Eco friendly 4x4

A pre-requisite 8hr charging leads one to about 1 hour of utter bliss if you are a 4x4 fanatic.

Growing up around farms and jeeps gets you addicted to jeeps and their utilitarian purpose in a very deep sense. In a farm a jeep is a total work-horse, in the city its a style statement. Showing up to a venue is a car thats dirty is considered as a sign of laziness, but show up in a 4x4 is considered as a sign of being macho or as an outdoorsman. 

4x4 is an expensive and adventurous sport. The fact that if you cannot spend too much on getting advised its better you start learning how the mechanisms work and try to do the repairs yourself. Well post that, there is another option for enjoying the fun of 4x4 and not spending a bomb on the repairs if you are careful, the art of RC 4x4!

4x4 as a hobby has become a new fad with a lot of people taking this up and not wanting to burn a hole in their pockets. All said and done this is a inexpensive hobby compared to the actual sport of 4x4 but expensive when it comes to the realm of RC hobbies.

When we are growing up the affluent kids had cars that were radio controlled and the middle class had cars that were remote controlled but attached by a wire from the car to the remote. The allure of getting the former was utmost in every kids mind. Now with the advent of globalisation we are getting a toy that has given rise to a hobby that not only teaches but also lets you enjoy the thrills of going off road.

How you ask? Well the toy works very much like the actual jeep with suspensions and drive motors. The axles and the drive shaft makes you understand the actual working of a jeep which you otherwise won’t be able to look under an actual jeep. A radio controlled car will allow you to do the same stuff that you can do with an actual jeep but in a smaller version. So little pebbles for cars are big boulders for the RC 4x4. This will let you know all the articulation of the suspension for the RC 4x4. 

So getting the RC to climb a heap of stones will give you the feel of actually crawling up a mountain getting the thrill of it but not in danger of any bodily harm.

A tryst with Travancore history - The Legend of De Lannoy

There are a million stories in every place on earth and each unique in its own history and culture. We often need to bypass the beaten track and explore the not so explored avenues to be regaled to tales of heroism, betrayal, determination and success to name a few adjectives. Often we find comfort in looking at destinations that are a million miles away failing to fathom that a fascinating story lies just round the corner to where you stay.

The chance rendezvous with a very old friend put a little idea in my head to find out more about a guy called De'Lannoy. My friend had a different thought on the matter and his one line was, "think of a man imprisoned in a foreign land and later had to fight against the very people he grew up with".  Hmmm. Now this got me thinking on the kind of person this was and what is the story behind the person. Getting a fair estimate as to where this happened I return home with one nagging thought. De'Lannoy! Now like the North Indians like to say, its a Keeda that won't go away.

Sitting up late into the night and reading up on De'Lannoy a lot of new developments come to light. To name a few; he was a Dutch admiral, he fought in the Battle of Colachel, he lost the battle and was taken prisoner by the Travancore army, he joined the Travancore army, thought the Travancore army to think like the Europeans and build counter measures to ward of enemy attack, regrouped the entire Travancore region of the then King Marthanda Varma, loyal to the last and breathed his last in the very soil that he fought for, lost and united. This was the story of the Admiral in a nutshell.

The very next morning being a Sunday provided a perfect opportunity to head out and visit the tomb of this famous Admiral. Stopping and asking for directions at every juncture brought me to the famed Padmanabhapuram Palace. This famous palace is unique in two senses; one its merged with a lot of traditional styled Kerala and European architecture and two its been a place that a lot of us have seen portrayed in a plethora of movies in the late 80's and early 90's. Facing the palace gates I ask the guards to the route to Udayagiri Fort. The guards guide me to a little gully just right for a single car and ask me to go on for about a kilometre and a half and turn left. Taking the directions i head to the fort. This fort is in the State of Tamil Nadu while the more famous palace is under the Govt. of Kerala.

As instructed I reach a the granite walls of an old fort. The walls are maintained well which is encouraging but on entry you realise that its only the wall that remain and most of the rest has been destroyed, plundered and looted over the centuries. Although that was to be expected and decided upon earlier as the previous days plotting and prodding had prepared me for this and the only thing I was interested upon was the tomb of Eustachius De Lannoy.

