Leh left us breathless. It always has. Even on the two earlier trips, when we drove up from Sonamarg, allowing our lungs to get used to the rarefied air, gradually. But when we flew in from Delhi to Leh's 3,520m, Urgain, our Ladakhi friend from the Nubra valley advised, " You must give yourselves 24 hours to adjust or you could get altitude sickness. You shouldn't feel breathless".

But it wasn't the diminished oxygen but the mystique of Leh that has always left us ecstatic; and breathless.

We drove up to Shanti Stupa and gazed down at Leh.

Watered by the young Indus and ice-melt streams, terraced fields patched the valley floor, willows stirred in the wind, monasteries staggered up the bare mountains as if they had been stapled to them. It was as spell-bindingly unreal as Shangri-La.

Ambling down the winding roads of Leh was, as expected, a celebration of the senses. A traffic roundabout was a huge prayer-drum clickety-clacking in its own pavilion; carpets hanging up for sale had the warm, soft, smell of wool in the crisp, frost-sharpened air; dried fruit proffered by a pavement vendor recalled the delicious, tacky, richness of Christmas cakes and walnuts cracking when the Port went round the table.

Now we allowed our whims to drive us. "Shey" we told Ali who made his vehicle do things that Mahindra & Mahindras had never intended. Shey Palace, obligatory birthplace of royal heirs apparent, gazed at its shifting reflections in a small lake, inspiring soothsayers to prophesy.

The princely family had shifted to Stok Palace overlooking a willow-grove where archers competed in the favourite sport of Ladakh. A part of Stok is now a museum of legendary treasures including a sword twisted into a knot by the powerful king Tashi Namgyal, and sacred thanka paintings.

In Leh, such objects are often taken to be psychic communication hubs as are monasteries, which are also centres of art and tradition.

We renewed our acquaintance with some of the monasteries. Some distance out of Leh was Hemis: the largest, the richest and the best known monastery in Ladakh.

It is also elegantly beautiful with three storeys, and balconies and doorways of painted wood. In its stone-paved forecourt, monks were rehearsing their famous spirit dance while a small orchestra kept up a thudding accompaniment. Two monks, in particular, seemed to be as happy as singles in a disco.

Inside the monastery, we saw a glittering altar dedicated to a spiritually advanced monk. We did not, however, agree with a Kashmiri writer who claimed that there was a statue of Jesus Christ who, he asserted, had studied here during His hidden years.

Behind Hemis, smaller shrines protrude out of the rocky hillside. Thikse, much closer to Leh, also seems to have grown organically out of the rocks of its bare mountain. A professor of geology, accompanying a group of graduate students, pointed to a distant range and said "That is the suture, the line, where the Indian sub-continent stitched itself to Eurasia".

In Thikse we photographed the imposing Golden Buddha. It's third eye is represented by a stylized ammonite: a shellfish which lived in the Tethys Sea before our sub-continent pushed it up and created the Himalayas. Fossil ammonites are still unearthed in the high mountains and peddled as 'Lord Vishnu's Chakras'.

- Economic Times, Travel, July 1, 2010

The police have begun probe into the allegations of some of Mahatma Gandhi's personal belongings going missing from a memorial here.

Manager of Kasturba Dham Jaysinh Rathod in an affidavit to joint charity commissioner has said that some of Gandhiji's belongings were missing from the memorial.

He has accused former managing trustee of Kasturba Dham Pravin Ahya of auctioning off spectacles, sandals, a plate and a bowl, belonging to Father of the Nation, in the US in 2002.

Rathod has also accused another trustee Vibhakar Vaccharajani of aiding and abetting Ahya in taking the articles out of the memorial. The police has started probe by taking statements of the people concerned to confirm whether the missing articles were kept at the memorial in past, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Nilesh Jinjadiya said.

The ACP said statements of people concerned have been recorded while Ahya is out of country and efforts are on to contact him. "We have also checked records at Kasturba Dham from where the items were stated to be missing and at joint charity commissioner office, but neither side was maintaining records making it difficult for the investigating team to confirm whether the items were in the memorial in the past", the ACP said.

"It's very difficult for us to find out whether the items claimed to be missing were kept at the memorial", the officer said, adding "only a couple of persons have claimed to have seen them at the memorial while others attached with the memorial have denied to have seen these items."

Vaccharajani has denied the allegation saying he had no idea whether the items had been kept at the memorial.

While Rathod who claimed to be the manager of Kasturba Dham did not have any authentic document to prove his designation, Jinjadiya said.

- The Pioneer, July 2, 2010

New methods in captive breeding are boosting vulture numbers

It has been six years in coming, but the vulture conservation centre in Pinjore, Haryana, has landed a breakthrough – 16 vultures bred in captivity for the first time, over the past three years, taking the total count to 136.

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) attributes its success to new methods being used for the first time, one of which is artificial incubation. The recent fledgelings hatched by that method include three long-billed and one white-backed vulture. "The Pinjore Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre (VCBC) hopes to increase the productivity of these slow breeding and long living birds by adopting a process called double clutching," said Dr Vibhu Prakash, principal scientist and head of the conservation breeding programme. "It involves removing the first eggs laid by the vultures and incubating them artificially. The vultures usually lay a second egg within three weeks if the first egg is removed which they are allowed to incubate. In this way, annually, two nestlings can be produced by a pair, instead of one."

The 136 vultures at the Pinjore centre include the long-billed, slender-billed and white-backed species that are among the world's fastest declining ones. "They used to be seen throughout India, particularly in the Gangetic plain. Now these are listed as critically endangered. Of the estimated 40 million in the early 80s, now there are just about 56,000 left. Of these, the slender-billed vultures are found mainly in Assam, though less in number. Their nestlings are also much more difficult to obtain. Captive breeding is the only solution to save all of them from extinction," said Prakash. "The successful first attempt has given us hope for increasing the breeding rate of these slow breeding species."

The conservation breeding programme is part of a 15-year project in association with various state governments that began with the setting up of the first VCBC in Pinjore in 2004.

The conservation breeding centres in Haryana, West Bengal and Assam hope to release the vultures in the wild when the legal ban on the use of veterinary drug Diclofenac is effectively implemented, said Dr Asad Rahmani, director of BNHS, which has been advocating the stringent enforcement of the ban.

- Times of India, July 2, 2010

As Delhi furiously upgrades itself for the Commonwealth Games in October, why should this treasure tucked at the Capital's heart remain rundown and unexplored? As the storeroom of the non-current records of the Indian government, the National Archives of India (NAI), in Janpath, has thousands of rare old books, documents and lithographs piled up on various floors.

Anyone with a passing interest in India's political and cultural past can produce best-selling history books by hanging out here. While researching here for his book The Last Mughal, author William Dalrymple discovered previously unexamined manuscripts that present the Indian perspective of the 1857 mutiny. "All the Urdu research for the book was done there," says Dalrymple. "The archive contains the biggest and fullest colonial archive in India."

Making it cool

You do not have to be an author, scholar or a PhD student to feel at home in NAI. Not many are aware that it also has a library having more than 1,80,000 books on Indian history. The membership is free and all you need to present is an identity proof.

Historian Mushirul Hasan, the new director general of the Archives, says, "I want NAI to be like London's British Library, which is wonderful in terms of collection, conservation, preservation and most importantly, accessibility." Hasan intends to make the place Delhi's most intelligent destination where non-scholars can freely come in, browse through the shelves, open boxes filled with British-era confidential documents, read letters written two hundred years ago, roll out long farmans of Mughal kings and feel the touch of 4th century Sanskrit manuscripts printed on animal-skin parchments.

Mission Archives

It is a tough undertaking. NAI's annual budget is Rs 21 crores, less than the budget of Hrithik Roshan's film Kites. "The mission is extremely difficult to achieve but nonetheless I'll try my best. It will be deeply satisfying to me as an historian," says Hasan. The 60-year-old professor has his work cut out for him. "The place is a bit ramshackle and the catalogue is not computerised," says Dalrymple. "Yet the Archives remain open for longer hours than most archives and contains large amounts of previously unaccessed material, unlike the British Library India Office archives (in London), which are now well-used and contain few surprises."

Where: Janpath, near Hotel Le Meridian.

- Hindustan Times, July 3, 2010

The Sultanpur National Park has finally received the attention of the local authorities. The district administration has set up a committee to prepare a Master Plan for regulating activities within a five km radius of the park periphery, following a notification by the Union environment ministry.

"The Union Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) had issued a notification in January this year, asking the Haryana government to regulate activities to a five-km radius of the periphery of the Sultanpur National Park to check any development that could harm the ecology and green cover of the park," Gurgaon deputy commissioner R K Kataria.

"We have set up a committee to define activities in this notified zone around the park," he added. Spread over 352 acres of land, the park is located about 50 km from Delhi and 15 km from Gurgaon on the Gurgaon-Farukhnagar Road.

The park has been known as the favorite destination for hundreds of migratory birds. Kataria said it was necessary to regulate activities in the notified zone in the wake of increasing population pressure around the park.

"Two of the theme cities that the Haryana Government has conceptualized in the proposed Global Corridor along the KMP Expressway fall in this notified zone," Kataria said.

"It is, therefore, necessary to regulate activities to ensure that the ecological values of the park do not get affected," Kataria added.

