Friday, March 25, 2016

On Heritage Walks


Well, today, I felt like writing about the heritage walks that I have done lately. Two so far. The first one was in Mumbai itself. A walk in Bhuleswar with RaahGeer (https://raahgeer2015.wordpress.com/), an initiative by Deepa Nandi and her colleague. Well, it began on a fine Sunday morning. Enthusiastic individuals from different parts of the city gathered at Charni Circle at around 7 am. And, then we started the walk. Deepa started off introducing herself and Raahgeer and we had a short introduction among ourselves. Most of the junta was architecture college students. Few from media, some history lovers and me :). We had a local guide too to take us through the place and give us anecdotes here and there. So, it began with the Goshala where the guide, Manish told us about the diary industry and how it can be harsh for the animals. Along with that, he explained us a few tenets of architecture in the buildings around particularly, the Jain and Gujarati influence. And then, we had the famous Chocolate Tea at a nearby place. And, then we headed through the busy and narrow lanes hopping on from one Jain temple to another. Then, we also visited the first temple of Mumbai, dating 1000 years old.Swami narayan mandir, Hanuman temple..I remember seeing a collapsible staircase in the Hanuman Temple. Never seen one :). Well, that's called creativity in a space crunched city :). And then, we came across mouth watering veg treats; places which host the best vegetarian food in Mumbai. Infact, one place sells almost 40 different varieties of khichdi. Can you beat that ? :P Moving on, we explored different forms of architectural motifs, signs, designs in dilapidated buildings, corners. Well, a Banaras in Mumbai, I must confess !!.
The walk further ended at the Mumbadevi temple and Crawford Market. We dispersed with good memories and then hogged on yummy food :).


The next heritage walk happened in the city of Ahmedabad. I feel the best way to understand the culture, city pattern, lifestyle, architecture of a city, you must do a heritage walk. So remember to look up for city walks when you are venturing a new city next time :). This was organized by an NGO in association with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. It is conducted on all days of the year, commences from the holy Swami Narayan Mandir in the city. They start off with a video projector of images of ancient city and the various landmarks. And the walk started off with blessings and aarti. We walked through the various pols of the ancient city, understood the concept of a pol and the various forms of architecture, the significance of the forms, the bird feeders, the earthquake resistant structures, the old stock exchange, the confluence of different styles of architecture, the Jain temples, rain water harvesting forms. The guide explained us the significance and reason of an M.G. Road in every city near the station, the Gandhi Bridge, the difference between pir, dargah, maqbara, etc. It finally ended at Jami Masjid, which is why they call this walk, "From Mandir to Masjid". It was a really informative walk. 

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Leap Day

February 29, 2016. An extra day. Well, I don't remember what I did on the 29th February of 2012. But, yeah, this year, this day, I will always remember in my life. I got closure in both my professional and personal life. I have been aimless on both the sides since quite a long time. Professionally, I had been looking for a change since a long time. I was not finding sense in what I was doing since four long years. It was becoming a drag. Just a doer. This was not what I did an MBA for. I believe in creating and delivering value. This job was sounding like a nagging wife. Something you can't get rid of and still keep doing it. I had been looking out and making efforts for a change. But nothing was clicking anywhere. Finally, it happened on this day. I got a breakthrough in the role I wanted to try. New frontiers. New charters. New people. New culture. New challenges. New boss. New place. But yes, I am game for it. Thus, I heaved a sigh of relief.

However, on this day, I didn't have any guy in my life with whom I could share my happiness. I was so much reminded of Chetan Bhagat's famous lines "There's no point in getting a promotion on the day of your breakup." This day, I also got closure on personal front. The guy I loved got married to someone else. And so, it led to an official closure towards him. Difficult to breathe in. But yes, shit happens. I don't know where my personal life is heading. 

What I am today, it's all because of my never-give-up attitude towards life. And,I refuse to give up in life. I refuse to give up. I refuse to give up.