& The Pigeons, they fly

and the pigeons, they fly

this uncanny path

swirling and turning

making eights, from where I stand

it looks as though

they are a group

it looks as though

they trust their flight

it looks as though I was one too

but maybe not,

for I have not wings, but hands

and the pigeons, they fly

happy as they sway

against and then with the wind and up

and down some come, while others replace

and yet the group

looks uncouth in its grace

they are stupid you know,

pigeons, they are

I don’t understand why,

but they never befriend an empty house

an empty court or an empty roof

they always seek a place to stay

as near as they can

to where we human do

they group and clutter and

noisily squatter

and never shatter this infinite loop

I wonder why they never ever

seek peace far from us

like we ourselves do

what is it about these lovey doves

these stupid birds

these flighty puffs

maybe we need their constance,

their company

to remind us that not everything

needs to be reasoned too

and the pigeons, they fly

in the same given symphony

some things don’t change

like we humans do

some things don’t evolve

the same way at all

maybe we need to let it be

because the pigeons will fly

whether or not we agree

Smells of a city

Text and Photographs by Anusha Narayanan

Every city has a peculiar smell. Every street has one. In Delhi, it would shift between the hot steam rising from the tarred roads, smog, smoke from vehicles - and then drift to the smell of Gulmohar trees, Raat Raani (night jasmine) in the dark of the evenings, or the spread out banyan tree and the tall (useless) Eucalyptus. (Does it have a smell at all?) When you go to the south of Delhi, it is the smell of food - of Hamas and Shawarma, the thick Mango shakes, the Puchka and Ghugni Chaat of C R Park, the concrete of Nehru Place and Sandstone of Mehrauli. And in the rains my nose can not avoid the smells oozing from the drains and Delhi Municipal Corporation garbage bins.

Mehrauli, Delhi © anusha

In Baroda, it is the smell of earth – dust and construction and occasionally, the smells of fruits, savouries and sweets that overwhelm you. The lack of trees in Baroda (ironically Vadodara - the official name of the city, meaning the land of "vad" or banyan trees) gives it a stuffy, breathless feel overall, with not much of a breeze except near MSU or Shiv Sagar Lake. But Faafda and Jalebi in the mornings and Pani Puri and Dabeli wafting in into the nostrils in the evening - the smell of rolled up steamed Patra, and the five rupee soda clearly make Baroda, the city where I can smell food everywhere.

In Ahmedabad - it is sadly the smell of smoke and only smoke that I remember. Except for the evening spent with a friend on the Sabarmati Riverfront with cute little birds that flew dangerously close to our heads, flapping fast towards water and back, about 3-4 inches in size - other than that the smell of smoke and tides of hot air is all I remember. Of course there was good food too - in Manek Chowk - where your nostrils get tentalised with Amul Butter's fragrance. This night-market, any foodie's heaven, opens at say 8:30 pm and goes on till 2:00 am, serving delicacies prepared in butter, garnished with butter, to be had with the side-dish which is... That Is Right - More Amul Butter! I don't remember more smells here, sadly.

Sabarmati Riverfront, Ahmedabad © anusha

Mumbai – It is an explosion of smells! My first few days in Bombay were during the months of monsoon; the famous/infamous Mumbai Monsoons. And I had a front-row seat to a city that smelt like a drain be it any business park or the local station. In the local trains – you smell people's armpits and sweat, and the dirty clogged tracks that run alongside. But after you exit, and start walking towards your office, there is first the smell of food – poha, sheera, upma, pakodas, wada-pao and idli saambhaar. These play in tandem with the smell of fresh fruit juices, fruit salads and veggies - all ready for the homely buyer and the perpetually-running Mumbaikar. There is always the smell of fish from the machhi-bazzar and milk from the strong-cutting-chai shops. The soft temptation of a wada-pao – the true miracle dish that remains dry throughout the year, come rain or shine – is the one khushboo I can never get enough of, in Mumbai. The temple peeping out of the street corners, tucked invisibly into the crevices, exude the sweet smell of incense sticks, of sandalwood, jasmine and rose, every evening during aarti time.