- Hindustan Times, July 3, 2010

Almost a year after Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda promised to fill up Surajkund, Badkhal and Damdama lakes in Aravalis, ahead of the Games, there is no action. The govt seems to be waiting for rains.

More than a year after Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda set a Commonwealth Games deadline to fill up dead Aravali lakes like Surajkund, Badkhal and Damdama, there is no action yet on the promise. Instead, they're waiting for the rains — and praying that there is enough of it — to fill up the lakes before the Games in October.

The lakes remain parched as ever with parts of Badkhal resembling a forest more than a lake. Chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda assured the rains will ''anyway fill up the lakes and the Games happen after the monsoon''. Locals say last year's paltry rainfall filled up ''just the pits on the bed'' which had dried up in a month.

Hooda said the tourism department ''may be working on the plan'' to improve water retention of the soil and the dipping groundwater levels due to indiscriminate mining in the area. Earlier, in February 2009, he had told TOI: ''The government has plans of taking up immediate measures like filling up certain pits in the Aravalis to make sure the rainwater reaches waterbodies. Various departments have already been told to come out with comprehensive plans for the water bodies.''

Denying that he had ever set a CWG deadline, Hooda says: ''Why are you linking it to the Commonwealth Games? There is no connection. Hamare desh mein agar games nahin hota to kuch bhi nahin hota kya (Had the Games not happened wouldn't any development happened in our country)''. The busy CM may have missed out on the small fact that such mega events are usually not just about sports, but act as magnets to draw world tourists to various destinations.

The Badkhal bed, meanwhile, continues to be the local playground, sporting — in the spirit of the season — two makeshift bamboo goalposts on the part spared by the otherwise dense vegetation. On the rest of what till five years back was an awe-inspiring lake and one of Delhi's favourite tourist destinations, young children from Badkhal Village bring their goats for grazing. Azad Khan, a chaatwala who has been there for 30-35 years and has seen the lake go from a tourist spot to a den of criminals — a board has been put up warning visitors not to venture onto the bed for fear of ''anti-socials'' — says rain usually fills up just the depressions. ''It is rarely that the entire bed has water, as it disappears within a month after the rains,'' he says.

At nearby Surajkund, there are little puddles all over the bed of the lake, a host of carrion feeders and some emaciated cattle grazing. The lake that dates back to the 10th century AD, is an ASI protected monument and there is an entry fee. And the man who sells the tickets, has no work and rather spends time solving crossword puzzles.

''Who will come here? There is hardly a feet or two water after the rains and within a month its dry again. Earlier, water used to come from the hills but now that has stopped,'' he says. The adjacent Peacock Lake is a dense forest, in an oversized pit. ''When that lake was full there was water here. But I have not heard of any plan to fill up these lakes,'' says the listless ticket collector.

- The Times of India, July 3, 2010

Shahjahan takes on a new avatar -- that of a Sufi saint -- for three days in a year. During the `salana urs' (annual death anniversary) of the Mughal emperor, pilgrims pay homage to the Pir in the Taj `taikhana' (basement) housing the original graves of Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal. The basement, which has been shut to the public for decades, opens for visitors on July 11 under the watchful eye of CISF and volunteers. During On the first two days, entry is free after 2pm. The third and final day sees daylong rituals at the Taj.

The highlights this year are two `chaddars' being offered on the graves. One is 344-feet-long to symbolise the spirit of the 344th year of his death and the other measures 450 feet.

First day begins with a `shahi gusl' (royal bath) or cleansing of the Dargah. The second day is termed `sandal', when sandalwood powder is dusted on the graves followed by a generous sprinkling of `attar'. And the final day begins early with `chaddarposhi' or offering of `chaddar' and `qawwali' recital.

Authorities, however, remain wary. Local Shiv Saniks have been threatening to hold a parallel Shiv Puja in the basement to protest against what they see as trespassing. City-based environment protection NGOs are also protesting and say a single ceremony could have sufficed.

"Keeping with the public sentiments and sanctity of the occasion, we would like to keep interference to minimum,'' said superintending archeologist AR Siddiqui. "This `urs' dates back to the year Shahjahan died and there is no point in discontinuing the tradition. We are taking all precaution,'' he said.

- The Times of India, July 4, 2010

The Osmania University has decided to restore the old and dilapidated Manchineela Bhavi (drinking water well) and six rainwater harvesting pits built by Nizam Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan in 1918. It will also build new water pits to enhance the groundwater table in the university.

The university has been facing acute shortage of water for domestic use and water to the hostels is being transported from the university's overhead tank to the hostels and other blocks through tankers.

"We want to enhance the greenery on campus and restore the pits to raise the water table on campus. The groundwater levels are bad and we are facing acute water shortage. It won't cost us much to restore the 90-year-old well near the botany department and build new water pits in different places on campus," said Prof T. Tirupati Rao, the Vice-Chancellor of the Osmania University.

The university has prepared a detailed project report on conserving rain water and on recycling water and the same has already been submitted to the Central Water Commission (CWC) for funds.

"We have the assistance of former chief engineer, Mr Dharma Rao, who is our alumni and a few other irrigation experts to implement it. Since the university campus has a huge landscape, we are also planning to generate biomass gas from the waste here. Once we get funding from the Central government, we will start the work," Prof. Rao added.

- Deccan Chronicle, July 4, 2010

Like Kerala and Goa, a visit to Coorg during monsoons can be a special treat for nature lovers because of its landscape and luxuriant natural settings. Rains cast a magical spell on this region. The countryside becomes lush green, the otherwise serene River Cauvery is in full flow and a refreshing wind sweeps through the rain-kissed thick jungles.

Visually the huge expanse of vegetation at Coorg, comprising largely of coffee and tea plantations and water bodies, are a feast for the eyes. For tourists, the region offers everything desirable from a refreshing bath under a waterfall to a hill climb and from golf to trekking, fishing and white river rafting.

With its lagoons, rivers, dense jungles and deep ravines, Coorg is a picture postcard exotica that holds an enduring fascination for the footloose traveller. Till some years ago, not many North Indians knew much about Coorg —also known as Kodagu. Just 250 km from Bangalore, this thickly forested region in the Western Ghats offers such breathtaking sights that comparisons with Scotland are simply unavoidable. Fog-swept hills, rolling countryside with verdant valleys, gushing waterfalls and a languid pace of life — all come together to present one of the most splendid marvels that nature has on offer.

The arcane rituals and spectacular festivals stimulate even the most jaded imagination, continuing centuries of tradition that has never strayed far from the realms of magic. For nature-lovres, Coorg is a paradise.

Coorg is worth coming to any time of the year. In winter, a visit to the nearby Nagarhole National Park — now re-christened the Rajiv Gandhi National Park — is most rewarding. There is an astonishing abundance of wildlife ranging from the majestic tigers to the fleet-footed leopard as well as the elephant, gaur, chital, sambar, barking deer, wild boar, langur, giant squirrels and jackals.

The National Park is a bird-lover's joy as well. There are more than 300 species of birds and it is not rare to sight the red spur fowls in all their glory. There are also the rare Malabar trogons, the great black woodpecker, the pied hornbill, the Indian pitta, the whistling thrush and the scarlet minivet.

The district headquarters of Coorg are

located at Madikeri — or Mercara — as it was known under the British Raj. This is a quaint hill town 1,200 metres above sea level, dotted with red-tiled colonial style bungalows. It has a population of around 30,000 and its main attraction is an ancient palace inside a fort.

Kushalnagar, the other fascinating town of Coorg, is nearly 35 km from Madikeri. It is dotted with small islands formed by the Cauvery, splitting into four tributaries here. These islands are great picnic spots and attract a number of tourists and nature lovers for their exotic flora and fauna.

Back in the 1950s when Buddhists fled from Tibet after the Chinese invasion, they chose to stay in Kushalnagar because of its cool climate and hilly terrain. Though they later shifted to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, they build a monastery called the Golden Temple, which is now an important Buddhist pilgrimage.

But if spirituality is not on your agenda, you can seek adventure by indulging in some lusty white water rafting. Fish lovers can throng to Valanoor, which is the backwaters of the Cauvery and spend a lazy afternoon angling in the still waters here for the famous Mahaseer, trout and salmon and other local fish.

Apart from rafting and angling, there's plenty to do in Coorg. It is a golfer's delight with three golf courses in Bittangala, Medikeri, and Pollibetta. Those fond of trekking can take to the hills — quite literally. The Tadiandamol, Pushpagiri, and Brahmagiri can throw up surprising challenges. One could take the verdant trek to Brahmagiri that leads to the stunning Iruppu Falls.

Coorg has all kinds of accommodation and a few great resorts. Some of these are cloud-capped with idyllic mountains as a backdrop. Their charm lies in them not appearing like a hotel or a spa, but a villa surrounded by coffee plantations, where guests are happy to succumb to the charms of nature that bring a newfound zing to jaded nerves. However, nothing can replace the magic of spending a couple of days in one of the many well-furnished cottages that offer an opportunity to stay inside a plantation complete with nature walks, winding streams and meals around a campfire. The exotica can leave anyone mesmerised.

