Seeing the Taj Mahal left me a bit confused. Like reading Adiga’s White Tiger- I wasn’t sure what my reaction was or even is weeks later.
The book is not particularly well written. There is nothing especially new about the events outlined – we have at least second hand or third knowledge of such things. Yet I read the book non stop. He is a good story teller and the characters linger on strongly.
The Taj is exactly like all its pictures. Is this all? is one reaction. The sheer size is astonishing though. The beauty is in its simplicity the whiteness, the perfection – the attention to every detail. And the grace of it all. You can just stand there and keep on looking at it.
And of course click a hundred pictures. It is picturesque from any angle. And that’s the sad part of it. The thousands of people milling around are more busy getting themselves photographed with the Taj rather than looking at it. And so did we:-)
Except that we missed out ‘the bench’.
One has to see it at least once in a lifetime. We went in a tour coach ( I do recommend Panickers except for its shoppers stop) and it took us first to the Agra Fort where we got the sad history and were in a suitable frame of mind to appreciate the thought behind the Taj. Although Darshini did keep saying ’ why is this guy going on about honeymooners and romance? What is so romantic about it all?’ I guess the thought about undying love is difficult to really imagine in these cynical times and less so in those harder times. Mumtaz seems to have been pregnant for most of their lives together too. How did a husband stay madly in love even then?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
THE TAJ!
classic picture
The scale is unimaginable !
Beautiful fretwork -40000 artisans over 23 years
So much of detail
More beautiful inlay work - actually this is at Agra Fort rebuilt just before the Taj
From the side - perfection!
Monday, February 16, 2009
A Dental Tale
Open your mouth wide. Take your right hand and insert three fingers vertically into your mouth. If they fit in comfortably, then your mouth opening is right.
Now imagine if the opening is barely wide enough to push your little finger in.That's a case of lockjaw and that's what happened to me three weeks ago following a dental treatment. I had a molar in very bad condition. I went to my dentist who got a visiting dentist to do a root canal treatment. He did give me a local anesthetic but I had a lot of pain throughout. I found him extremely impersonal. I went home and sort of huddled in bed for the rest of the evening , not eating at all. All this contributed to a spasm they say which locked my jaw into a clamped position. The injection may have been shot into a nerve or muscle which caused the spasm. I thought I would recover once the course of antibiotics were done.
A week later, nothing had improved. We were leaving for Delhi.So I went back to my dentist. He said, you closed your mouth in fright and its not opening now. You've got to open it somehow.
We went to Delhi. We stayed at a swanky hotel and I enjoyed the luxury of it all. Free breakfast included more variety than we have at home in a year. I had yoghurt and juice and omlette and tried to eat as much as I could. But one cannot do justice when you can't get a spoon past your lips. It was all very sad.
Im sure you are thinking by now I must be mad to take it as part of life. My friends have been telling me 'the problem with you (one of them)is... is you don't make a fuss.' When I was growing up, one didn't make a fuss. You had a problem; you got some tablets (maybe), you took them and carried on with life. It was considered kind of low-class, as my friend says, to talk about your physical ailments.
So I told my husband briefly that I couldn't eat - he gave me some tabs which I hoped faithfully would do the trick in a few days and I went on. It was when Darshini came to Delhi, saw me forcing food in painfully and dribbling all over like an old woman, that she pulled up her father and forced him to take notice. "oh these tabs are not working; we'll have to change them' he said.
Upshot is, we came back to Coimbatore and saw a neurologist who sent me to an orthodontist. He gave me a local anesthetic, pried my jaws slightly open and prescribed some physiotherapy. Meanwhile, he seems to have found a gold mine in my mouth- said the treatment done all these years at Ooty was all wrong and some fillings were toxic and some were ... and I would have to have prolonged treatment.
I stayed for a few days while he continued the root canal which originally started, yanked the jaw open everyday ( it tends to close up after every treatment). I stayed home and tried keeping my mouth open with a stack of icecream sticks and carrots.
I went home for a break and came back to Coimbatore to continue the treatment. This time the charm had worn off and the dentist was in serious business. No time to indulge me. This time he put in some metal forceps and pried the jaws wider and wider apart. I was screaming - trying to find his hand to make him stop. There were a couple of loud 'crack' sounds. He was very satisfied and excited when it happened.
He did it again. If this sound like something from a Leon Uris novel, it was. I was curled up in a foetal postion on the chair. I don't think I've screamed after the birth of my kids. The dentist said if he didn't do it, the jaw would remained locked for ever. I said give me a break; I can't take this.
Then he said; look at your front tooth- let me look at it. The cap is bad- toxic. And he proceeded to inject my mouth in 8 places. And started work on 4 front teeth.
I was a total wreck when I got home.
Why did I let him do it? Because I trusted him so much to do the best for me.I was in to much pain to think. But he was doing the best for himself and I realised it only much later.