Marine Drive © anusha

And finally, as my love and hate for the Smells of Cities – or should we call this a mini-ode to the Smells of Mumbai – comes to an end, as a true Panwadi there are three things that I can never get enough of. The smell of a cigarette which is irritating, pungent and strangely marinated with the emotions of every human smoking it. And then, the smell of the sea. Near Peddar road, past the Haji Ali dargah, the sea threatens your nose with its heavily-saline and pregnant-with-acquatic-life kind of smell. The same sea smells of the blank canvas which you stare into at Marine Drive. Lastly - how can I forget this - the smell of old wooden staircases and ceilings of the buildings of Fort. The mind makes a trip through the stories of all those people who must have trodden up and down those stairs - the busy bees that built Mumbai over the decades. The smell of Fort is my true addiction.

Fort, VT © anusha

Vijay Divas

Photographs by Dishant Bhatia and Sahil Arora. 

It’s been fifteen years. The bloody war that took lives of more than 500 Indian soldiers and left more than a thousand injured - has made its place in the history books and ‘war timeline’ and is being remembered every year as Vijay Divas. I had never realized the importance of this day until June ’13 and then the trip to Kargil War Memorial happened.

Kargil War Memorial

Tololing Hill

Sitting between the deserted peaks likes Tololing and Tiger hill, the memorial/museum is soaked in a very odd stillness. The entrance is marked by the slogan, “INDIAN ARMY – OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE”. The moment you enter the premises you are welcomed by a concrete road heading straight to the memorial beaded with Indian flags flying on both sides. But the only thing which will drag you is the tall post with a fearlessly flying ‘giant’ TIRANGA, placed just behind the memorial and the ‘amar jawan jyoti’. Behind this ‘symbol’ is a wall with AMAR JAWAN written on top and the names of all the brave jawans who fought for the country and lost their lives.

A ‘small’ (as compared to other museums that I have visited) museum marks the tales of the war, bravery of soldiers and throws light on their tough life and hardships they go through in order to make us feel ‘free’ in this free country. There are rare pictures of war and things that defines life of a soldier. There are tales written all over, soldiers present there on duty have witnessed it themselves, they showed the Pakistani bunkers which were captured during the combat, they share experiences which can ‘woo’ any civilian who spends his life online on social networks and abuses the system for not giving him freedom to download songs. While leaving the museum we saw a message register where you could pen down your experience, I had a lot of things in mind but no words to put in.

   

       

'Agni path' by Harivansh Rai Bachchan

After all the ‘heart-in-your-mouth’ experience we asked one of the soldiers about the location of Tiger Hill. He pointed towards a distant snow-capped peak on left and said, “vo chhoti si safed pahadi jo hai… sabse top pe.. vo hai…”, explaining the condition more he added, “jahan aap khade ho wahan tak aagaye the vo… Tiger hill yahan se 150 kilometer hai..”. That conversation left us blank. Suddenly we could feel the emptiness of the air we were breathing in. Standing there in front of hundreds of tombstones laid in the memory of our soldiers, the snow-capped Tiger hill on your left and the giant TIRANGA on your right, you realize the worth of the word ‘FREEDOM’

Tiger hill in the background

Iron Man in Dilli

“SUPERHEROES IN NEW YORK? GIVE ME A BREAK!”, that’s what Stan Lee, the creator of the whole ‘league’, questions and returns to his game of chess. You know what I am talking about. Yes, the famous dialogue from the climax frame of the movie Avengers. Stan Lee, teamed up with various artists and created all these characters (starting in early 1940’s) and brought in the trend of Superheroes! Now we all watch them in Hollywood films but, as with most of the fictional characters, they were first printed as comic books. With advancing technology and increasing media the print media quite lost its pace but in the heart of comic book lovers, they are still the BEST!

