yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

  Jaunpur and the magic of Sharqi architecture   This piece finds place in Sunday Herald .  Thanks are due to the team at Deccan Herald .   Warm thanks to Sanjay D, Dheeraj, Kumar, Siddhartha and Sanjay M for being together on the trips.     Some images from a previous post on Jaunpur – here .   What it is about these old and large masjids that one experiences a unique peace and calm here- a colleague asked. They also appear strong enough to stand tall for another few hundred years at least – remarked another. Three of us were at the Jami Masjid in Jaunpur.   We had driven from Banaras. 75 kms. From the town we took the road heading to the airport and went further. Rail is another option: Jaunpur is on the Lucknow – Varanasi route. However, despite this proximity to and connectivity with Banaras Jaunpur lags far behind on the tourism front. Is this despite Banaras or because of Banaras we wondered.   On the other hand, ...

  Gothic Architecture in the heart of Banaras For Banaras’ past one goes to Diana L Eck’s Banaras: City of Light This is what she writes on the place In education, the British years brought a change from the ancient pandit-student pattern of learning which had predominated in Kashi for 2,500 years. In 1791, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, who had presumably recovered from the indignities of his flight from Banaras, approved the proposal of Jonathan Duncan for a Sanskrit College in Banaras, where Sanskrit texts would be collected and pandits employed. In 1853, the present buildings for this college were erected in a Gothic style strikingly out of place in Banaras. The Sanskrit College, preserving the most traditional Hindi learning, was oddly called Queen’s College. This is what James Kennedy had to say about the place in Life and work in Benares and Kumaon (Shristi Book Distributors, New Delhi, 978-93-85088-44-5) In 1853 a very fine Gothic structure, said to b...

    Books in the time of COVID   Anshumalika Rai and Nimesh Ved   This piece finds place in Teacher Plus’ February 2022 issue. Thanks are due to the team at Teacher Plus and colleagues for the questions (below) and more.   In the July 2020 issue of Teacher Plus we shared the initial steps of our journey of launching the Book Room. A few months after the launch COVID struck. In this article we talk about our experiences during the COVID times.     A colleague from a sister unit, during one of his visits, asked - as we discussed a book that had just arrived – to the students of which class will you give this book to read?   One of us responded thus - we do not tell the children which books to read, they decide . As we revisited the conversation, we realized that we had moved a few steps towards understanding children, books and the two together. This conversation had taken place after the students began coming regularly post - ...

  Book fairs and book stores as learning spaces Nimesh Ved and Anshumalika Rai Published at Deccan Herald. Thanks to the team there, to the book store teams that allowed us to put in time with books and to friends who accompanied us to the book fairs. Trips to book-stores and book-fairs during recent times have had us wonder why these are not looked at as learning spaces. Not as much as they warrant for sure. We have come across children and teachers at book-fairs but these appear more of exceptions given our numbers and the immense potential these spaces harbour. But first, what we do at these spaces. Let us begin with the book-fairs. The sheer numbers of books we see at the annual book-fair at Dilli we have not come across elsewhere. Images of people squatting on the floor, chatting excitedly about books and carrying bags full of books have stayed with us since. The smaller book-fairs, like those at the university campuses in Banaras, were different. Here we noticed ...

  India’s Classical Music and Dance Shrinkhla Sahai Publisher: Red Panda (An imprint of Westland Publications) Year: 2021 ISBN: 9789390679065   About the book Number of pages: 87. Sections: 3 ( Introduction, Indian Classical Music and Indian Classical Dance ). All pages are in colour and there is an extensive use of both – illustrations and photographs. Topic: Not an easy book to come out with - especially given that many of us would have heard of these arts but few would have clarity on. And, of course, the potential details that one could venture into. Presentation: The book carries a informal and non-serious look. This is welcome considering that many, especially those not associated with dance and music, have a not-easy-to-explain fear of the classical arts.   Price: 399/-. Very reasonable given the production quality.   Where I stand I am neither a performer of Indian Classical Dance or Indian Classic Music nor have I read on the topi...

A Saint, a folk talk and other stories Lesser-known monuments of India Rana Safvi First Impression: 2021 Publishers: Rupa Pages: 235 Price: 295/- ISBN: 978-93-5520-085-3 Published at the Purple Pencil Project .    This is a collection of articles – 19 on different monuments (most of these in northern India) and 1 on the graves of select poets. I read this book at a time when I have been exploring places in and around eastern Uttar Pradesh where I am based. The focus is on visiting sites of historical importance. Those I have visited recently include Saidpur (Bhitari), Chunar and Jaunpur . In the process I have got some idea of the archaeological, historical and cultural wealth which dots the landscape. Wealth not hidden but located amidst a densely populated region. And, despite all this the awareness regarding some of these gems is at best low. This book makes the reader aware to some such monuments. Those away from the limelight but every much as ...

Amrita Sher-gil Rebel with a paintbrush Anita Vachharajani (With illustrations by Kalyani Ganpathy) Number of pages: 182 First published: 2018 Publishers: HarperCollins P-ISBN: 978-93-5277-473-9 Amrita Some time ago a friend talked of how the mahaul one grows up amidst has an everlasting impact on our lives. We discussed Shabana Azmi – how the scholars she would have interacted with and the poetry she would have heard during her childhood (and youth) would have been an initiation with few parallels to learning language and a lot more. Similarly, Indira Gandhi - the museum at Allahabad shows her with Mohandas Gandhi in one image, with Rabindranath Tagore in another and so on during his childhood (and youth); add to this her being so widely travelled during those. Amrita appears to have a childhood on similar lines. A childhood which shaped her life. Her father counted Muhammed Iqbal, the poet, amongst his friends. Photography was a hobby and he bought a camera during the 1890’s. Her unc...

These seasonal waterfalls are also a source of joy and fun. Devdari and Rajdari are 2 better known names but there are others as well.  Fun places these are to laze in water.  We have put in a few hours (and more) during each trip. And old camera and lack of skills do not do justice to the places here - but then the waterfalls would be used to this! Waters and surroundings are clean - other than for the mess we humans generate. This - left over plastic and food (including cooking paraphernalia) - is a very avoidable mess. Welcome surprises these in the vicinity of the town! For some reason places like these also bring out happy conversations ~ Many years ago a friend's sister had asked the friend and I - why do you always go to places where you get to bathe?  The saga continues.