I’ve spent the last 2 days getting reacquainted with the city of Chandigarh after a 25 year gap. It’s a self governing city (Union Territory) as well as being the capital of 2 states- Haryana and Punjab (2 state governors live side by side!) and most exciting of all, it was designed and planned by leading designers in the 1950s, most notable of all, Swiss-born LeCorbusier. See the Wikipedia link at the top for more information. (Thanks to my cousin Amar for providing!)
So to recap, I made it here by ‘Volvo’ Coach from Delhi after Indian Airlines cancelled my flight. When I finally did make it to Chandigarh, it was a great relief to end my day with a warm welcome from my uncle and aunt. Their anticipation and my exhaustion had been growing in equal measure since 2pm, so by the time we met at 10:30pm they were really excited and I was really exhausted. Nonetheless we had a great reunion and spent a few hours catching up before hitting the sack.
The following morning my aunt began stuffing with me with food in good Indian Aunty fashion, and before I could say, “I need a nap” they took me out on a tour of the city. As we started to drive around, I was particularly interested to see buildings designed and built as part of LeCorbusier’s master plan for the city. I was not disappointed- the modernist architecture of The Secretariat (government buildings) and the High Court were beautiful- clean linear grey concrete structures marked with splashes of colour and surrounded by green open spaces. This was optimistic 50s architecture and urban planning in all its glory.
I started to realize that Chandigarh was just not the same India in which I had spent the last 3 weeks. This city was relatively clean and gleaming with civic pride. There were a lot of signs that made this point clear; for example there’s a large Rose Garden and even a Rose festival that includes a ‘best roundabout garden’ competition. Signs encourage people to use waste bins and keep the city green, there are even signs encouraging people to take walks and enjoy nature!
But that was just the beginning- there are lanes marked on the litter-free main roads (one day people may actually drive in them!), and they even have a digital countdown showing when the light will turn. The main roads are tree-flanked, divided boulevards- straight, flat and free of cows! There’s a cool breeze from the hills that makes for fresh clean air to breathe. It’s never too hot here and the whole place is buzzing with happy people. I think I just found my happy place!
Far from being like ‘master planned’ communities in the US, the best part is that this city has character! Each sector (neighborhood) has been designed with its own shopping area so people can walk to their local shops; most even have their own temple. There are so many uniquely designed homes and so many mature trees everywhere, it never feels stale or boring.
A bizarre feature- the residential streets don’t have names; your house is identified by its number and sector number. It all seems to work and it’s actually quite cool. Perhaps it’s one more step in redefining what a city should look and feel like.
Chandigarh is also one of India’s richest cities. That’s a welcome statistic and it translates to very few beggars (begging is actually illegal here- surely a first for India!). There are a lot of very nice neighborhoods around the city too, including Panchkula; where every street seemed to be filled with uniquely designed marble-clad mansions that would be the envy of people from most western cities.
My day was filled with stops that showed off the city- a Bougainvillea garden with a war memorial, drinks at the private “Chandigarh Club” where my uncle is a member. Then there was Sukhna lake- a picturesque man made lake where families were out enjoying boat rides and where you can walk or jog along the lakeside during morning and evening music. There was Rajiv Gandhi IT Park, full of brand new glass buildings and the Chandimandar Military Cantonment and bustling Sector 43 Outdoor market. The list went on- this city had something exciting to see around every corner.
I was really enjoying being here. It was a relaxed, comfortable and safe place. Toward the end of the day my uncle drove us to Panjore Gardens in the hills above the city, and finally to the Timber Trail restaurant just outside the hill town of Kalka. There was a cable car taking people up to a hotel of the same name, and amazing views down into the valley.
We had dinner at an uncle’s house that night whom I had not seen for 14 years- last time his daughter was 7 and scared of my ‘cut thumb’ trick; now she was learning Japanese and becoming a doctor. Talk about a time warp! I really enjoyed catching up with them and it was amazing to hear that despite growing up in the US, she actually enjoyed it here enough to say she wasn’t desperate to move back there.
