Posts Tagged 2008

On a misty wintry Januray evening of 2008, I ventured out of Aligarh Muslim University to see the famous lock and key makers of the country in a drowsy jeep, which took us through the alley ways of the suburbs, vehemently horning through burqa clad crowd shopping through the local festival.

I walked through the slushy lanes with huge iron doors with multiple fancy locks that open to the dark rooms bustling with machines and metal noise! Men, women and children worked in corners of the dark rooms along the lane, organised in various stages of the process. Unpolished locks and keys were made in differnt rooms, they were assembled in another room and finally polished else where at the end of the lane! The labour is cheap and child labour is rampant, hence supervisors a bit hesitant to open doors to the camera!

It may be refreshing to remind us the legacy of Architect Laurie Baker every once in a while, at a point of time when we should definitely be re-thinking of  what resources are we left with and how imperative it is to value every grain of sand, every drop of water, every breath of air..and every inch of green! Trivandrum had been extremely fortunate to have him around for so many years…many of his creations are already been pulled down…some are still living through..here are a few of them!

If walls and shutters of Kerala could speak their mind, its undisputably this man, Mohanlal.

Times are changing, flex boards are fast invading our towns to replace painted faces of our favourite movie stars. Even before you begin to enjoy their imperfections and faded tones, they’ll be gone forever. Before they do, here is an attempt to document the painted glory!

You may also visit the flickr pool.

Alleyways of the blue city, Jodhpur! Its probably the oldest part of the city painted in blue with a magnificient view to Mehrangarh Fort . The area is called Brahmapuri since brahmins inhabited here traditionally. Most of the houses here have already survived some 22 generations and still counting! Here are some dots of red found in the blue skyline.