Rashed's View » Travel

Hawaii and India

rashedhaq — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:45:05 +0000

This is a short video that strings together clips from my trips to Hawaii and India this year. Taking videos has not been as much fun as I expected. I love to take still photos, but when I am doing videos, I just get bored.

The clips are:
1) Volcano valley from the rim (not an active volcano!) in Hawaii
2) Lava flowing from the volcano into the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii
3) Boat on the Wailua River in Hawaii
4) Music at the restaurant where I frequently had dinner in Delhi
5) Dushera festival in Delhi

[From facebook, click on the 'View Original Post' link below.]

Austin

rashedhaq — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:13:08 +0000

What a great day! We woke up at the lake house and lounged around on the deck over the boat house with breakfast and then tea. Just before lunch we drove off to Marble Falls. We spent most of the afternoon in the sun and breeze in the Llana River. It turned out to be a great all-in-one for the kids – it had a little beach, a babbling brook, river rocks and “islands” – big rocks sticking out of the river that you could walk to (or swim to, in Athena’s case).

We stopped at Lambert’s Barbeque in Austin for dinner. It had a great ambiance, live music and good food. Even the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and didn’t get bored. My entrée was so good, I had to order a second one (and share with Natasha). After dinner, we took a short walk to start the digestion process, watched the Austin Ballet practice, and drove back to the lake house. It was such a spring day!

In Houston

rashedhaq — Wed, 02 May 2007 03:40:45 +0000

After 3 years, I am back in Houston!! It is quite a sense of déjà vu. From the too-early-to-be-decent drive to the airport, to getting on the Delta shuttle in the middle of the week, the smell of the morning Delta coffee (different from the afternoon Delta coffee smell), the depressing light at the Hobby airport terminal in Houston, the smell of the Wild Catter pizza where I had dinner on Friday nights before my flight back, to the line of taxis waiting to go downtown, there were strong memories from my previous tour of duty here. I got a wild welcome back at the hotel, including upgrades to a suite – almost everyone remembers me. I got to sample the new chef’s creations at a chef’s dinner with the team. Let’s see how long this gig lasts.

Trying to Get Back

rashedhaq — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 16:03:25 +0000

I stopped in Dubai on my way back from New Delhi to have dinner there (photos here). After dinner, I arrived at the airport 4 hours ahead of time. We hung out at the café with Papa who had just landed from Bahrain. At 12:30 – with 2.5 hours still to go, I went through security and stood in line for check in. Everyone for all flight check-ins was in the same queue. By the time I got to the counter, there were only 30 minutes left for the flight and Emirates would not allow me to check in. After much haggling, they changed my ticket to a Heathrow flight (instead of Gatwick) for another flight that leaves 20 minutes after mine. But they made me go through security again, and by the time I was at the counter the gate was closed, again! Finally I had to move everything to 24 hours later. I missed the Atlanta team celebration that was 4 months in the making, and the main reason for returning so quickly. But I got time to locate my friends in Dubai and hung out with them for a few hours and then we went to check out Dubai. This time, I arrived 4 hours early at the airport and checked in within 30 minutes. I am now safely in London, waiting to board the Atlanta flight.

Karim’s (Since 1913)

rashedhaq — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 03:22:36 +0000

At the London restaurant The Bank, I was chatting in 2000 with a local about great food in different parts of the world. After discussing various places in London, New York and Los Angeles, she mentioned Karim’s in New Delhi. She said it is the best North Indian food she had ever had. When I looked it up later, I found that it is run by chefs who are descendants of Shah Jahan’s personal chef, and that all the recipes are the same as what the Mughal emperors themselves tasted and has been kept within the family for 300 years until the restaurant was opened before World War I. We ordered Tandoori Raan (whole leg of lamb), seekh kebab, Tandoori chicken, lamb ribs, mutton korma, the whole roasted fish, brain curry, and finally phirni. Having waited six and a half years to try Karim’s, I felt like I was going on a pilgrimage. And I definitely have to agree that it is the best North Indian food I have had.

