Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2015

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is the much awaited Arts festival of Mumbai. Scheduled for Jan/Feb every year, the festival is the platform for artists from different nooks to showcase their talent. 

This year the festival is scheduled for 7th of Feb to 15th of Feb. As part of the event, there is arena at the Fort area, with art installations and stores selling handicrafts from across the country. The festival also features dance, music, theater, cinema, literature, lecture, seminars and workshops, heritage walks, special events for kids. You can find the complete schedule of the event on their website here.

I had registered for the Travel writing workshop for 8th Feb morning for myself and Story telling session, recycling with Ecokids and Zumba dance workshop for kiddo. Though hubby had completely different plans of visiting the Mumbai International Motor Show, we somehow managed to convince him to reschedule his visit to expo for Saturday and accompany us for the workshops. 

We started off early, as the registration for my workshop was on first come basis, and reached Fort quite before schedule. Just when we reached Flora Fountain, we found few Vintage cars parked at the parking(separate post on the Vintage car drive). By the time the drive was over, I left for my workshop, and kiddo and hubby left for the arena followed by their workshop and here is what they contributed to my blog ;)

Window frames, from heritage windows to sliding panes, representing the constant evolution of Mumbai

Jalwa, Bollywood ka(Charisma of Bollywood)

Something for Cricket fans, the installation of Indian Cricket team shirt

OLX pe Kuch bhi bhiktha(anything can be sold on OLX), artistic Refrigerator and cupboard(then called Almirah)

Another installation by OLX, a bike out of scrape

The scarcity of water supply in Mumbai is represented by a Camel

A spider of clocks, I can recall from last to last year's display, when they had designed ants out of Petrol tank of Bikes

Book art, with the message "Save Tigers"

 

 

 

A visit to Kala Ghoda is best during week days or early hours on weekends. The event has gained so much popularity these days that, an evening visit will just end you up in crowd. The fest is till 15th Feb, do visit and share your thoughts.

The Qutub Complex - A Photo Essay

Qutub Minar is one such heritage site, which non of the travelers visiting Delhi give a miss. I still remember my grandma, narrating her tour to Qutub. More than the minar, the remains of Jain temples in the complex was what she used to remember from her tour. My grandparents had traveled most of central and western India(especially Jain Pilgrimages), and which is related to me starting this blog, yes that of course needs a separate blog post to narrate my grandparent's travel dairy. Meanwhile getting back to Qutub Minar, we reached here after the visit to Lotus Temple. We took our entry ticket in the HOHO Bus itself, thats one of the best things, if you opt to explore Delhi in HOHO Bus. Though the ticket counter was not that crowded, we were told there are very long queues during weekends. 

Though the tower is visible right from the entrance, you walk through other monuments in the complex to reach it. As you walk through the main gate, there is information center, where you get the audio guide. After a walk through the garden, you reach the Qutub Minar through the Alai Darwaza, the main gateway from southern side of Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque.

Decorated in redstone and white marble, with inscriptions, Alai Darwaza is said to be the first building in India with Islamic architecture in construction and ornamentation.

Of the remnants of seven capital cities of Delhi(check the seven capitals here), the construction of Qutub Minar was started during the second capital, Mehrauli. It is said to be started in 1192 by Qutab-ud-din Aibak to celebrate the victory of Mohammed Ghori over the last Hindu kingdom in Delhi, which was then added upon by Iltutmish and Firoz Shah Tughlaq(the last two storeys) to get its present structure by 1388.

This 73 m-high tower has five distinct storeys, each marked by a projecting balcony and tapers from a 15 m diameter at the base to just 2.5 m at the top. The first three storeys are made of red sandstone, the fourth and fifth storeys are of marble and sandstone, marking a variation in construction material and architectural style from Aibak to Tughlaq. The tower along with the other surrounding monuments are listed as UNESCO World Heritage site.

It is said that, the structure was constructed by demolishing many Hindu and Jain temples. Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque in the complex still preserves many structures, which proves the same.

 

While there are many monuments in the complex, the iron pillar is one which gains significance just after the minar. The pillar is said to be originally erected by Chandragupta II in front of Vishnu Temple complex in Udayagiri around 402AD, which was later shifted here by Aangpal in 10th century. This 7.21 meters pillar weighing six tonnes, is said to be corrosion resistant which makes the pillar world's foremost metallurgical curiosities.

There is a belief that a person's wish comes true if he is able to join his hands around the pillar with his back to the pillar. The pillar is shot in many Bollywood movies, the one I remember is the movie Cheeni Kum, when Mr. Amitabh Bacchan is here to wish his loved one's well being.

 

There are many tombs and a Madarsa in the complex, including the tomb of Itutmish, who added to the construction of the minar and Alauddin Khilji, the second Sultan of Delhi.

Alai Minar is yet another structure you can't miss as you are on the way back from the complex. This is a abondoned minar, which was started by Alauddin Khilji and said to be started to be built double the height of Qutub Minar. Its construction was abondoned just after the completion of 24.5meter height. We can just image, how tall the structure would have stood, if it was completed, a minor double the height of present Qutub.

The complex is just not about Qutub Minar, but reflects a series of architectural flow from Jain temples to Islamic architecture, through the Aibak and Tughlaq rule, till the British era. The complex has lot to see and explore, which definitely needs half a day to explore in ease. 

Travel Info:

Qutub Complex is in Mehrauli, Delhi. Nearest metro station is Qutub Minar station.

Entry fee:

Indian visitors: Rs. 10/-

Foreign visitors: Rs. 250/-

Open all days, sunrise to sunset

Related Posts: Check out the complete series on Golden Triangle Tour.  

Arecanuts at Kyathanahalli

I come from a arecanut business family. My paternal grandfather and my maternal great grandfather(who is also my hubby's grandfather), were both into arecanut business. My grandfather was well known in the town of Hassan as Adike Papanna(Adike meaning arecanut and Papanna, his nick name). I still remember my grand mother narrating the stories of her childhood, where whole family used to get involved in, separating the arecanut seeds, cutting and on. And her father would attend the weekly markets in the near by places. While non of my maternal uncles, got into this business, only one of my paternal uncles, continued this business, whom we lost a year back.

Arecanut is a seed from areca palm, a tree from palm family. It is often chewed along with betel leaf and lime. A native to Asia, its said that Dutch and Portuguese sailors took it to Europe during 18th century.

On the way from Doddagaddavalli to Bylahalli, we visited Kyathanahalli, a village, my uncle used to buy arecunut from. Its a very neat and calm village, with most of the family into arecunut farming. You find the nuts spread out in front of almost every house. We stopped at one of the houses, where few people were working on the nuts. 

Manual peeling of the raw nut

The raw nut resemble tender coconut but very small in size. The raw nut is peeled, colour dyed and dried. Then, its either cut or crushed depending on the demand.

Boilers for dyeing the nuts

 

Coloured nut spread to dry

Though I find half cut nuts only in South India, crushed nut is available in packets everywhere in India. Here in Mumbai, we get the peeled uncolored ones.

Peeling of left over peel

While most of the process is manually done even today, this crusher is used by few to crush the nuts. The machine is attached to a tracker and people hire these machine on daily basis.

The visit to the village refreshed my childhood memories, of the fragrance of the sacks of nuts which used to be stored at my grandpa's place. 

Updated: Thank you Shivani for pointing out the use of arecanuts(supari) as offering to Hindu Gods along with Betel leaf(paan).