The next morning, after a buttery breakfast of Aloo Parantha and home made yoghurt, I took a cycle rickshaw (first time on this trip) to Sector 17- the giant concrete shopping piazza where Chandigarh shops and socializes.
After people watching for a few hours, there followed another emotional family reunion as I met up with some more cousins after 25 years. They live in a new housing development outside the neighboring town of Mohali called, “Sunny Enclave”. It was sunny alright- it’s always sunny in Sunny Enclave.
My time in Chandigarh was rapidly coming to a close… way too fast- I was left with a list of places to visit and things to see on my “I’ll be back” list. Chandigarh is a model city not only for India but for the world- of course it helps that the Indian people have brought it to life with their flair and character. And how! Go Punjabis!
The next day I was going on to Delhi, by yet another new transport method- train. I took the express ‘Shatabdi’ train from Chandigarh to Delhi. For western standards, the train was a bit rickety and a bit congested but it made up for those minor shortcomings with a great service, speed (300KM to Delhi in just over 3 hours) and of course value. The ticket was just over 400Rs ($10) and for that I got several cups of tea, a newspaper and a tasty breakfast with an omelet. Of course getting to the station for my 0650 departure was a drag but it was by far the most reliable way to get to Delhi, based on my past experience with Indian Airlines. I would take an early rise over an airport delay any day.
En route I met Mr. Yadhav, a 26 year veteran employee of government owned HTM (Hindustan Tool Manufacturers). Mr. Y works in marketing for their tractor division and was en route to a meeting with the government to talk about new developments and potential orders.
We talked for the whole 3 hour trip about his paltry salary of Rs. 20K/mo ($500), the state of the Indian Tractor manufacturing business, his son who had just moved to study Hotel Management in Brisbane and his hopes of one day in the not to distant future, leaving the public sector to pursue a job with his competition, where he could quadruple his salary. He told me that HTM Tractors had had a hiring freeze since 1990 and were not competitive with the likes of new entrants including John Deere. I started getting angry on his behalf and giving him my opinions on the state of the company. Mr. Y. was lapping up my western marketing talk and I felt like quite the consultant all of a sudden! “We have an expression in English”, I said, “ ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’- you should jump ship to the competition before your company goes out of business!” I told him. “YES YES, I will go home and discuss with my wife.”
As the train clickety-clacked its way through farmland and I saw the sunrise over the flat horizon of Haryana state, I pictured myself as a marketing guru working in India, hosting seminars on Internet marketing across the land, attended by thousands of eager business people just like Mr. Yahdhav. I was going to be the master of the marketing lecture circuit in India! I would live in Chandigarh and go boating at the weekends; visit my holiday retreat in Kasauli in the summers and patriotically drive a Tata car. I would nod my head sideways a lot in approval, disapproval and also when unsure to all who crossed my way. It would be great!
I have now arrived in Delhi, excited about the next section of my trip- Jaipur, the Pink City. On to Jaipur tomorow by hired car!
Showing posts with label Chandigarh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chandigarh. Show all posts
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
IC 864 is cancelled
In the last installment of '87 Days', I left myself open to a catastrophic let-down, as I built my hopes up for a great return to Punjab and its shining capital Chandigarh after 25 years.
En route from Chennai to Delhi, Captain Akash Sahokh's piloting skills must have been top class, as he wafted the A-320 through the sky like a baby rocker with its own white noise generator; I slept for all but a few minutes of his Jet Lite flight. Alas once I got to Delhi, the story changed as I was now in the hands of the national carrier- Air India/Indian Airlines.
Now I say Air India AND Indian airlines and I hear you ask- which one was it?! Well it was both, and neither. You see the partnership is so confusing I have had to consult my sage of all knowledge, Wikipedia. She (Wikipedia is a She of course!) says,
"Though the company that owns and operates the airline continues to be named Indian Airlines Limited, on 7 December 2005, the airline was rebranded as Indian for advertising purposes as a part of a program to revamp its image in preparation for an initial public offering (IPO). The airline operates closely with Air India, India's national carrier. Alliance Air, a fully-owned subsidiary of Indian Airlines, was renamed Air India Regional.