Jantar Mantar

rashedhaq — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:03:53 +0000

Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh was an avid astronomer and mathematician. He built the Jantar Mantar observatories in 5 cities in India. This one in Jaipur, next to his palace, was the last, largest and most accurate. This is also the best preserved with every instrument in perfect working condition except one that is locked in place because visitors would use it as a swing. He built the others as better and better prototypes before embarking on this one. The massive instruments were chiselled out of stone by skilled workers. The largest of these is the 27 meter tall sundial, the largest in the world. This is accurate to 2 seconds as our guide demostrated to us. Many of the other instruments help measure where the heavenly bodies are, what Zodiac period we are in, the elevation of the sun and stars, including the azimuthal angle of the sun. There are two of almost every instrument – a smaller prototype, and a gigantic final instrument – both in working condition. It amazes me that this kind of fine instrumentation was designed, built and tested with the help of uneducated stone workers almost 250 years ago. It really helps to put my software development projects in perspective.

City Palace

rashedhaq — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 19:02:48 +0000

Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh’s City Palace is in the heart of the walled city of Jaipur. This is the official residence of the former royal family, although the outer courtyard and the the ground floor are open to the public. It is a mix of Mughal and Rajput architecture which has continued to be expanded into the 20th century. The City Palace complex consists of multiple structures. Unfortunately, the new entrance seems to be off to the side so the first place we entered into was the Diwan-E-Khas, the Hall of Private Audience to host visiting dignitaries. This is an open marble pavilion with sublime decorated arches built on it. I spend over 3 hours in here shooting a TV commercial! It houses two gangajali’s, large silver vessels, that were used by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh to take Ganges water to England whenever he travelled there (to avoid drinking the unclean English water). These are the world’s largest silver objects of any kind – 345 kg of silver each.

If we had entered from the old palance entrance, we would first come upon Mubarak Mahal. This is a building constructed completely from marble (akin to the Taj Mahal). This was build to welcome visitors and is currently a textile museum. Once you go past this, to your right, is the Diwan-E-Aam, the Hall of Public Audience. Interestingly, this hall is the more private – with walls. There is a built in platform that covers most of the middle of the hall. We could not determine if this is where people sat (likely), or if this was a table (unlikely). This is a museum for the gigantic Mughal Persian carpets and many precious and ancient manuscripts, including some miniature manuscripts. Included in these were the miniature Bhagavat Gita’s from Emperor Aurangzeb’s reigh – these were made small to hide them from Aurangzeb’s view so that they would not be persecuted by him. It was very exciting to see all these and feel the life-and-times of those who used them.

Finally we walked through the Chandra Mahal, the 7 story residence of the palace. The last Maharaja’s widow, 98 year old Gayetri Devi, still lives in this part of the palace with her family. There is a large court with every door in and out gorgeously decorated. The most striking was the Peacock above the door through which the court is entered from the outside.

Hawa Mahal

rashedhaq — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 16:01:45 +0000

Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds, is in the heart of the walled city of Jaipur, on the outer boundary of the palace. It was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh overlooking the main shopping street in the city so that the ladies of the court, who did not often go out, could all view the shopping scene and everyday life from their palace windows without themselves being seen. For this reason it is primarily a facade of 953 delicately honeycombed windows known as jharokas! It is an exquisite example of Rajput architecture in red sandstone. Opposite the Hawa Mahal is a school started by the royal family (I forget the name), and their building architecture looks similar but is not as grand and more run down.

