Indore: Home sweet home....2012-01-31

 Three people preparing lunch for ME

 Compound where he sermon for 500, 000 people is being delivered

 My friend's 100+ years home. This is where the Guruji is staying

 Friends for ever. We were best friends since we were three years old

Weight measures from Old times


We woke up at 4:30 am to catch the 6am flight to Indore. The city was sleeping the the roads empty but the airport was full of travelers. There are at least ten times more men than women in public places and air port was not exception. But, the good news is tht the lines for men and women are separate so I always get to go in a short line ;)

We barely made it on time , The 45 minutes flight was routine and we got to Indore airport which still has the bus and the stairs to get to the airport from the plane. Coming to Indore is always very emotional for me. We were greeted by my brother as well as Jagdish's brother and his friends.  We decided to split up and I am staying with my brother and JAgdish was staying with his ( till he decided it is very noisy there and moved to Nirmal Soni's home)

Indore has grown in last five years. It is louder, more crowded and more built up ( you will see some pictures shortly) . I am in the house where I grew up and first thing i did was  to run around and check everything. It is a huge house with four stories. It is remodeled but still is very much the HOME.

I was planning to meet up with my friends from elementary school ( have not seen them for 45 years...can not believe it was that long ago) . One of them is the head of Necrotic LAb  for government of India , other one ( daughter of the famous Cricketer, Naidu) is some hot shot at the embassy in London , and third one is an house wife in LA. IN any case , it was lot of fun and we decided to meet again tomorrow. I told Jagdih I will not go in the car that he is driving but I am very happy to be in the car that my friend is driving ( he is little upset about this but driving here is totally crazy and I do not think he should be driving at all)

One interesting story: I found out there was a three day sermon by one of the cult , SATSANG ( i know some people will not like the choice of the word...but it is my blog) leaders and there are 500, 000 people here who came to hear the sermon and are camping out on the grounds. It is ONLY 500, 000 because the GURUJI told people beyond a certain area to not come and he will go there next. I had to go see it , but outsiders were not allowed. Well , it so happened that my brother who is a doctor ran into a patient and a family friend who was the security in charge and he was nice enough to let us in. ( helps to be a family of doctors in small towns in India) It is an amazing sight , SORRY NO PICTURES> I sneaked   few in but it does not do justice to what we saw.

It also turned out that the "Guruji" was staying at my friend Surekha's home and we were going to have our reunion there ( helps to have friends in these large palaces) . Here parents have donated a huge section of their 100+ year home to the "GURUJI" and we just happened ot be there when he was leaving to give the sermon. We saw the whole security team including the guns carrying security guards , police motorcade and body guards in the front and back...He was impressive and I am sure he has the charisma that so many people come to hear him or just see him. But, to my skeptic eyes , he looked like a mere human being.


Oh, one more thing: My friend's brother who is a prominent Eye Surgeon has a hobby of researching the history of "WEIGHTS" . He has weights dating back from 400 AD onwards and did you know that each kingdom had it's own way of defining a standard weight measure, which could very anywhere from 30 to 80 units ( Tolas) . He went on to show us the lettering on them and then the reasons and history behind the language chosen ( URDU, ENGLISH or HINDI) He is writing a book about it.... fascinating.

Back at home talking and gossiping. It is so much fun to just sit and talk about childhood days. So many memories...mostly good ones. I intend to get some good pictures of places and schools where i spent all my childhood days. Till then good night 

Heritage walk,: Ahmadabad 2012-01-30

Swaminath Temple, Tour started here

 Cooking first thing in the morning

 Sharing the living space with cows, dogs and birds

 Making flower garlands for the Temple

 Antenna and The monkey

 Washing the Dishes under Supervision

 Pol and the scooters

 Life in the Pol

 Washing the clothes in the morning

 Washing

Puppies everywhere

Jami Mosque with Hindu and Jain Architecture

Hathisingh Temple: Jain Temple

We took a Heritage walk through the old city. A bit of history lesson is in order at this point : Ahmadabad was formed by the king Ahmad Shah in 1400's . He came for hunting and fell in love with the village by the river. Muslims, Hindus and Jains live here since then. Old city is a walled city with 14 gates going to different parts of India . It is said that Emperor Jahangir and his wife , Mumtaj ( of Taj Mahal reference) used to come here for vacations. 
Old city consists of "POLS" , a word derived from a Sanskrit word meaning gated community. Each pol has a gate, a common area where people of the POL live as a community ( see the pictures) . These are clean and average middle class people live here. Some people have been here for generations and they love to live as a community. A POL can be of 10 families to 300 families and have bird feeders, temples, Mosques and of course cows and lots of dogs ( no cats) .
 The tour started from the temple and ended at the Mosque. We saw about ten tourists( Americans) . Tour was conducted by the volunteer and was quite informative. The Mosque was beautiful and unique in that it has  Jain and Hindu architecture. One of the POL had a church in it too.
IN the afternoon we visited the a Jain Temple ( 160 years old) , very nice carvings. Now, just relaxing and listening to Jagdish and his friend talk. The daughter in law is cooking fresh Indian food. I will be very spoiled after six weeks in India :) It is our last day here, I will miss the Peacocks, the kids and Shivani. May be more stuff will come out of SEWA and we will be back in few years. It has been a very pleasant and productive stay in Ahmadabad. It is a clean city full of NRIs :)