I've been cocooned all my life, healthwise. I live in a network of doctors. Father, husband, couple of sisters, cousins.. When I have to consult someone outside the family, the connections are protection enough. The docs will give me the best advice. So I've been thinking.
But now, its no longer so. The Hippocrates oath to do your best for your patient doesn't count. And the young doctors are paying a lot of money to study; so pay back has to be fast.
Well, next I consulted my only dentist cousin who happens to live in the US. Go see an oral surgeon she said and not one who has just passed out. Next day, trying to locate one when a friend called. So i told her my sorry history. She said her daughter had gone through this after an accident and she had been treated by a plastic surgeon; one I'd known from childhood. This was like coming home. Managed to see the plastic surgeon and in his team, there was an oral surgeon.
Upshot is: no yanking the jaw open..it should be done gradually over a period of weeks. There is a type of metal instrument available which you put into your mouth and screw open little by little as much as you can take. Meanwhile don't do any other dental treatment.
Im back home, relieved and wiser. I've put down this long story because none of the doctors I met/knew (except the last) had any idea about this case - it was a textbook case to them. It might be useful to someone somewhere.
Henceforth I am going to really listen to all those stories about dreadful thing happening to somebody's chittappa's brother in law. In the era of specialization, finding the right doctor is a long circuitous route. And when you meet me,beware, I might be talking about my health all the time.
Now imagine if the opening is barely wide enough to push your little finger in.That's a case of lockjaw and that's what happened to me three weeks ago following a dental treatment. I had a molar in very bad condition. I went to my dentist who got a visiting dentist to do a root canal treatment. He did give me a local anesthetic but I had a lot of pain throughout. I found him extremely impersonal. I went home and sort of huddled in bed for the rest of the evening , not eating at all. All this contributed to a spasm they say which locked my jaw into a clamped position. The injection may have been shot into a nerve or muscle which caused the spasm. I thought I would recover once the course of antibiotics were done.
A week later, nothing had improved. We were leaving for Delhi.So I went back to my dentist. He said, you closed your mouth in fright and its not opening now. You've got to open it somehow.
We went to Delhi. We stayed at a swanky hotel and I enjoyed the luxury of it all. Free breakfast included more variety than we have at home in a year. I had yoghurt and juice and omlette and tried to eat as much as I could. But one cannot do justice when you can't get a spoon past your lips. It was all very sad.
Im sure you are thinking by now I must be mad to take it as part of life. My friends have been telling me 'the problem with you (one of them)is... is you don't make a fuss.' When I was growing up, one didn't make a fuss. You had a problem; you got some tablets (maybe), you took them and carried on with life. It was considered kind of low-class, as my friend says, to talk about your physical ailments.
So I told my husband briefly that I couldn't eat - he gave me some tabs which I hoped faithfully would do the trick in a few days and I went on. It was when Darshini came to Delhi, saw me forcing food in painfully and dribbling all over like an old woman, that she pulled up her father and forced him to take notice. "oh these tabs are not working; we'll have to change them' he said.
Upshot is, we came back to Coimbatore and saw a neurologist who sent me to an orthodontist. He gave me a local anesthetic, pried my jaws slightly open and prescribed some physiotherapy. Meanwhile, he seems to have found a gold mine in my mouth- said the treatment done all these years at Ooty was all wrong and some fillings were toxic and some were ... and I would have to have prolonged treatment.
I stayed for a few days while he continued the root canal which originally started, yanked the jaw open everyday ( it tends to close up after every treatment). I stayed home and tried keeping my mouth open with a stack of icecream sticks and carrots.
I went home for a break and came back to Coimbatore to continue the treatment. This time the charm had worn off and the dentist was in serious business. No time to indulge me. This time he put in some metal forceps and pried the jaws wider and wider apart. I was screaming - trying to find his hand to make him stop. There were a couple of loud 'crack' sounds. He was very satisfied and excited when it happened.
He did it again. If this sound like something from a Leon Uris novel, it was. I was curled up in a foetal postion on the chair. I don't think I've screamed after the birth of my kids. The dentist said if he didn't do it, the jaw would remained locked for ever. I said give me a break; I can't take this.
Then he said; look at your front tooth- let me look at it. The cap is bad- toxic. And he proceeded to inject my mouth in 8 places. And started work on 4 front teeth.
I was a total wreck when I got home.
Why did I let him do it? Because I trusted him so much to do the best for me.I was in to much pain to think. But he was doing the best for himself and I realised it only much later.
I've been cocooned all my life, healthwise. I live in a network of doctors. Father, husband, couple of sisters, cousins.. When I have to consult someone outside the family, the connections are protection enough. The docs will give me the best advice. So I've been thinking.
But now, its no longer so. The Hippocrates oath to do your best for your patient doesn't count. And the young doctors are paying a lot of money to study; so pay back has to be fast.
