The rescue

A typical evening at office, pending work, just the low hum of the systems and the irritating Pomeranian dog next door barking (rather yelping). All of this changes in an instant when my friend Shilpa walks in. She has in her arms a cute little brown pup. Musaiyab and me have a shocked look on our faces, I mean waz a pup doing in an architect's office.

But all that shock disappeared the moment I saw that puppy face, he was scared, hungry, cold and had no idea of what was happening around him. We took him outside before our landlord could find out. Shilpa, who came fully prepared was pouring the milk into a container. She found the pup lost, away from his mother on the Koramangala 100ft road waiting to be run over. Must admire her resourcefulness when she convinced a kid who was around there to hold the puppy while she rode her two wheeler to my office.

Once the pup licked the milk container clean, he obviously went to sleep, comfortably in my arms. Then started our search, to find "Mr. No more hungry and completely sleepy" a home. CUPA was the choice, they complied, but would come only in the morning to get him. Now that posed another problem, where to keep him until the next morning. Her place was a no, I lived in an apartment where pets aren't allowed and the office was a definite no. Many phone calls later, she finally found a home for the little guy. As we were headed there the pup rolled up like a fur ball in my arms trying to stay warm. Oh, how I wish I could have taken him home.

Anyway, he lay in large box until the next day, in the meanwhile driving Shilpa crazy with all the antics that is associated with a 2 month old pup. CUPA finally came along and took him away from Shilpa (who was teary eyed I am sure). All we can hope is that he finds a home where he is "Man's best friend".

Urban "disaster" planning

Its a change my city topic folks. And I am not talking about managing a disaster that strikes the city, nope, I am talking about the disaster that is the city "Namma Bengaluru". I am gonna take one example here; "The elevated highway on Hosur road".

Oh boy, I can't help but wonder that our politicians actually agreed to throw away 1000 crores of the tax payers money to build this monstrous piece of shit. Spanning 9kms, a beautiful stretch of road that gives you no idea of what is happening below it. And thanks to this road the road width on ground level is even less now making matters worse.

Who the hell came up with this idea, to build a road claiming that it will help clear traffic for the software supremos in E.city. What about the rest of the public, and even if the concern was for only the supremos, what about the bunch that has their offices on Hosur road before reaching E.city. What about the residential apartments, offices, commercial establishments on this stretch. And even if the thought was to benefit a small group then why are they being charged for the facility. 35 bucks for a one way trip!!! And if you are not aware, you don't come to know that you have to pay until you have finished the ride. (The toll booth is only on one end of the stretch for both directions)

There are exactly seven junctions from silkboard to E.city, the road width was already 10 lanes and with enough free or at least cheap land on either side. Wasn't clearing these junctions with underpasses and flyovers enough so as to give a clear path to the "Supremos" and at the same time help the general public too. Noooooo of course not, they had to build a good for nothing king cobra which leads to just one place and then charge people for using it.

This has to be a case study for disastrous planning. If anyone is of a different opinion, I would invite them to cross Bommanhalli junction at 7:00PM and head towards E.city on the "ground level".

Glory awaits

The cricket world cup is here!!! The one world sporting event where we can claim our stakes as a force to be reckoned with. And the best part, this time we are hosting it. Again the one sporting event that we can host better or at least in par with any other nation.

India shocked the world in 1983, winning the event against great odds (61-1 to be mathematically precise). And we believe we can do it again. Of course this time around we are the favorites. Host nation, arguably the best batting line up in the world, a fierce fast bowling attack and a spin attack that any team would love to have. We are high on confidence, but, the story of the previous world cup has everybody's "over confidence" in check. It's never looked better.

But make no mistake, no team comes to the world cup hoping for just a good show, everyone wants to win. It is this desire that won the cup for India in 83. Be it the minnows like Canada & Ireland or the once mighty now fallen Australia, they are all here to win and all have to be respected if not feared.

We have an able captain, he's proved it before. We have a man who's considered the god of the cricket religion, playing his last world cup with nothing in his mind but the winner's medal. But we need all 11 or rather all 15 to perform at peak efficiency. Kapil's devils didn't win the WC with just the captain and Gavaskar, it took the efforts of Amarnath, Sandhu, Binny and all others, each one coming through when it mattered the most.

But I believe that this team can do it and bring glory. You may say that we believed it in the previous events as well but were disappointed, so what's the point in hoping and then being disappointed again, but trust me if there is no belief then there is no joy either when victory comes!!!

Unity in Diversity.......... R u sure??!!!

Unity in diversity, we have all learnt this at school. We (Indians) have for many years now claimed that despite our differences we stand united. Yes it is true in many a sense. We cheer together on the cricket field, the whole country is ecstatic when somebody wins a medal at the Olympics and we are proud as a group when someone of Indian "origin" takes a walk in space.

But is that enough, are those few and far apart moments enough to cover the otherwise predominant hatred amongst us??.......... You may have read this far and would have already judged me, why is Pravith saying all these things, isn't he patriotic?.......... But think about it for a minute or so, everyday you read the newspaper, there is some ethnic group in some state trying to drive out another group. Are we really united enough to survive and prosper. The moment you step outside your comfort zone (i.e your state) you have language problems and cultural problems, not to mention religious problems (but then to be fair religious problem is not unique to just us, its a problem world over). While a lot of countries have finished fighting their civil wars in bloody battles a century ago, we are fighting ours as a slow but deadly one in the disguise of democracy!!!