India: Paradise for Men, End of Republican day celebrations....still in the town of Gandhi 2012-01-29

 50,000 Rs Birthday Party at the neighbor's house

 An Artist at Vishala Museum

 Old Dowry boxes

 Hearing aid from old times

 Puppet show from a village

 1000 year old pot collection

 Dinner village style ( on banyon leaves)

 Mural showing Girl,s fetus getting murdered

 Flowers on morning walk

Space Center on morning walk

Today is the end of the India's republican day celebrations. It is ending with a grand parade and very impressive commentary on the ending of the proud celebration of democracy gained in 1947. I wonder how much of it is the freedom for men and how much for women.
I am trying very hard not to make any judgments but  in spite of all the talks about the progress and women's liberation, education and so on, it seems to me that men got the excellent deal and women got even more raw deal. On the surface you see all these westernized and liberated women, wearing jeans, brand name clothes,   makeups and all western as well as Indian latest fashions. Most of these women are very well educated, they worked hard to be college educated, even gold medalists of their times, sports people and professionals but if you stay with them for few days , it is very clear that they are there to serve the men's needs and raise the children. They "manage " the maids. do children's homework and mostly keep quite about everything. They manage to convince themselves that they are happy . I am told many times in last few days that , " it is man's world and if one understands that one can be happy and peaceful"...( ok, no more ranting , i just have been feeling this and was wondering if I should put this in my blog but I decided , " it is my blog" so I will say what i feel and not white wash the dark stuff...) . It seems to me that Indian men got best of both worlds and women really got messed up . Jagdish has been very happy and comfortable here and you can understand why ;)

Anyways, i have been treated very well as the guest and we are getting all the pampering one can get from everyone. We went out for dinner last night at a restaurant called Vishala. It is a recreated village and authentic mud huts, puppet show and village folk music and dinner served on the leaves and sitting on the floor. It also had a wonderful museum of old utensils from Indian villages. It was very pleasant and luckily no mosquitoes.

The birthday party next door was an elaborate affair and our host was saying that spending 30 to 40 thousand rupees on such parties is very common. I am not sure how they justify it but it is the competition  between parents. 

This morning's walk was a self guided walk and we saw murals on the side walk done by everyday people. I am attached only one of them showing the little girl getting killed ( it is a real problem misusing technology of being able ot find the sex of the fetus) but there were many others , very colorful and upbeat. We are within walking distance to the SPACE center and I have attached one picture of the Rocket model visible from the street ( picture taking was strictly prohibited) .

JAgdish's friend came back from Indore , he is an IIM ( Indian Institite of Management) graduate. Jagdish and he have been catching up and relaxing all day. Hope to some more sight seeing tomorrow. Good night

SEWA Factory visit : Still in Ahemdabad 2012-01-28

 Birds at nearby park

 Solar Lantern, cook stove and the light

 People of the street

 Pegasus's R&D lab and Owners

 Jagdish Lecturing :)

Across the street from the lab

2012-01-28

Today is a NO TV day in India and of course no one is following it. Our hosts say it is impossible to live without TV…oh well.  It is also the biggest wedding day of the year and there are at least 5000 weddings only in Ahmadabad and  all the elephants, horses and carriages are prebooked.

We started the day with usual morning walk in the neighborhood of million dollar homes ,peacocks and birds, then went for the factory visit of Pegasus Systems. This is a for profit company started by an IIT graduate with 20 years of experience at TI and other startups in USA. They make Solar systems for a customer base ranging from very poor huts in the deserts of Rajasthan to a developer of multi million dollar homes and offices. I am attaching a picture of the core product ( they call basic carbon atom) . It is actually quite impressive in that it provides not only the light for the house but also cooking power as well as a flash light. Interesting tit bit : they were saying that most of the government programs as well as the NGOs do just the SOLAR lanterns ( sort of Kerosene lamp replacement) but the villagers want the “tube light” in the home. If there is just the lantern, the man takes it with him to go out and socialize with his friends and the kids and wife are left in the dark J So, these guys decided to provide a LED tube light to be  installed in the room.