Jaigarh Fort

rashedhaq — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 23:05:03 +0000

Jaigarh Fort, or Victory Fort, was once responsible for the security of both Jaipur and Amber. A huge moated fort, it is the most imposing (from the outside) of the three hilltop forts that overlook Jaipur. During the Mughal era, the Jaipur region was a major weapons-producing center for both the Mughal and Rajput rulers. It is one of the few military structures of medieval (over 7 centuries) India preserved almost intact, containing palaces, a granary, a well-planned cannon foundry, several temples, a tall tower and a giant mounted cannon – the Jaivan, the largest cannon in the world. Jaigarh does not have the delicate structures or palaces like that of Amber or Delhi but is a hard-core fortress in the medieval sense, although there is a breathtaking view to the outside from the beautiful garden. It was built between the 15th and the 18th century, and stands 15 km from Jaipur, amidst rock-strewn, thorn-scrub covered hills. Its forbidding stone ramparts are visible from the Jaipur town. A steep road goes up to the main gate, the Dungar Darwaza, from where the view is stupendous. It was the royal treasury for several years. Interestingly, the fort was sealed for seven years, due to a rumour that an enormous treasure in gold was buried at the fort. The government looked under every rock of the fort, emptied the reservoirs of water but eventually found nothing.

Amber Fort

rashedhaq — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:47:50 +0000

As we approached Jaipur, the first place we stopped at was Amber (pronounced Amer) Fort. This was the original Fort and Palace for the Kachhawah rulers, built in 1592. It was last modified by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh in the 1700’s before he moved down to the plains and built the City Palace complex in Jaipur. After lunching at the Blue Stone Restaurant at the foot of the hills, we considered the available options for going up the steep hill to the fort: a 4×4 from the 1960’s, on elephant back or climbing the imposing stairway. I chose the 4×4 to be the quickest and safest way, although my friends recommended the elephant ride. This took us to the imposing Surajpol Gate (pol means gate) of the fort. Getting through this, we landed on the first courtyard, Jaleb Chowk. This was a massive garden where victorious returning Rajput armies were welcomed back by the Maharajas. Construction and renovation enclosed three sides of this, and toward the right was the main stairway to the Palace.

On the side of the main stairway is the Shila Devi Temple that was unfortunately closed when we visited. According to legend, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh I had worshiped the Goddess for a victory over the rulers of Bengal. The Goddess appeared in the Maharaja’s dream and ordered him to recover her statue lying under sea the near Jessore (now in Bangladesh) and install it in a befitting temple. Sure enough, after defeating the Bengal army, the Maharaja recovered the statue from the sea bed. The main stairway lands on the second courtyard, leading to the Diwan-E-Aam, the Hall of Public Audience. This is an open pavilion of double rows of columns each capped by an elephant. To the side of this is another pillared structure (I could not find out what it was used for), with beautiful views down the hill and to the Moata Lake.

From here, you go through an exquisite marble gate, the Ganeshpol Gate to the geometric formal gardens, with the Diwan-E-Khas on the left and the residences on the right. Above the gate is veranda-like space where the ladies of the court could relax, and watch the goings-on of the court without being observed. Beyond the gate, to the right is Sukh Niwas, the Residence of Happiness (or Pleasure). The palace has an ivory inlaid sandalwood door, beautiful glass-inlaid windows, a corner breeze-room with laticed marble walls that allows lots of air in, and a channel laid for flowing water to cool the rooms, eventually flowing into the garden. The Zenana or the palace of the women are connected through a common corridor, cleverly designed to give each room privacy.

The main attraction seems to be the Jai Mandir, the Hall of Victory which also seems to have been the Diwan-E-Khas, but is popularly known as the Sheesh Mahal. This is a gorgeous pavilion with inlaid marble walls and dazzlingly mirrored ceiling and walls. No one is allowed inside, but you can look in from the outside because there are arched openings on three side. This is apparently to prevent further damage – the outside walls have sadly deteriorated with neglect and perhaps vandalism. We learnt that the famous Dilip Kumar movie Mughal-e-Azam from the 1950’s was shot here, with this Sheesh Mahal acting as part of the Emperor’s palace in the movie. This was an awe inspiring piece of architecture, mixing both Mughal and Rajput influences.