1948 and 1984.

 The city of Delhi was not always like this. There was not so much traffic, so many people, so many cars, so many rich people flaunting their riches and power. You never had people asking around, "Tujhe pata hai mera baap kaun hai?" Isn’t it rather sad that now there are these youngsters asking this question, don’t they really know who their father is?

Well, well, well, Delhi has gone through different dynasties and cultural changes over the centuries, but I am not going there. I just want to talk of the 20th century and take you to the years when our country had just attained freedom. We had not yet become the Republic of India. The city of New Delhi was rather new and shone bright with well laid out roads and roundabouts full of flowers. There were beautiful tree lined avenues, sprawling bungalows, residential quarters for the numerous babus who had come from far and wide to join government service. They would all cycle to office . Their trousers were nicely clipped at the bottom so that the flair would not get entangled in the spokes of the wheel as they cycled. There were very few cars, so there was no pollution, people were healthy as they exercised while going to office and back too. Exercise bikes had not been introduced then.

The climate of Delhi was always of extremes, it was very cold in winter and very hot in summer. Air conditioners were an extreme rarity and refrigerators too were found only in extremely rich people’s homes. Instead of air conditioners those who could afford it had khus chiks fixed on their windows and doors, which would be kept wet by a person whose duty it was to keep sprinkling water on the khus chiks. Can you imagine how divine the room would smell, with fresh Khus perfume coming along with the damp air that entered your room? No room freshener of today or air conditioner can even strive to give you that bliss. While I am at it, let me tell you that telephones too were a rarity. Only the very important people in the hierarchy of bureaucracy had telephones installed in their houses. The telephone instruments did not have dials. The user had to tap the phone bar and one would get connected to the Telephone Exchange from where an operator would ask the number or name of the person to which you wished to be connected. Once connected one could talk to the desired person on that number. Well life was simple and rather uncomplicated.

Now let me talk specifically about one particular day in the month of January 1948. Sarubai Meshram and her two daughters would often go to Birla House in the evening to attend the Prayer meeting or Prarthana Sabha addressed by Gandhiji at five p.m. They would always have seats reserved for them. On some days when they didn't go to the Sabha, they would sit around their radio in the drawing room and listen to the live broadcast over the radio. On this particular day they were going to attend the sabha and Kamal's childhood friend from Nagpur, Nirmala daughter of Mr. P. K. Salve and sister of NPK Salve was also going to the Sabha with them. The Meshram ladies switched on the radio at five minutes to five as they waited for Nirmala. Their seats had as usual been booked and now they were dressed up, ready to depart as soon as Nirmala arrived. For some reason Nirmala got delayed on her way to their residence at 4, Lodi Road. The radio was on and the ladies were tuned in to the broadcast, listening in while they were waiting. Suddenly they heard gun shots and a lot of people shouting, scrambling and the sounds of utter chaos through the radio. It was seventeen minutes past 5 pm, the date was 30th January 1948.The ladies were shocked, they couldn’t believe it, had they just heard gun shots that killed Gandhiji? They would have been there had Nirmala reached in time. This memory got etched in the mind of Kamal who has lived through and witnessed many historical events of that time in the history of India.

Many years later, the year was 1984. The weather of Delhi had changed, the population had increased manyfold. Cyclists were few, and there were many more cars and scooters on the roads. The import of cars had not yet been allowed so we saw only Ambassadors, Premier Padmini(Fiat) a very few newly introduced Maruti and an occasional Standard Herald on the roads. Scooters too were either Lambretta, Vespa and Bajaj. One had to book a car or scooter and one had to wait for the delivery of the vehicle. The wait could be for a year or even more. If you could arrange for foreign exchange through some relative or friend living abroad, then you would get a priority in the allotment of the scooter or car. Since there was long waiting for these vehicles so the roads were not over burdened with traffic, pollution was under control. Life was quite smooth and one did not have barricades on the roads. One could drive on all roads, no roads were closed for security reasons.  It was only during VIP movement that some roads were closed for some time till the VIP drove past. In fact those were the days when general public was allowed to enter the Rashtrapati Bhawan gates also and walk along the path of the garden unto the stairs, to see the lighting when Rashtrapati Bhawan was lit up for celebrating Republic Day and Independence day. I remember having gone inside Rashtrapati Bhawan too, to pay respects when Dr. Zakir Hussain the third president of India died in office in 1967. 