One of Coorg's lasting impressions is that of the waterfalls. Up in the hills there seems to be one in every corner. The most picturesque are the Abbey Falls on the outskirts of Madikeri and the Iruppu Falls near the Nagarhole National Park. Both are located between coffee plantations and spice estates as they hurtle down crags and rockfaces.

Coorg is a dreamland that is just four hours away from urban jungle. Winding through the chaotic traffic of Bangalore, our cab hit the highway to take us to the best-known coffee region of India. And a few hours later, as the Coorg countryside began unfolding, we knew we were in fairytale country.

• Closest airports: Mysore (125 km), Mangalore (140 km),. and Bangalore (260 km)
• Closest railway station: Mysore (125 km)
• By road: The Mysore-Mangalore highway (NH48) passes through Coorg.
• Best time to visit: April to November (Mild winter—Min. 22 degrees and summers
• Where to stay: Accommodation available to suit all budgets
• Cuisine: Mainly non-vegetarian though vegetarian food is easily available

Work of Intach team under German expert highlights the lack of facilities in the city

Johann Zoffany's painting, The Last Supper, will be unveiled on Sunday evening at St John's Church after its restoration over a period of five months. This project jointly undertaken by the Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage (Intach) and the Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Calcutta, highlights the woeful lack of conservation facilities in this city.

Here, priceless collections of Bengal School artists, the Tagores and others are rotting away in the care of such organisations as the State Charu Kala Parishad, Academy of Fine Arts and Rabindra Bharati Society, which in typically dog-in-the-manger fashion, will not allow them either to be displayed or stored using state-of-the-art technology. Guarding vested interests matters more than heritage.

The skills and knowledge of local conservators, too, need to be upgraded through better exposure and workshops. Conservator Renate Kant, who guided and supervised the project, is happy the way things have turned out and the way the Intach team of five responded to her rigorous training.

She, however, admits it needs years of experience to make a decision on at what stage a damaged painting should be left the way it is, for a work should never be compromised by retouching. The Intach team headed by Subash Chandra Baral, she said, was good at stabilisation of a canvas and documentation, but they "were not used to working so deeply and thoroughly".

To make up for the lack of many varieties of good material and certain tools, they had to improvise. Even a heating spatula was not available. "Precision tools are required," she stressed. The enormous project has given them more confidence but they require some more years of training to be on their own.

The last time a huge painting conservation project was executed in Calcutta was in connection with the 300th birth anniversary of Calcutta. Prompted by concern for the valuable collections at the Victoria Memorial Hall, the Calcutta Tercentenary Trust (CTT), a British Indian trust was formed in 1989, and a year later the conservation project was launched.

Renowned conservators from leading British museum studios were involved in the project and a group of Indian conservators with Victoria Memorial was trained. As a continuation, the CTT envisages a joint project with Victoria Memorial.

One element that both the projects have in common is their enormous budget. Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan granted about Rs 11 lakh for the Zoffany project and CTT had raised the equivalent of $1,000,000 in 1990.

However, in a city where money is not the easiest thing available, veteran conservator Sukanta Basu, 80, has never felt the pinch. Basu began his career at the National Gallery of Modern Art when he restored its collections of Amrita Sher-Gil, Jamini Roy and Raja Ravi Varma. He was with the National Museum in 1986 and does work for Raj Bhavan and Victoria Memorial as well. "If conservation is not of international standards it is not worth it. Funds have never been a problem," he says. He is, however, quite dismissive about the work done in the city.

Over the past two to three years cash-rich Asiatic Society has been getting its collection of 78 paintings restored by Sukumar Menon. Ganesh Pratap Singh, 39, is a successful restorer who lives in Howrah. He was trained in Lucknow by his uncle, who was the central government's senior restorer, and at his sister-in-law's art restoration lab.

Here he has restored the paintings in Tripura House, both contemporary and antique art and books as well for corporate houses, private museums and collectors all over the country. "I consult international experts through email who share their knowledge with me. I do things scientifically and do photographic documentation as well," says Singh.

However, not all local conservators are that fortunate and are used to working on a shoestring budget. Narayan Srivastava, 60, readily admits he can't go by the book. No question of photo documentation or using anything but local material. He has recently restored a collection of 20 portraits of Indian personages belonging to the British Indian Association. But if the budget is Rs 1.75 lakh and he has to service 20 paintings how can he afford to be "scientific"?

There has been no concerted effort to train conservators or upgrade their skills. G.M. Kapur, state convener, Intach, says the organisation is keen on collaborating with Goethe Institut as there is great demand for restoring works in the private domain. "We can fill up the vacant space."

- The Telegraph, July 4, 2010

The Pink City's celebrated astronomical observatory, Jantar Mantar, is in the race for the UNESCO's World Heritage status. The city fathers, the Rajasthan Government and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have readied enough material to push forward the cause of the 18th century scientific and architectural wonder, built by the former ruler and founder of Jaipur city, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, when the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee meets in Brasilia in Brazil end of this month.

Jantar Mantar—the name derived from "Yantra Mantra" (instruments and formulae) -- situated just outside the gates of the City Palace in the Walled City area of Jaipur, is one of the five astronomical observatories built by the former ruler in various parts of the country including Delhi. Considered to be the largest stone observatory in the world, Jantar Mantar took its final shape around 1733.

The monument, a remarkable collection of architectural-astronomical instruments, was renovated at the turn of the previous century and was declared a national monument in 1948. "ICOMOS, the evaluating agency appointed by UNESCO has given a positive report on Jantar Mantar terming it as a site of 'outstanding universal value', a categorisation needed for nomination for the World Heritage status," Bina Kak, Rajasthan Tourism Minister, said talking to The Hindu.

However Ms. Kak conceded that there were some conditions for the local and the State authorities to fulfil before the monument, which has over a dozen instruments which could even now measure time, accurately predict movement of stars and eclipses and forecast astronomical events, got the distinction.

"They are holding the nomination subject to fulfilment of certain conditions including a management plan for Jantar Mantar and strict implementation of by-laws in the buffer zone of the monument which include parts of Chowkri Sarad surroundings. We have taken the required action in this regard. The management plan has been signed. A notification on the Jantar Mantar buffer zone also has been issued," Ms. Kak noted.

"If UNESCO is convinced, Jantar Mantar may be inscribed as World Heritage site is the coming session starting from July 25. If they ask for more evidence of actual enforcement (of the management plan and other conditions) then the chances of its inscription will be in the next year," said Shikha Jain, Director of the Gurgaon-based Dronah, a body promoting conservation of cultural monuments. "In any case they have recognised the significance of the observatory,and it is just a matter of time when it gets inscribed," she asserted.

ASI too is trying hard to get the inscription for Jantar Mantar this year as the previous monument to get into the coveted category was the Red Fort Complex, back in the year 2005. Jantar Mantar, Jaipur appears to be the lone contender this time from India as Matheran Railways, which was in the race initially, has been reportedly deferred.

- The Hindu, July 4, 2010

The NDMC and the traders in Connaught Place are awaiting anxiously these days for the two Games projects currently going on at Connaught Place, to get over at the earliest possible. While the CP restoration project is nearly 90 to 95 per cent over, the other project of installing four escalators in CP's outer circle and laying of duct for wires in the middle circle is keeping the authorities on their toes. NDMC spokesperson Anand Tiwari told this newspaper that the work on the project related to installation of the escalators and laying of duct for in the middle circle was going on at good pace and it was hoped that it would be finished by August 30. "We are hopeful that deadline will be met. Some unexpected barrels, lines and other utilities underneath do get discovered by the agencies working on the project. It then takes some time to shift them," said Mr Tiwari. He added that the CP restoration project was expected to finish by July-end or August beginning.

Though the traders had given approval to the projects, they are wary about the time chosen to finish it. "The idea is very good. But I believe that the NDMC has taken up too huge a task in short a time," New Delhi Traders' Association president Atul Bhargava said.

- The Asian Age, July 6, 2010

Art from India is definitely the flavour this auction season. After a suite of 12 works by Rabindranath Tagore went at Sotheby's auction for Rs 2.15 crore and S H Raza's Saurashtra hit a new record with Rs 16 crore at Christie's auction, Bonhams has announced an auction of memorabilia from the period of 1857/58, the era of the Indian Mutiny on July 15.

The six items are from the collection of the descendants of Lt. (later Lt. General) Octavius Ludlow Smith of the 48th Bengal Regiment of Native Infantry and his father-in-law Lt. Colonel (later Major General) Sir Vincent Eyre. Together, they are expected to fetch £2,900-3,800 (Rs 2,05,305 to Rs 2,69,036), a moderate sum to begin with given that none of the works on sale were crafted by known or famed artists.

Steve Stockton of Bonhams Bury St. Edmunds office, says, "Bonhams are honoured to be selling this fascinating collection, which offers a deeply personal insight into a violent and cruel period of history."

The collection consists of medals with Queen Victoria's head embossed on it, owned by the officers during their tenure in India, books written on the mutiny and photographs of officers in the uniforms worn by British officers serving in India at the time.

Placing the memorabilia in context with, "the historicity of the Indian Mutiny of 1857/58 that lasted thirteen months while the Indians rebelled against British authority in their country," one can see why this collection is important, since it is rife with the symbolisms of the Raj in India.

