Another Delhi trip in the offing and more of Hansi

If things go well I could be visiting Delhi again in September. I still haven't forgotten my previous trip to Hansi (Haryana), Delhi and Agra early this year though.

Will I be lucky and be able to visit The Taj a second time this year?

Meanwhile here is more of Hansi.

Like the cattle up North their feed also is big. Cattle feed is transported in the wee hours of the morning when there is less traffic on the roads. Got this picture of the rear of the vehicle at a Petrol station.

(Click the pics to view them in their original sizes)

And naturally the cattle dung is of much bigger size too. The dung in some places is stacked in the shape of a small hut.

Food in Hansi - Food is a delight with good quality water and milk. Probably the best panneer I ever had was here. Awesome Panneer Pakoras are available on the streets. Hansi is famous for its "Milk Peda". We got some but what really blew my mind away were these coconut pedas sold in shops. I got an entire bottle of them. Once you've had one, I'll bet, you won't stop with one. By the way, they are made in Panipat (yes, that infamous place we studied in History where the three famous and decisive wars were fought).

This peda also comes in a brown oval shaped coin like disc which is similar in taste and very good too.

At home my cousin's home-made biscuits were a treat.

These salty mini samosa's with hardly any oil were great too.

The best Sugarcane juice I ever had, was in Hansi. To the sweet mix they also add a greyish powder which I was told was powdered rock-salt. This particular vendor had a mobile unit which was also mechanized.

Pickles being sold. Never tried them though (not a pickle lover anyway).

Places in and around Hansi -

A walk to the Fort of Prithviraj Chauhan is worth it. The fort is in such a sorry state of affairs and I am not sure how the article on Wikipedia or elsewhere on the web can one mention that it is in a good state of preservation. There is a notice board put up by the government of India about the do's and don'ts at the place but no one seems to be bothered about it. I saw two cricket teams playing inside. People with pets (dogs) are all over the place and were using it like a recreational park. It was pathetic. You also need to watch out from this hill top as you could also seriously injure yourself if you lose your footing up there or try to get adventurous. No guards or security are present to check any of this.

View of Hansi town and the Amti Thalaab from the fort.         

I  was told that these were the impressions of Rani Lakshmi Bai's (Rani of Jhansi) trusted horse's hooves, located near the entrance of the fort.

One of the gates (two pics) to Hansi, again neglected. It is a sad sight with all the modern encroachments. A road goes through it.

 

And of course, the statue of Rani Lakshmibai and her horse on one of the main roads in Hisar.

And finally here's the most widely circulated newspaper of Central India (published from Nagpur), The Hitavada, founded by freedom fighter Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1911.

 

The amazing Klipsch KSB 3.1

April 26'th, 2013 will go down in my memory as one of the truly God-gifted days in my life. After over a decade, 11 years and 4 months to be precise I got to see and touch my great bookshelf speakers, the Klipsch KSB 3.1's that I had purchased way back in 1998 while in the U.S. It lay in a storage for a year, then at a garage at a relative's place for a decade and then at my friend's place for about 6 months. Finally by God's grace it reached Chennai. I rushed from Pondy to meet my friend who said he would be bringing them. I wouldn't have got a better gift for my birthday in May.

I recall trying out dozens of speakers while trying to purchase a pair of bookshelves in 1998. Some of them I recall were Paradigm and Sonus Faber. But when I listened to just 5 minutes of the Klipsch KSB 3.1's I knew I would be taking them home. When the salesman blew my mind adding a Definitive Technology Powered Sub I took that home first because its beautiful bass just made the Klipsch sound even more beautiful. Production of the KSB  3.1's ceased in 1999.

My setup was complete with the priceless but amazing Marantz PM 57 Integrated amplifier, a Sony 5 CD player and a Technics Double Cassette Deck. The Sony breathed its last in Pondy a couple of months ago. The Technics still lies in the U.S. along with some of my other important audiophile gear which I hope to get to India someday.

