian Crane conjures up images of an elegant  snowy-white bird that never fails to fascinate amongst the rare species to watch out for. This opportunity came for me one morning in 1988 at the famous Keola Deo Ghana Sanctuary at Bharatpur. I was then walking down a "bund" near Sapan Mori and the trilling call of the cranes in flight reached my ears. Looking up I saw the cranes flying over, appearing brilliant white in the early morning sun. They circled down and landed quite close to the "bund" where I had taken cover behind an Acacia tree.

So, the dream of most bird-watchers happened, and Bharatpur Sanctuary gave me the Siberian Cranes to remember for all time to come.

The sad thing is that it does not happen nowadays - the cranes are no more to be seen.

Indian Wildlife in the 70s - The first tigers

For me, in the 1970s, "wildlife" began and ended with tigers. It became a passion to see tigers in the wild and I tramped for days on end in the Betla area of Palamau National Park to see a tiger in the wild. So many times one could see the tracks of a tiger on a game track or a nullah bed in Betla, but actual sightings by forest staff were few and far between, and for tourists even less. Even then, it was a great occasion that in April 1974 I saw my first tiger in the wild, sitting at the base of the Hathbajwa tower in Betla - it was a glorious sight. The experience will forever remain with me.

My next sighting of a tiger was more unusual - it was in a forest rest house! This was in 1976 and Simlipal National Park in Odisha had become well-known for the attempt being made by Mr. S.R. Choudhury, then the Field Director of Simlipal, to re-introduce a tigress cub  captured in the forest back to the wild. It was with a mixture of fear and wonder that I first saw Khairi, the tigress, who was more than one year old at the time at the Joshipur Forest Rest House, that also served as the residence of Mr. Choudhury. It is not easy to remain unmoved when there is a tiger sitting next to one at a distance of just two feet or so, with no fencing or bars to separate the two of us.  Khairi had a natural grace and dignity that accepted an unkempt nature lover from Calcutta without any concern. She was great friends with "Bagho", the pariah dog that Mr. Choudhury had at the time. The above picture shows Khairi in a typical pose with Bagho at Joshipur FRH. Khairi died in tragic circumstances a couple of years later. Simlipal was not the same after that.

Indian current affairs - the 7th Pay Commission, problems of economic choice, Goods and Service Tax

A market in Kolkata

The 7th Pay Commission

The TV and newspapers are full of reports and articles on the 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations that have been just accepted by the Government. The main points that stand out are (1) the minimum salary would be Rs. 32000 per month and the maximum  Rs. 2,50,000 per month and (2) that this would result in a pay-out by Government towards the revised salary and pensions to the tune of over Rs. 100,000 crores in a full year.
Starting with the 5th Pay Commission in 1996 that had a pay-out of about Rs. 35,000 crores in a full year, to the 6th Pay Commission that resulted in additional liabilities to Government of about Rs. 60,000 crs. in a year, we now have the 7th Pay Commission with its liability of about Rs. 100, 000 crores. The Hon'ble Finance Minister has been candid that this would impact the fiscal deficit position besides possibly adding to the current inflation rate.
Economic theory teaches that prices of any good or service are basically determined by supply and demand. This applies - with some "ifs" and "buts" - to price of labour, land or capital. In the non-government sector salaries and wages are usually determined by bilateral or trilateral negotiations on two major considerations: the demands by the labour and the "paying capacity" of the industry or service organisation. Government obviously is not bound over by any "paying capacity", because it can always raise taxes to pay this liability; or borrow or just print notes.
Straight-forward wage-fixation is supplemented by issues of allowances and perquisites (that is, non-monetary benefits, e.g. casual leave. special leave, leave without pay)  and by the work environment, job satisfaction and all that. Besides, there is also the element of "Minimum Assured Career Progression" that Pay Commission have recommended, which is really unknown in the non-government sector. And at the end of it all, comes the "deliverables" or the "output". In the case of products, this is simple enough; but for services, especially for public or government services, this is certainly difficult to define or quantify.
Any responsible government has also to factor in how this relates to the rest of the country, to the average Per Capita Income, to the Median Income, and so on in the rest of the economy, and to the output, the level of services, pattern of savings (including diversion of savings into real estate or gold), pattern of consumption at different income levels, and all that.
It is only then that major distortions in the economy may be avoided.


The 7th Central Pay Commission - "come-backs"
I have had some "come-backs" over e-mail that the original objectives that central pay commissions set out with - to bring about a degree of "parity" between government salaries and  private sector emoluments - has by now been turned on its head. Apparently there is greater resort than before in government in India - perhaps even more in state governments - to "out-sourcing" of services, be it through re-appointment on a contractual basis of a recently-retired employee or an outside "consultant" or a plain service agency, be it for car hire or for security or office maintenance.
Economics, it appears, has a habit of clawing its way back  unexpectedly.


