Beyond love

The Taj Mahal has visitors lining up from before
the monument opens at 6am! 

Place: AGRA

What is left to say about the Taj Mahal? As the pinnacle of Mughal architecture, its fame has ensured that people have seen it through a populist frame, where the excellence of design and aesthetics have got overshadowed by a 'love story'.

The love shared by Khurram and Arjamand Bano Begum, better known today as Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal, clearly involved a lot of intercourse, and Mumtaz died giving birth to their 14th child in Burhanpur. Grief stricken Shahjahan, newly Mughal emperor, pledged to build something the world would marvel at. Shahjahan commissioned the Rauza-i Munauwara or the tomb of his wife to be built across the bend in the river and visible from his then residence, Agra Fort.  In this of course he was absolutely successful, and to date the monument to love is something visitors from literally all corners of the world. 

For me, what has been remarkable is the extreme symmetry of design in the monument complex. The complex does follow the Timurid concept of charbagh, associated usually with Islamic paradisical imagery. The entire complex is 55.5 acres in a rectangular plot that stretches from the Yamuna southwards, acquired from Raja Jai Singh. Ustad Ahmad Lahauri was roped in as architect, though Shahjahan himself was very active in conceptualisation. 

The numbers are mind blowing. The project took 22 years (1631-53) to finish. Just the foundation, plinth and main structure took 15 years - can't even imagine planning and waiting for so long! Of course, the builders had no modern equipment at all - not even a plastic scale, of course no cranes or forklifts, or computers. 20,000 workers reportedly worked on the project over time. 28 varieties of semi-precious and precious stones were used to adorn the Taj with exquisite inlay work.

Whiteworld

Snow at Oerlikon, Zurich

Place: ZURICH

Snow at Zurich. This is behind the Swisshotel in Oerlikon.

We had visited in November, when it was already getting pretty cold. However we hadn't got snow the day we landed, and I had been a little disappointed. However, it snowed the day we left, and the city was transformed into something magical. 

Bali on a platter

Early morning by the beach at Nusa Dua

Place: BALI

Look out for the seafood. Smell the durian (you can’t miss it even if you try, as discovered later). Don’t miss the suckling pig (well, I for one had full intentions of doing exactly that). But of course, going to the land of the satays and nasi gorengs meant a lot of wishers were going to have vicarious advice. Well before the itinerary for the trip to Bali had been finalised, food was already high on the priority list.

For an Indian, a trip to Bali has an added attraction — spotting the Indian connection. Bali is full of temples of Wisnu (yes, that’s how Vishnu is spelt there) and tales of Ramayana. There’s Gayatri mantra as caller tunes. Delve deeper and you realise that just the names have remained — Hinduism here has taken forms that few from the subcontinent will recognise. Including its food.

A little deviation to the land that provides the food. Not to forget the sea, which contribute as much. Think of a large seaside mountainous natural park of lush tropical beauty and an entertainment resort put together. Add miles of colourful shops, and ubiquitous tourists. Sprinkle with raindrops and generally perfect weather. You conjured up Bali, ‘island of the gods’.

People of all shapes and sizes, from all corners of the world, look far more relaxed than they do at home. Straw hats waving, they are at the golden beaches and on idyllic cruises, climbing for views of rice terraces and hopefully active volcanoes, sipping Balinese coffee amidst frenzied shopping in bargain and luxury markets, even canyoning, parasailing, mangrove trekking… And like me, cooking! Yes, many tourists do that as well, given the extent of fresh raw food, all waiting for the cooked!!

We stayed at The Laguna Resort and Spa, part of what is probably the Vegas of Bali — Nusa Dua, a peninsula nestled in the south- east corner of the island. It is paradisical in its structured beauty of the multi-million dollar resorts, though not exactly authentic Bali as it was created on UN recommendation in the 1970s, to concentrate tourism in an area. We hadn’t reached in the best of tempers — our flight from India was delayed by three hours, had dinner shoved at us at 5 am-IST and body clock time, ran from arrival to departure at Bangkok’s swanky Suvarnabhumi Airport (the changeover destination, there are no direct flights to Bali from India yet) and our baggage failed to join us!. After some vigorous pidgin English-Bahasa explanations and gesticulating — it was agreed that we would let the baggage arrive before further negotiation.