Kamal and NG Uke’s son Sunil Uke who had joined the Indian Customs and Central Excise service of the Government of India, was posted at the Custom and Excise Commissionarate at ITO. His wife Meena was working in All India Radio, Parliament Street. Sunil had a Bajaj scooter then, and from Netaji Nagar where they lived, they would go to their work place on this scooter past Ashoka Hotel, and Race Course road towards Parliament Street. Sunil would first drop Meena and then go to his office. One day as they were on their way to their work place, around 0930 hours,just as they drove past 1, Safdarjung Road, and were nearing the round about, they heard gunshots.  Not paying much heed to it, they drove on and reached their respective offices. The date was 31st October 1984. The resident of 1, Safdarjung Road was the Prime Minister of India, the much loved Mrs. Indira Gandhi. It was much later in the day at 1420 hours, that her death was announced. Sunil and Meena immediately correlated that the shots that they had heard on their way in the morning were the shots that had killed Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

While the mother had heard shots that killed Gandhi ji in 1948 over radio, the son and daughter in law heard the shots that killed Indira Gandhi, in 1984 in person. Incidentally, the last two numbers of the years were reversed, 48 and 84.

Well, these are coincidences which are a bit uncanny and which remain etched in memory.

One day in the calendar.

My special birthday is just around the corner and I am so looking forward to it.

As I walk down memory lane, looking back at all those years that have gone by so fast, I look back fondly at many things which remain etched in my memory to this day.

"Walking down memory lane" was a feature page in Filmfare long long ago. If I remember correctly it was written by Sylvia Norris.

In those days there were a few magazines to which one subscribed. Frivolous, fancy free, young girls subscribed to Filmfare, Femina or Eve’s Weekly, bit more serious people subscribed to The Illustrated Weekly of India, Span, and those with a bit more style got Life and  Time. In Hindi there was Dharmyug, Madhuri, Sarika, Sarita. There was another periodical which was called Picture Post, this one was not a weekly. Magazines for children were Parag, Nandan and Manoranjan in Hindi. We were not allowed to read comics then, as it was thought that it would spoil our English.

 That reminds me that there was Blitz a weekly in the newspaper format. I had got interested in Blitz  because  the Nanavati case  was written about in great detail. Most probably it was the Parsi connection as R K Karanjia and Nanavati were both Parsis.

We did not have many confectionary brands then. Biscuits were made by Parle and sweets were made by  J B Mangharam. I remember Monaco biscuits which are still going strong in the same size and shape and taste and also Glucose biscuits. I was the Monaco biscuit person. The cream filled ones did not find favour with me, I just remember the custard cream ones, then there were biscuits with jam in them, can't really throw light on them as I never ate any of those.

Breakfast in my house was always bread butter, eggs and cheese. We would get  Polson butter,  Kraft cheese in a round tin, then there were Jams and jellies which never interested me, so I don’t remember them or their brands at all. Milk was a complete no- no for me as I detested the taste. To make it palatable I had Ovaltine-a chocolate additive.

Anyone who lived at that time cannot forget the cute Murphy baby. That chubby little face with ringlets in the hair was an attractive picture. That picture brings back memories of the Murphy radio- a huge radio which occupied pride of place in our drawing room. This radio was brought back by my father from England in 1948, when he returned after acquiring his Engineering degree from there. He grandly took it home to his parents who lived in a remote village named Kurul in  Gadhchiroli district of Maharashtra. There was no electricity connection there so the radio had remained a thing to look at and marvel at. Later when daddy went to Hirakud dam project, the radio was put to use. It  was daily switched on at 9 pm sharp for the news read by Melville D’mello, or Lotika Ratnam, Pamela Singh or Surojit Sen. There had to be pin drop silence in the house then. If a child cried he had to be taken out of the room. In the mornings the radio  belted out lovely Hindi songs. I remember old Hindi film songs played from 7.30 to 8 am every morning. The last song was always a K L Sehgal number, which played at 7.55 am.  On the first of every month a regular song played was, "Khush hai zamana aaj pehli tareekh hai." The radio station was Radio Ceylon and one would wait for Wednesday evening to hear Amin Sayani with his velvety voice reaching out to us with 16 paaydaans and songs adorning those paydaans with Binaca Geet Mala. Wednesday evenings from 8 to 9 pm  also demanded pin drop silence.  Binaca Geet Mala memories are of times when I was in school and the transistor had already made its appearance. In the classic movie, Reshma our Shera, Waheeda Rehman a village girl calls it,"radio ka baccha".