When I hooked up the speakers to the Sub and Amplifier (these I had gradually got piece by piece by relatives returning from the U.S. over the years) I was only praying that they sing. How well, I really wondered? One speaker sounded perfect while in the other there was clearly something missing. The treble was particularly out of whack. I was really down. I called Klipsch India and I was surprised how pathetic the service setup in India was considering the fact that their premium speaker "The Palladium" costing several lakhs of rupees for a pair were being sold and serviced in India. Klipsch India refused service for my speaker saying the spares were no longer available for that model. Out of sheer frustration I opened the Horn Tweeter only to find that a wire had come out of its socket. I plug it back in and the speaker performs as perfectly as it can. Considering the loss of hearing due to my ageing all these years, the speakers literally out-perform. KSB 3.1 came with a one of a kind 8'' woofer, a Tractrix Horn Tweeter and front firing port.

Kumba Greenier, CEO of "Sound Wizard" in Auroville (the guys who built A R Rahman's studio and the studio of several other music directors and film stars) was so right when he told me that good speakers were meant to last at least 20 years.

While listening to the Klipsches for the first time, I thought I had a new set of ears. On "Walking on the moon" by" The Police" you can hear a fourth instrument that I never heard before. They and the amplifier are so good you could say a bad recording from a good one. Performers and bands come alive as though playing in front of you and with the amplifier and sub you can even improve upon poor recordings to make them sound just right.

Here they are. I removed the grille on one of them to reveal the woofer and tweeter. (There is some perspective distortion in the pic, of the speakers)

 

And here's my Definitive Technology 10'' woofer, powered sub that my brother Sathish brought for me in Jan, 2012.

After I purchased the Marantz I auditioned the Rotel and the NAD, both What HiFi products of the year award winners for Integrated Amplifiers in the past but could barely come close to the sweetness of the Marantz. The only amplifier that came close was a Jo Lida tube amplifier. But the Marantz does something that the Jo Lida does not. Once the subwoofer is set at a particular volume (using its built in amplifier) you do not need to tweak it any further. Raising the volume on the Marantz automatically raises the sub's bass too. But while using the Jo Lida I had to increase the volume on the Sub. I have to admit the tube amp was very sweet too. The Marantz PM 57 like most of its successors has a second channel where you can hook up a second pair of stereo speakers. I hooked up a pair of Sonodynes here. It also has a phono input for connecting Record Players.

If you plan to come to Pondy, bring your favourite music and you are most welcome to audition them.

Two other legendary Klipsch speakers that were on display that day were the incredible floor-standers the KLF 10 and the KLF 20. I recall the salesman telling me that if I were to buy them I wouldn't need the powered sub. True, they were probably the best speakers I ever listened to with astonishing bass. Klipsch stopped making the legends in the late 90's but I am sure they are still entertaining those who own them.

Am I hearing "desi" screams of "Bose", "Bose"? I have only two words for you guys, "BOSE SUCKS" or better still, "everytime someone buys a Bose, a sucker is born". More on that later.

Off to listen to some music on them......

guitar-appreciation to go down

My blog guitar-appreciation.com that I began in 2008, is going down. The site was compromised a few months ago and not being able to fix it properly and due to lack of posts and lack of inspiration to write posts I have decided to bring it down. Google has already flagged it as a malware-suspicious site.

It will officially go down in November this year.

So what is the IPL all about?

Again another post long overdue (actually one year) but better late than never. I had planned to write this last year while I watched the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at the Chepauk stadium and was reminded of the same when a similar match took place this year just a few weeks ago.

First of all, do any of you Chennaites, regret you didn't watch an IPL match at Chepauk this season? If you are planning to go to a match at Chepauk (well this year all matches here are done), it is my humble request that you don't because it can turn out to be one of most horrible experiences of your life, particularly if it is a day and night match. I am sure this is the case with the other stadiums too where the sun is shining hot and there is little cover from the light and heat.