Why would one who was the most trusted captain in the Travancore army stay away from the main Palace complex? Well we have to remember that the year is 1741 and the cultural practices prevalent at the time was that of caste differentiation and De Lannoy being a Christian was not allowed to stay in the Palace complex. The Captian although did not have a problem staying in the Udayagiri Fort and he constructed for the few Christian people a church in the premises and it was within this church  that the venerated captain was laid to rest.

Starting from the beginning, what brought De Lannoy to India? The Dutch who were the first to come to India enjoyed a very profitable trade relation with the state of Kerala for spices, especially Pepper. Pepper even today known as Black Gold was brought at a pittance in India and sold several times over in Europe. When Marthanda Varma ascended the throne he started making reforms within the state and these reforms effected the areas of Kayamkulam, Alapuzha, Cochin to a large extent. These were the kingdoms that were the trading points for the Dutch. Sensing this the Dutch governor from Sri Lanka had a few meetings with the King asking for changes to these states. This infuriated the king and he annexed the kayamkulam kingdom and asked the Dutch to stay out of the affairs of the state. The Dutch governor went against the Kings advise and instilled the former princess to the throne of Kayamkulam. This was the last straw in the kings patience and he declared war against the Dutch. The dutch Governor sent in an armada led by Admiral De Lannoy to secure their interests in the Kingdom.

De Lannoy landed in Colachel and he was met by the Travancore forces and was ultimately defeated and taken prisoner in what is today known as the Battle of Colachel in 1741. This battle is significant because this was the first battle we won against a European country long before our fight for independence against the British. After this battle to commemorate the victory the Travancore ruler erected a victory pillar that to this day stands on the spot the battle was fought in. Every year on 31st July the Army Comes to the spot and celebrates this victory.

We should have just taken a cue from this battle on what was to come and probably had a better and more developed nation.

Getting back to De Lannoy, after the battle the admiral was imprisoned and the King realising valour of the admiral in battle invited him to join forces with the Travancore army and be free. The admiral accepted and thus began his work with the Travancore army. He led to many reforms in strategies for battle of the Travancore army. teaching them more advanced fighting techniques and also lead to the construction of a wall much like the great wall in present day Cochin. Vestiges of which are probably around. This wall was one of the major factors for deterring the advancement of the army of Tipu Sultan to the south after having conquered the Malabar regions.

De Lannoy also brought about changes in the armaments used in war and also did construct several forts and fortifications around the kingdom at vantage points. All this earned him the trust of Marthanda Varma. De Lannoy fought several wars and it would just make us sit back and wonder exactly what my friend had wondered which brought me to search for the story of a brave admiral Eustachius De Lannoy who came a Foreigner, became a native and fought against foreigners for a foreign king.

Eustachius De Lannoy's Tomb

A fort built by De Lannoy, used as a hospital

Victory Pillar erected after the battle of Colachel

Tryst with history on a Pleasant Sunday

The day started very late due to the exhaustion and early schedule of the previous day. A colleagues marriage and strange as it may seem everyone was going for it, but at odd times and that made everyone fend for themselves.

I decided to drive the engagement and along the way picked up a good friend and set off. Deciding on the route was a bit of a hassle as the main highway to the place was being done up and this lead to innumerable blocks... The other two routes had different problems, the one through Kovalam and Poovar was just to narrow albeit a good stretch of Tarmac and the second option through Neyyatinkara was winding and at places presents huge potholes. 

Well the dilemma solved itself when another colleague who was driving down took that road and asked me to follow saying its a breeze to get to the venue. Ah the venue, well it's a little town on the very border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu called Parasala. So close to the border that the road sometimes acts as the border separation between the two states. Having heard much about this place it was but a matter of time before I found myself hitting this little town. 

The road through Neyyatinkara was indeed a good stretch and provided the much need drive through the little hamlets that dot the entire winding way and much to the delight of my co-passenger who grew up in some of the hamlets and have a lotta friends in the remaining hamlets. Being regaled with anecdotes on every place is just the best way to go on a drive. Little did I know that the day will be one in which I will be walking down the lanes of history with the maharajas of Kerala.

 We are just about to hit the town of Parasala when a signage shows that padmanabapuram Palace is just over 10kms from Parasala. Like we normally collect and store information I too sorted this bit at the back of my mind and focused on getting directions to the engagement. With a little help from my other colleagues it manage to hit the function at just the right time and was immediately rush for an early lunch.