Vegetable vendors at Bandung market in Denpasar, Bali

Shop to cook 
Well, the next morning, baggage retrieved in a late night sojourn to the airport, under the able guidance of Executive Chef, I Made Putra, we sallied forth to cook. Only to discover we had to buy the ingredients as everything had to be fresh, and we had to buy it.

Off we went to the Badung market, in capital Denpasar. We emerged an hour later — laden with vegetables and spices — some familiar, others exotic — including cassava, candle nuts — again, beware of the smell, galangal roots, shrimp paste and a lot of advice from the shopkeepers and other buyers… The seafood market could be smelt a considerable distance away — fish of many hues overshadowed by crustaceans, squids, octopuses, crabs, shrimps, lobsters, and many other unidentified creatures, some still alive. Seeing the Balinese go about their regular life, in which religion and culture are intertwined was worth wading through the slime!

Back to 5-star environs, washed, we set about putting things in order, right by the seaside! Like most of the region, the accent is on freshness, though perhaps Balinese cuisine uses more spices than all of the rest of south -east Asia. Not just is the use of galangal and lemon grass distinctive, combinations of cinnamon, coriander, shallons, kaffir lime, nutmeg, cardamom and turmeric flavour the recipes too. Most vegetables and fruits are tropical sized, ie huge, creating a novelty factor right from the time you see them. While regular food is rice with vegetables and seafood, festive fare is, well, indeed festive and elaborate. Warung, or local food stalls are everywhere, and despite apprehensions of hygiene, are usually fresh as there is no local provision or concept of storing food!

The condiments are ready to get into the fire

We started with sate lilit ikan, or Balinese minced fish satay with sweet soya and chili. In the name of cooking, all ingredients (see box, and pictures) were mixed together and grilled. Quick, healthy and scrumptious. After applauding ourselves, we moved to the ikan bumbu kare, stewed butter fish curry with steamed rice and vegetables. Just a little more elaborate, this involved creating a basic paste called bumbu wangen — a combination of about 10 ingredients grounded with a lot of fresh ingredients. We cut the beautiful bass we had just bought, in cubes. Cooking time was minimal, and again the result was lip smacking.

The dessert, called kolak, simmered fruits in palm sugar liquid, was less to our taste. Exhausted by our efforts, we voted to let others do the cooking for the rest of the trip. The cuisine justified its reputation, and though MacD beckoned with its huge “welcome home” billboards, we stuck to gado gado, steamed vegetables, all pale coloured usually, lawar, a sauce of minced vegetables, meats and spices, sambal, hot chilli paste, sometimes with shrimp on it and a lot of seafood, some of which took getting used to.

There are a lot for vegetarians in Bali, and for those so inclined, try exotic stuff such as nangka, young jackfruit or pakis, fern tips. Fruits abound, including finger bananas, mangosteens and durians. While you can ask your food to be tidak pedas, or not spicy, if you are the average spice-loving Indian, go for the real thing. You won’t regret it.

Returning the garden to the city

The front facade of ITC Gardenia

Place: BENGALURU

It’s an effort to give the garden back to the Garden City. That’s the philosophy that ITC’s buzzworthy hotel in Bangalore, Gardenia, is run by. Small by the standards of some humungous hotels being built today, the 292-room Gardenia is on its way to make history as it is likely to become India’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum hotel. It has already sent in its final submission to the Washington DC-based green building rating agency.

“An ‘eco responsible’ ethos is an inherent part of our system and in creating the ITC Royal Gardenia, the challenge was to see how luxury and responsibility could be in harmony together,” says Nakul Anand, Chief Executive, ITC Hotels Division. And the two are married. Your room has no obvious reminder to be eco-friendly, the processes are built in. “Which is why it took four instead of the planned two years to make the hotel,” reveals a member of the staff.