Vividh Bharati had also started broadcasting songs but we never heard their programmes as they did not play Hindi film songs. Radio Ceylon would come on shortwave, if I rack my brains I will surely recall the bandwidth too.

I was in boarding school from the age of five. There used to be tuck time around 11 am during school recess. I would get 2 Monaco biscuits and one toffee everyday at the same time from the nun in charge of the tuck of boarders. Chocolates were rare, it was only Cadbury’s Milk chocolate then. When my parents visited me from Nagajunasagar dam where daddy was then  posted, they would take me out for the day and I would get egg sandwiches at Green Restaurant at Secunderabad and then a Cadbury chocolate from Prince store at Abid Road Hyderabad.

Visiting the library was a happy time. There was a Maharashtra Mandal library in Hyderabad which my mother would visit and leave me free at the children’s section which had low cupboards full of lovely books with pictures.

We seldom were taken to see movies, yet I do remember that outside the cinema hall would sit a young man with song books which contained the lyrics of the songs of different movies. Everyone bought the books and sang the songs. If I remember correctly they sold for 6 pais. The decimal system had not started, it was Rupee, Anna, Pai.

When I was small and we were at Hirakud, our bungalow was on the banks of the huge River Mahanadi. There was a flood once and I remember seeing lots of animals floating past our house at great speed in the muddied waters of the river. It was quite a dreadful sight. 

Jawaharlal Nehru the Prime Minister visited Hirakud to see the building of one of the new temples of the country. There was no security in those days and as he drove past he flung a garland which landed right on the neck of my small brother Sunil, who was on the shoulder of my father.

Grocery was bought from the neighbourhood provision stores. There were no packaged goods. Everything was bought loose and the shop keeper would measure the item, make a newspaper thonga(cone)fill it up and tie it up with string. No plastic, no paper packages, nothing which could not be recycled. A lot of people kept cows at home for milk, and hens for eggs.

Ladies spent their spare time knitting, embroidering, or stitching, crocheting or tatting. All women were adept at these arts. In school there were extra curricular classes every day, where we learnt gardening, games, Hindi Music, English Music and needlework. These classes were my most favourite classes, and were usually the last class on each day.

Children were encouraged to play outside everyday. Since I was in the hostel, all our activities  were totally regulated. Games, home work class, dinner and then singing. We held hands and moved together singing loudly old favourite English songs. My bonnie lies over the ocean, Oh my darling Clementine, Old Black Joe, and so many more which I am now forgetting.

I must tell you about that big fear which was drilled into our heads. We could never throw salt or waste it because after we died then we would have to pick up all that spilt salt with our eyelids. Don't know what that superstition was all about. As a child I was always afraid of the dark and dreaded the festival of Holi. 

Evenings in dam projects were always spent in the Club. All the parents took their children in prams and while parents played Badminton, children played their own games or slept if they were very tiny. Childhood games of seven tiles, gitte, marbles, four corners, chupan chupai, or sitting in a circle and one child would go around with a hanky singing, "I sent a letter to my father" This was played as "Poshampa, bhai poshampa" in Hindi.

Memories are made of these wonderful times. I, like everyone else, love the day of my birth, and feel so good to have completed another year. I share my birthday with known people, some famous some notorious, but then they all made a difference to the world. The most prominent is Hitler, Ryan O Neal, Chandrababu Naidu, Babita, Napolean III, Miguel Diaz Canel, President of Cuba, Miranda Kerr, Australian supermodel, and of course yours truly.

What do you know-someday I too may become a person who made  a difference to the world.

celebrating 2020 ad.

As the year 2020 was approaching, my family spread across three continents got excited about this year which brings in a lot of anniversaries and important landmarks in our lives.