Iron Man, one of Stan Lee’s characters, is among the most loved of all – especially due to the very recent Robert Downey’s personal touch to it. And, I am a big fan, I admit. I always wondered why NOT Tony Stark comes to Delhi and why the creators even didn’t attempt something like that. Well, after loads of researches, bhaag duad and effort, finally I found something from the archives of Comic studios!

Yes! It was attempted. An attempt was made to convince the creators to think upon bringing Iron Man to Delhi. Though, sadly the proposal was given by some jackass and thus it was thrown into trash. Still, I managed to grab copy of some parts of the comic book which was sent as the proposal. 

Presenting the NEVER told story of IRON MAN IN DILLI, especially for the readers of Panwadi Tales!!!

And, shhh… my ‘research’ is still on! I will try to bring more ‘abandoned’ comic strips as soon as get hold of them.

Till then a decent tribute to Stan Lee and all his artists.

Cover Page

The author is a big fan of all the characters and really wish we could have them here, custom-made for us only! Fingers crossed! :) 

Dilli se Bambayi

If you are a Delhi-ite and have visited Mumbai, probably you’ll understand this post well. I would not call this a conventional ‘Delhi v/s Mumbai’ dialogue as I have always stated that I love both the cities equally – uncommon to what most of people does – I do not indulge in any such conversation where the focus is on ‘Dilli – Bombay ka comparison’. But as one of my best buddies moved to the ‘commercial capital’ recently I decided to track down the similarities and differences between the cities so as to guide and prepare her for the stay. And, surprisingly, by the time I was done with this article my love for the cities grew even more – EQUALLY!

You Are in ‘Queue’

Mumbai is ahead in line in this. The ‘awesomely’ organized behavior of Mumbaikars bowl me out every time I visit the city. If you look at a bus stand in Delhi and then compare it with one in Mumbai, you’ll know what I am talking about. You’ll find a queue everywhere – bus stands, auto stands, ticket counters, railway stations, and even autos have their own queues. The best part – they don’t break the line.  

Lingo

Just as every city has its own lingo, these two are not different too. The difference is of ‘selection of words’ when in public. Dilliwale toh badnaam hi hain apne gussey ke liye. On the other hand, Mumbaikars have only one answer to that – “Shhhhh….” (or the kissing sound that they make). To get someone aside, to call, to stop – they make this sound everywhere. A girl born and brought up in Delhi might even get offended to this… but remember, if you ever hear a kissing sound in public area in an Indian city – you are in Mumbai. 

Dilli ka khana

Sorry dear Mumbai! But I have to admit that you don’t have a ‘taste’. You can ‘never ever, never ever ever ever, beat the variety and quality of food available in Delhi. Though I love your ‘staple diet food’, but that’s it! Sad! So, if someone is moving to Mumbai after living in Delhi, you gonna miss the food.

The Climate

Dilli ki garmi toh world famous hai, but one should remember it is not easy for someone from Delhi to just move into Mumbai without ‘pasina bahaye’!!! Oh god! The humidity there kills but what is an incentive is the cool breeze, phew! Moreover, its not just the climate, I feel. The city gets its ‘mood’ from what is happening in there – Delhi gets its hotness from all the ‘political’ and ‘central’ issues whereas Mumbai has always been the city where people come to ‘sweat it out’ – just a thought.

Mind your language

There are certain words and phrases that one should be aware of as they don’t work the same way, everywhere. In Delhi, we have a habit of calling ‘bhaiya’ everyone which might not work that well in Mumbai.

Meter Down!

Two things – Fare Meter & Taxi – these are there in Mumbai and working!!! You don’t have to ask any autowale dada “Chalogey?” or find a Taxi with a “Rs. 500 or Rs. 1000” tag. They use their meters very well.

Finally, the lifeline!

Metro is Delhi’s pride, for sure. But one must understand that settlements in Mumbai came up merging with the railway lines, thus the Locals are the cheap and best means of commuting there. One-one for both the cities on this.