ITC has already achieved LEED certification for some of its earlier structures, including the Green Centre in Gurgaon and its hotel in Kolkata, Sonar Bangla, “which is the first green hotel that has been registered for CDM benefits,” says YC Deveshwar, Chairman ITC.

The vertical gardens at the hotel may have been a
bit forced due the size of the plot, the idea of the
gardens going vertical are a great draw

As eco-tourism is on the rise, in what could possibly be the norm for the future, right from the conception, extreme care has been taken to ensure eco-friendliness at the hotel, informs Vidya Prakash, Project Manager. The four-acre land, at a prime location in Bangalore, earlier had ITC staff quarters, a lush green space. While 48 trees were relocated, two trees came in for special attention. An old pipal tree was moved and another and a larger tree that could not be moved was incorporated into the design. When I visited during the final stages of construction, the tree had a protective covering. The original topsoil of the land was set aside and reused! 50% of the site area has been restored.

Water management at the hotel is an important component. While the existing subsoil water was used during construction, rainwater harvesting has been integral to the project. Water used in the basins is filtered, purified and recycled several times. There is 100% reduction of potable water usage for landscaping by using treated waste water and efficient irrigation systems. So water surplus is the hotel that it can provide its neighbour across the road, the Bangalore Club, with surplus water. Gardenia uses solar energy generated by six parabolic discs for all outdoor lighting, steam generation and hot water system. All cars are to be parked in the basement, avoiding the heat island effect. All of the wood used in the hotel has been sourced from the forests certified by the Forest Standing Council (FSC), meaning the wood is from forests specially grown for this purpose.

The naturally ventilated lobby - it has no AC, but the tunnel like
structure of the hotel keeps it permanently cool  

The use of natural light is maximised, with 79% of the spaces having a minimum daylight factor of 2%. CFL bulbs are used for lighting throughout the hotel while 90% of the building occupants are provided with individual lighting controls and 50% of the building occupants provided with thermal system controllability. Yes, those small touch screens provided in your rooms are not to be ignored. I did the first day, only to later figure out how fascinating they were in kind of controls they provided.

The green experience starts right from the moment you enter—there is no door to the entrance lobby. It is cold, and you almost want to request someone to turn down the AC, only to realise that there is no AC here. The wind funnel created by the capital H shape of the building keeps it cool. The most striking feature—the lobby has four huge vertical gardens—green panels of syngoniums and philodendrons. To save space, they are now on walls, in more than one location in the hotel. Prepared by Singapore-based RP Jickky of Tropical Environment, these are on a wall 90mm thick and are drip irrigated every other day for 15-20 minutes.

Gardenia does not compromise on luxury on any count. The restaurants, the spa, the pavilions all give the same experience as any other luxury hotel. Only you can indulge here, feeling comfortable that despite the luxurious stay, your carbon footprint is mininal.

Green rooms

ITC Gardenia rooms have many green practices built in. Discover:
* Double insulated windows reduce noise and heat, leading to less use of ACs.
* Efficient plumbing fictures and water limiters reduce water use
* The locks are RFID (radio frequency indicator) enabled.
* The JVD Minibar does not use CFC to cool.
* A multifunctional tool, InnCom can be used as a telephone, connect MPs players, regulate all electrical controls.
* Toiletries are eco-friendly.
* The bathrobes are made of organic cotton.

Trambus

The trams, left, are a major draw for tourists, though most 
transportation in the city is through buses - more double decker 
than single floor and of course the metro

Place: HONGKONG

A look at Kolkata's trams and you have to weep. Given that they are the only extant ones in India, Indian mind automatically associates the word tram with adjectives such as decrepit, decaying, old... But the British left the same legacy for another eastern city, Hongkong. And the trams of Hongkong are still pristine, and a pride of the city.

Over a hundred years old, they are still widely used on Hongkong island, and are not just a tourist attraction, though of course tourists love them. The lines are limited, though there has been an extension to Happy Valley. The government has constantly seen it fit to update the services and they are today a modern transport system, even if some on purpose retain an old world look

Gaily painted today with all kinds of advertising labels, they are really wonderful advertisments for the city's vibrancy.