The function got over before you have the thought to blink and in no time found myself sitting comfortably in from of a coconut leaf laid out with a lavish sadhya. For those of you who are not familiar with what a Sadhy constitutes, it's a lavish spread for lunch a signature style of eating in Kerala. It's a typical vegetarian four course meal that initially consists of a plantain leaf served with bananas deep fried, bananas deep fried with jaggery, salt, ginger pickle, mango pickle, a dish made with bottle gourd, one with coconut and peas, a mixed vegetable dish called avial, another one with pulses and pumpkin and a few other dish whose ingredients I can only image but for sure have coconuts in it. 

The first course is where a little rice is eaten with dal and ghee, after this comes the same process but instead of dal it's sambhar, then suddenly they pour payasam into the leaf and this is fooled by poli(besan dough stuffed with coconut) and vermicelli payasam. Just when you thought that you are done out comes the rice and a gravy made with pineapple, this is then followed by rice and rasam. Apparently the saying is that the course followed by dessert is to combat drowsiness. How far that is true is debatable but that's the saying.

It's after lunch that the road sign earlier filed to the back of my head comes forward and the nagging starts, "why not go visit the Padmanabapuram palace?". On asking a few locals they all suggest it's a good idea and worth a visit. That was the much need nudge and off we set for the Padmanabapuram palace.

The roads broaden once you enter Tamil Nadu, yes this palace is in another state but belongs to the archeology department of Kerala and the Kowdiar Palace in Trivandrum. The palace and grounds initially occupied around 186 acres but has substantially reduced after the state boundaries were drawn and is currently down to 6 acres. The Padmanabapuram Palace is actually a palace complex of 11 palaces, each built over a period of time. The oldest would date to the 16th century till in 1795 when the then king Rama Varma, shifted the capital of the Travancore kingdom from Padmanabapuram to present day Thiruvananthapuram. 

Reaching the city of Padmanabapuram you are faced with parking issues as there is no parking within the palace grounds and have to park outside paying a hefty fee of ₹50/-. Then you head into the palace and have to purchase entry tickets of ₹35/- for indian citizens and ₹ 50/- for mobile cameras or cameras. By the time we reached the palace we had to wait another hour for the counter to open as it was lunch time and the complex will only open by 2pm. With nothing to do we hang around the entry grounds doing what everyone one else was doing in the complex, the national past-time of the present generation - selfies. 

You enter the complex to a room that is a welcome relief from the hot sand to the cool flooring of the palace. The flooring is exceptional as it's made of a mixture of limestone powder, egg shell, rice husk powder and dye. With temperatures in the 30's the inside felt like it was in the 20's. The walk across the floor felt like a proper marble floor and the hall felt just right for receiving visitors. From there you go up past a framed Onam invitation. It's so big and bulky made of wood with carving of the deity seen in the Padmanabaswamy Shetram in Trivandrum, lead you to wonder, hmmm, invitation that king size! Just when you think that's the most you are up a steep wooden ladder to the first floor and into the main meeting hall of the king and his ministers. The exquisite wooden chairs and the China seat for the king is just the perfect setting in a room with 11 killivadhals ( small windows that open to let the air in) and ornate wood work.

From the meeting room you go down four steps to a huge hall which has beams running down the centre of the hall in regular intervals. This huge hall and a mirrored one below are the dining halls. It's so long and wide that it can comfortably seat 1000 people at a single time multiply it by two for the hall below and you get to feed over 2000 people in one shot. 

Moving on from the dining hall you proceed to the dance hall where the Kings used to watch the different performers and artists at work. This then leads to the very first palace. It's here you find an entire pillar made of the wood of a jack fruit tree. One that  holds the entire design together... From here on in the palace is one that you can identify with Kerala architecture and the wood work and the intricate designs blend well with each other to satisfy the expression to live king size.

From here to the guest house for visiting dignitaries you find a long corridor/passageway that opens to the street. This was were the accounts were taken and also housed the royal offices. The end of this had a very elaborate jharoka designed to resemble the seat atop an elephant. This is where the king sat to talk to subjects and listen to their problems. This then lead to another cool passageway adorned with paintings and art leading to the guest house for visitors. 