Apart from all these things, both the cities have same love and warmth which is showed by the people.

 And not to forget, places like Marine Drive, VT, Town Hall and Colaba will always prove the validity of the statement – ‘Bombay – the city never sleeps’!

Fast Local

Whenever I think of writing anything about Mumbai I feel bounded by the idea of comparing it with Delhi. Usually, that is what people do. But I, somewhat, do not belong the same category. My friends know this well that I like both the cities equally and I hate them too … wait… No, I never hate them, just because they both have flavors of their own. Recently I revisited the “commercial capital” and fell in love with it one more time, possibly much more than ever as the duration of this trip was longer. After 48 days of close observation and grasping the essence of the city I was done with one more memoir of a wonderful stay in the ‘city that never sleeps’.

Talking of Mumbai, many things have been said before, have been written before and even been filmed about the city. I have nothing new to coin. The same early morning rush towards the offices, the same crowded local trains completing their to-and-fro trips mindlessly like a programmed machine, the same staple food – wada pao – being served at every nook and corner, the same helpless buildings which make their presence felt only after they die of their old age, the same city where there is ‘queue’ for everything, be it auto-rickshaws, buses or ticket counters, which actually reminds you that you are not the first one, there are many more like you!

I respect that very feel of this city. In fact, films like Wake Up Sid! And Dhobhi Ghat have already portrayed the city in so many ways that someone who has never been to the city would get the feel of it just by watching these movies. At least, I find them true depictions of the image of Mumbai city.

And on this trip I tried to capture the same feeling through 'videography' – a totally new way of looking at things. I have never done videography before. (am not using the word 'film-making' as I don’t see myself quite ‘there’ as yet) Being my first experience it is quite unplanned and can be termed as a fluke or experimental. This was actually an attempt to create a video diary of the trip and while doing so, I wanted to get familiar with the whole procedure of video-making. More or less, you can call it an experiment. I hope you’ll like it.

The video is named Fast Local. Before you watch it, please make a note that it is a total amateur video, the camera quality was not an option and I need fair and honest comments on the attempt. Thank you.

To watch the video click HERE

Video Credits:
Video by : Dishant Bhatia
Music : Mumbai Spirit

If you think you liked even a single frame of this, feel free to comment/appreciate the author and encourage him to conduct more such experiments by mailing him on panwadi.tales@gmail.com. Any Suggestions, ideas, advises and blessings are welcome. Critique too... :)      

Taste of Freedom

  

It’s been a week since we celebrated India’s 66^th Birthday. Yeay!!! Congrats to all of us! This year I was not occupied with other things and thus decided to dedicate the entire day to television programs which were to be telecasted on the occasion of THEE National Holiday. [Which means this post is been written by an unemployed young boy, who is free-thinking and has a “concerned” attitude towards his nation. And who just confessed that he spent the 15^th of August lying on his bed with a remote in his hand, doing nothing. And believe me, this same person is one among the future of this nation… after all he is one of the ‘young brigade’.]

At midnight I listened to the speech by our first Prime Minister – don’t know why but I do get goosebumps whenever I hear it. Early morning next day, I woke up to see the official ceremony at Red Fort on t.v.. After that, I was in a dilemma as I searched for something ‘soulful’ to do or watch. Some (actually many) channels had become ‘normal’ after a while and had started focusing on the ‘political tamasha’. Yes. I just did that. I called it a tamasha… literally a drama or a play, political from head to toe and I am talking about all the political parties, carefully leaving NO signs whatsoever of supporting any one of them because alongside doing ‘nothing’ and watching TV, I realized that somewhere India was still divided! Thus, I didn't want to be victim of someone’s fury by offending the politician that he/she would ‘follow’. I had two options at that very moment – either I could participate in this political tamasha believing that the ‘future’ of this country depends on it or I could look at the ‘past’ - history.

Well, I chose the latter.