Well, next I consulted my only dentist cousin who happens to live in the US. Go see an oral surgeon she said and not one who has just passed out. Next day, trying to locate one when a friend called. So i told her my sorry history. She said her daughter had gone through this after an accident and she had been treated by a plastic surgeon; one I'd known from childhood. This was like coming home. Managed to see the plastic surgeon and in his team, there was an oral surgeon.
Upshot is: no yanking the jaw open..it should be done gradually over a period of weeks. There is a type of metal instrument available which you put into your mouth and screw open little by little as much as you can take. Meanwhile don't do any other dental treatment.
Im back home, relieved and wiser. I've put down this long story because none of the doctors I met/knew (except the last) had any idea about this case - it was a textbook case to them. It might be useful to someone somewhere.
Henceforth I am going to really listen to all those stories about dreadful thing happening to somebody's chittappa's brother in law. In the era of specialization, finding the right doctor is a long circuitous route. And when you meet me,beware, I might be talking about my health all the time.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Impressions of Delhi
Tree lined , broad roads. Power and wealth. Very few signs of life in the huge compounds we pass. Except once when there were a number of vans bristling with antennae outside the AICC and a number of reporters and camera men jostling each other outside the gates. Even this seemed to be so controlled, so ordered and neat like a Naidu function in Coimbatore.
The names of the roads are so evocative- Subramani bharathi marg, Tolstoy marg, Copernicus marg,.. history coming alive as nowhere else. Closer to the centers of power, the road names are given in Urdu too.
One can’t be a proud car owner in Delhi. Every vehicle is damaged except the bigger cars. Replaced often maybe or very careful drivers? The long lines of cars have only one occupant mostly or sometimes two if there is a driver.
Gardens are immaculate. Every bush, even trees are pruned. The hallmark of the Archaeological Society is lush green lawns that give grace and serenity to each monument.
We didn’t see too many monuments as we took it slowly. Everywhere we went there were busloads of schoolchildren with exuberance uncorked. It is very good to see all the ‘sights’ when one is in school with very little actually absorbed. But then we can visit a few later when we are really able to appreciate.
Humayun’s tomb- tranquil and serene. Worth a visit. Coming upon a tamil gatekeeper was a nice touch. That alleviated some of our bewilderment when we found our taxi driver had absconded suddenly with a few of our things. But what we were left with is a sense of the great Mughals. They did think big and built magnificently.
The Lotus temple is an architectural marvel that fills the eye. We thought Raj ghat was a must especially since it was Gandhi’s death day. Leaders had been and gone and the Samadhi was beautifully decorated with flowers. I bought a book on Ba and enjoyed the not so well known traits of Gandhi.
The Jama Masjid is astonishing in size. And the claustrophic trek they have up a tower is worth the panaromic view from the top.
Our highlight was the rickshaw ride through the very narrow lanes of Chandni Chowk opposite the Red Fort. Whole lanes of shops decked with gorgeous sarees in every rich hue, embroidered closely in gold thread. One lane had only laces of every kind , one had glass beads and baubles…. it was a something you only see on Discovery:-)) I was glad Sindhu wasn’t around or she would have insisted on buying a saree she would never wear. We searched hard for the old jilebi wala described in Lonely planet and found a good enough substitute.
We finished the day with the Sound and light show at the Red Fort. I found it a bit tame in these days of extraordinary visual aids but it’s a slice of history portrayed wonderfully in the style of the 70’s. The story of magnificence and decadence remains in your head when you go back to the hotel room.
( I suppose I should put in appropriate pics and history. But I dont think anyone is looking for a guide to Delhi here. And I cant' find the data cord for the camera:-)By the time I find it, the impressions might have gone.)
The names of the roads are so evocative- Subramani bharathi marg, Tolstoy marg, Copernicus marg,.. history coming alive as nowhere else. Closer to the centers of power, the road names are given in Urdu too.
One can’t be a proud car owner in Delhi. Every vehicle is damaged except the bigger cars. Replaced often maybe or very careful drivers? The long lines of cars have only one occupant mostly or sometimes two if there is a driver.
Gardens are immaculate. Every bush, even trees are pruned. The hallmark of the Archaeological Society is lush green lawns that give grace and serenity to each monument.
We didn’t see too many monuments as we took it slowly. Everywhere we went there were busloads of schoolchildren with exuberance uncorked. It is very good to see all the ‘sights’ when one is in school with very little actually absorbed. But then we can visit a few later when we are really able to appreciate.
Humayun’s tomb- tranquil and serene. Worth a visit. Coming upon a tamil gatekeeper was a nice touch. That alleviated some of our bewilderment when we found our taxi driver had absconded suddenly with a few of our things. But what we were left with is a sense of the great Mughals. They did think big and built magnificently.
