Kolkata

Nov 16th -ish or somewhere thereabouts..
So this post is a bit old and delinquent. On the same trip to Jamshedpur and Bhubaneswar, I also stopped in Kolkata. Nihal and I went to a new planned area called Salt Lake City which is kind of an IT hub and a new, kind of high-end area. This area, too, was kind of divided up into 'neighborhood units' oriented kind of radially around a central area. The central area had a big mall that seemed pretty popular.
There was also a big park in the center, too, but unfortunately you had to pay to enter.

At this point it was already getting late, so I opted to go see Victoria Memorial. I had hoped to see more of the actual old city, but just didn't end up having enough time. The memorial is this big, white building which is now a museum; the building is inside a big park in the city. What was most interesting to me was how people were using this park.

There was a main walkway terminating at the memorial and on either side were park benches. Each bench was occupied by one, or two at most, couples. Even in the big cities here, I haven't seen much public display of affection, and especially not in more-conservative Ahmedabad. However, at this park there were even a few couples making out, in public! Oh, the brazenness..hahahah. But seriously, PDAs are so rare here that I still do a double take if I see a couple holding hands - and most of the time these couples are married. Also considering the fact that it seems the majority of young indians live with their parents until they marry, and then even after sometimes, they don't have their own place for ..romantic meetings. So the fact that this park has become the place for that is really interesting.

One of the best parts of Kolkata was that I stayed with some friends I had known from CEPT, Saikat and Vibha. Apparently Saikat had liked Vibha right away in school, but she always thought he was just a friend, so they remained good friends during their masters until he finally proposed. They are such a cute couple! Apparently though they are of different castes, Vibha is a higher caste Brahmin, and it took some convincing of her parents to allow the marriage. Now they live with Saikat's parents in Kolkata which has taken some getting used to for Vibha. She comes from central india and so doesn't speak Bengali. She is also veg only, while Saikat and his family, as many Bengalis are, eat non-veg.

But anyway it was great seeing them again after so many years. They showed me the video of their wedding. And I had some nice home-cooked shrimp!

APSA conference and Gandhinagar presentation

CEPT just hosted the biennial Asian Planning Schools Association (APSA) conference from Nov. 24th-26th. Nihal had suggested I present something, so I submitted an abstract about my research thus far on Gandhinagar.

I didn't realize how big of a conference it was going to be; there were a lot of international planners there. CEPT actually extended its semester to allow students to take time off to help with the conference. They set up several big tents in the cricket fields next to CEPT's campus and put down big mats on the ground for the whole event.

For the break-out sessions in the conference, there were several panel themes - sustainability was a big topic, also housing, infrastructure, planning education, and maintaining modern and traditional (which I presented under).

One of the most interesting presentations for me was Tridib Banerjee's keynote; he teaches at University of Southern California. He spoke about politics of space, spoke briefly on gender on space, and on how to define public/private space. His presentation noted some of the interesting uses of space that I have been noticing in India like the many informal, small temples on the road side. He also brought up an interesting point on how public space can become private and vice versa because of technology. People can be in a public plaza but having very private conversations through the internet on their laptops. At the same time, private spaces like your house, can become public when speaking on online forums or doing teleconferencing.

There was also an interesting discussion on a UNESCO presentation. We were questioning how to define what to preserve and whose heritage they were preserving. Is it only the heritage of the upper class and only monuments, and is this relevant? Are they upper class interested in preserving their 'heritage' which happens to be the old city where people are still living, often poorer people and how will the preservation affect them? Should they only be preserving monuments or are there other ways/things to preserve. Is there a way to preserve a living heritage? I brought up the example of Konark Sun temple. It is a UNESCO site, but it is not a living heritage because the temple is no longer used. There are no longer idols in the temple, and it is no longer used for its original purpose. Is there a way to preserve these places and also allow people to still use these spaces more spontaneously rather than just as a museum and to acknowledge that the use of a space can change over time? But by gating them and charging an admission, you omit lower classes being able to use these spaces. So it was a very interesting discussion.

