Old Man and The Fort

Walking through Gingi Fort we stop near a small temple in front of a huge cliff.
A stone in front of the temple has four human heads, A ram (male sheep) and a buffalo.
Klaus points at it with his umbrella to give his interpretation of it.
(Drawing parallels from account given by an early English traveler, some other place some other time)

"Every year one person was selected to be the Human sacrifice. Supposedly for the prosperity of the entire tribe. The chosen one would live the rest of the year like a king. And then on THE day, he would take a bath put on best of jewelry, climb the cliff and calmly jump. On to the stone below. Head first . Crash. Right in front of the whole tribe."

We go "Oh my god!!!" looking at the distance between the top of the cliff and the rock below.

"He is doing it for the god. For the prosperity of his people. He is happy doing it. HE IS HAPPY. One man jumps of the top of a cliff. Another one spends his retired life 5000 miles from home measuring bricks of a fort under hot sun day in day out. HAPPY. Now lets move."

Shy guy

Klaus, born in Austria, speaks mostly French and a little bit of English.
Employed by the French army, taught French in Afghanistan for 10 years.
Studies forts. Loves India.
Certifies Devi Lodge as the cleanest hotel in the country.
Thinks Hotel Everest's Kerla paratha and Chicken Curry make it the Capital for Gastronomical Excellence.
Learnt AutoCAD at the age of 60 to do his maps.
Mapped Gingi fort, knows the origin of each and every brick in the place.
Saturday 4:00 am we land in Senchi(Ginigi), Klaus is already awake, hands me keys to my Rs 50 a day room.
(I am majorly advertising for Devi Lodge, opposite Indian Oil petrol pump on Bangalore Pondicheri road.)
After a short nap we meet in his room for tea.
And then the stories start.
Narrates the whole story of Malik Ambar African slave sold in India who's the real hero of "Hindu Uprising" in the Deccan in late 16th century 50 years before Shivaji was born.
In between the story diverts to all places and times. Drawing parallels in different lands and different eras.
After 3 hours, he turns to me and says "So young man, I see that you are very shy"
Before I could say "but you never let me speak..."
he adds "Its nice being shy sometimes.... But not if you are visiting an old man with lots of stories who has not spoken for 15 days"


(snaps)

Chatrapati Swapnilraje Deopurkar

Visiting Shivaji's southernmost bastion

Information on Gingee Fort,Tamil Nadu,India: "The Chola Dynasty built Gingee fort. The indomitable courage and valour of its erstwhile rulers made Father Pinments,a priest to call the Gingee Fort the 'Troy of the East'. "

Datta Who?

Happened to mention Datta to a friend on his birthday...

"First time that I actually remembered his birthday....... I was not able to reach him. How frustrating!!!"

"Datta WHO?"

This is college classmate
Deolekar and Deopurkar used to get simultaneous numbers in the exams..
He owes me half of his degree certificate..

He never used to spend a penny in the college
Used to get Rs10 from home every day. His bus ticket went up from Rs4 to Rs7 during 4 years of college. One way.
Owes me half his college time travel......and bhurji pav...

He would call me "abe bhadve kahan tha" across the gymkhana with 100 people turning around to see the pimp enter and take the chair across the carrom board
Me responsible for half his defeats.... as his partner.

I was suspended for 15 days for signing his proxy attendance.
Forged prof's signature on his journals.
Dont know how he's gonna repay that.

We used to go study in his house. 8 members in a two bedroom house used to invite 2 more to stay over during study holidays.
Indebted to them for half my education

That Datta…

Now in England working for top telecom service provider in Europe majorly appalled that they are distorting rules in my office carrom tournament.

Spelt cynicism as Sinicism.
The word’s got to begin with Sin.

Kokrebellur

Me and my bike curse each other as we struggle through congested city traffic. Both of us are made for the highway. I take her out and we fly.



Pelicans look really clumsy flying from tree to tree, or trying to mend the nest. But once they fly high they are the masters of the sky. Graceful and truly majestic.



Eyes follow you all the time as you walk the streets. To see to it that you don't do anything stupid to disturb the guests. And it works.

Wildlife conservation like other values in life have to be imbibed into people's culture. No huge governed grants, no fancy NGOs. Just plain simple "we care" attitude.



The Pelicans are here. Painted storks coming soon.