And what we fail to see is that we are all sitting in a boiling pot ready to explode. We are held together with glue that is not even as strong as ones on a "post it"!!! Sure, if you look at urban life we are united to a great extent. We live in multi cultural societies and have no problem with it, but India has a very small percentage of urban population and it might just not be enough.

I don't know if I am right with my assessment but we are not even close to being united, its time to get a reality check and uncover the mask before its too late. Political gains and vote bank politics are destroying the vision of Asoka and Akbar. I love my country the way it is and I intend to keep it that way, but I can't do it alone!!!

Power of architecture

I just finished watching a video called "3 warp speed architecture tales", (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AYE3w5TWHs) its a presentation of 3 architecture projects by danish architect Bjarke Ingels at a TED convention. He was dressed in a black t-shirt with a comic book style cloud pointing towards his mouth. Very informal and I loved it. How I wish I could attend my meetings wearing t-shirts and track pants!!.........

Anyways I am not going deeper into his fashion sense. He explained about three projects that he worked on; the skyscraper in Shanghai that looks like a Chinese symbol, an apartment complex + parking lot in Denmark and an urban development master plan on an island in Azerbaijan a country in eastern europe (or western Asia, whichever suits best).

The projects were amazing, no doubt, Ingels is one of the most sought after architects in the world. But what was more amazing was the start of the first two projects and Ingels' honesty in revealing it's story.

He had originally designed the skyscraper in Shanghai as a hotel project in Sweden!!!....... which was rejected by the jury in Sweden....... and when they showed some of their old works to a businessman in China, he loved this particular building because it looked like the peoples symbol in Chinese!!!............. and have now proposed it to be built in Shanghai............

It reminds me of my college days............ when we used to finish our designs and then during the last few minutes look at the design and come up with a concept for it.

The second project, the apartment complex in Denmark was proposed just opposite to the apartment where he currently lives and he took up the project and convinced the owners to change the design in such a way that the view from his apartment is unaffected by the new building............. talk about using the power of architecture!!........... I didn't even know that such powers existed in the field!!!............

Anyways........... watching this video has given me certain amount of confidence in the "powers of architecture" and I am now going to rummage through all my old designs and accumulate them............. you never know ........... one of them might just look like the symbol of the Chinese dragon or something!!!

Gadget Geek

You remember the first time you got yourself a cell phone, well, I do. I didn't buy it, it was a gift from a family friend and boy I loved it. It was a Nokia 1100 (popularly known as the torch phone). I opened the box, admired the little piece for a while and went straight into the instruction manual, well, you see I am one of those people who love reading the manuals. It said the phone needs to be charged for at least 2 hours before use........... Grrrrrr............. another 2 hours ........... damn. Longest 2 hours of my life, I couldn't get anything productive done in those 2 hours!!!

The first thing I did after the 2 hours is play "SNAKE"!!!.......... I had tried it on cellphones borrowed from friends but now I could play all day long for ever............... It's been 4 years and 10 months since that day and I have never played snake after that.

Anyways, I admit I am a gadget geek. Anything new in the market and I am already researching it on the internet. The i-phone introduction by Steve Jobs got me so crazy that I would go to the Apple website and watch the keynote speech over and over again, it's by far the best presentation I have watched.

But what is it about these gadgets that gives us goosebumps? Every small little technological advancement gets us jumping out of our seats and puts us on a crazy path to lay our hands on it. And 10 days later we are looking at the same gadget and saying, "is that all, I wish it had some more features". I personally was on a hunt for an i-phone just to get a feel of the multi touch screen and the pinch feature to zoom a picture.

Gadget geek or not, the very fact that there is something new to move past the boring gadgets we already have is reason enough start up a conversation over coffee (or tea for the likes of me). I honestly declare that I am a gadget geek and I am always on the hunt for a newer (maybe better) product. Having said that, I am looking at my cellphone and I am not liking that outdated piece of junk one bit!!!

The Quintessential public transport

"PIAGGIO APE".......... we know this vehicle today as a commercial transport. But the original Piaggio ape is the great grandfather of our modern autorickshaw.

Devised by an engineer in Italy during the world war, the vehicle was made specifically for transporting goods at a very low cost and also navigate the narrow streets of Italian towns. They transported everything from vegetables to poultry. Today we proudly use it to transport people!!!

We embraced this vehicle into our lives for the very same reason it was invented for, to have low cost transportation. It served well for many years and now we find it hard to let go, change is not something everyone takes kindly. But in the modern society, does this vehicle carry the same importance, isn't it time to move on and by moving on I don't mean make newer versions of the same vehicle, as is the case in our cities now, but to move on to something better for our roads.

Some may argue about the cost factors, true the rickshaw is cheaper than any other transport vehicle (an autorickshaw costs 1 lac rupees on road), but by how much? If we can make a private car for a basic price of 1 lac rupees, is it that difficult to make a public one for the same price and maintain it for cheap.

Some may also argue that the vehicle is designed for weaving through traffic and reaching someplace on time. I tend to disagree on that. It may be very effective in weaving its way around, but it spoils the traffic conditions for the rest of us. Making specific lanes for the rickshaw is difficult, cause it is smaller than the standard car size. They can navigate through some spaces but can't navigate through some others creating more problems than solving. And as far as sharing lanes with the other vehicles goes, with the top speeds that these "apes" have, its gonna be pretty irritating.

The Italians who invented the "thing" don't use it in their cities and highways anymore, they have pushed it to their remote towns and villages. All I am saying is that its time for the "APE" to evolve into something more humane.