The conference was a really good opportunity to meet a lot of other planners, so I really enjoyed meeting a lot of people. I wasn't so happy with the way my presentation went, however. I was the last presenter in a panel of 5, so we each were supposed to have 15 minutes to present. However a sixth presenter was added at the last minute, and the earlier presenters took up more time than they were supposed to, so I had maybe 10 minutes to present. I presented under the Modern and traditional theme. Most moderators of panels simply helped engage discussion at the end of the presentations. However our moderator decided it was his duty to say which presentations were relevant or not which I don't think was his role at all. Apparently mine was not relevant to the theme... and because I said at the beginning that mine was a work in progress, the moderator thought it wasn't yet worth commenting on. He also chewed out a masters thesis student who presented his work who had unfortunately presented on an area that the moderator was quite familiar with.

But anyway in my presentation, I talked about the similarities and differences between the two cities. Both cities were planned as purely administrative, post independence capital cities and both separated land use functions into zones. The neighborhood unit was the central building block for the plans of both, and both had and 4 level hierarchy of commercial development. Some of the differences are the locations of different land uses in each city; the location of the capital complexes and industrial areas are especially different. Also the size of the neighborhood unit was reduced in Gandhinagar; the large size of the unit had been criticized a lot in Chandigarh. Also the layout of the capital complex - while Ravi Kalia, the author of the main book on Gandhinagar, says its capital complex is a complete failure, I completely disagree. I think it is much more successful than Chandigarh's because it is better incorporated into the city. It is highly visible and all the roads draw vehicles in towards it. The design creates a vista and entry with a wide street separated by a nicely maintained linear park while Chandigarh's capital complex is difficult to locate, is very out-of-the-way, and its famous Corbusier buildings are not even visible from the street. One of the biggest differences is citizens' perceptions of the cities. While people are proud of Chandigarh, people don't want to live in Gandhinagar.

Jamshedpur

Nov. 13-16
I took the train from Kolkatta to Jamshedpur and spent several days in the Ginger Hotel, a really well-run chain owned by Tata. It makes me happy to know that I always know what to expect here. The staff is so friendly, speaks English so well, and efficient. I wanted to go to this city in the state of Jharkhand because it is also a new, planned Indian city, actually Otto Koenigsberger who worked on Bhubaneswar also had a hand in this city. The big difference though between the origins of Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, and Bhubaneswar, and Jamshedpur is that the latter planned privately instead of by the government. Because of the mining there, the Tata company planned the city as a company town, and therefore the city is also known as Tatanagar.

The layout of the town is interesting; it is definitely not reminiscent of Chandigarh or Gandhinagar and definitely feels more 'Indian.' The whole city is kind of developed as a big ring around the enormous Tata Steel plant in the center. There are a number of housing colonies for each of the big companies there, and overall the housing and roads seem well maintained.

There is a big park - Jubilee Park which was given to the city by Tata on its 50th anniversary. It appears to be very well-used with a big lake, a zoo, gardens, and more. You definitely realize what is important in designing a park in India! Although there are elaborate gardens, no one was sitting in these areas. Instead if you looked around, there were people scattered around the park, but they were located only in the shade of a tree. Despite the nice gardens, if there was no shade, the people wouldn't sit there.

There was a really amazing Sunday market in Birsanager. There were so many people there - I couldn't believe it! I traveled around the various neighborhoods in the town. Sakchi was one of the biggest and supposedly nicest. I also went up to Mango to see Dimna Lake, and the Agrico colony.

Hindi Class

Just began my Hindi classes finally at Gujarat Vidyapith, a school actually started by Gandhi ji! Every Tues, Thur, and Fri from 8:30 to 10 I have class. I must say the sitting on the floor is killing me though! The class is for foreigners only, so it's an interesting mix. It seems there are a number of German students there, working for an NGO. I spoke in German with one girl, but I must admit that it was really difficult to speak it while also in the process of learning Hindi! I ended up asking a question in German and then responding to the answer with a Hindi 'thik hai' or 'bahut accha'...There are a couple Americans also working at an NGO, another American whose husband is pursuing a business here, and an Iraqi. It's pretty amusing to hear Hindi spoken with so many accents. I was really confused for awhile when we were saying where we are from in Hindi. The one girl who I thought was from Germany, kept saying she was from Gemini. Until I figured out it was her accent, I thought it was maybe some military base or something!