In February 2007, the Government of India approved plans to merge Indian Airlines with Air India. In May 2007, India's Ministry of Civil Aviation announced that Air India Limited (AI), India's national flag carrier and Indian Airlines Limited (IA), the government owned domestic airline, would merge with effect from July 15, 2007. The new airline formed by the merger was to be called "Air India", and would operate in both the domestic and international sectors."
Are you confused yet? I am. So Indian Airlines is actually "Indian" but nobody calls it that, they work closely with Air India but of course they should as they have merged(!), and after the merger, they are actually a new airline called Air India, but my flight was still on Indian Airlines, which technically doesn't exist? OK sure, for India- that's quite logical!
WHATEVER!
The 1:10 Departure of my 50 minute flight meant I had to wait 4 hours in the terminal building. Fine- I walked around the area about 17 times, played Valet Hero until my iPhone battery died, (I am addicted to this idiotic game where you have to guide cars to their parking spots).
Oh, and I also ate at McDonald's India for the first time (along with everyone else in the terminal as there was no other decent food there). McD's does not serve Beef or Pork so as not to offend Hindus or Muslims respetively, leaving only MuckNuggets (sic), fish and Chicken sandwiches. I ate the Chicken sandwich, as for some reason I keep thinking the waters around India are so polluted, every fish in their seas has ingested at least a pound of mercury, swam through raw sewage and nibbled on the heels of a few chappals (ladies sandals) lost at sea. Not enough irradiation by McDonald's would make me change my mind. However for some reason I also imagine the little chickens hand fed little tasty morsels of corn and croutons, by Monks in orange robes, overseen by the Dalai Lama himself, thereby making the Chicken sandwiches a better option, obviously.
Ok so the wait for my flight went beyond the scheduled boarding time and the natives started getting restless. Apparantley the crew was 'missing'. They hadn't shown up to work! We were told by the HCs (Headless Chickens, AKA Indian Airlines staff) to rest assured as there was no way the flight was going to be cancelled. In just 10 minutes they would be ready to go!
About 2:30pm, the flight was cancelled. The HCs had hell to pay. Fellow passengers were annoyed about the reason given too- it was Holi and a lot of staff had called in sick. Ok Holi is a national holiday celebrated by people throwing coloured powder at each other (makes for great National Geographic photography but I could imagine it's hell to get the coloured powder out of your eyes). Right then I wanted to throw coloured powder at the faces of the HCs. Using paint ball guns of course. So rather than take a day off, the staff called in sick and there were no staff to cover them, and we were just going to have to deal with it?!
The HCs told us they were organising a bus to take us to Chandigarh, or we could stay overnight. My uncle and aunt were waiting for me so I chose the bus. The HCs offered us free snacks from McDonalds- our choice of MUCKFISH or Chicken. Well I went for #2 (as in a second sandwich!)... Stuck in the airport for 7 hours and on my second McChicken Sandwich meal from McDonalds... this was turning into "The Terminal" meets "Supersize Me"!
Several hours later, the HCs had run around the terminal with a lot of paperwork, ran away from and towards several dozen passengers (in fear and with paperwork respectively), stamped a lot of papers and tried to calm a lot of people down. But there was still no sign of a bus.
Then a large red oblong beacon of hope, a large "Volvo" bus showed up infront of the terminal. We were like convicts who just made parole, and our wardens, the HCs were probably equally thrilled, now free of us at last they probably went inside and high fived each other.
The Volvo swallowed up our luggage in the hold and we were off!