It was decided that we had to go on a family holiday where we would all be together and spend a few days catching up with each other. Planning and visualising the  holidays started in right earnest. It was a very exciting thought, and everyone started coming up with unique ideas to celebrate the events. Many ideas  got thrown into the open cauldron. Hawaii suggested one, a cruise suggested the other, a land holiday suggested someone else. A lot of day dreaming, thinking, discussions on phone, chat, WhatsApp, happened and it was decided that Triloki would plan a cruise trip keeping in mind the holidays of grand children and leave positions of the children  living in two continents. Triloki worked on it and in his inimitable style  threw the entire programme back to the  busy children and asked them to let him know their choice of which cruise best suited them.

The ball kept getting thrown from one continent to another and the decision remained in limbo. As happens in such cases of procrastination, some other greater powerful element took over and nature struck planet earth with the Corona Virus. It suspended all activities and our holiday plans went kaput.

Did I notice someone lurking around with the grin of  a Cheshire cat? No that can't be, it must be my mind playing games with me. After all an idle mind is a devil's work shop!

Well, so that's that for now.

So coming back to the important landmarks of the year. We have our golden wedding anniversary and also a few special birthdays and anniversaries to be celebrated.

We will surely celebrate them, won't let the occasions just go by. Some may be celebrated on line with Zoom or House party. Won’t that be fun? No trouble of cooking, arranging the house, no gifts to be thought of and planned and bought and then wondering if the gift was good enough and liked by the receiver.

It will be fun to be just together, wish, talk and laugh. It will be a wonderful time of togetherness although we will be far away from each other physically. The time that will be spent together will be beautiful and happy. It will in fact be bliss.

Does nature give us lessons to plan de novo?

Does it say - enjoy being together without any financial constraints, cooking troubles and planning imbroglio?

I have learnt to take life as it comes, to find a beautiful angle, look at the cheerful picture and then enjoy being in that picture frame.  

Life keeps on giving us opportunities to live life, adjust and to accept the good with the bad, the black with the white, the sun rise with the sunset, night with day and so many other ups and downs. 

Finally it is all a matter of choice. One can choose to look at the brighter side of any situation or feel morose focussing on the darker side.

We all have the opportunity to choose carefully all the happiness in the world. It is our own life and we are responsible for it wholly and solely, to make it or mar it. It's all yours-this world, this moment as well as the future, which is not destined to happen, but could be decided by you, by the choices made by you.

Nothing happens just like that, remember their is always a cause and an effect. So Corona or no Corona, celebrations will happen, togetherness will happen because happy moments and memories call for celebrations.

Viva 2020- a wonderful year which is surely going to change the way we look at planet earth and the way we look at humanity. This will be a historical year when the earth decided to put every human being on its surface under house arrest, when earth decided to take a few days off to rejuvenate, when earth told us that nature is supreme and no one will be allowed to harm terra. We are seeing a great transition when exploitation of the earth will give way to restoration of earth. There will be more respect for nature's bounty, flora, fauna, air and water. We humans with our supreme intelligence will ensure a better future for posterity.

A big shout to all the people in my family-

"A very happy 2020- 

May we all have a life full of happiness, good health and cheer.

May we all be there for each other always. 

Bring it on, come on let's party."

PURANI DILLI

I love traveling and in the course of my travels if I can go across centuries then my travel is fructified. Recently I did just that, I boarded  a Metro train to New Delhi in the 21st century and when I got out from gate no 3 facing Kamla Market, I found that I was in the 17th century. Well, as I sat under a tree at 7 in the morning, I felt the cool breeze of the tree and felt that I had somehow got transported back  to the times when Aurangzeb was the Badshah of Shahjahanabad. He had been entrusted with conquest of the South by his father Shahjehan and therefore even after becoming Badshah himself, he spent most of his time in the Deccan-Dakhin-Dakshin. 

I was taking part in a walk where I met unknown people from Delhi as well as from different countries who had got together to learn something about Old Delhi and the crafts and businesses that flourished there in olden times.

AJMERI GATE

Our first stop was the Anglo Arabic School which is situated bang opposite the Ajmeri Gate. Shahjahanabad was established by Shah Jehan the Mughal emperor in 1648 AD. The Red Fort which is at the centre of this new city had a surrounding wall which had 14 gates. Ajmeri Gate is one of the gates that still stands. At one time it stood tall but now looks dwarfed by the many multi storied buildings which have come up around it. This school was located outside the walls of Shahjahanabad.

