My Favourite Things

A Sunday morning walk in Mumbai

Posted on March 15, 2012August 18, 2014 by sudhagee

“Lets go for a walk. You can see a different side of Mumbai that way,” I said to a friend who was visiting Mumbai from Delhi on work and wanted to experience the city in a zara hatke way.

“A walk? In Mumbai?,” she asked incredulously.

“Of course,” I replied.

She laughed herself silly over my suggestion and then asked, “But where is the space to walk in this city? And what about the weather, the crowds, the traffic, the pollution, etc.?”

“The weather is not too bad in Mumbai now. Besides, if we go for a walk on a Sunday, the crowds, the traffic and the pollution will be manageable,” I responded.

“Er… what is there to see in Mumbai, apart from the not-so-clean beaches, the Marine Drive, the Siddhi Vinayak Temple, the Haji Ali Dargah, and houses of film stars?” she asked a little too politely.

Since this was the first time that my friend was visiting Mumbai, and was only repeating what she had heard from others, I guess she could be forgiven. But still, it was a matter of pride for me to present my city to a visitor in a way that only an insider can. “You and I are going for a walk this Sunday. No ifs and buts or whats and wheres. No arguments. Meet me outside Platform 1 at CST station at 8.00 am. And try not to be late, will you?”

Mumbai heritage walk 1 CST — The front façade of the UNESCO World Heritage site and Central Railway Headquarters, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

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My “now” song: Maula maula maula mere maula

Posted on March 11, 2012August 18, 2014 by sudhagee

Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music—it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. This becomes my “now’”song, and the “nowness” (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

My “now” song is Maula maula maula mere maula (or Arziyan) from the film Delhi 6, sung by Kailash Kher and Javed Ali with lyrics by Prasoon Joshi and music by A.R. Rehman.

This song is very special to me. Alone and homesick in London, this was a great song to calm and comfort me. It was also a song that helped me through dissertation angst and other course work as well. This song also transcended language barrier and had my Arabic- and Chinese-speaking friends hooked to it.

And back home in India, the song still continues to calm and comfort and support and inspire me as ever before.

Enjoy. 🙂

Portrait of an artists’ community: The Dhrupad Gurukul

Posted on March 6, 2012March 6, 2012 by sudhagee

The Guest Post Series on “My Favourite Things” has contributions by those sharing my interests in travel, books, music, and on issues that I am passionate about. These posts are not always by fellow bloggers, and the authors are always those who have interesting experiences to share.

Today’s guest post is by Ajinkya, who writes about the challenges that the guru shishya parampara faces in contemporary times. He is a student of Dhrupad and learns at the Dhrupad Gurukul in Palaspe, Panvel. The Gurukul is run by the legendary vocalist, Ustad Zia Farid-uddin Dagar, and his illustrious rudra veena playing nephew, Bahauddin Dagar.

“Alap entails the search to get the most perfect pitch of every note….”
– Ustad Zia Farid-uddin Dagar

It is 4:30 am.

The trucks low through the thick of an outskirt town’s sleepy oblivion. Somewhere, a chai wallah starts to wash his vessels and the clank of his kettle dissolves noiselessly into the tired rattle of bus tires and bumpers coughing though the dusty highway. Hidden away on the side of the road is a small cluster of houses lost somewhere in the limbo between Bombay cityscream and the undisturbed solace of Palaspe village. A tramp wraps his newspaper a little more tightly around his skeletal frame and huddles into a ball. Mosquitoes circle his body like vultures hankering for a dying man’s last sigh. The dim darklight of a morning taking angdai falls lazily on a dilapidated board saying “Dhrupad Gurukul”.

The D hangs half lit like a symptom of an era. The same old debates circling around the romance of a lost time and the preservation of an art come to one’s mind. Scratching away at the surface of recycled intellectual trash these irrelevant speculations are quickly forgotten as one approaches the gurukul.

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Travel Shot: The white peacock

Posted on March 2, 2012 by sudhagee

The Leeds Castle in the Kent county of England is a beautiful castle and located in very picturesque settings—the kind that’ll take your breath away. The extensive grounds offer opportunities for picnicking, playing golf, jousting tournaments, knight school, and so on.

The man at the ticket counter was very helpful in pointing out the various attractions at the Castle. So, when he told me not miss seeing the peacocks, I didn’t really believe him or pay much attention to this fact. Having seen many peacocks in India, they were not really on my priority list of things to “see” in the Castle.

But as it happened, I didn’t really have to go looking for the peacocks; they happened to be loitering near the path I was taking to the Castle. I actually heard the peacocks before I saw them, or rather I heard the “oohs” from the adoring tourists. It’s only when I saw the first one that, I couldn’t help “oohing” myself ! See for yourself:

White peacock Leeds Castle — The White Peacock at Leeds Castle

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Museum Treasure: The Shell Mosaic of Verulamium

Posted on February 26, 2012May 18, 2017 by sudhagee

The Verulamium Museum of Everyday Life in Roman Britain has a stunning collection of artefacts dating back to the Roman period of British history. Much of its exhibits come from excavations of the ancient roman city of Verulamium.

Verulamium was the third largest town in Roman Britain, after Londinium (London) and Camulodunum (Colchester). This ancient Roman city flourished here from about 45 AD to about 420 AD and at its peak, it had a population of about 7,000. It had the status of a municipium (municipality) and had a basilica (town hall), a forum (market place) and a theatre. Verulamium was near the present day city of St. Albans, which is about 20 minutes by train from London.

I was very fortunate to visit this museum as part of a day trip to St. Albans about 3 years back, and the Roman mosaics in the Museum’s collection is something that I have not forgotten even after all this while. These mosaics are nearly 2000 years old, and if you were to see them, you would be forgiven for thinking that they were made yesterday ! Mosaics are very difficult to preserve and the Romans must be credited with creating such high quality pieces of art which have lasted centuries.