Here is my personal experience. In the blistering heat of the afternoon sun, shooting those hot bright rays straight at me in my seats I almost thought I would faint of a heat stroke. Nothing can be more punishing and miserable than this. Till the match began I kept running out of the nearest exit to take shelter under any little shade that was available. God only knows how many times I did that. So what do you do in the heat? Drink as much water as possible. The stands that supply drinks and eatables are priced exorbitantly. All that pales to the dehydration you suffer. You keep drinking and there will literally be no end to it. The stalls that sell drinks, water and snacks are crowded and they make a killing because everyone is running for water. I must have gulped litres of water and soft drinks that day. Honestly, nothing beats the comfort of your sofa or your cool home for watching the IPL matches on your T.V.

I had been there for my son who wanted to watch Dhoni and Dravid up close. Other than the fact that you are close to them physically it is really difficult to tell if you were really watching Dhoni or Dravid because they are so far away. Many a time you end up looking at the giant screens there to get a better look at things happening on the ground. Compared to that your T.V now captures each and every moment of the game in HD clarity and with enough replays you get to see a match much closer than any spectator in the stadium, though you have to put up with the stale advertising on T.V.

You don't have to get dressed for the occasion (for ladies it is worse) as you do in the stadium. Dress or undress, you will be left soaking in your sweat. In Chepauk, it is a pity that the very seats and stands that hide the afternoon and evening sun remain vacant even for this year due to legal procedures and processes. What a miserable shame!

Here are some pics from last year's match I went to.

 



 Chaithu, hot and sweating in the seats.

The disputed seats offering shade. That's where one needs to be.

The seats at dusk. Thank God the sun is down.

So what's the IPL all about? If you ask me, it is nothing but a commercially successful sports-business model, imported, obviously from successful sports-models of the west. I am not ruling out that there is absolutely no talent but for those who admired the beauty of stroke play in Tests, the bashing and hitting T20 format offers hardly anything similar.

In 1998, while in the U.S. I went for my first and only ice-hockey game at The Mark, Davenport, Iowa. My boss was a ice-hockey player himself and he asked me to join him and his wife that evening. The local team, The Quad City Mallards were playing a rival team. For me, one thing, clearly, stood-out that evening, it was the voice of the two men behind the microphones who were cheering their team, making comments, announcements etc., Loud, clear and highly motivational these guys made the home-team feel really at home. You can hear this when you watch NBA matches too. The auditorium or stadium resonates with their sonorous voices and the way they pronounce certain words for dramatic effect. For instance while introducting the team they would say something like, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcoooome, the Quad City Mallaaaaaaaaards". In the IPL they have a similar person doing this kind of thing though not so dramatically as the guys I head during the ice hockey match. But the "dramatically" part is soon to follow as our folks are only adept at only one thing, "copying" and particularly things from the west. During the break between the first and second halves of the game there were other things going on like someone with a bazooka like gun shooting t-shirt balls into the audience. Then a game with small kids on skates also took place before they got the ice cleaned up for the second half. These kind of dramatic events will soon be incorporated into IPL too.

Slogan singing and shouting and booing which are perfected abroad are soon going to be copied too. Honestly Freddie Mercury and Queen's "We will, We will Rock you" makes me cringe every time they play it for the Chennai Super Kings. At IPL, DJ's play loud music through out the match. Whenever something favourable happens to a team, that team's signature tune or music is played and cheerleaders are up and dancing. Rajasthan Royals certainly had a better tune.

So is there anything good at the IPL? Yes, here they are, 1. If something happens close to where you are seated, it's real fun. One catch, I recall in particular was splendid but for the spectators located far away they are better off looking at the giant screen. 2. The amazing Spider Cam. I reallly loved this contraption and the way it moved all over the place. Note that whenever the spider cam moves closer to the seating area that portion of the crowd is up and cheering. This when cleverly inserted on T.V gives a false impression that the entire crowd at the stadium is up and cheering. 3. Sivamani - At Chepauk it looks like Sivamani the percussionist has an agenda of his own. His meagre drum set is moved by assistants all over the circumference of the ground and sometimes even in the midst of the dancing cheerleaders. He is in a very jolly mood, drumming, signing autographs and waving to the crowds as though they had all come only to watch him. 4. Finally, the cheerleaders. There were 6 of them for each team and in batches of three per dancing deck and therefore 12 in all. Honestly I was not prepared for what I was about to witness. The girls rock. I have to mention the girls of the CSK team. Skimpily attired they just made the place even hotter. One team, though not visible from my seats was located near and below where we were sitting. The other team was much farther away. One girl in that team was gyrating in such a fashion, I thought, only the pole was missing. The crowd located near that dancing three were definitely getting more than their money's worth. Honestly for the torture that you endure in the heat, they offer some respite. Actually I even felt sorry for them.