It was a useful meeting, I think we can help the SEWA people interface the technical aspect of the Pegasus and make sure they get the good quality product and a well tested one.  SEWA , it turns out, is very well respected social organization here and has helped millions of women over last 50 years. ( I had no idea that they are so big)

The R&D building of the company was just across a  very poor neighborhood . It is just what India is all about. A big contrast between those who have and those who do not. Lot of my pictures and the blog is not a “tourist” picture of India but of real day to day life of Indian families and people. My  observations are biased by who I am staying with and just who I am. SO, please do not think it is what you will see if you come here as a tourist J

Next door neighbor is having a birthday party for the three year old grandson. They have decorated the yard with all sorts of lights and decorations of balloons etc. The theme is “blast off”. They have theme parties for birthdays. They also have jumping thing , slides and some other kids games , just like back home or much more) 

Going out or dinner with the head of the FDA ( Malav's Dad) will report on it tomorrow.

Good night

SEWA , Solar lantern , smokeless Stove , peacocks : Ahemdabad 2012-01-27

 Shivani and Anina ( our hosts)

 Me ready for a Rickshaw ride

 Peacocks on the wall

 Mansions

 Solar Lantern

 Bollywood Dance

Smokeless Chula


2012-01-27



Today was the day for working on the SEWA projects. Anupam and  I are  helping the ICA and SEWA for developing the Solar Lanterns and smokeless Stove for villages in India. It was a productive day in terms of understanding the needs as well as the politics of NGOs and the money and talent that is wasted . We are hoping to learn from the other people's mistakes and create something useful. It is quite impressive to see the talent and knowledge here in Ahmadabad and in India in general.

In the morning we went for a morning walk in a gated community nearby. The mansions are large and beautiful and the roads are clean and " no honking" signs everywhere. But, as soon as you come out of the gates of the gated community , things are just the same old India. It is such a contrast everywhere.

We went to Sundervan , literally meaning beautiful jungle. It is the saddest jungle I have seen in my life. They had a aquarium , may be four tanks , all dirty and few fish swimming. It is a large property and was probably very beautiful once upon a time, but it was in total mess right now. 

Just resting and hanging out now. Have a wonderful day/ or evening depending on where in the world you are.

Ahemdabad, Gandhi and 14 Century well and house of Peacocks 2012-01-26

 Sonu's home in Mumbai ( another fancy home)

 Mumbai airport , shuffling the baggage ( over weight) .

 Learning to weave cotton at Gandhi Ashram ( home)

 Gandhi lived here from 1917 to 1930

 Gandhi's room. (  Notice the simplicity )

 Microwave tower and old well

 Sharing the road

 Terrorist????( Smog protection)

 Vendor on the way

 !4th century well

 Well

Well ( five levels of it)

2012-01-26
Today is republic day, a very important day of India's democracy. A little history ( just because..)  lesson...India got freedom on August 15 , 1947 and the constitution was drafted and implemented on Jan 26, 1950. So it is very appropriate to visit the , " father of the nation: Gandhi" today.

 Last night we went to Sonu's( my nephew)  home for dinner. Rhea has grown up as much, she is as tall as I am. Took Early morning flight to Ahmadabad. The airport has become very nice and clean but the security is crazy. There were cops with old guns everywhere and the airline person made us shuffle the load around ( very annoying) but the flight was good, only one hour. At the air port I heard Vande Matram ( Indian national song) after a long time, it was quite emotional.

Ahmadabad ( see the map below) is the biggest city in Gujarat state and the roads etc are quite nice, but it is still India. We drove through the city and are staying with a friend and his son ( tow grandkids and daughter in law) They have a huge house in the Satellite colony( India's first Satellite station on 70's, sort of like NASA of India). They have wild peacocks , monkeys and snakes in the back yard ( and lots of mosquitoes :(
I met up with Unmesh Sheth , president of ICA ( the NGO from bay area) and he took us around to show highlights.

We went to Sambermati Ashram . It is where Gandhi lived from 1917 to 1930. It is also where the freedom movement started with the 200km march to make salt at the ocean ( salt march). It is also where do met so many world leaders, gave sermons and held prayers every evening. It also has Vinoba Bhave's home too ( where he lived for 10 years) .

Just joining is it , "Manav Sadhna" a magical place run by Jeyesh Bhai and Charity Focus ( a non profit in bay area). They run classes and mentor kids from the slum across the street. Many young and old from USA come here to volunteer.

After this was a lesson in Older history: A well from 14th century , called VAV These are five stories deep ( or more) and are carved in sand stone and at the bottom of it is the water well. In old times this water was used for drinking and the place was used for water as well as for socializing. There are many wells like this in the area but this is the most elobrate one.

Back home, just relaxing and socializing with the hosts.  The house has peacocks roaming in the back yard and walking around in the driveway. They fly in, hang out and fly back. It is weird to look out the  window and see a Peacock fly by or hear the calls of peacocks. I will try to take few pictures tomorrow.

We went out for a traditional Gujrati meal and it was excellent. Ate stuff that i never ate before and on the way back saw a shopping mall. These are springing up all over India and people are quite happy to go in and just wonder around. Security to enter the shopping malls is quite tight and they do check people before letting them in for shopping ....:)

I am sort of tired now ( may be the Maleria pills)...Good night from the town of Mahatma Gandhi.