Summary of my research so far

In my 2+ months here so far, I think my research is going fairly well. One of things you realize quickly when you arrive is that getting what you need here doesn't work the same way as in the US. You have different expectations of what information you want and what is actually available. For example, in the US you can easily get GIS map layer data for a city, but here that information is simply not available. Of utmost importance is patience because here things take longer, you have to meet the right people to get what you want, and often you have to go through several people to get something accomplished. I have realized that we really value our independence in the US and the ability to do things for ourselves. Along with being patient, you have to let go of your independence and ask other people to help you do things. So overall you have to let go of some of your expectations and the time you want to accomplish things in because otherwise you will be very frustrated.

So to sum up my research, I have spoken with a number of planners and planning professors, have been learning Gandhinagar by traveling there and observing its character, observing how people use space in India, traveled to Chandigarh to compare it to Gandhinagar, and have found and read books on my topic.

Also to understand whether Gandhinagar has been 'Indianized' from its origins as a plan based on the very much western-influenced Chandigarh, I have also been observing how people typically use space in India to be able to compare. Some of the main things I have noticed:

Space in India is very multi-functional and multi-layered.
For example, in the day space may be used for parking while at night or during a festival, it could converted into a celebration area, bazaar, or something else. Sidewalks aren't usually used for walking like in the US. Instead people make their homes there, build small temples, or set up their shop carts. Sometimes that's were the cows are dogs are, so most people just walk on the edge of the street. Similarly, during Diwali firecracker sellers would set up semi-permanent stands on the sidewalk right in front of permanent shops, so that the permanent shop was completely obscured from the road. Do they create some deal with the permanent shop owner? Why is this allowed? I don’t know.

Unless police, etc. are constantly enforcing laws, people will do whatever they want.
I was amazed that in Chandigarh there are very few cows and few beggars, but it is because the local government there strictly enforcing these things. I thought it was amusing that Koenigsberger, the western planner of Bhubaneswar wanted to create separate traffic lanes for every type of vehicle there. In Ahmedabad in some places have separate bike lanes, but I rarely see them used. Often people are again using them as living spaces or selling spaces. If traffic is congested, then people on motorcyles clog up the bike lanes to get through faster. Medians also seem to be a bad idea here. They don't provide enough crossings for pedestrians and plantings in them can make it difficult to see oncoming traffic. If there aren't enough breaks in the median, autorickshaws and motorcyles will simply drive on the side of the road into oncoming traffic rather than drive the correct direction place to U-turn.

Ideas of ownership of space and/or privacy differs.
In the US we really value our individuality, but in India the culture seems to value more the idea of a group consensus, doing what is best for everyone. With its traditions of having joint-family houses and a large overall population, this would make sense. In houses and public buildings I have seen less of an "ownership" of space. For example, at Ball State everyone had his/her desk in studio to keep their things, and they personalized that space. There is a lot less of that happening at CEPT. I have often seen that building layouts omit hallways to maximize space in actual rooms. As a result individuals have to pass through the middle of classrooms or bedrooms and disturb the activities there.

So overall, the best thing seems to be is to create very unencumbered, unrestrictive spaces that allow people to use them in the ways that meet their needs. If a need is not included in a city plan, the informal sector will self-build to meet that need whether it be housing or shops.

Ok, more in the next installment!

The golden temple

10.20.09

Harpreet and I left very early to catch an A/C bus to Amritsar. We got up at 5:30 and his dad drove us to the bus. It took 4 hours to get there. Harpreet had gone to school in undergrad there in Amritsar. We went to this little hole-in-the-wall place where they have this Amritsar specialty called Kulcha that you can only get there. Amritsar is the site of the main Sikh religion's pilgrimage place called the golden temple. It is where the original of their holy book is kept. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place! You walk around the periphery of this holy lake that is supposed to have healing properties, so many people take a bath in it. In the center of the lake is where the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book, is kept. They read aloud from it and sing hymns from it; the singing is accompanied by tabla drums and harmonium and is very beautiful. Someone donated bose speakers to the temple so you can hear the music from everywhere in the complex. There is a bridge to get in to see where the book is kept, and the line is crowded. I think we waited 45 min or so to get in, it was pretty warm and crowded, but the inside was beautiful, too. Lots of ornate painting and a huge chandelier. It was overall a really amazing experience!