Meanwhile I think our teacher must have been an aspiring Bollywood singer in her youth! It's really amusing because at least every class she breaks into song. She actually wrote a book on learning Hindi through bollywood songs. It was really amusing the other day because we had a new student named Rosa, short for Rosalin. Our teacher said everyone here would call her Rosa because of a popular movie of the same name, and then proceeded to tell us the whole plot of the movie. Finally she said, but that's ok, I will call you Rosalin. To which the student responded, but what if I like Rosa??

Anyway it's a new fun something to do and to meet new people. And I get a kick out of busting out a new Hindi phrase in front of my Indian friends, and they get a big kick out of it as well - especially when I busted out, 'aap se mil kar bahut khusi hui' - very glad to meet you. I was pretty surprised myself that I remembered it all...!

Bhubaneswar

Nov 9 - 12

I know, it's been awhile since I've posted. Things have been a bit busy, so I'll start with the trip to the east, beginning with Bhubaneswar.

Bhubaneswar was the first of the new Indian capitals before Chandigarh and Gandhinagar and was planned by Otto Koenigsberger, originally from Germany, when Orissa gained independence from Bihar. Like the other two cities, it was also planned around the neighborhood unit. Different from the other cities is the fact that Bhubaneswar was already a town and was not begun from scratch. It had been an important temple town and pilgrimage site for a long time although it was a small town.

The capital complex is quite different than either Chandigarh or Gandhinagar. While Gandhinagar's is quite compact and symmetrically formal and Chandigarh's buildings are spread out with little relationship to each other, Bhubaneswar's is linear and focused along the main Janpath street within it's sector. Gandhinagar's takes up the entire sector square and has a place of prominence in the heart of the city. It was planned to be the terminal of a grand axis along Street 4 and the linear park in the center of the street contributes to the sense that this area is important and makes wayfinding easy and marks the importance quite obviously.

As Bhubaneswar's layout is linear, the layout does not emphasize the capital complex's importance. It is simply another unit along Janpath that one may stumble across rather than being led to it as in Gandhinagar's case. The capital buildings are also set back from the road, surrounded by a gate, and also by trees which obscure the full view. Then Chandigarh's capital, one has to search for because it is located well out of the way of day-to-day life. The buildings are spread out and oriented to provide a view of the mountains, rather than towards the street to be integrated into the city. It is difficult to even find the correct road to take you to the capital buildings.

Along Bidyut Marg and a few other main roads they have actually built separate bike and pedestrian lanes and the spaces haven't been encroached upon by vendors.

Also the neighborhood units are quite different in Bhubaneswar. Each layout is a bit different, and the units don't rely on the inner distributor road as in the other two cities. Many are laid out in an irregular grid. These residential areas are quite horizontal with far fewer apartment towers and many small bungalows each set back from the road and enclosed with a fence. Self-built housing has been built within empty space and integrated into free corners within the other housing units. It seems like this would not be allowed in Chandigarh, and instead self-built housing would be relegated to restricted areas.

The center community spaces of the neighborhood unit in Bhubaneswar are not always located immediately in the center of the unit and often surrounded by a wall. The space is usually used for different levels of schools, and it seems is rarely used for neighborhood commercial. Throughout the units, small informal stands are set up to sell various items, but it seems most commercial is along the edges.

It seems like housing types are not really mixed together by different classes.

The other cities' plans really emphasized open space and the idea of a green belt, whether or not it was implemented, but it seems that open space was not as much planned into Bhubaneswar. Chandigarh has Leisure Valley and Sukhna Lake and Gandhinagar has recreation space to the east near the river and had planned to damn the river to create a lake.

But the city definitely feels more “Indian” than either of the other two. Rickshaws are not a problem to find. While new development is definitely different from the original city and is set back from the road, it is similar to the development along S.G. Highway in Ahmedabad.

Markets

There is a main, formal shopping area on the south side of Unit 2, just bordering the main road, but not open to it. Completely facing the main road in this area are the green tin booths set up for vendors, but in addition to this, the road leading from the main road to the formal shopping area, vendors have also built their own stands. The formal shopping center is linear, going east/west. There is a big pedestrian mall in between the shops, but motorcycles are allowed and parked in the center, so it's rather dangerous for the pedestrians to walk at times. On the north side, the buildings seem to have been formally planned and built; however, on the south side there are many booths and shops that appear to have been self-built. All the development is only a single story. There seems to have been little restriction on signage as there had been in Chandigarh. Most of the shops sell clothing with some jewelry shops and ones selling Orissa silverwork. There are only a couple of restaurants and it seems no places selling groceries.