Note- I learned that "Volvo" is to an A/C bus like Kleenex is to tissues- ie. the generic name. If you're lucky the bus will actually be a Volvo, but it's not guaranteed. (I didn't have time to check this one). I heard people calling to inform relatives that IC (Indian Airlines code) had put on a Volvo for them. I wondered why Swedes are featuring so heavily in my travels lately (Abba cafe in Varkala, travel buddy Hokkam from Sweden, the Ikean embassy in Chennai...) ?!
Well 5 hours later we were almost in Chandigarh, and I had made a whole load of new friends on the bus! This was actually the best thing that could have happened in my quest to connect with local people. I learned the story of a 56 year old man who was working as a concrete foreman on construction projects in Dubai; he was coming home to his wife in a small village in Punjab after 6 months of living with 4 other men in one room. He had brought her a few small gifts...from the plane! A "soft shawl" (airplane blanket) and "cutlery set" complete with plastic stirrer, and a pen (with the construction company logo on it). For himself he had picked up a bottle of Scotch from Duty Free. This was going to be a great vacation for him!
There was the college student who had gone to Kolkata and Shilong to get away from the pressures of studying, and a couple from Ludhiana who run a bicycle parts manufacturing company that supplies to the UK. They have a son doing an MBA in Cardiff they were proud to tell me...and finally an ex-army officer who now flies helicopters in the Northwest of India.
My great group of fellow Punjabis and I were all making the most of our misfortune by sharing stories at the Dhaba (food stall) in Karnal where we stopped off en route for some masala chai and biscuits.
We made it to Chandigarh around 10:30pm and my uncle was at the bus stop to pick me up, my aunt waiting in the street when we got home. Hugs and kisses and after recounting the tales of the day, I was off to sleep to begin afresh the next day.
What adventures awaited in Chandigarh?!
Either way, it is amazing
En route from Chennai to Delhi, Captain Akash Sahokh's piloting skills must have been top class, as he wafted the A-320 through the sky like a baby rocker with its own white noise generator; I slept for all but a few minutes of his Jet Lite flight. Alas once I got to Delhi, the story changed as I was now in the hands of the national carrier- Air India/Indian Airlines.
Now I say Air India AND Indian airlines and I hear you ask- which one was it?! Well it was both, and neither. You see the partnership is so confusing I have had to consult my sage of all knowledge, Wikipedia. She (Wikipedia is a She of course!) says,
"Though the company that owns and operates the airline continues to be named Indian Airlines Limited, on 7 December 2005, the airline was rebranded as Indian for advertising purposes as a part of a program to revamp its image in preparation for an initial public offering (IPO). The airline operates closely with Air India, India's national carrier. Alliance Air, a fully-owned subsidiary of Indian Airlines, was renamed Air India Regional.
In February 2007, the Government of India approved plans to merge Indian Airlines with Air India. In May 2007, India's Ministry of Civil Aviation announced that Air India Limited (AI), India's national flag carrier and Indian Airlines Limited (IA), the government owned domestic airline, would merge with effect from July 15, 2007. The new airline formed by the merger was to be called "Air India", and would operate in both the domestic and international sectors."
Are you confused yet? I am. So Indian Airlines is actually "Indian" but nobody calls it that, they work closely with Air India but of course they should as they have merged(!), and after the merger, they are actually a new airline called Air India, but my flight was still on Indian Airlines, which technically doesn't exist? OK sure, for India- that's quite logical!
WHATEVER!
The 1:10 Departure of my 50 minute flight meant I had to wait 4 hours in the terminal building. Fine- I walked around the area about 17 times, played Valet Hero until my iPhone battery died, (I am addicted to this idiotic game where you have to guide cars to their parking spots).
Oh, and I also ate at McDonald's India for the first time (along with everyone else in the terminal as there was no other decent food there). McD's does not serve Beef or Pork so as not to offend Hindus or Muslims respetively, leaving only MuckNuggets (sic), fish and Chicken sandwiches. I ate the Chicken sandwich, as for some reason I keep thinking the waters around India are so polluted, every fish in their seas has ingested at least a pound of mercury, swam through raw sewage and nibbled on the heels of a few chappals (ladies sandals) lost at sea. Not enough irradiation by McDonald's would make me change my mind. However for some reason I also imagine the little chickens hand fed little tasty morsels of corn and croutons, by Monks in orange robes, overseen by the Dalai Lama himself, thereby making the Chicken sandwiches a better option, obviously.