ANGLO ARABIC COLLEGE

 This School was established by Ghazi-ud-din Khan, Feroze Jung I(1649- 1710), who was Commander and Chief of the Mughal army at the siege of Golconda Fort in 1686 when Aurangzeb conquered the fort and took the last Sultan Abul Hasan Qutab Shah of Golconda prisoner. Ghazi-ud-din was later made Subahdar of Gujarat Province by Bahadur Shah I the next Mughal Emperor after Aurangzeb. When he died in 1710 in Gujarat, his body was brought back to Delhi and buried in the tomb that he had built for himself in the premises of this School. 

TOMB OF GHAZI UD DIN

Ghaziuddin was the father of Asaf Jah who went on to become the First Nizam of Hyderabad and began the Asaf-jahi dynasty of Hyderabad.

In 1790 the school closed down but the affluent people of Shahjahanabad funded the system and in 1792 the Delhi College was started at the same premises teaching literature, science and art. The East India Company became virtual rulers of India in 1757. After establishing themselves politically, in 1828, they turned their attention towards education and in this magnificent building they reorganised it as the Anglo Arabic College. For the first time English language and Literature were introduced in the curriculum of this educational institution. At that time Rev.Jennings started secret Bible classes  at this secular College and in July 1852,  Dr. Chamanlal who was a personal physician of Bahadur Shah Zafar and his friend Master Ramchandra a Lecturer of Mathematics at Delhi College converted and became Christians. Master Ramchandra was the author of "Treatise on problems of Maxima and Minima" which was published at his own cost at Calcutta but later on Augustus De Morgan the famous Mathematician got it re-published in London. Prof Ramchandra taught at Delhi College and then at Thomson Civil Engineering College, Roorkee(IIT Roorkee).

THE COLLEGE

The premises of this college are quite large, there are many rooms on two floors, there is a mosque and the tomb of Ghazi-ud-din on the west of the compound. The tomb is open to the sky but all along it, there are very intricately carved screens.

From this quiet, clean and magnificent educational premises, we stepped out into the crowded area of Ajmeri Gate. This area houses the whole sale market of sanitary ware. From behind GB Road now called Swami Shraddhanand Marg we entered a small gali which was the place where the gwalas or people who supplied milk to Shahjahanabad resided. Today no cattle can be found here as they were removed from the city and re established in Gazipur on the outskirts of Delhi.

 As we moved further on, we entered a street full of small eateries where fresh poories were being fried and served with aloo ki sabzi. The halwa was very sweet but was needed to compensate for the teekhi potato curry. A cup of tea which we got for Rs. 10 was very delicious. This area was basically a Muslim area but the aloo pooriewala was a sole Hindu in that area and his sales were quite good. Further on there was a person frying kachories. One could get 4 kachories for Rs. 10.

FAST FOOD-FRESH FOOD

Further on there was a little corner shop selling chicken biryani and another one selling Nihari. In old Delhi traditionally people would eat aloo poori and jalebi with milk or  halwa with small sooji poories. Fast food, street food, fresh food, you have it all here.

As we moved on we found a tonga stand on the main Hauz Qazi road. There were a few dilapidated tongas with a very thin horse standing in the shed. Once upon a time tongas were the main means of transport for the local people. The tonga would be clean, comfortable and a delight to travel on. The trot of the horse, the fast moving wheels and the tongawalla calling out to the pedestrians to make way, made the journey quite pleasant, comfortable and fast. Till about twenty years back tongas used to ply on the State Entry Road going to the Railway station from Connaught Place. There are any number of beautiful songs picturised on the tonga in Hindi movies.

In earlier days there used to be an annual Tonga race held between Ajmeri Gate  and Mehrauli. That used to be a very colourful event, now with too much traffic on the roads and the extremely fast paced life these tonga races do not take place with much fanfare. As I told you earlier, I felt I had reached the 17th century, because when you walk on the streets and alleys of Old Delhi, one can see life going by at a leisurely pace, one does not feel any rush  or anxiety. 

THE METRO STATION 

On Hauz Qazi road is a monstrosity of modernity. The Metro station stands out like a sore thumb. They could have maintained the outside facade to gel with the kind of shops that exist on that road to maintain a continuity.

Behind the Chawdi bazar Metro station stands a huge building. In its hey day it must have been magnificent. Some portions of it are maintained well and some portions are absolutely dilapidated. Obviously the property must have been split between inheritors. Those who could, have maintained it while some others have allowed it to disintegrate.