With all this activity going on the cosmopolitan crowd is euphoric. I was under the impression that for most of the spectators at the stadium there was nothing but a wild sense of Deja Vu.

With spot-fixing and with the current arrest of CSK's owner one wonders if entering the final for a 5'th time was also manipulated.

My advice - go to the venue and sell your tickets. You'll find takers, a dime a dozen. And watch IPL on your television set in the comfort of your home.

So where is cricket headed? T20 has converted cricket into a hitting game. Gone are the beautiful strokes of the Test matches but gone are also the innumerable hours that were taken from our exam study days. T20 has made cricket a much smaller game. Is it good for cricket? Cricket is gradually becoming something else. More on that in my next post.

Oh! I actually did in an earlier post. You can read it here.
 

A thing of beauty, a joy forever indeed!

Exactly a month ago, on Easter Sunday on March 31'st I was trying to save whatever battery charge that was left on my mobile phone just to make one important call.

At around 3:45 PM I call my sister and ask her, "Suji, do you know where I am?".

"No, where are you?", she asks and I reply, "In front of the Taj Mahal". A "Wow" and an "Oh My God" from her only indicated how she was feeling and missing the moment I was going through that day.

This was my first visit to the Taj Mahal and I cannot fully describe the incredible feeling I had when I saw this "monument of love". After using and hearing the word "awesome" thousands of times, here is one place where I found its true meaning. In fact I could spend an entire day here admiring this beautiful monument that left me speechless.

My first impression is the scale of this wonder. Like me if you are a first time visitor, you might have seen a photo or pic of the Taj on your T.V or movie screen but what awaits you is a scale that is much larger than what you have in mind. The Tamil word "Brahmmandam" is what comes to mind. I have blown up a small portion of one of my pictures to indicate the size and scale of this beauty. This one is near one of the minarets. The monument on the side is on the Eastern side of the Taj. (Click image to blow it up full size)

The Taj itself is located in several 100 acres of space and the area leading to the Taj itself is beautifully adorned with other very impressive work of architecture. Be warned, it takes quite a trek to actually be in front of the Taj from the place autos or cars normally drop you. Once inside the premises you can take battery operated vehicles or camel driven carts to the ticket counters. From the ticket counters there is another good stretch of walking you need to do but this one's easier with the incredible sights of the monuments and other architecture on your way. You go past several other beautiful monuments and tombs of Shahjehan's first and second wife and one of Mumtaz's loyal maid too (courtesy of the Guide's narrative). Chances are, you'll be going past the Great Gate, the Darwaza-i-rauza (pictured below) which is a quite a spectacle in itself.

 

As you stand outside of this gate you can nearly catch a glimpse of the Taj. Was the foreigner in the pic above, holding her head in disbelief. I almost did the same. As you go by the gate here's the intricate design of the ceiling of the dome.

When you get a glimpse of the Taj via the doorway it nearly takes your breath away and the closer you get the more it stuns you with its beauty.

When I consider how architects, workers and the king himself could spend time and travel this far from Delhi and nearby places to build such a wonder, it is mind boggling. Agra is a three hour drive by car from Delhi but by the time you reach the entrance of the area leading to the Taj it will seem like forever, particularly on a busy Sunday. So you wonder how the King and his men thought of such a location and went about building one of the finest monuments in the world.

Even the world's most beautiful girl will age but the Taj will not. The monument is so beautiful you just want to keep looking at all day long. For me even if the most beautiful girl had been there that day, she would have been ignored in the presence of the Taj.

