[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":213},["ShallowReactive",2],{"tag-chandigarh":3},[4,134],{"id":5,"title":6,"body":7,"date":119,"description":120,"extension":121,"image":25,"layout":122,"meta":123,"navigation":125,"path":126,"seo":127,"stem":128,"tags":129,"writer":132,"__hash__":133},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines.md","The rebellion of straight lines",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":115},"minimark",[10,14,17,20,26,29,32,37,40,43,47,50,53,57,60,64,67,71,74,77,81,84,87,91,95,98,101,105,108,112],[11,12,13],"p",{},"I have been posting quiz questions, packaged as ‘stories’, to an Instagram audience for the past fortnight. It is not an exercise in the grand signalling of knowledge; it is, rather, an attempt to compel myself to find, every day, at least one thing worth framing a question about.",[11,15,16],{},"On most days, that has happened to satisfactory outcome. On the rest, the imagined burden of public expectation — I’m informed by the app that 120-odd people look at the question each day — makes me look for trivia collected sometime in the past.",[11,18,19],{},"These notions were dismantled only over trips to countries other than our own. Any sound unpleasant to the ear was absent. In some cases, all sounds were absent. A realisation was cemented: every city has a characteristic sound; for some, this may be even be the sound of silence.",[21,22],"blog-image",{"align":23,"alt":24,"src":25},"right","Chandigarh Architecture","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002Fcover.jpg",[11,27,28],{},"Such an issue presented itself on the 13th day of this series. The influence of this number on the process of searching through pages of memory became apparent in the outcome: Chandigarh, and the absence of a ‘Sector 13’ in the city. A sufficiently interesting fact found; an appropriate facade — to hide it behind — to be built. The internet, as usual, offers support.",[11,30,31],{},"A news report in The Tribune (what else?) about a restaurant called ‘Sector 13’ having opened in the commercial complex of Sector 17 is found; the headline beams: “Chandigarh finally gets Sector 13.” Everything appears to have come together in a perfect co-incidence; a wide grin becomes unavoidable.",[21,33],{"align":34,"alt":35,"src":36},"left","Sector 17 Market","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002F1.jpg",[11,38,39],{},"The making of a plan to take a solo day-trip to Chandigarh had preceded the making of this question entirely. The idea of a self-taken, real-time picture of ‘Sector 13’ as the answer — instead of a stock image off the internet — was attractive. The plan was solidified; so was the question. Despite having been engineered, the serendipity was exciting.",[11,41,42],{},"The events of today — the day of the trip — have been very revealing. The introduction to a city — its optics, its theatre, and its emotion — define the relationship we build with the city: in that, cities are like people. To me, this city has been introduced, in earnest, only today.",[21,44],{"align":23,"alt":45,"src":46},"City Introduction","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002F2.jpg",[11,48,49],{},"I have visited Chandigarh in the past: as a primary school student, to visit my father’s college campus for a reunion function; as a tourist a few years later, and then twice in this stint as a college student: once to watch a film that was deemed too important by the friend group to be watched at a nondescript cinema hall in Patiala; the other time for a familial engagement, a trip that was contorted to include a visit to my father’s old hostel room.",[11,51,52],{},"The planning, the architecture: none of it was new to me. I have seen it before and appreciated it in a typically measured manner. The object of this visit was not to decorate my perception of the city at all. The plan was to spend a day sampling each museum and memorial within the urban expanse: the choice of city dictated by geographical convenience.",[21,54],{"align":34,"alt":55,"src":56},"Museum Visit","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002F3.jpg",[11,58,59],{},"Four separate institutions of note were visited; the last one just barely. The purpose of writing this out is not to describe the excellent exhibits at each, although the efforts of the Chandigarh Architecture Museum as well as ‘Le Corbusier Centre,’ are sufficiently spectacular such as to merit special commendation. It is to etch in material memory the great joy that has been derived during the travels between these places: applauding the respect a pedestrian could command on the street, and the approachability of the system of public transport.",[21,61],{"align":23,"alt":62,"src":63},"Pedestrian Friendly","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002F4.jpg",[11,65,66],{},"I am used to neither, as are perhaps most of us living and growing up in cities not privileged enough to be planned and built by legendary teams led by European architects. It is not even my contention that great architecture automatically elevates a city in stature — critics of Corbusier would perhaps even say his work is not ‘great’ at all — but a much greater understanding of the process, the philosophy and the sheer effort behind it all has managed to cultivate deep respect for the progenitors of the Capital Project.",[21,68],{"align":34,"alt":69,"src":70},"Architectural Detail","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002F5.jpg",[11,72,73],{},"Especially for Pierre Jeanneret: he was the one who perhaps truly ‘built’ the city, and then adopted it as his own. He lived in it for more than a decade, designed the less glamorous — but perhaps equally spectacular — parts: the houses, the schools, the fire stations, the bus stops, the theatres, even the manhole covers. He asked for his ashes to be scattered in the lake he helped develop. A manifestation of irrational, excessive attachment — worthy of great respect.",[11,75,76],{},"A long straight walk along Sector 8 led to his house, now preserved as a memorial. It is a stone’s throw from the lakeside; an almost unnoticeable sign post — and a newly installed ‘Chandigarh Smart City’ board — gives any indication that this building has special significance. I had barely entered when it was five; time for governments across the country to call it a day. Before I left, I was asked by the lone security guard to express my thoughts in the visitors book. I ruffled through its pages: one visitor a day on most days; most of them not even Indian. Perhaps institutions like these could do with a mention — or a visit — by another chowkidar.",[21,78],{"align":23,"alt":79,"src":80},"Jeanneret House","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002F6.jpg",[11,82,83],{},"The manhole cover that Jeanneret designed is placed as an exhibit at the Architecture Museum, along with an exhortation to onlookers: “See how many you can locate.” I tried, unsuccessfully, during the few hours I spent traversing the streets, to find one.",[11,85,86],{},"Fittingly, there is one right outside his house. Fittingly, the inability to go through his memorial — and photograph each exhibit, even the manhole cover outside his house — will compel me to return.",[21,88],{"align":34,"alt":89,"src":90},"Manhole Cover","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002F7.jpg",[21,92],{"align":23,"alt":93,"src":94},"Manhole Cover Detail","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002F8.jpg",[11,96,97],{},"‘Sector 13’ was still left to be photographed. It was located inside Sector 17 — a fantastic outdoor pedestrian-only market — also the location of the city’s local bus stand, from where the return journey would commence.",[11,99,100],{},"A great deal of asking-around later, bad news. ‘Sector 13’ had rebranded themselves to ‘Mauser Beer Bar Set’ — MBBS, in short — and the sign board I was looking for was nowhere to be found. No more Sector 13, just the way Corbusier had intended things to have been.",[21,102],{"align":34,"alt":103,"src":104},"Sector 17 Sign","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002F9.jpg",[11,106,107],{},"A hypothesis of strange connection was thought of, as we left: Chandigarh of the present is what I imagine New Delhi of the 1980s would have been like. Perhaps the beacon of urban planning in this country — with its sectors sheltered within its road-grid of straight lines—will manage to stay the way it is, in forty years hence. There were a few signs that suggested it might not, but I want to remain optimistic.",[21,109],{"align":23,"alt":110,"src":111},"Chandigarh Grid","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines\u002F10.jpg",[11,113,114],{},"I am not typically a votary of rebellion; but to stay optimistic about its future is the greatest act of rebellion in our country: guilty, then, as charged.",{"title":116,"searchDepth":117,"depth":117,"links":118},"",2,[],"2019-04-02","An introduction to Chandigarh","md","default",{"comments":124},[],true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines",{"title":6,"description":120},"blog\u002Fthe-rebellion-of-straight-lines",[130,131],"Chandigarh","New Delhi","Auraq staff","YNMjM8xdbmRxAPlJH2rXcnuy5D1I5TpYA-bUZtS9dRY",{"id":135,"title":136,"body":137,"date":204,"description":205,"extension":121,"image":148,"layout":122,"meta":206,"navigation":125,"path":208,"seo":209,"stem":210,"tags":211,"writer":132,"__hash__":212},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fleaving-delhi.md","Leaving Delhi",{"type":8,"value":138,"toc":202},[139,142,145,149,152,155,158,161,164,168,171,174,178,181,188,192,195,198],[11,140,141],{},"The first time I ever travelled by train, by myself, was a trip aboard the 12011 Kalka Shatabdi in 2012. Most of the people aboard were headed to Chandigarh, while I was making the full trip to Kalka; the object being a weekend in the hills with my cousins.",[11,143,144],{},"All north-bound trains from Delhi would, upon entering the northern suburbs of the city, present vast swathes of openly-dumped garbage as scenery to its passengers. The situation today is better, but only just. Countless conversations between co-passengers, I imagine, would have found their