I think the best part of the trip though was being around Harpreet's family – even though they spoke in Punjabi sometimes and I couldn’t understand everything, it just reminded me of my own family and their dynamics. His dad was explaining about their religion – he has a little temple room in their house where he reads the holy book in the morning and evening. He was explaining how the book has teachings from saints from all different religions and that it’s accepting of everyone. To name their kids, the priest flips open a page, picks a random word and the letter starting with it is the letter the name should begin with. And there are 5 main things it warns against – like pride and greed. They believe all religions are worshiping the same, one god.

The two brothers are twins and are funny. Hunny lives in Baroda and loves to take trips all around while Harpreet and Sunny stay at home and don’t go out on the weekend. But it was funny to see, their mom saying how Hunny argues with her all the time on the phone. One time he called her only to say, "I can't talk now, I'm busy." I didn’t realize she spoke English for the first day! I didn’t know she knew what I was saying, but she just didn’t feel confident speaking it, but she could fine!

Their mom and dad said the town each is from, has a mental institution so that’s why they are all mental! And they told how they lived in Delhi growing up, and then moved to Chandigarh and their dad bought the land for their row house and how he wanted it designed and how he keeps their garden. When the sons get married he will build up a level for their families. The have a mango tree, a lemon tree, eggplant, bottle gourd. But it was too cute when their mom had made their favorite Chutney with cilantro and and mint and they were so excited.

It was just nice to see them all relaxed in the evening and joking. We were eating and I was going to pass a big platter but Harpreet said, no no it’s too heavy for you. So I said, come on, I’m not some little delicate flower. His mom laughed and said, yeah we’re all fat here! I guess her sisters comment about her weight and she doesn’t like it, but it was so funny, like something we’d say at home. Hunny had been to Italy for work and was talking about the food there, and how he had tried to eat non-veg but didn’t. And his boss from Spain who just wanted to come to India to shop. He’s working in Baroda now which is in Gujarat. He noticed that I ate my paratha with only one hand, and he said, someone in Gujarat told you to eat it that way, right? And they had when I was here before! His Guju roommate had told him the same thing. His mom said you have two hands, you should eat with two hands.

Oh and his mom even had bought me a yellow salwar kameez material to have stiched! It was so nice! And I think she also checked on me while I was sleeping because I didn't put the sheet over me when going to bed, but both nights I woke up covered; so cute! They are all so nice; I really enjoyed it a lot!

More Chandigarh

This is a continued entry from the previous one - So we went to the Capitol Complexl Corbusier's big master piece of his designs for the government buildings - the Secretariat, The Assembly, and the High Court. I must say I was really surprised and really disappointed. The buildings of the capitol complex are of course well designed, but the sighting of them is not great at all. I had read that the scale of the plazas was much too big, and it was, but I didn't feel that this was even the main problem. They are so far apart and there isn’t a clear line of sight between them. And especially it seems there was little thought as to the entry vistas by the road. There is no visual impact until you are directly in front and you can’t really see the buildings unless you go through the police guards. I think the view of the capitol complex is much better in Gandhinagar. There is a main road leading to it with a big linear garden in the median which lines with the center of the capitol buildings and seems to make a much better vista. If Corbusier was so concerned with his buildings, I am surprised he didn't take more care to make them more highly visible. The idea of democracy is quite strong in India, but the kind of 'hiding' the government buildings gives it even more a sense of being inaccessible to the people.


After we had a snack at Sukhna Lake; it was nice to see so many people enjoying the area. The landscaping of the city is really pretty; there are lots of big old mango trees. I really didn’t expect to like Chandigarh at all, because I knew Gandhinagar was based off of it’s plan, and I don’t like Gandhinagar. But Chandigarh was different; it had a lot more of the vibrancy that Gandhinagar lacks. There are all these parks and gardens – a rose garden, Bougain Villa garden…We drove around the campus of the big university there. Actually after seeing Chandigarh, I think you can't really compare Gandhinagar and Chandigarh at all; the similarities are only in the physical planning of sectors and roads. There are so many other factors that have contributed to the unique development of each city. For example, Gandhinagar is so close to Ahmedabad that it is really just a satellite town, while Chandigarh has developed into a major hub of it's region and people come from all around to shop. Also Chandigarh has many more tourist attractions than Gandhinagar. The population of Chandigarh is quite affluent; I have never seen so many cars in an Indian city. However, Gandhinagar's population is mostly lower income groups so they don't have the buying power that Chandigarh has. And the Punjabis are so proud of this city! Proud of the design, the cleanliness, the many plants. When you talk to someone in Gandhinagar, no one likes it, most people seem to prefer to live in Ahmedabad. Overall it was really interesting to finally see this city that I had read so much about! It was really a pleasant surprise!