And as I did, I found three ‘soul-touching’ features. Each of them is one of the best creations I have ever seen or heard, riveting and strong enough to leave a invoke anyone's patriotism.

Woh 7 din – While all news anchors, dressed in desi attire (which is probably exclusively made for this day) were busy reciting the same “Breaking News” over and over again, NDTV India showed something different. This program revealed what and how things were happening just a week before the historic day. How all the provinces were made to unite before the big day. This is something which was not known to me and came as a surprise. Indeed, independence wasn't easy. Watch the program series, link below –

Clip from 'Woh 7 Din', Source:NDTV

http://www.ndtv.com/video/list/shows/woh-7-din

Tamas – The most awaited TV series and best-rated by my parents already, I had to watch it. The episode started off with this phrase –

Clip from Tamas Source:YouTube

And I was bowled over. Some info about the serial for those who belong to my generation and the younger ones – the serial is based on the novel Tamas written by Bhishm Sahani, brother of Balraj Sahani (of the “O meri Johra-zabi..” fame) and also, the one who plays the character of Sardar Harnam Singh. This was first launched in 1986. A Youtube video of the serial showcases the author in the starting of the series. The author himself states that the reason behind the creation of the series is, “reminding people of their past, so that we do not repeat our mistakes”. Now that’s Twenty years back and it was the time just after the emergency. Now, twenty years since, reading the phrase for the first time and looking at the present scenario, I still find it unquestionably apt. Its a pity we haven’t changed. People still fight with each other over matters of caste, religion, and the most weird and latest trend – political parties slinging mud at each other! (Sigh!) The series is made remarkably well and is more riveting and convincing than any of today’s soap operas. How could I even be comparing? This one has reality in every frame and allowed you to connect yourself with it somehow. Moreover, the casting was the finest of the lot – Om Puri, Deepa Mehta and even Amrish Puri! Bravo! Hats off to its creators – Bhishm Sahani & Govind Nahlani. I hope people understand what the series is telling them! After all this is something which is not Googled, this is made by someone who has seen it himself! For those who have not seen – Its on air, daily at 9PM on History!

Husna – This one struck me hard last year as well. One of the songs featured in Coke Studio @Mtv Season 2. Composed by Hitesh Sonik, written and sung by my favorite Piyush Mishra. In the introduction, Hitesh said that the song was actually a poem written by Piyush ji around sixteen years back. The plot is set up in the post-partition era where the protagonist is putting up some questions in front of another character – a lady named Husna who now lives in Pakistan after partition – asking about her experiences and the atmosphere of the newly formed Pakistan. The mood, character, music and intense nature of the song give a different kind of high. The description of festivals and the mention of similarities in the cultures portrays the pain of partition very well. Again, this could only have been done by someone who has sported or witnessed the pain very closely. Hats off to Piyush ji for his awesome creation. Listen to the song here (link below) - 

Clip of Husna. Source: CokeStudio India @Mtv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zTFzMPWGLs

[The author thinks he has done his duty by sharing all of this with you, sitting on his bed, laptop in his lap, unlimited internet, proper electricity and freedom to post anything, anytime with as many people as possible reading. Hoping that people who crave for their rights will someday also think about the duties they are supposed to perform. Moreover, he is glad to be born in late 80’s, which kept him away from all the struggle and made him so oblivious and unmoved by the happenings of the ‘real’ world that he finds his freedom in just ‘liking’, ‘posting’, ‘sharing’ or ‘commenting’ on the matters which are too serious to be dealt on Facebook. He is glad to be the part of the generation which is the ‘so-called’ future of the nation, who looks into Google to know their past despite the presence of the real story-tellers.]

Although, it’s been checked twice, still if you find the author supporting any political party or person apart from artistes… please ignore and forgive him as this is his first ever attempt of writing on a not-so-very-political-matter. The sole purpose of this post is to appreciate those who ‘thought’ for us! If you support this cause, mail us at panwadi.tales@gmail.com