A recent bank scam
A recent press has it that the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in the Government of India has unearthed a Rs. 2240 crores scam under which certain subsidies were given to some exporters for non-existent exports, with the connivance of some bank officials. The question that immediately asks itself is that why the DRI had to find out about this wrong-doing. Is it that the rules and procedures in the banks are not good enough to track down such malfeasance? As some one pertinently put it, "Rules are made for gentlemen. They are meant to be broken by thieves". That brings to the fore some management issues: from which level in the banking system should accountability and vigilance start? Should it be at the level of the branch manager,  or the zonal manager, or where? Banks also have audit departments to do rigorous cross-checks. How do such misdealings escape their attention? It should be clear that someone somewhere is not doing his or her job.



The 7th Central Pay Commission -  A second view-point
Recent discussions with some retired central government officers reveal that they had started their career in a technical wing of government at a starting salary of Rs. 400 per month in 1958 and, with deductions for housing, provident fund, etc., their take-home pay was Rs. 340 per month. When they retired in 1994 at the level of a general manager with overall charge of about 4000 employees their gross salary was Rs. 6800 per month, with a pension of Rs.3400 p.m.
Seen in the perspective of salaries in the private sector in 1994, Rs. 6800 p.m. for a general manager in a government plant may be said to have been lower by at least 30 to 40%, or even more. Yes, they did enjoy some facilities such as subsidised housing, free car, subsidised medical assistance, but adding  these back to the salary still keeps it low relative to private sector, where also senior executives were provided free housing, free car, etc; although these were assessed for income tax as per the permissible limits. So, providing a pension of Rs. 50,000 p.m. to a government officer in 2016, when the price levels are at least  300% higher than they were in 1994 should not raise too many eyebrows. It should make one think.


"Jam today"  versus "Jam tomorrow"
This was one of the adages that was drilled into the minds of students of Economics in the 1950s and 1960s.The idea was that using up current income in extravagant consumption is not a good way to plan one's life and, that saving for the future is a good thing. Seldom did the factor of price inflation enter this discussion.How would Rs. 500 saved each month (that would be a big thing in the 1960s and 70s) at 10% annual interest end up after 10 years, given a 10% annual rate of inflation? Moreover, the inflation was at a Compounded Annual Rate without any remission. If one has it that death and taxes are the only certainties of life, one can safely add inflation as well.
Savings, in the physical sense of setting aside from current income and consumption, was considered to be only way of accruing capital and, with capital, one could obtain assets, be it a house, or a car, or a Frigidaire, or shares and bonds or gold. But most assets, whether a house or a car, depreciate over time and increasingly more has to be paid out for their maintenance.  Thus when bank savings are eroded by inflation, and most types of physical assets have a heavy maintenance cost, it makes eminent sense to transform the savings into land, shares and in gold, because it seems that over a long period, say, 25 to 30 years, they can help to beat the inflation.
Going beyond the level of the individual to the national plane, where investment in shares or gold are not practical solutions - though they have been tried out - investment in infrastructure (i.e. roads, railways, ports, power, tele-communications, etc.) that yield a stream of output over many years and thus generate additional income and employment would be a good thing. . Thus "jam tomorrow" seems more sensible at the national plane, but at the individual level seems to be hedged with many "ifs" and "buts".



The Integrated Goods and Services Tax
Politics and law-making is a funny thing: sometimes it is content just to make incremental changes, sometimes, possibly with a huge load of "incrementals", it attempts a paradigm shift. The Integrated Goods and Service Tax is something like the latter. For more than sixty years India lived with the Excise Duty on manufactured goods with its specific rates (to begin with) and moving on to ad valorem rates.Then came the MODVAT and VAT (with its set-off and set-on features) followed by Service Tax in 1994  as part of the "reforms" process, and now there is the Integrated Goods and Services Tax, which has yet to complete the legislative process.
Leaving aside the grumblings about what should be the basic rate of this tax - at 15% or 18% or 22% or whatever - it has the unique quality of attempting to create an Indian Common Market of 1.22 billion people with rising incomes and matching aspirations. It should surely energise the respective state governments to do their best to build on their "comparative advantages" in terms land, water, minerals, industry, agriculture,  manpower, skills, and so on. With 90% of the revenues of the Tax going to the states, they have to husband and utilise these resources in the best possible manner to grow, and create the base for further sustainable growth. That means a lot of hard work is left yet to be done.