Take for example the polished brass plate baring the insignia of the regiment — a lion, King George's crown and two flags with the word 'Inde' written on a pennant at the bottom. This imperial insignia is perhaps a metaphor for the sheer brute force of the British Empire and the "sheer brutality of the actions, during and after the mutiny, and the shockwaves it sent through the then mighty British", according to Stockton.

There is also present in the collection a rupee given by Rajah Duleep Singh as payment to his troops, a pouch bearing arms of Scinde Horse.

Both Smith and Eyre kept journals of their times — while Eyre had been involved in Afghanistan and was captured, along with his family, by Afghan rebels in 1842, Smith was in Lucknow in 1857 and witness the outbreak of the mutiny in Lucknow, May 30.

The original diary is now housed in the British Library, but this collection includes his inscribed copies of some of his contemporaries first hand published accounts of the mutiny, all first editions dating from 1858. "His thoughtful and insightful comments give an in-depth view of these terrible and bloody events," says Stockton.

- The Indian Express, July 6, 2010

In the beginning of the 20th century, T.A. Gopinatha Rao, State Archaeologist of the erstwhile Travancore State, brought to light the various elements of Hindu iconography, with all their regional variations and ramifications. It was the outcome of a meticulous search into the origin and development of Indian images including their mythological background. Since then, several art historians have attempted to delineate the art forms and icons that were peculiar to particular regions, and the book under notice represents one such attempt.

Immense

The contribution of Andhra to the development of early art and iconography of different faiths is immense. The Linga found at Gudimallam is a ready testimony. The Krishna valley played a leading role in the development of Buddhist art when its influence was at its peak. Some of the centres — for instance Nagarjunakonda, Amaravati, and Alampur — have been subjected to a detailed study. There are a number of such sites with extraordinary and significant remains that call for detailed research. This book seeks to fill some of the gap by focussing on lesser known sites located in the Karmarashtra, the region encompassing what are now Krishna, Guntur, and Prakasam districts.

The volume has seven chapters, five of which deal with the sculptural representation of the sites studied. Introducing the region and its history, the author provides a list of the temples that had existed, or are existing, in the region. The next chapter gives an overview particularly of nine temples dating from the 8 {+t} {+h} century, but based mostly on her study of temples of the 12 {+t} {+h}-14 {+t} {+h} century.

The third chapter discusses the Vaishnavite images found in the region. The author discusses at length the significance of the Trivikrama image from Pedda Cherukuru as it is comparable in iconography with other such images found across south India and which were quite popular under the Chalukyas and the Pallavas (7th-9th century). The fourth chapter is devoted to the Saivite images. Among them, the Linga with Ardhanareesvara carved on the shaft is significant. This, according to the author, indicates the assimilation of the popular aniconic and anthropomorphic forms of Siva into one acceptable to a large section of devotees of Siva and the elite 'Vaidikas.' The narrative sculptures representing the episodes from the epics — the Ramayana and the Mahabharata — and the Puranas like the Bhagavata are discussed in the next chapter. This kind of sculpturing came into vogue since the advent of stone temples in the 6 {+t} {+h} century. During medieval times, however, the deep-rooted Hindu values were seriously threatened.

From the epics

To create public awareness, the rulers got episodes from the epic carved on temple walls, setting apart large space for such visual galleries. In later Chalukyan and Hoysala temples, one could see the epics, in their entirety, encapsulated in artistically brilliant small-framed friezes, with each episode depicted in a cosmic frame model. While the themes depicted in the narrative sculptures cover a wide range of episodes, the art lacks the finesse of their likes in Karnataka. Strikingly, the artists never let themselves constrained by narrow political or other influences in depicting popular regional themes and made it a point to give them a truly pan-Indian character. The Cholamandalam stories of 'Periyapuranam', related for instance to Siriyala ('Siruttondar' in Tamil) and 'Kannappar' (both belonging to the group of 63 Nayanars venerated as saints in the Tamil country), are some of the rare narrations in stone noticed in this area.

The author had taken pains to document and describe the remains in detail. The volume, which carries a number of photographs by way of illustration, is a welcome and useful addition to the existing literature on the subject.

- The Hindu, July 6, 2010

In the beginning of the 20th century, T.A. Gopinatha Rao, State Archaeologist of the erstwhile Travancore State, brought to light the various elements of Hindu iconography, with all their regional variations and ramifications. It was the outcome of a meticulous search into the origin and development of Indian images including their mythological background. Since then, several art historians have attempted to delineate the art forms and icons that were peculiar to particular regions, and the book under notice represents one such attempt.

Immense

The contribution of Andhra to the development of early art and iconography of different faiths is immense. The Linga found at Gudimallam is a ready testimony. The Krishna valley played a leading role in the development of Buddhist art when its influence was at its peak. Some of the centres — for instance Nagarjunakonda, Amaravati, and Alampur — have been subjected to a detailed study. There are a number of such sites with extraordinary and significant remains that call for detailed research. This book seeks to fill some of the gap by focussing on lesser known sites located in the Karmarashtra, the region encompassing what are now Krishna, Guntur, and Prakasam districts.

The volume has seven chapters, five of which deal with the sculptural representation of the sites studied. Introducing the region and its history, the author provides a list of the temples that had existed, or are existing, in the region. The next chapter gives an overview particularly of nine temples dating from the 8 {+t} {+h} century, but based mostly on her study of temples of the 12 {+t} {+h}-14 {+t} {+h} century.

The third chapter discusses the Vaishnavite images found in the region. The author discusses at length the significance of the Trivikrama image from Pedda Cherukuru as it is comparable in iconography with other such images found across south India and which were quite popular under the Chalukyas and the Pallavas (7th-9th century). The fourth chapter is devoted to the Saivite images. Among them, the Linga with Ardhanareesvara carved on the shaft is significant. This, according to the author, indicates the assimilation of the popular aniconic and anthropomorphic forms of Siva into one acceptable to a large section of devotees of Siva and the elite 'Vaidikas.' The narrative sculptures representing the episodes from the epics — the Ramayana and the Mahabharata — and the Puranas like the Bhagavata are discussed in the next chapter. This kind of sculpturing came into vogue since the advent of stone temples in the 6 {+t} {+h} century. During medieval times, however, the deep-rooted Hindu values were seriously threatened.

From the epics

To create public awareness, the rulers got episodes from the epic carved on temple walls, setting apart large space for such visual galleries. In later Chalukyan and Hoysala temples, one could see the epics, in their entirety, encapsulated in artistically brilliant small-framed friezes, with each episode depicted in a cosmic frame model. While the themes depicted in the narrative sculptures cover a wide range of episodes, the art lacks the finesse of their likes in Karnataka. Strikingly, the artists never let themselves constrained by narrow political or other influences in depicting popular regional themes and made it a point to give them a truly pan-Indian character. The Cholamandalam stories of 'Periyapuranam', related for instance to Siriyala ('Siruttondar' in Tamil) and 'Kannappar' (both belonging to the group of 63 Nayanars venerated as saints in the Tamil country), are some of the rare narrations in stone noticed in this area.

The author had taken pains to document and describe the remains in detail. The volume, which carries a number of photographs by way of illustration, is a welcome and useful addition to the existing literature on the subject.

- The Hindu, July 6, 2010

It has witnessed history in the making. Today, the ashram stands testimony to Gandhiji and his philosophy.

I have always wanted to visit the birthplace of Gandhiji. So when my father was going on work to Ahmedabad I accompanied him. He took me to the Sabarmati Ashram earlier known as Satyagraha Ashram which was set up in 1915 by Mahatma Gandhi on returning from South Africa.

Only on visiting the ashram did I realise the importance of this place and that it was witness to many historical events. As Gandhiji said, "This is the right place for our activities to carry on the search for truth and develop fearlessness, for on one side are the iron bolts of the foreigners, and on the other the thunderbolts of Mother Nature."

Indeed it was from here on March 12, 1930 that Gandhiji marched towards Dandi. It was 241 miles from the Ashram, and Gandhiji accompanied by 78 companions marched to Dandi in protest of the British Salt law, which taxed Indian salt in an effort to promote sales of British salt.

The Ashram which houses a museum, Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalay is divided into five units — office, library, two photo galleries and an auditorium. It also has a large open prayer ground. It is a treasure trove, having the largest number of original manuscripts of Gandhiji's letters and articles. The museum has eight life-size colour oil paintings and an exhibition on Gandhiji's life titled "My life is my message" and "Gandhiji in Ahmedabad".

An archive is also set up, which stores 34,066 letters written by Gandhiji, manuscripts of his 8,633 articles, negatives of 6,367 photographs, 134 reels of microfilms of his writings and 210 films on Gandhiji and the freedom struggle. The library has over 30,000 books, 155 letters of felicitation received by Gandhiji besides miscellaneous memorabilia comprising coins, postal stamps and so on.

The visit to Sabarmati ashram was not only an eye-opener but it also helped me get a feel of Gandhiji's life and thoughts and what they mean for everybody, for children like me, the youth, society, government, industry and for humanity at large.

There were a lot of interesting quotes by Gandhiji and the relevance of them is timeless. The ones I liked were on Honesty — Honesty from policy is as acceptable as honesty for its own sake, Lie – A lie has no bottom, Freedom – The highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of discipline and humanity, Education – Cleanliness of the mind and body is the first step to education and Eating – One should not eat in order to please the palate but just to keep the body going.