Moving on from observing  food business and transport business, we moved further on to see a gate which led into the area where people who dealt in salt lived. In fact it is interesting to note that Delhi was the hub of the spice trade in North India. Khari Baoli is the market near Fatehpuri Mosque at the end of Chandni Chowk where all the wholesalers of spices and dry fruits are located. 

We then walked down Sitaram Bazaar which is the area where aristocrats of yore lived. They have palatial houses in huge compounds. On the facade would be a beautiful door, beyond which one entered a world of peace, old world charm, style and space. The walls were thick, there were many open spaces called dalaan and aangan. At the entrance usually one would find space for people to sit on both sides of the door. There would be ornate work on top of the door. Often the name of the owner would be written in Hindi, English and in Persian. Persian was the official language of the Mughal empire and even after the end of the Mughal rule it continued to be used by the aristocrats.

HOUSE OF KAMLA NEHRU

As we walked down Sitaram Bazaar, I observed that we reached a lane which was inhabited mainly by Kashmiris. One prominent house was of the Kaul family which was called "Atal House". The daughter of this house Kamla was married to Jawaharlal Nehru the son of Motilal Nehru a prominent Barrister of Allahabad High Court. Almost the entire who's who of Allahabad had been invited to this wedding so the Kauls requested Mr. Haksar who lived close by and had a huge mansion to accommodate the baraat. The wedding therefore took place in this sophisticated and aristocratic area of Purani Dilli on 08.02.1916. Mr. Sapru of Sapru House fame also lived on the same lane. Most probably affluent and educated Kashmiris even then left Kashmir for the purpose of employment with the Mughal rulers. The Kaul haveli is now in the hands of some other owners who have Dhiman Market written at the gate. The Haksar Haveli has only a gate standing there. The Sapru property now has flats.

KALAN MASJID

We went past the 84(Chaurasi) ghanta temple and walked towards Turkman Gate, where we saw the 13th century Kalan Mosque built by the Prime Minister of Feroze Shah Tughlaq. The name of the prime minister was Khan-e-Jehan Junan Shah Telangi who was from present day Telangana. This gentleman got seven mosques constructed across Dilli. Kalan mosque is still in use and therefore maintained up to date. It has been painted green outside although at one time it was also called Kali masjid. The steps leading to the mosque are original-seven hundred years old and are quite uneven. If one looks at old time pictures of the mosque one can see how majestic it must have once looked. 

COOKS AND FOOD

Mughals were connoisseurs of good food. Their legacy continues to this day and we find that there are some cooks occupying an area near Turkman gate within a compound. They have huge cauldrons, and chulhas(stoves) where they cook food on order. One can take raw mutton to them and they will cook it with their secret ingredients and spices and give you the delicious finished product. Their secret ingredients remain secret and secure. 

There is something about Purani Dilli that is fascinating. One does not get put off by all the filth lying around. There is some sort of community living, togetherness and a feeling of belonging to the place. The chaiwalla, the pooriewalla serve you as if you are their guest and not a customer. 

Purani Dilli makes me want to return again to see what was and how magnificent times were one hundred years ago, actually even fifty years ago. Times are changing, landscape is changing and what was once standing majestically may just remain so only in pictures.

VIVACIOUS, DRAMATIC ANDALUCIA

FLAMINGO

I am a great fan of travelling and have been to a number of places but a visit to Spain had never been on my wish list. I did not know much about the country except that it was called Espana and was also known as the Iberian peninsula. I knew about the Spanish Armada and the Spanish Inquisition,  about its bull fighting, stylish matadors and the beautiful foot tapping gypsy dance filled with elan, colour, direct eye contact and gusto- the Flamingo. Had heard of its artists Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Gaudi and also about its Oranges and Olive oils.

PABLO BLANCA-WHITE VILLAGE

My daughter took us to visit Andalucia for a holiday with them and that was my entry into an altogether new world of discovery. Incidentally, this is also the area from where an Italian by birth, Christopher Columbus set sail to find the Indies and actually found America. Spain is a big country and Andalucia is situated in the South Coast of the Iberian peninsula. The beautiful calm and warm Mediteranean sea as well as the huge Atlantic ocean form its border on two sides. The small British territory of the famous Rock of Gibralatar is also located in this area.