Across the wide street is a less formal market, that is very dense. Shops are very close together and the paths between them are very narrow. This market seems to sell almost everything – clothes, food, and household goods.

It seems like there is almost no commercial within the residential areas like there are in Chandigarh and Gandhinagar.

Fulbright blog

So Fulbright had asked all the students for us to send entries for them to use on their blog, giving advice to potential future Fulbrighters. I submitted one, and the just added it - here's the link:

http://usfulbrightstudent.blogspot.com/

Konark Sun Temple

Nov 11
So apparently there are only a few Sun temples in India. I saw one near Ahmedabad a few weeks ago, and there was one near Bhubaneswar, so Nihal and I hired a taxi and took a triangular route from Bhubaneswar to Konark to Puri, one of the most important Hindu pilgrimage sites. All of this is in the east in the state of Orissa. On the way there we stopped at Dauli where there is a big Buddhist stupa built on the hill.

The sun temple was really amazing. The whole building is supposed to be in the form of a chariot and there are carved wheels and also horses to pull the sun god. I think our taxiwala called a guide he knew, because as soon as we arrived, a man wanted to come give us the tour of the temple. This guy was pretty amusing, too. I think he'd been doing this since the 60s he said, and he did seem to know his facts... sometimes a little too much. He talked for some on the edge of the temple before he would let us go in, and he had specific spots and things he wanted us to take pictures of.

And in addition to this being a sun temple, this is also one of the Indian temples that have erotic carvings...many of them...pretty much a big majority of the walls. Our guide's commentary was pretty amusing! It was the most fun I've had touring a temple here yet! The guide said that there were a lot of people converting to Buddhism around the time the temple was being built - the 1200s i think, and so the Hindi king building the temple wanted the Hindus to procreate and prosper and so basically put the Kama Sutra on the temple as propaganda. Man, who wouldn't convert??
Our guide pointed out which positions 'you have to be strong to do' and other interesting things like a man treating himself for an STD.

After that we went on to Puri which is right on the ocean. It's the site of another of the most important Hindu pilgrimage temples, Jagannath temple. It was dark by the time we got there, and there was a big market around the temple. It was amazing how crowded the whole area was. Unfortunately I couldn't go in the temple, only Hindus are allowed; I tried to negotiate my way in but that didn't work at all. Nihal looked "indian" so he got in without problems! We stopped on the way to eat Puris - a type of fried indian bread - in Puri. We thought it was fitting.

By the time we got back to Bhubaneswar it was late and most restaurants were closing. We hurried to the hotel just next to ours for dinner. Despite both of us saying we weren't very hungry, we somehow both decided to go for this huge buffet. I just didn't feel like waiting to order something. So of course we at a lot, and it was expensive! We had a good laugh about it afterwards - how we both went from not very hungry to chowing down at the buffet!

Day Trip to Sun Temple

11.01.09

Wow, I can't believe it's November already! It's hard to believe especially since the weather is still warm and the holidays are different here! Yesterday evening our new friend, Bhavesh, invited us to this Indian pop rock concert of this singer, KK. It was a lot of fun! I was surprised it took the Indians so long into the concert to start dancing though!

Then today we, my roommates, Caryn, and I, decided to take a day trip to this sun temple at Modhera, a few hours away. They made potato sandwiches and vermicelli noodles to take with us, and we left around 7 in a taxi we hired for the day. It was a lot of fun! The sun temple was really beautiful! It was built in the 1000s. There was a big reservoir with steps going down into it which I guess people used to use for washing and such. There were lots of little niches with little shrines along the way down. Then next to it was the temple. It was all made of stone, sandstone I think, and the carvings were beautiful. This stylized form is really interesting; the women figures are especially curvy and feminine (to put it mildly), but the men figures also are a bit soft and curvy as well, in much contrast to Roman figures where the muscles were so emphasized, my roommate pointed out.

Then we went to Patan to see Rani ki Wav, a really great step well there. It is one of the best examples of step wells which were common in this area of the country. They provided a place for people to get water and also a cooler place for people to relax and rest. This particular one was buried for a long time and so the carvings are better preserved. And the carvings really were amazing! Really beautiful and spectacularly preserved. They made the sun temple look like nothing!

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!