Then went to one of the oldest sectors in the city to see the housing there. I think the housing doesn’t look sad and drab like it does in Gandhinagar, and people have little gardens with potted plants in front. Even the community commercial areas seem nicer and it looks like there’s a lot less empty, open space like in Gandhinagar.

When we went back to Harpreet’s house, his mom’s sister and her daughter were there. They live close enough that they come almost every day. They have both lived in Australia for awhile, and his aunt took me us in her car for a drive around Mohali. Then we came back and had an awesome Punjabi dinner. The paratha were great! I can see why Harpreet only likes Punjabi food – but he says he only likes it if it’s “oily, rich, and spicy.”

Chandigarh on Scooter

10.19

We took the scooter the next day to see the city. The next day I wanted to go to the Chief Architect/Planner’s office Sumit Kaur, to see if I could get some files of zoning maps and with density and land that was privately and publicly owned, but apparently they don’t even have GIS maps of these things like they do in the US. It’s like we’re speaking different languages when I ask for these things, so it was pretty disappointing. The difficult thing here is that they don’t have the data like we do in the US. Like most cities now have GIS layers for zoning and density and things like that, and if you ask for it, it’s not a big deal for them to send you the files. Before coming to Chandigarh I called the Chief Architect’s office to see if they had these types of digital files that I could get, and they said yes, I could come and get them. So I get there and they don’t have these digital files at all. I’d really like a map of which land is owned by the government and which is privately owned. In the US you can know this type of information for each parcel. I thought they would have this in digital format; they didn’t. And then the City Museum was closed on Mondays, unfortunately! And then the chief architect suggested I look at Norma Evenson's book on Chandigarh about the density. Except that this book was written in the 1960s! So I'm sure it's changed a bit since then!

Then the Nek Chand Rock Garden which was amazing!This city engineer just started making these sculptures out of discarded materials and it grew into this huge, amazing rock garden. When the city found out about it, they were going to destroy it but ended up giving him the land for it, and now it's a big tourist attraction. The spaces in the garden are really great - all these different patterns made with rock. Mosaics made from broken porcelain toilets, huge waterfalls, lots of animal and people sculptures. It was really amazing!

Delhi to Chandigarh

So I flew into Delhi and arrived at around 10 pm. It took a bit to find exactly where Valerie was staying, and it was late, so we pretty much went right to bed. It was Diwali day, so they were shooting of so many crackers the whole city was smoky!

I took an auto early to the main New Delhi railroad station. My train, the Kalka Shabti, left at 7:40. There are 16 platforms and I had to pass them all to get to #2, but the train was really nice, an A/Ccoach. Although it took me forever to find the right seat. I sat in the wrong one like 4 times. It took about 4 hours to get to Chandigarh, but I could even use my internet from the train! Harpreet’s brother, Sunny, who he lives with in Mumbai picked me up in an auto b/c Harpreet had gone with his parents to meet a potential wife.

His brother was really nice, and took me to their row house in Mohali, a suburb to the south of Chandigarh. His twin brother, Hunny, was there too, so we talked for a bit, and then I took a bath, and we all took a nap while we waited for them to get back. They fixed me some great paratha and eggs for breakfast. They got back and we chatted for awhile, they showed me his dad’s little garden in front of the house – lots of potted plants that would be just house plants at home. In the evening we took an auto to sector 17, the city center with all the commercial. There were so many people it was amazing! It was so vibrant, even though many of the shops were closed – so unlike Gandhinagar. He showed me the oldest movie theater, obviously a Corbu design, which they were threatening to tear down a replace with a mall. And we went to the oldest coffee show there form 1957 which started as a coffee co-op. All the shops were really high-end foreign brands, and it’s amazing to see how many cars there were parked there. In Ahmedabad it would be only motorcyles. I hadn’t seen that many cars since leaving the US.

Diwali Rangoli

Some pics of people selling these colored powders to make Rangolis - this sand art on the ground.

Dress Up

My friends Vishal and Riccha invited me and also our friend Ruchi and her family to dinner at their place. It was a lot of fun! Ruchi translated to me for her mom about their cooking preparations for Diwali, their big holiday coming up. Vishal began talking about the different styles of saris in India, and so Riccha pulled out her collection and showed me the different kinds she had. She had several beautiful, elaborate ones from their wedding this past December. She dressed me up in one of them, a heavy, elaborately embrodiered, deep red one, and then she put on her bright yellow one from the wedding. We even dressed Ruchi up, even though she doesn't like wearing saris.