beginnings in an expression of anguish at that particular sight. So began a conversation with the elderly man seated to my right.",[21,146],{"align":23,"alt":147,"src":148},"Train Journey","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fleaving-delhi\u002Fcover.png",[11,150,151],{},"I do not remember much of the early parts of what he said, save for a determined optimism about the city, and a hope that it could yet be saved if the government got its act together. As the inhabited regions outside were replaced by tracts of farmland, the train picked up pace. Taking cue, so did the conversation.",[11,153,154],{},"He told me that he was travelling to Chandigarh with a film crew from Canada – a few members would periodically come and check up on him – who were shooting a documentary film. He had been an architect; having worked for a large phase of his career on the Chandigarh project with Pierre Jeanneret – the city’s first chief architect – a name I was hearing for the first time.",[21,156],{"align":34,"alt":24,"src":157},"\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fleaving-delhi\u002F1.jpg",[11,159,160],{},"There is a typical, unmistakable manner of the eager storyteller: they do not pause to gauge the audience's response; the narration is reward enough. He skipped from one story to the next, as if keeping pace with the sequence of stations that passed us. I was overwhelmed, but remained eager.",[11,162,163],{},"Of all his stories, two stood out sufficiently for me to be able to remember seven years later. The first about his meeting with Nehru during his time assisting Jeanneret, and the second about his son – a lawyer at the Supreme Court of India – and how he had fought for the victim’s family in the Ruchika Girhotra case that had made headlines in 2009.",[21,165],{"align":23,"alt":166,"src":167},"Jeanneret Work","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fleaving-delhi\u002F2.jpg",[11,169,170],{},"I am positively certain that there were other fascinating parts of the roughly four hour long conversation that are now lost; this confidence is partly due to a realisation, delayed by many years, about the stature of the man I was beside. Thankfully, I managed to remember his name.",[11,172,173],{},"Jeet Malhotra is a constant, significant presence across the architectural history of our nation. In the beginning of his career, he worked with distinguished architects on the League of Nations project in Geneva. Post his contributions to the Chandigarh Capital Project – which earn him multiple features in books and museums dedicated to that subject – he would go on to serve as the Chief Architect of Punjab, and eventually as the Chief Architect of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation. I had almost never bothered to find all of this out; an evening of searching was triggered by finding his name in a book on Indian architecture a few years ago.",[21,175],{"align":34,"alt":176,"src":177},"Jeet Malhotra","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fleaving-delhi\u002F3.jpg",[11,179,180],{},"We eventually parted at Chandigarh station, and he extended an invitation to visit him at his Vasant Vihar residence. Although I never took it up, it was an incredible gesture; one that made me realise the great power of always being unexpectedly kind.",[11,182,183,184,187],{},"The entirety of this episode has played out in multiple parts; from the first time I wrote about it, I have discovered a new detail every six or so months. Very recently, I found out that the film he had been travelling to shoot for was an architectural documentary titled \"",[185,186,136],"em",{},"\"; all that is available about the film on the internet is its trailer. Thus, what remains is to be able to watch it completely and tie all ends of this story together.",[21,189],{"align":23,"alt":190,"src":191},"Documentary Still","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fleaving-delhi\u002F4.jpg",[11,193,194],{},"Coincidentally, I have continued to frequent the Kalka Shatabdi over the previous three years; now for a shorter and decidedly unromantic home-bound commute. More often than not, on entering the coach, I remember the extraordinary debt of gratitude that I owe to the Railways' seating algorithm since 2012; uninteresting, or worse, unpleasant co-passengers are thus excused.",[11,196,197],{},"Despite having no similar fortune ever since, my affinity for train journeys remains set in stone. An undying anticipation of running into an extraordinary co-passenger has preceded every journey I have taken, ever since. Apart from all his buildings, it is this optimism that he is also the chief architect of.",[21,199],{"align":34,"alt":200,"src":201},"Railway Station","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fleaving-delhi\u002F5.jpg",{"title":116,"searchDepth":117,"depth":117,"links":203},[],"2019-03-28","An unforgettable journey with a Chief Architect",{"comments":207},[],"\u002Fblog\u002Fleaving-delhi",{"title":136,"description":205},"blog\u002Fleaving-delhi",[131,130],"r9VQY7WaXdRkGuTd_xILASaiR4twkKA5FhvORGVhNFI",1779676880956]