Andalucia has  eight provinces, stretching from the south-east to the south-west of Spain, each province is named after its capital city: Cadiz, Cordoba, Jaen, Huelva, Almeria, Malaga, Granada and Seville. After reaching Malaga on 17th July, we drove to Marbella and were delighted to see that the beautiful motorway showed us an amazing landscape of the Mediterranean sea on one side and one could see vast stretches of beautiful mountains on the other side. Marbella is an immensely popular town, but before I proceed further let me tell you that in the Spanish language when you place two L’s together then the pronounciation of the two ll”s becomes "Y.” "R” is usually silent, Marbella is therefore pronounced as Mabeya. I wish life could have been simple and words could be pronounced as they were spelt. Oh, never mind, I guess these are the mysteries of the evolution of languages and phonetics and spellings, and then if everything gets simplified then what challenges would be left for us in life….Just wondering!

                                         
                         NARROW BEAUTIFUL ALLEY AT MARBELLA

So coming back to Andalucia, there is a lot of Moorish influence in its grand and spectacular buildings. Moors were a mixture of Berbers(ethnic group-inhabitant of North Africa) and Arabs who crossed into Spain from North Africa through the Straits of Gibraltar and occupied the peninsula  for more than seven centuries, dating from 710 a.d. when they first landed. They conquered the entire country, but soon withdrew to the southern part of the peninsula, where they established the towns of Cordoba, Seville and Granada. They left behind a legacy of architectural landmarks at the Alcázar castle in Seville, Córdoba’s Mezquita Mosque-Cathedral and Granada’s Alhambra palace.

  SALVADOR DALI CREATION

The beach at Marbella was beautiful and as we walked towards the beach  we went through a spectacular park dotted with the work of Salvador Dali placed all along the route. It was an open air museum and art was available for everyone to admire, literally, ”by the way”. Having had our fill of the Mediterranean sea and eating enough of almonds and peanuts freshly roasted by the wayside, surprisingly sold at the same price, we went on to explore Plaza de los Naranjos or the Orange Square in the old town of Marbella.  

PLAZA DE LOS NARANJOS

It was a very beautifully laid out geometric square filled with the Naranjo trees laden with the golden orange fruit. There are small restaurants all along the square where one can eat the local Tapas to ones heart’s content and drink Sangria the golden fruity drink with wine for more delight. The entire square and all the lanes leading away from it are beautifully cobbled. After enjoying an open air dinner with local performers playing Spanish music, eating "Gambas pil pil" and "Patata Bravas" amongst many other wonderful dishes, after paying "pagar" we walked into the charming cobbled alleyways.  Incidentally "pagar" the word which means "pay" in Spanish is used for "salary" in Marathi. Influences of invaders!

IN FRONT OF A CHURCH

As we walked down the cobbled alleys, I noticed that the very narrow alleys where one could barely stretch out both the arms together were maintained very clean. The quaint little shops in the alleys sold beautiful white dreses and souvenirs. As we wandered down lanes, bylanes and alleyways, we came across many beautiful Churches dotted all over the place. It reminded me of the many little temples that dot our gallis of Chandni Chowk.  Although the Church doors were closed, there was space in front of the Church to sit down and rest for a while. We had to literally pull ourselves away from the Old Town and make plans for the next day.

CHURCH AT MARBELLA

Next day we visited Sierra de Mijas. It is a lovely village on top of a mountain and one can see the Mediterranean  sea from the top of the mountain. At the foothills of the mountain by the sea is another village called Fuengirola. There were so many tourists that day at Mijas that traffic was diverted away from the town and free shuttle coaches were provided to park and ride. The view from this lovely boutique town was to die for.