The Lotus temple is an architectural marvel that fills the eye. We thought Raj ghat was a must especially since it was Gandhi’s death day. Leaders had been and gone and the Samadhi was beautifully decorated with flowers. I bought a book on Ba and enjoyed the not so well known traits of Gandhi.
The Jama Masjid is astonishing in size. And the claustrophic trek they have up a tower is worth the panaromic view from the top.
Our highlight was the rickshaw ride through the very narrow lanes of Chandni Chowk opposite the Red Fort. Whole lanes of shops decked with gorgeous sarees in every rich hue, embroidered closely in gold thread. One lane had only laces of every kind , one had glass beads and baubles…. it was a something you only see on Discovery:-)) I was glad Sindhu wasn’t around or she would have insisted on buying a saree she would never wear. We searched hard for the old jilebi wala described in Lonely planet and found a good enough substitute.
We finished the day with the Sound and light show at the Red Fort. I found it a bit tame in these days of extraordinary visual aids but it’s a slice of history portrayed wonderfully in the style of the 70’s. The story of magnificence and decadence remains in your head when you go back to the hotel room.
( I suppose I should put in appropriate pics and history. But I dont think anyone is looking for a guide to Delhi here. And I cant' find the data cord for the camera:-)By the time I find it, the impressions might have gone.)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
From up above
Looking down from the aircraft window, it was all so wonderful. Rows and rows of coconut trees, clusters of houses, the larger metal roofs of factories gleaming in the sunlight, clean roads. Five minutes after take off from Coimbatore, we were over the Nilgiris, a distance that would take 3 hours by road.
Flying over the Deccan plateau, geography lessons came alive. The red land that stretched on and on with little bits of green in-between; mottled grey stretches of rock and small ranges of hills lifting up in the middle. Just like an atlas :-) Pools of water collected in the valleys and depressions among the rocks. Around them was cultivation, civilization. Towns and villages huddled together near water and the roads. But the rest looked bare. There seems to be so much land that is uncultivated or uninhabited!
(stats say that only 21% of the earth's surface is cultivated and of that only 7.6% is actually in use due to water shortages).
Ponds, lakes, muddy rivers held the eye; especially mine brought up in water starved Coimbatore. Unfortunately, no one gives you a flight map so you can’t make out if what you are seeing is the generous Krishna or just a tributary.
The word meander takes on a new significance when you see the world from up on high. Rivers, the course they take, the changes in course are all yours to behold.. Road meander too; grey and long.
Banks of clouds did obscure the view occasionally. And I wondered how high up we were. When one is on the ground, the clouds up there seem so high and now we were so far above. It felt a bit Godlike to think of all those tiny beings down there and their concerns and troubles seemed so insignificant.
Closer to Delhi, everything is so much more neat and laid out. Neatly divided parcels of land surround starbursts of towns interconnected with the next town by straight roads drawn with a ruler and pencil. The land seems so fertile too. Many more water bodies. As the plane dips down the water shimmers in the sunlight.
No, not my first flight but the first one next to a window. Frequent fliers should get only aisle seats; so they can listen to music, sleep and smile with benign feelings towards all the new excited fliers. And if possible, school children should be able to experience all this when their lessons are still fresh.
Flying over the Deccan plateau, geography lessons came alive. The red land that stretched on and on with little bits of green in-between; mottled grey stretches of rock and small ranges of hills lifting up in the middle. Just like an atlas :-) Pools of water collected in the valleys and depressions among the rocks. Around them was cultivation, civilization. Towns and villages huddled together near water and the roads. But the rest looked bare. There seems to be so much land that is uncultivated or uninhabited!
(stats say that only 21% of the earth's surface is cultivated and of that only 7.6% is actually in use due to water shortages).
Ponds, lakes, muddy rivers held the eye; especially mine brought up in water starved Coimbatore. Unfortunately, no one gives you a flight map so you can’t make out if what you are seeing is the generous Krishna or just a tributary.
The word meander takes on a new significance when you see the world from up on high. Rivers, the course they take, the changes in course are all yours to behold.. Road meander too; grey and long.
Banks of clouds did obscure the view occasionally. And I wondered how high up we were. When one is on the ground, the clouds up there seem so high and now we were so far above. It felt a bit Godlike to think of all those tiny beings down there and their concerns and troubles seemed so insignificant.
Closer to Delhi, everything is so much more neat and laid out. Neatly divided parcels of land surround starbursts of towns interconnected with the next town by straight roads drawn with a ruler and pencil. The land seems so fertile too. Many more water bodies. As the plane dips down the water shimmers in the sunlight.
No, not my first flight but the first one next to a window. Frequent fliers should get only aisle seats; so they can listen to music, sleep and smile with benign feelings towards all the new excited fliers. And if possible, school children should be able to experience all this when their lessons are still fresh.
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