What perhaps was most interesting was Sabarmati being a perfect example of a model community based on rules and values. The Ashram was a human laboratory where Gandhiji could test his moral and spiritual ideas. It is a family not linked by blood or property, but by an allegiance to common ideals which include education, truth (non-violence and love), control of the palate (no liquor or meat), no stealing, non-possession (simple living, high thinking), use of home-made articles, conquer of fear, and the eradication of untouchability.

Currently the activities at the ashram include keeping contact with people in the field as well as helping and undertaking study and research in Gandhian thought and activities and publishing the results of such study and research and allied literature for the benefit of the people, observance in a suitable manner of occasions connected with Gandhiji's life and maintaining contact with the youth and student community and providing facilities to them for the study of Gandhian thought.

There is a guided tour which starts with slide show and provides brief details for the location of Ashram, its history, its activities and above all the mantra of Mahatma Gandhi of maintaining diary for daily activities, and wearing at least one pair of hand spun khadi garment.

My visit to Sabarmati Ashram was very useful because I came to learn a lot of things about Gandhiji and his thoughts to be implemented in our daily life. I very strongly recommend that everybody visit this ashram.

- The Hindu, July 6, 2010

At a time when the country is gearing up to celebrate Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary, Sidhli House, a palace where the poet stayed during his last visit to Shillong has been demolished.

The building, a portion of which is owned by the brother of Union minister of water resources and Congress MP from Shillong Vincent Pala, was brought down a few days ago.

CM Mukul Sangma told TOI he was unaware such a historical building existed in the city. He said, ''usually, there's a process of identifying buildings with historical connection which are subsequently declared heritage structures. I will find out if the previous governments or the present one have taken any step to identify such buildings.''

- Times of India, July 7, 2010

For the first time in the history of Independent India, the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) today came together to clean up the Ganges, with the government handing over the mammoth task to the IIT consortium.

The effort would require the IITs to suggest technological solutions to prevent the pollution of the Ganges, whose basin has the largest population of dwellers anywhere in the world. It is part of the government's "Mission Clean Ganga" which seeks to ensure no untreated sewage enters the river by 2020. "If the solution comes, it would have a global relevance and could be used to solve pollution problems anywhere in the world," Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said after the IIT directors signed a memorandum of agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Forests to develop the Ganga River Basin Management Plan over the next 12 to 18 months for a cost of about Rs 15 crore.

The plan originally was to hand over the project to a consultancy and one had already been chosen, said Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh adding that it was finally decided to involve the IITs to train a new generation of experts, besides working with all members of the River Basin Authority headed by the Prime Minister. Members include CMs of UP, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar. In the beginning, the main Ganga would be cleaned up, followed by the tributaries, Ramesh said. The project coordinator would be Vinod Tare, Professor, Environmental Engineering, IIT Kanpur - the only IIT located on the Ganges, the next closest to the river being Roorkee and Kharagpur IITs.

"This is a great coming together of experts, who will solve a problem not local in nature," said an HRD ministry official, admitting that such synergy of expertise was the beginning of the era of cooperative research in India, where institutions are known to work in isolation. Sibal said one of the 14 innovation universities should be dedicated to environment. He added that in the process of the Ganges project, IITs would develop a whole new knowledge which would aid future research.

The government has already decided not to proceed with the Bhagirathi and Palamanari projects in the Ganges sector, and added that the decision on Lohari Nagpal project would be taken gradually as a lot of investment had already gone into it. For the IITs, the challenge of purging the Ganges would be tremendous, with Tare saying that a 100-strong group of IIT professors, students and experts from other institutions would work on the project.

"The focus so far has been to improve water quality through sewage treatment. This was like giving aspirin to someone on the death bed. We will have to adopt a fresh approach, look at institutional and policy gaps, on socio-religious sensitivities, and even recommend legislations if need be to ensure everyone works towards a singular goal," Tare told TNS.

- The Tribune, July 7, 2010

The region around the town of Meerut makes for a pleasant drive with lush green fields on both sides of the road. Over time, the canals rising from the Yamuna and Ganga — between which rivers this 'Doab' area lies — has made the land rich and agriculture is no longer synonymous with poverty.

The canals criss-cross the area, village houses have more concrete roofs than thatched ones, most roads are surfaced and each village has a sprinkling of MUVs apart from several new looking tractors.

The area also sees a surge of traffic every now and then in the form of pilgrims heading for the holy towns of Haridwar and Rishikesh. Deoband, with its renowned Islamic seminary is nearby and students flock there from across the world.

So the population is a fair mix of religions and beliefs, with the usual diversity north India throws up. Sounds like a regular country setting, doesn't it?

Now, amid the green fields, flowing canals and fast moving tourist vehicles, throw in a neo-classical Church. And not just any church, but a place ordained as the 'See of Sardanha' by none less than the Pope himself. After a somewhat bumpy ride upon leaving the highway, and several narrow misses with overcrowded tractor trailers, I come upon a walled compound, with high trees obscuring the view within. Traversing a road which runs right around the place, I finally arrive at a gateway.

The mood changes and I am immediately accosted by a couple of hawkers, as eager to sell me a rosary as they are to point out its wonderful effects on my past sins, however non-existent. Ten steps in from the gate and my jaw starts dropping, as much in disbelief as in astonishment.

Believed to have cost its patron builder the prince(ss)ly sum of Rs 4 lakh when constructed in 1822, the structure still stands today, tall, dignified and gracious. One of the most interestingly designed churches in the country, it has a roomy verandah lined by 18 Doric pillars. Rising up from the Church are three domes – one large central one and two smaller ones on both side – and two lofty spires.

There is a tiny cemetery on one side of the church and each walkway made in the complex is lined with bas-reliefs depicting the life of Christ. That such a structure can exist amid the squalor and chaos of Sardanha comes as a shock to the system.

The church contradicts this overgrown village so completely that it almost seems to have been dropped down to earth by divine intervention, in a desperate attempt by the Lord to try and help the earthly chaos redeem itself.

The altar within the church is believed to have been made with marble brought from Rajasthan. The ceiling is curved in a half-cylindrical format common among several churches built during the 19th century. But like everything else about the place, there is a contradiction even here.

Occupying a large space not far from the altar is an imposing sculpture so large in size that it appears bigger than the former. Thankfully, it is placed in a manner that does not allow it to be viewed at the same time as the altar.

This sculpture – a composite creation in marble by an Italian called Adamo Tadolini of Bologna – comprises 11 life-size figures and 3 panels in bas-relief. One panel depicts a lady presenting vestments to a Bishop, another shows her holding a Durbar surrounded by European officers while in the third she is riding an elephant in procession.

But it is the figure of this lady right at the top of the sculpture that catches the eye. She once ruled Sardanha with an iron hand and her word mattered to even the Mughals on their shaky throne in Delhi. Today the spirit of Begum Samru, to call her by the name she was popularly known by, appears to hold sway in the church just as she once did in her court.

Her story makes for interesting reading, for in an era when most Indian women were faceless members of a harem, the Begum led a remarkably liberated life. Her origins are a little hazy, possibly deliberately kept that way on account of their humble nature..

While one story holds that she was a dancing girl, another says that she was the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman of Arabian or Persian descent.

Regardless of her humble beginnings, what is of relevance is that she – using a mix of cunning, beauty and power – became the ruler of a kingdom and her influence went beyond that kingdom's borders. Her first leg up in life came with her marriage to an European adventurer named Walter Reinhardt, nicknamed Sombre and corrupted to 'Samru' in India.

At a time when Mughal authority was in tatters, leaving north India in a state of flux, the mercenary Samru served over a dozen masters, ultimately offering his services to Shah Alam, the Mughal Emperor. While at the Delhi court, he was assigned the jagir of Sardanha.

The Begum seems to have been content with helping Samru while he was alive, coming into her own only after he died in Agra in 1778, at the age of fifty-eight.

The Begum was only 25 when she took control of her husband's troops and pay, which enabled her to run Sardanha with a degree of independence. It is a tribute to her character that she not only ran the administration effectively, but is also believed to have led her troops on horseback into battle. She used the European officers in her command to keep the troops in line, transferring her affections from one officer to another over time.

In this she made a mistake, when she developed an attachment to an officer called Le Vassoult, who was unpopular with the troops. The troops mutinied causing the lovers to flee. In danger of capture, they decided on a suicide pact which Le Vassoult adhered to by blowing his brains out.

The Begum was nothing if not a survivor, merely nicking herself with a dagger and allowing herself to be captured..

She and her jagir were saved later by George Thomas, another European adventurer who she had been inclined towards. The coming of the 19th century saw the star of the British in the ascendant. The Begum, having already converted to Roman Catholicism, accepted British protection, disbanded her army and saw her income increase at a time when the Mughal empire and the kingdom of Awadh were rapidly shrinking.

She donated generously to the Pope, to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to various Catholic missions across India, building the church at Sardanha in 1822 and another church in Meerut as well. She certainly did not believe in half measures, appointing her domestic chaplain as the first priest at Sardanha and later ensuring that he was made Vicar Apostolic.

That he was a Roman-born person by the name of Julius Caesar would have only added to the effect all this had on any British visitors!!

After her death in 1837, the See of Sardanha was merged with Agra. Sardanha gradually became just another stopover of the Raj and a palace built by her at Delhi fell into ruin.