The other thing that came to my mind is the incredible perfection of the construction or should I say the epitome of beauty and perfection in a building. Stunning symmetry, perfect and flawless geometry are what awaits you. Even small lines and circles on each of the four minarets are the same in size, proportion and position. Then comes the intricate hand work, fine Jali's in marble, inlay work using semi precious stones (several of them scooped out too), and carving done on marble, all there to drop your jaws wide. The calligraphy is the other thing that you will not be able to ignore. It is so beautiful that Shahjahan is supposed to have rewarded the calligrapher. I can only wonder how they made such precise measurements to write the verses of the Koran in beautiful Arabic. I can hardly  imagine how the Taj must have looked when it was in its pristine condition in 1653 A.D, 360 years ago. Shining a light close through the marble (guide's suggestion) you'll notice the high quality of the marble that almost lets the light through as though it were translucent and how the inlay work just lights up.

What always blows me away is the construction of this wonder that took place at a time when there was no computer, no CAD or CAM, calculators, engineering colleges or universities, when even no cement. Most of the fountains that were operational used natural pressure to function, no motors or pumps. The gardens were later replaced or improvised by ones under the British rule.

I also got this rude shock as to what are I was doing with my life. Even the smallest worker on this monument seems to have accomplished something worthwhile in this life. I also wonder what did a day in the life of a worker or an architect or an engineer working on the Taj, felt like.

Honestly, go alone, bask in its beauty and solitude that will make your mind think wonderful things instead of going with big company and wasting a lot of that "thinking time" on chatting. Ideally I would like to spend one full day here. This was my last shot of the Taj as we were reclining in the benches on the lawn.

Take a guide. You'll find many. They actually help you move through lengthy queues and stubborn security folks much faster. Talk to them and unless they sound like quacks, hire one of them. They also fill you with a load of crap but you can ignore them like the Black replica of the Taj that Shahjahan was trying to build acroos the Yamuna and such. Make sure you pick up shoe and slipper wraps when you buy your tickets (Guide's suggestion) because if you don't you will have to remove your footwear when you climb up the Taj.

Cannot wait to visit it again. This time I want to visit The Taj on a full moon day which I believe is when The Taj is at its romantic best and also the most beautiful to watch.

In a recent interview I heard Amitabh Bachan mention how one of his Pakistani friends would tell him that in Pakistan they had everything that India had except for two incredibly beautiful things. One, the Taj Mahal and the other Lata Mangeshkar.

If you are Indian, you MUST visit this wonder before you die.

Some notes on traffic, accidents and transportation in North India

Traffic in North India is not very different from traffic in the South. But there were subtle differences.

I had already mentioned about two accidents, one on the day we were driving to Hansi, Haryana from Delhi and the other in Hansi. The first involved the Toyota Innova we were travelling. On one of the Highways just outside of Delhi a traffic cop stopped us. As the driver was slowing down I knew he had something on his mind. As the cop was being mislead that the vehicle was going to stop the driver suddenly stepped on the pedal and sped away. The cop was just able to tap the vehicle with his lathi. I was wondering if there was a chase ensuing. A short while later the same vehilce scraped against a small pick-up truck. The sound was so loud I thought damage was done. Fortunately there was only a small scratch but the rear bumper on the left side seemed disconnected from the body. The left rear-view mirror though knocked and folded-closed from the impact also only had a minor scratch. However the best part was that the driver of our car didn't even step outside to inspect the damage. He continued to drive on. On enquiry I found that the Innova we were driving was also his. Strange and unbelievable.

The other accident took place in Hansi when a two wheeler hit ours and as if nothing happened the two parties just went about their ways. I was dumbfounded. I have been in accidents in Chennai and I know the aftermaths of such events.

Share autos are interesting. They have an additional seat at the rear for rear-facing passengers. Certainly not safe and for those who have problems when seated in moving vehicles going in the opposite direction they are facing. I know one friend who just cannot sit that way.

One sad observation is that cycle richshaws are very much in vogue up North with more of them being used near train and bus stations. In Chennai they are almost extinct and their usage in Delhi and Haryana seemed odd and a little disturbing too. I am happy I didn't see any hand-drawn ones. I believe they contunue to be used in Calcutta.

P.S - On the way to Hisar I saw two white limousines parked in an open area. I believe marriages these days use them.