THE SEA FROM THE MOUNTAIN AT MIJAS

The next day we drove to Rhonda which is a Pueblo Blanca or a white town. It is a lovely little town situated on top of a small mountain where all the houses are uniformly white with brown tiled roofs. This town has a deep gorge over which is located Puento Nuevo or the New bridge. When we entered the town in our big eight seater Volkswagon we saw a formidably narrow steep street which seemed to be the only road that went to the New Bridge. There were no signboards and not a single person on the road as it was siesta time. As soon as we spotted a person who looked like a local we asked him if that was the road to the Bridge and if our car would go through. The local person profusely explained to us the route in pure Spanish with enough gestures but left us looking as bewildered as we had been to begin with. A couple of cars soon appeared and went on that narrow steep mountain road which also had a right angle turn to the left. Seeing those cars going on that road,  we quickly followed suit. Once over the bridge we saw the Moors Castle which is not open to the public, but went into its garden and ventured into the water mine which is a ticketed place for tourists. It is quite interesting to note that defence of a settlement has always been on the minds of settlers, therefore we find settlements on hilltops and in those places from where invaders would be visible and defence of their lands would be easier from a vantage point. Rhonda in addition to this castle and New Bridge also had water mines called Casa Del Rey Moro.

NARROW ROAD TO NEW BRIDGE-RHONDA

As we went down the round shaft of steps into the Water mine, (reminding me of our own Qutab Minar with its circular steps), the descent looked quite daunting as, often the steps were uneven. The saving grace was that there were places where one could sit down for some respite before proceeding further. There were 200 steps down the shaft. Once we reached the bottom of the steps we could see a beautiful view of rocks and clear water. The climb up is not all that difficult and we soon emerged out into a little cafe with a wonderful view of the beautiful town, serving excellent Sangria and some local Tapa. The neat little garden laid out in the Moorish pattern is not as old as the 14th century, it was created a century ago in 1912. These strategically located hilltop castles are all over this region, they are  perched protectively above towns with their long, impregnable walls still intact almost 1000 years after they were built.

LILY'S AT BENAHAVIS

On the way back we visited Benahavis, a very beautiful, modern golf village with amazing villas sprawling across a lovely vista. There are seven Golf Courses in this small town. We ventured into its old town area and found an extremely cute and friendly Tapas bar called Lily's. It is owned and run by Lily and her daughter. It was very cozy with Lily's little four year old niece running in and out of the place making it all a very pleasant and happy dining experience. The food was divine. Incidentally Benahavis has the highest concentration of restaurants in the region and the cuisine is excellent.

RHONDA FROM CAFE

The next Pueblo Blanca village that we visited on the next day was Arcos de la Frontera. The drive to this place was from Seville(pronounced Seviye) and it was a beautiful canvas of nature at its best. There were vast plains as far as one could see which was filled with bright yellow sunflower. Sunflower is cultivated here for extraction of oil. Further on, we saw olive trees being planted, a few grape vineyards too were sighted but orange trees were few and far between.

  

NARROW 2 WAY ROAD TO PLAZA DEL CABILDO

Arcos de la Frontera is dramatically positioned on top of a rocky limestone ridge  from where a sheer cliff plunges down to the river Guadalete. The view from this point called the Plaza del Cabildo is breathtaking as one views the river and the rolling plains filled with plantation. There was a narrow cobbled steep street that leads up to the sandstone castle, the Castillo de los Arcos, located  at the Plaza del Cabildo. At this Plaza is also located a Church built in 1530. This church was also closed during siesta hours and opened only at 4pm.There was a roadside taverna and cafe on that very road which was open to two way traffic.

CARS GO UP THIS ROAD

Arcos De la Fontana was declared a national historic-artistic monument in 1962, because of its exceptional architecture and impressive location.

It is said that this settlement was founded by King Briga who was the grandson of Noah around 2000 B.C. The Romans who also ruled this land called it Arx Arcis which means Strength in height.

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                                          14TH A.D. CHURCH & VIEW FROM TOP.

Andalucia is also well known for its wonderful cuisine. Every village or town has a number of Tapas bars located close to each other. Seating is mostly outdoors which gives a very festive look to the entire place. Food is very fresh and every dish brought to the table is freshly prepared and brought as soon as it is cooked and ready. The dishes  come one after the other and not all together.

Siesta is rather sacred in this part of Spain. every shop, house, is shuttered and closed and no local person ventures out in the sun. Almost everything is shut from 2 to 4. Most windows had heavy drawn curtains, some had shutters. When we had reached Arcos, it seemed like a town devoid of human beings until we sighted a couple walking down the steep mountain. They reassured us that people do live in this town and life would begin at 4 pm.

SIESTA FROM 1415 HRS TO 1800 HOURS.

Our next stop was the capital of Andalusia-Seville. This is a big city away from the sea. That will follow as a sequel to this. This one was all about the villages and lovely little towns.