But her legacy endured. A sacred image of the 'Lady of Graces' was enshrined at the church in Sardanha in 1957 and the place was further honoured by Pope John XXIII who raised it to the dignity of a Minor Basilica, in 1961.

The church, more than anything else, is a symbol of its patron. And like her, an intriguing contradiction to the landscape it exists in!!

- The Economic Times, July 8, 2010

Humayun's Tomb may be one of the three world heritage sites in the capital but that has not prevented illegal structures from cropping up around the monument. Old shops, construction material and piles of garbage is all one can see from the Mathura Road side. The tomb's boundary wall is hardly visible to motorists passing by.

Even as the Supreme Court monitoring committee had sealed all unauthorized shops near Arab ki serai as it fell in the prohibited zone around the centrally-protected monument, the authorities are yet to raze these illegal structures.

Heritage experts say unauthorized construction has completely obstructed the view of Humayun's Tomb boundary wall from Mathura road and old shops, broken cars, loose malba and construction material prove to be an eyesore for passersby. The illegal structures start just a ahead of Subz Burj and extend to about 300m towards Nizamuddin railway station.

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) the body responsible for upkeep of centrally-protected monuments is keen to have the constructions razed so that the area can be landscaped as part of beautification plans for the world heritage site. However, officials said they had no jurisdiction to demolish these.

"The constructions were sealed by SC monitoring committee and the land belongs to LNDO. It's the civic agency's responsibility to demolish these constructions but nothing has been done for years,'' said ASI officials, adding that their territory was only till the boundary wall of the tomb.

Experts point out that the unauthorized constructions were not only within the prohibited area of a world heritage site but also on the way to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium the venue for the opening and closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in October. Chief secretary Rakesh Mehta said: "Some of these shops were given by MCD and some by LNDO. While they were sealed long back, the shop-owners have still not been relocated. Their allotment orders are pending, along with compensation.'' MCD officials were unavailable for comment.

The unauthorized structures, adjacent to Arab ki serai, even block an approach path to the structure. "Under Section 4 A of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958, ASI officers have right to approach monuments from all sides for maintenance and conservation, but in it's not possible here,'' said an official. The land is also being misused by bus operators for parking, further blocking the view.

Residents of Nizamuddin East colony say the structures should be razed at the earliest. "Landscaping the area can make Humayun's Tomb complex even more attractive and we have been pushing for this for years,'' said a resident of the colony. Recently, ASI started the beautification of the land opposite Humayun's Tomb main gate. It housed Bharat Scouts and Guides for years and ASI got its possession after years of struggle. Now, the focus has shifted to the surrounding spaces at Humayun's Tomb for similar landscaping.

- The Economic Times, July 8, 2010

At a juncture, when the Union Environment Ministry and conservationists are brain-storming about how to enhance protection of wildlife, especially endangered species such as tigers and leopards, the Supreme Court almost awarded bail to poaching kingpin Sansar Chand. In a Jaipur jail for the past four years for the crime of trading in banned animal parts and skins, his plea for bail was reported to have elicited a sympathetic hearing from the two-judge bench. It remarked that he deserved bail because he had "not killed men but animalss". (Italics ours.) Then the recollection of his notorious past dawned upon one of the judges. The bench granted the Rajasthan Government four weeks time to file its response, and also allowed the Wildlife Protection Society of India and Wildlife Trust of India to file pleas against award of bail.

The previous year, the apex court had shockingly suspended the jail term of the habitual offender in August 2009. But, fortunately, he was not let out on account of numerous pending cases in trial courts. Over 40 cases relating to wildlife crimes have been filed against Sansar Chand, but he is said to have been convicted in only two. His criminal activities began in the mid-1980s. The man and his accomplices are an absolute menace, with CBI sources claiming that they controlled almost half of the illicit wildlife trade. The last time he was given bail was in mid-2004, a judicial decision that was to prove disastrous for the Sariska tiger reserve. On April 29, 2004, the Ajmer Government Railway Police arrested him. Though sentenced to a five-year prison term, his plea for bail was favourably heard by the Ajmer sessions court. He was let out of prison after about three weeks. Thereafter, he is charged with having engineered the poaching of Sariska's 22 tigers.

He was again arrested in June 2005, and has been in prison since then; and should continue to remain there for the sake of our depleting wildlife. Bheema, a suspected accomplice of Sansar Chand, was arrested in November by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. He had earlier been let out on bail in 2005 despite being charged in numerous cases. Clearly, the lax application of existing laws governing wildlife-related crimes is to blame for habitual offenders managing easily to get bail, and then resuming operations without worry. This is a comment not only on the police's handling of such cases but the judiciary's approach to them.

Now that Sariska reserve is struggling to rebuild its tiger population, with three big cats having been transferred from Ranthambore National Park, it needs to be emphasised repeatedly that Sansar Chand and others of his ilk should not be allowed to move about freely. Otherwise, these three tigers will also be targeted. In another disgusting instance of the ineptitude of wildlife custodians, and complicity of local people and guards in poaching, Panna reserve's tigers were all found to have disappeared. This fact came to light early last year. The whole administrative system in place in wildlife reserves and national parks needs an immediate overhaul, the existing one having failed miserably.

Most important, cases involving crimes and violations under the Wildlife Protection Act need to be treated as seriously by the police, Interpol and courts as the most heinous offences. The proposed amendment to the act spells out penalties. A first crime against critical species will be punishable by a jail term of five-seven years and fine of Rs 5 lakh. Subsequent offences of the same nature will invite a seven-year prison sentence and Rs 25 lakh fine. An offence relating to trade in critical species incurs a seven-year jail term and Rs 25 lakh fine. Subsequent offence, again linked to such trade, will be punished with a seven-year prison sentence and Rs 50 lakh fine. Penalties for trade and crimes related to other species are also detailed. Those allowing space and place to be misused for wildlife crimes also come under the ambit of this law.

But the best intentions, put down on paper, can only work if offenders are actually convicted of the crimes that they are accused of, and sentenced. The Sariska and Panna examples bear testimony to the freedom with which poachers and their accomplices operate under the very nose, so to say, of the directors and other personnel of sanctuaries and parks. Once caught, they should be tried and given exemplary punishment so that they abandon poaching and illicit trade. But the practice of giving them a reprieve betrays the reprehensible laxity both of the police and courts.

- The Pioneer, July 9, 2010

Delhi's arguably most beautiful mosque lies inside the touristy Qutub Minar complex in the south of the city. With its three onion-shaped domes, the Mughal Masjid is small; its two minarets look frail and it faces a little walled garden. Built during the late Mughal times, in the mid-19th century, when the suburb of Mehrauli was a favoured summer refuge the Mughals, the ruined beauty lies in its sparseness.

The walls are devoid of any carving or sculpture. Not even a bit of marble; just rubble masonry. The decorative work on the entrance arches is hidden behind coats of paint. The original gateway on the south is closed and the entrance is through an opening in the east wall..

Against the glorious tower of Qutub Minar, the mosque goes largely unnoticed. Solitude just adds to its character. The stone courtyard smells leafy with the fragrance of shehtoot, pomegranate, guava and gular trees. The cracks on the weathered structure give the impression of Quranic inscriptions.

The white-walled prayer chamber remains absolutely quiet, in contrast to the heavy tourist traffic outside. The sole window opens into the lane, where tourists walk their way to the Qutub Minar. Those who spot the mosque are plain lucky.

- The Hindustan Times, July 10, 2010

Floods in Haryana may have consumed a piece of ancient Indian history. The archaeological site of Jognakhera, from where copper smelting furnaces along with copper slag dating back nearly 5,000 years to the Indus Valley Civilization were unearthed, was ravaged and submerged under nearly 10 feet of water from Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal breach.

The archaeological site and the village of Jognakhera is just 1km from the SYL breach. Residents of the area were oblivious of the historical significance of their neighbourhood until some months ago when a team from the state department of archaeology landed up and started digging. But it was not declared a protected site by the government.

The excavated site has been badly mauled by the floods and the ancient furnaces have also been damaged severely. However, the antiquities unearthed from the excavation have been recovered by excavators..

The furnaces look like huge saucers bearing copper slag. A huge number of Harappan pot shreds were also been unearthed from the site, dating the furnaces.

Archeologist and curator of Shri Krishna Museum, Rajesh Purohit said copper was the primary metal used during this period. It was the first metal to be extracted from ores through smelting and brought huge changes in the economy of the time. During this period both copper, bronze and stone were used by people for making tools.

- The Times of India, July 11, 2010

Europe meets the east in the towering temples of Bowali, which is also known for the ruins of a colonial mansion that was once surrounded by a landscaped garden dotted with statues of Italian marble and a water turret.

Built by the Mondal family, the temples offer an insight into the European influence on Bengal's temple architecture. The European style columns that hold up the temples in the village are rare in the rest of the state. Sadly most of the structures are in ruins and on the verge of collapse. If not for the architectural splendours, visit Bowali to breathe a fresh dose of oxygen into your tired city lungs.

History books tell us that the Mondals of Bowali were originally Roys. Shovaram, the grandson of Basudev Roy (who lived between the end of 16th century and the early 17th century), was awarded the title Mondal.