The Kerala kings were considerate enough to make some rooms take on the European design elements for the visiting dignitaries and thus aiding in a very cordial relationship with the foreign merchants and promoting trade getting the moniker, land of spices.  Even today this co-existence is evident as you can find a malayalam speaking gentleman in all parts of the world and of course existing in harmony. 

From the guest houses to the palace of the uncles where you find a massage parlour just above the steps leading to the bathing pond or kolam. You enter where they rest, store money and listen to music why there's even a bedroom all around an open centre courtyard. Ah what glory and bliss.

From the palace of the uncle the trails take you through the royal kitchens, massive in their dimensions giving you a glimpse at what the working kitchen would have been like and yes to wonder how many people it tools to prepare food for over two thousand people.  After the royal kitchen comes an area where the Kings would sit to enjoy a grand dance performance right in front of a quaint little temple. This dance floor is pictured in a very famous malayalam movie since then translated to several languages called manichitrathazhu.  The little bird windows adjacent to the dance floor is meant for the royal ladies to enjoy the performance and still not seen. This is typical all over the country as many a fort and palaces I have been to have latticed windows called jharokas for just the same purposes. 

After this you are back out of the palace through a much smaller but no less grand a gate. Once outside you are exposed to the blare of horns and the cacophony of the modern world and precisely at this moment you want to crawl back into the ancient world and take in the peace and comfort offered. But with a heavy heart and fond memories oh yeah a phone full of pictures i trudge back to life as I know it awaiting a next adventure in a very uncertain world... 

Indore travels

The journey to Indore actually did start from Daman. A good 4 hour drive from the union territory and the relative comfort of the Deltin hotel saw me in Mumbai. A brief stopover at home for a fresh set of clothes and a cup of tea saw me back on the road to Indore. Cutting it just in time to catch the Avantika express to Indore, an overnight journey.

The plush surroundings of the luxurious two tier ac compartment was hardly taken in when a jolt to reality had me chasing the coach attendants. There is no pantry in the train! I had to organise dinner having not eaten since 8 in the morning. (Eves dropping on conversations do help in a way). Getting to know dinner is available only at Surat which is a good 5 hours into the journey and in the middle of the night makes your stomach shout for satisfaction louder.

Throughout my travels in India I have met spoken and interacted with people, people who do a particular route for the longest and most time possible that they have a solution for every problem that bares it's ugly face very now and then. Earlier journeys I was helped by people who gave me numbers to eateries that deliver to travellers at the station and the best person for such a matter is none other than the attendant. In this case he proved more helpful to another passenger. 

Like I said there is a solution for every problem, this time mine came in the form of the World Wide Web. I discovered that there is a web site catering to food on the go. It's called travelkhama.com and has a decent suggestion for hotels within the vicinity. 

It's cash on delivery and yeh definitely an upgrade from the pantry food got in trains. A good dinner later it's snooze time and yup the cacophony of snores is hard to ignore... Very soon I too have joined in the symphony of snores and awakening all the light sleepers around. The day dawns and the train inches into the platform with people queuing up at the door.( I still don't get these people who do that as it's not a competition and the train isn't going anywhere soon for you to be the first one out the door.... There are also people who get out first and then are clueless as to what the next step is and block the exit for all other passengers!) getting into the city from the station is just a pain as with every other station, you have to push your way through a sea of auto drivers. 

Once that process is over you step foot in Indore. Indore was ruled by the holkar dynasty who have left behind some fine buildings with a slew of cafés thanks to the city's ever-burgeoning coffee culture, but Indore Madhya Pradesh's. Business powerhouse is primarily used as a gateway for tourists getting to omkaleshwar, maheshwar or mandu.

North-east saga part 2 - unakoti - etched into history still a mystery

Talking with historians on another possible location for shoot I hear the mention of a very mythical site called unakoti. About 200kms from the state capital of Agartala, deep in the mountains is the site of unakoti. The mysticism of the site is strongly beckoning with each mention of the site. Each person has something to add to the site and each on totally different from the other. One site with so many tales it can't be true.

The route to unakoti takes you through not one but two wildlife sanctuaries, crossing over a dozen military, BSF and CRPF camps, it does make you wonder where am I going to. Today you are allowed to travel freely between 8am and 7pm, but there was a time not too long ago when you had to go in convoys and what is today 5 hour journey was then a days journey provided you timed your travel right. The threats of extremists were high, animals too had their share of terrorism... All this made unakoti earlier a distant dream for many.