Ok so the wait for my flight went beyond the scheduled boarding time and the natives started getting restless. Apparantley the crew was 'missing'. They hadn't shown up to work! We were told by the HCs (Headless Chickens, AKA Indian Airlines staff) to rest assured as there was no way the flight was going to be cancelled. In just 10 minutes they would be ready to go!
About 2:30pm, the flight was cancelled. The HCs had hell to pay. Fellow passengers were annoyed about the reason given too- it was Holi and a lot of staff had called in sick. Ok Holi is a national holiday celebrated by people throwing coloured powder at each other (makes for great National Geographic photography but I could imagine it's hell to get the coloured powder out of your eyes). Right then I wanted to throw coloured powder at the faces of the HCs. Using paint ball guns of course. So rather than take a day off, the staff called in sick and there were no staff to cover them, and we were just going to have to deal with it?!
The HCs told us they were organising a bus to take us to Chandigarh, or we could stay overnight. My uncle and aunt were waiting for me so I chose the bus. The HCs offered us free snacks from McDonalds- our choice of MUCKFISH or Chicken. Well I went for #2 (as in a second sandwich!)... Stuck in the airport for 7 hours and on my second McChicken Sandwich meal from McDonalds... this was turning into "The Terminal" meets "Supersize Me"!
Several hours later, the HCs had run around the terminal with a lot of paperwork, ran away from and towards several dozen passengers (in fear and with paperwork respectively), stamped a lot of papers and tried to calm a lot of people down. But there was still no sign of a bus.
Then a large red oblong beacon of hope, a large "Volvo" bus showed up infront of the terminal. We were like convicts who just made parole, and our wardens, the HCs were probably equally thrilled, now free of us at last they probably went inside and high fived each other.
The Volvo swallowed up our luggage in the hold and we were off!
Note- I learned that "Volvo" is to an A/C bus like Kleenex is to tissues- ie. the generic name. If you're lucky the bus will actually be a Volvo, but it's not guaranteed. (I didn't have time to check this one). I heard people calling to inform relatives that IC (Indian Airlines code) had put on a Volvo for them. I wondered why Swedes are featuring so heavily in my travels lately (Abba cafe in Varkala, travel buddy Hokkam from Sweden, the Ikean embassy in Chennai...) ?!
Well 5 hours later we were almost in Chandigarh, and I had made a whole load of new friends on the bus! This was actually the best thing that could have happened in my quest to connect with local people. I learned the story of a 56 year old man who was working as a concrete foreman on construction projects in Dubai; he was coming home to his wife in a small village in Punjab after 6 months of living with 4 other men in one room. He had brought her a few small gifts...from the plane! A "soft shawl" (airplane blanket) and "cutlery set" complete with plastic stirrer, and a pen (with the construction company logo on it). For himself he had picked up a bottle of Scotch from Duty Free. This was going to be a great vacation for him!
There was the college student who had gone to Kolkata and Shilong to get away from the pressures of studying, and a couple from Ludhiana who run a bicycle parts manufacturing company that supplies to the UK. They have a son doing an MBA in Cardiff they were proud to tell me...and finally an ex-army officer who now flies helicopters in the Northwest of India.
My great group of fellow Punjabis and I were all making the most of our misfortune by sharing stories at the Dhaba (food stall) in Karnal where we stopped off en route for some masala chai and biscuits.
We made it to Chandigarh around 10:30pm and my uncle was at the bus stop to pick me up, my aunt waiting in the street when we got home. Hugs and kisses and after recounting the tales of the day, I was off to sleep to begin afresh the next day.
What adventures awaited in Chandigarh?!
Either way, it is amazing
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