Shovaram's grandson Rajaram was the senapati of the Raja of Hijli. Moved by his bravery, the raja offered him the ownership of 50 villages, which included Bowali and Budge Budge.

The family set up residence in Bowali. This marked the beginning of their dominance in the area, roughly around 1710.

The family flourished under Rajaram's grandson Haradhan, who enjoyed the patronage of East India Company. He built many temples and his seven sons followed in his footsteps, turning the nondescript village into a temple town.

Today Bowali is well connected with Amtala on Diamond Harbour Road. If you are not driving down, a 45-minute bumpy ride in a packed Trekker will take you to Bowali More.

The temple complex is a short stroll away. As you walk past the school, the towering Gopinath temple comes into view. This Nabaratna temple was built by Manik Mondal in 1796. The roof of the adjoining natmandir has long collapsed and all that remains are the arched gateways and a few vertical columns.

A circular platform, in front of the natmandir, is what is left of the octagonal rasmancha, which residents said collapsed in 2008.

Behind the temple lies the Radha-Kanta and Lakshmi-Janardan temples, overgrown with vegetation and almost inaccessible.

Next to Gopinath temple is the Radhaballav temple. This structure is well maintained. Built around 1857, it houses the idols of all the surrounding abandoned temples.

The two-storeyed Mondal Villa is next door. The plaster has peeled off and several portions are on the verge of collapse. There is no trace of the landscaped garden that once surrounded it.

Bowali also has an interesting architectural piece called the jal tungi (water folly). An octagonal structure, built at the centre of a pond, with ornamental railings and windows with Venetian blinds. The folly with slender columns and a long flight of stairs, approachable by boat from a ghat, allowed the Mondals to enjoy the evening breeze.

The ghat is a 15-minute walk from the temple complex. The railings and the windows of the folly did not survive the test of time and the waters of the pond are now covered by water hyacinth. But the jal tungi still stands and so does the ghat, reminding one of the glorious past of Bowali.

If you are planning a day trip to Bowali, hurry, for the forces of nature and human neglect would soon turn the attractions of the village into dust.

Trip tips

Take a bus from Esplanade to Amtala. The journey will take about an hour. Take another bus to Bowali, which would take around 45 minutes. There is no proper place to eat apart from a few sweet shops. It's best to have lunch at Amtala.

- The Telegraph, July 11, 2010

India best tiger reserve Corbett National Park has caused another face-off between Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Uttaranchal Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. For better conservation of tigers, Jairam Ramesh wants Pokhriyal to reduce the inflow of tourist vehicles into the Corbett National Park, which has highest tiger density er square km of forest area. More than two lakh tourists visited the National Park in the past year with a daily average of 400 through four tourist gates.

The high inflow of tourists, according to Ramesh, has caused higher air and noise pollution inside the park, a probable cause for stress to tigers. The noise created by vehicular movement is said to be a reason for poor breeding of tigers.

"It had happened in Sariska," said a senior scientist with Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, giving high tourist inflow as a possible reason for poor breeding of tigers in Sariska before they vanished in 2004.

Ramesh had also sounded a similar caution for Corbett, while asking the Chief Minister to reduce the number of vehicles allowed inside the park. Data with National Tiger Conservation Authority indicates that tourist influx inside the park has increased because of its close proximity with Delhi.

Uttaranchal government, however, contended that the tourists being allowed inside the parks were within the permissible limits and no fresh restrictions can be imposed. "Livelihood of a large number of locals is dependent on tourists... We cannot impose unrealistic restrictions just because the Centre wants it," said Anil Baluni, deputy advisor with the state environment advisory committee.

The environment minister had earlier asked the state government to restrict construction of resorts in and around Corbett. Ramesh has opposed construction of hydel projects in the upper reaches of Ganga river basin and wants to declare the 130-km stretch of Bhagirathi river in the state as ecologically sensitive. Ministry panels have also opposed hydel projects on Gori Ganga and Mandakini rivers in the state.

- The Hindustan Times, July 11, 2010

A slice of history will soon be lost forever for Delhiites. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) finally began razing down tonga stands in Delhi, starting with the stand at Asaf Ali Road on Saturday morning, in a bid to beautify Delhi before the Commonwealth Games. This tonga stand was home to 150-odd tongawallahs. As reported by TOI earlier, similar action will be taken against all tonga stands in the city, as the civic agency plans to phase out tongas — one of the oldest modes of transportation — completely out of the capital.

After this, MCD will phase out all tonga stands from city and Sadar Paharganj zones. This drive, claim MCD officials, is a part of its plan to clean up the Walled City area in time for the Games. There are three more tonga stands operational in Old Delhi currently — at Minto Road, Hauz Qazi and Kauriya Bridge — and there are around 232 tongawallahs in the capital.

Meanwhile, tongawallahs, all of whose licenses expired on May 31 this year, are facing their lives worst crisis in the past many decades, with no alternate trade in sight. The tongawallahs of Asaf Ali Road have shifted their animals to the Turkman Gate area for now, but are yet to come up with a plan on what they want to do next. According to MCD, while it has allotted tehbazari to all these tongawallahs at Shastri Park in east Delhi, many of the tongawallahs don't know what to do with the site.

The tongawallahs, on Saturday, said they were planning to sell their horses across the state border and then either shift to their respective tehbazari site Shastri Park or to start a completely different trade. The tongawallahs, however, feel they have been cheated by the civic agency. MCD had promised to allot 6x4 plots and create concrete tehbazari sites equipped with public amenities for around 132 licenced tongawallahs of Old Delhi. It had also promised to partly finance three-wheelers for those owning two or more tongas.

However, in place of concrete stalls, a concrete pavement-like structure has been created alongside the main GT Road near Shastri Park Metro track and the tongawallahs have been asked to create whatever they require on their own. "There is no roof over our heads. What can this provide us?" said 52-year-old Noor Mohammed.

"Tongas have been our source of livelihood for decades now. Even if we forget that and try to take up a new trade, the cost of going to east Delhi every day, along with paying rental for the tehbazaari site and the burden of carrying our goods back and forth each day, does not make any sense," said Mohammad Zahid.

MCD says its action is justified as the tongawallahs had no licence to operate any more. "They had been warned well in advance to move out voluntarily or face action. We had even given them a last notice on Wednesday evening, asking them to vacate by Friday morning," said an MCD official.

MCD further said that none of the tongawallahs moved out of Asaf Ali Road were eligible to get finance for a three-wheeler. The rehabilitation plan for the tongawallahs is already in place and those owning donkeys at the stable had anyway been functioning without any licence since a long time, the official said. MCD is also working out a plan to allot a more affordable model of e-rickshaws to the tongawallahs eligible to receive funding for three-wheelers. The case of providing rehabilitation for horses and tongawallahs is likely to come up for hearing in the Delhi high court next week.

- The Times of India, July 11, 2010

Wildlife personnel in Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha have spotted 60 nesting sites of estuarine crocodiles, officials said.

The figure on the number of nests may increase as the counting process of estuarine nests will go on since the breeding season is not over..

Last year, 57 nesting sites had been spotted.

The nests were sighted by wildlife enumerators of the forest department along various nullahs, creeks and water-inlets in Bhitarkanika river system, an ideal habitat of saltwater crocodiles, they said.

Crocodiles lay around 50 to 60 eggs which hatch after 70-80 days of incubation. Around 700 crocodile were hatched last year..

They said due care has been taken this time by wildlife staff to ensure that these eggs are not devoured by predators like snakes, jackals and dogs, found in the reserve.

Adequate conservation measures by the department has led to a systematic rise in the number of these reptiles over the years, claimed officials.

The number of salt water crocodiles, the species which are not found in any other river system in Odisha, as per the latest census, is over 1,600.

- The Pioneer, July 12, 2010

The Bengali Club, next to the Kashmere Gate wall on the Boulevard Road, is part of the gazette notification listing 746 heritage buildings and structures under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). However, thanks to the notification, the building cannot be touched without the permission of the civic body, even though it is in dire need of irs.

Said Somprakash Mitra, Arts & Cultural secretary of the Bengali Club, "One of the cast iron pillars supporting the balcony was damaged some time ago after it was hit allegedly by a speeding truck."

The roof has cracked, the plaster is coming off the walls and in general, the building has become unsafe. There is always the danger of electric shock due to seepage in the old walls. In fact, the Club members have restricted the number of functions to avoid any mishap.

Despite repeated requests to the owner, nothing has been done. The Club members then approached the MCD, first in August 2009.

Then, despite repeated reminders, the last letter they wrote was in March 2010 after the notification for the heritage building was issued.

Vinay Gupta, owner of the remaining portion of the building - his family has two shops - said, "MCD has not been carrying out its job, not even cleaning. How do we expect them to help us in this? We carry out our own repairs."

Apart from the Bengali Club, there are several other tenants in the building. One of them, on condition of anonymity, said, "I don't have expectations either from the owner or from the MCD. They have done nothing."

Said AGK Menon, convenor of the Delhi chapter of Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), "Unfortunately, the tenants cannot do anything. It is the owner who has to approach the civic body."

But like in case of the Bengali Club, Menon points out, if the owner is not willing to do anything, "MCD should act on itself. Otherwise, it should be blamed for any untoward accident."