The nearest town to unakoti is Kailashar, a town on the very border of India and Bangladesh. Unakoti is situated about 8kms into a thick forest previously trekked but now cleared and with roads laid out till the site. 

First impressions were wow. You stand there bathed in awe as you take in the sheer size of the site and statues. You think Mount Rushmore is amazing well we had this in the 9th century! Unakoti is the biggest bas-relief sculpture in Asia and it's supposedly to spread over a 10km radius. That's what's remaining of it after centuries of earthquakes, plundering and natural calamities.

Who built it, what's are these huge carving doing in the middle of nowhere? Well like you are thinking right now so are the historians. The only answers they are able to come up with are based on the style of the sculptures. The sculptures have a very Buddhist touch to it with longish ears and then there is the mongoloid eyes distinct to the region. The conclusion to that is that  over time when people, tribes from south east Asia were migrating to new grounds they were initially worshippers of nature. The trees, animals, the celestial objects... These slowly turned to figurines, the Indus Valley civilisations show the worship of the bull and also shiva. Shivism slowly became an accepted religion and the idols of shiva increased. Shiva is a god revered by the tribes as they believe he came up from similar roots. Study of shiva and his origins will lends some light to it. The tribes slowly took to shiva and hence the presence of his image throughout the valley. 

Shiva has three forms, out of which the phallic form is the most worshipped, in unakoti it's the anthropomorphic form that was worshipped. 

Well as in everything indian nothing is complete with just facts and findings. Mysticism play a great role and myths have their place in our history just as anything else. The most popular of myths is that lord shiva and a crore of other gods were travelling from Kailash to Varanasi and en route decided to stop at unakoti for the night. The deal was that all would wake up before dawn and resume journey. As the day dawned only shiva got up and resumed journey. He got angry and cursed the rest to turn into stone. Out of the whole crore of gods just one person less - shiva. Hence the name unakoti - One less than a crore.    

If that is to be believed then how is there so many images of shiva???

The second most important legend is that of kallu Kumar. A sculptor extraordinaire who did sculpt image one less that a crore and the final one he wanted to make of himself which angered the gods and he was struck down and turned to stone.

Another off-shoot of the kallu Kumar story is that he was an ardent shiva fan and Parvathi was so impressed with him that she wanted Shiva to turn kallu Kumar immortal. Shiva apprehensive agreed to do so if the sculptor could carve a crore images in Unakoti before the sunrise and the cock crows! Kallu Kumar gets to work and is almost in sight of winning with just one more sculpture when Shiva induces the cock to crow before the usual time and hence leading to Kallu Kumar to loose the bet. 

Unakoti with its stories and mysticism and beauty will remain with you long after you have returned, still urging you to ponder on the wonders of an age gone by...

The north east saga - part 1 - Tripura, a worthwhile past

Ever since my first visit to the northeastern state of Assam and Meghalaya, I have always had that fondness of travelling back there. The second visit provided itself in one of my closest friends birthday but that was a day only. It was not enough, it was just a hop-in hop-out trip.

Well as the saying goes if it's happened twice then definitely it will happen a third time. 

True enough I did get to travel to the northeast again. Although the trip was scheduled for just ten days and meant to be a recce, it soon turned out to be a trip in actual search of places, people and stories.

Gleefully excited at the fact I am going to the north east I even gave up the chance of the Andamans which was the others place in the offering. Many a friend has suggested I go to the Andamans as the scenic beauty is second to none, but my heart just wanted to go to the Northeast. 

The travel day started pretty early and by mid noon I was in the state of Tripura. First impressions of the state and I was baffled as I travelled by auto from the station to the hotel about 15kms away. All or most of the shops were closed. The northeast know for its political instability has many a traveller worried and I was no exception. Upon enquiring my auto driver says that they are shut because the owners are taking a siesta. Whew. Thankfully it wasn't a Hartal or a bandh. The same scene welcomed me when I reached the city and found shops shut. 

I meet up with a few people in the university, historians and enquire about the neer mahal palace in udaipur, Tripura. Yes it's not a typo, neer mahal palace, udaipur. The basic information on the palace is that the maharaja of Tripura was very fond of travelling and was impressed with the neer mahal palace in udaipur Rajasthan that he returned back and commissioned a British company to build him one on a lake in a city he renamed udaipur. The eccentricities of our maharajas!

The next day I travel to see the neer mahal palace and it sure must have been magnificent in its hey day but today lies in neglect and due to global warming the water levels are low. Still u get there by boat and on entry you truly feel like royalty. The white painted walls of the palace glimmers in the sun and gives you the effect of marble the wide arch ways welcomes you to a place once meant only for the king and his guests. 

What was once an opulent resort or vacation spot for the king today lies in ruins and desperate for care. The palace is being renovated by a South Indian company and hence was able to strike up a conversation with the engineer and learn more about the palace. This conversation also gave me a chance to see the cordoned off portion of the palaces royal quarters. The ball room for the king, the ball room for the queen, the royal entry, the royal rooms, the gardens, the servants quarters and also the royal bathroom. The palace was built in the early 20th century afforded the British architect to put in European style bathrooms with marble and inlays of precious stones.

Today all this is in ruins and the engineer responsible for the restoration explained the technology involved to make the palace earthquake proof. Being a water palace the existence of water is vital for the existence of the palace. The reason being the pressure exerted by the water and the pressure exerted by the building join together in being key factors for the building to remain as is. The absence of one pressure is enough to collapse.

Parts of the palace have already collapsed and efforts are being made for restricting further damage by modern technology. The kind of technology used then still amazes me. Every place I visit I always wonder the same question aloud, how? We today find it difficult to make buildings stay intact for 5 years and that too using too many machineries and advanced materials, while the old had just people and stones and the buildings last for ever!

Well I do hope that they are able to implement all the changes proposed and on my next trip to Tripura I am able to fully understand and appreciate the true workmanship and opulence of the erstwhile maharajas of India.

    

Fortified ruins...

Travelling to the parched, bushy outskirts of the kutch district heading to the very western most point of the Indian subcontinent you can't help but notice the change in scenery. 

The city is bustling with activity, business mostly and then there is the farming as you slowly make your way towards the outskirts. As you keep going further the landscape gets a bit wild and the old relics suddenly pop out of nowhere! 

It happens once then twice and well once again! Coincidences are there but most than twice well that's just planned... What are these old remnants of forts temples and fortified villages doing so far from civilisation? 

This reflections make you want to take a trip to the past in search of the answer and also the little excitement you get when you are prying into the life of the thakurs, owners and rajahs.

I head past the few remaining splendours of architecture to the abandoned fortified village of lakhpat. Situated at the very edge of the great rann of kutch, the village lies abandoned within fortified walls...

While reading the asterix comics you read about fortified villages.  The concept in itself is very familiar but none of that would prepare you for the sheer magnitude of an actual fortified village. The huge walls actually encompass a whole village, in today's age it would be like building a wall around any of our cities. Crazy as it may sound it actually is the fact! The intricate designs and ornately designed windows hold you spell bound at first and then a moment late you thank the people who made it such an impossible feat to pry out, hence leaving it to remain for you to glimpse at it. As you walk along the dusty street that was once a bustling market you secretly wish that you were in the period when the town flourished...

Admiring and visualising I make my way to an imposing house, kind of like a billionaires hous of today. This house is massive because it houses five huge houses within it. Again the intricate design on the windows reflect the taste and the opulence of the owner... But leave it be the one that really caught my fancy was the drainage... The drains were just an engineering marvel in itself. You don't actually see the waste flowing out but you instead see an incredibly awesome design in stone that hides the path the waste takes.

Before you start thinking I am a plumber I better move on. There are the government offices that collected tax, the parliament that settled disputes, the guard posts and other administrative building that fight for a perfectly symmetrical stand with the various places of worship.

India has always proved itself as a very religious country and the evidence is everywhere. Be it our folk lore, history or just stories, religion has played a major part. Here too the fortified walls encompass a mosque, a temple and a gurdwara.

As the sun begins its descent I stand on the fort walls looking into the distance and think back on why such a glorious place has fallen to ruins. The religious me look to the heavens and wonder why he had made it possible for the people to build such a magnificent  place only to let it go to ruins and a centuries time....