Said Deep Mathur, MCD's Director (Press and Information), "The proposal has recently been received and is under process at MCD. On completion of formalities, it will be sent to the Heritage Conservation Cell (HCC) of the Central Government, as per rules. The MCD will take further action on the basis of the recommendations of the HCC."

- The Hindustan Times, July 12, 2010

From three metres 25 years ago, the length of the chadar offered by the devout at the annual Shah Jahan urs in the Taj Mahal has increased to 450 metres this time. The number of faithful has risen from a dozen to nearly 100,000.

With thousands freely entering the majestic Taj Mahal for the three-day urs celebrations that ended on Sunday, questions are being raised over the security of the white marble wonder that thousands come to see from all over the world.

This year, for the 356th urs, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and tourism circles estimate that a record 100,000 people will have visited the 17th century monument. The Taj contains the graves of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal and putting a chadar, or sheet, over these graves is a Sufi way of honouring the departed.

Sandeep Arora, a former president of the Agra Hotels and Restaurants Association, says most ASI employees at the Taj are temporary workers, and those given the responsibility for checking the visitors have themselves not gone through the intelligence verification process.

Tourism industry leader Abhinav Jain sees three major threats to the Taj Mahal: from terrorists, from air pollution and from too many people. Last year also the monument was flooded with tourists and the devout, causing additional stress and pressure on the monument.

The ASI had come under considerable flak for overlooking security considerations. No doubt the ASI has taken adequate measures to ensure the monument was not put to any risk, but the free flow of people into the inner chamber of the real graves with hardly enough room for free movement is a matter of concern, say conservationists.

It is not clear how and when the Shah Jahan urs started. Earlier it used to be Mumtaz Mahal's urs, says a Taj Ganj resident. "Till a few years ago hardly a score congregated for Shah Jahan's annual urs. But this year there seems to be no end to the celebrations. Each year the length of the chadar goes on increasing with rival committees competing with one another," said a hotelier, who did not like to be named due to religious sensitivities involved.

In 1993, the Supreme Courtappointed high-powered committee headed by S. Vardarajan had recommended restrictions and control on entry of visitors. For the first time in history, the Taj Mahal got a weekly holiday and visiting hours were restricted. Historians and conservationists now feel the marble edifice is being endangered by a surfeit of love and interest showered by its admirers whose number continues to soar sky high. From a few hundred at the time of independence, the daily influx of visitors from all corners has now crossed 12,000. On some days it crosses the 30,000 mark. During the annual urs it touches 100,000. It is this increasing human load that is a cause for concern and has alarmed the conservationists who have now asked the Supreme Court to get this issue examined. While the tourism industry and the government want more and more tourists, conservationists see alarming signals.

Surendra Sharma, president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society, wants a graded system of entry tickets, with those paying the highest amount allowed to enter the mausoleum.

"Those who pay less should not be allowed beyond the central tank. And for the masses let there be free entry till the main gate or the forecourt from where they can have a distant glimpse of the Taj Mahal," Sharma said. Historian R. Nath and others also feel that some system has to be evolved to regulate the flow.

"My concern has increased after reports that no one has been inside the basement to see the state of the foundation for many years. With the Yamuna receding several hundred feet away and with hardly any water left in the river, we are inviting trouble," warned Nath, Mughal historian and author of scores of books on Taj Mahal's architecture.

- The Asian Age, July 12, 2010

A Walk down the narrow congested bylanes of the Hazrat Nizamuddin basti — where Amir Khusrau started the Qawwali music traditions in the thirteenth century and now thrives a community that is considered the living heritage of the Capital — one can see a visible transition. Small eateries, ittar shops and heritage structures still dot the streets, but what comes as a surprise is the feverish activity going on in the area. The revamped MCD school is abuzz with children, the community centre has women cutting out designs on paper, a queue snakes out of the polyclinic and workers reconstruct collapsed portions of an ancient baoli.

In a successful public-private partnership, three years after its inception, the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme in Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti has been able to usher in visible changes in the life of the community settled here over centuries. Inspired from similar conservation-based development projects in Kabul and Cairo, also being carried out by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), the Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti Urban Renewal Project goes beyond mere restoration of monuments and engages in activities related to adaptive re-use, contextual urban planning and the improvement of housing, infrastructure and public spaces.

A partnership that includes the Archaeological Survey of India, the Central Public Works Department, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and AKTC, the project will unify three zones — Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti, Sunder Nursery and Humayun's Tomb — into an urban conservation area of cultural significance while improving the quality of life for the residents.

"Our Delhi project benefits from the worldwide experiences of the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme such as in Cairo and Kabul. To be effective in India, it is essential that conservation is used as a tool for socio-economic development of the inhabitants within the conservation areas," AKTC project director Ratish Nanda told Newsline.

The AKTC has been carefully working on conserving the heritage of the area which has a high concentration of heritage structures like the Dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya, Mazar-e-Ghalib, Baoli, Lal Mahal and Chaunsath Khamba. "The conservation of monuments and the rehabilitation of open spaces in the Basti aim to restore its intrinsic cultural, historical and spiritual significance. It combines conservation with a major socio-economic development effort that is implemented through a community-centered collaborative approach," Nanda explained.

The major effort towards improvement in primary education included a revamp of the MCD primary school, introducing arts education, greater interaction with parents and improved school management. A pathology laboratory has also been set up. Last year, a physical mapping survey of the Basti was undertaken, leading to the preparation of street improvement plans which will be implemented by the MCD.

Farhad Suri, former Mayor and councillor of Nizammudin, who has been a important linkage between the Trust and the MCD, said, "The public-private partnership has worked out remarkably here and more so because the community living here has been involved in the development of the area. Young children have been trained as tourist guides and around 150 children enrolled with the American Embassy for English speaking classes. Some others were offered scholarships for intensive programmes by the British Council. The women of the community are now earning through their intricate paper cuttings." He said a positive change can be seen not only in the area but also among the residents. "They have now become more confident individuals. The Trust's initiative has come as a god-sent for the residents," Suri added.

"Despite the initial teething problems, the active community participation has changed things for the better. The project can be replicated in other localities that house the Capital's living heritage.

PRIMARY CHANGES

• The MCD Primary school has been refurbished.
• Children trained as tourist guides. Around 150 of them enrolled with the American Embassy for English speaking classes; others offered scholarships for intensive programmes by the British Council.
• The women of the community were taught paper cutting, a means of employment for them now.
• A pathology laboratory has been set up where over 12,000 tests have been conducted so far.
• Last year, a physical mapping of the Basti was undertaken that led to the preparation of street improvement plans which will be implemented by the MCD.
• Conservation work on the Humayun's Tomb and several other heritage structures in Nizamuddin like the Dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya, Mazar-e-Ghalib, Baoli, Lal Mahal, Chaunsath Khamba.

Learning curve

CAIRO: In the old city, a barren site has been converted into a 30-hectare urban park with many visitor facilities. At the Darb al-Ahmar neighbourhood, directly abutting the park, several mosques, old palaces, historic houses and open public spaces are being rehabilitated in an effort to make them accessible to the local community and visitors.

KABUL: The sixteenth century Bagh-e Babur in Kabul, where the first Mughal Emperor Babur was buried, is being restored in a similar fashion. The rehabilitation of the garden not only re-establishes the historic character of the site with its water channels, planted terraces and pavilions but also provides a much-appreciated space for leisure, meetings, and open-air receptions.

- The Indian Express, July 12, 2010

The city government is busy making claims that Delhi will be ready to host the Commonwealth Games in October but access to the city's world heritage sites might be a challenge for the millions of visitors expected to arrive in Delhi for the sporting extravaganza. While the 17th century Red Fort still does not have a designated parking lot for visitors, the approach road to the Qutub Minar complex is in poor condition. While the Qutub Minar is Delhi's most visited monument with footfalls of up to 10,000 visitors a day, the access road to the monument is not just broken in several places but also suffers from frequent spillage of water due to the presence of a water-filling facility in the vicinity. Traffic here is another problem and is especially dangerous for pedestrians who have to run across the road, after parking their cars, to the Qutub Minar entrance.

To ease traffic, a traffic circulation plan was prepared by INTACH which proposed that Gurgaon and Mehrauli-bound traffic be diverted away from the Qutub Minar, but the plan has not yet been implemented.

"We have written to several agencies about the problem since traffic is especially heavy around the Qutub. We proposed that only vehicles coming to the Qutub and Mehrauli areas use the main road while other traffic be diverted from Lado Sarai, bypassing the Qutub Minar. But since, at the moment, even Gurgaon-bound traffic passes by the Qutub, vehicular movement here is bad," said officials of the Archaeological Survey of India.

The other problem with the access road to the Qutub Minar is the poor condition of the road. "The stretch is in bad shape partly because of heavy vehicular movement, but mostly because of a water-filling centre by the side of the Qutub Minar. Water tanks park here for long hours to fill up their tanks which also leads to the frequent spillage of water on the road," said ASI officials.

The road-owning agency PWD also blamed the water-filling centre for the poor condition of the road. "The only problem area on the stretch is where the DJB tanker office is located. A lot of water is spilled onto the road here. Otherwise, the road is in good condition. We just got micro-surfacing of the road, from Aurobindo Marg to Lado Sarai, done at a cost of Rs 50-60 lakh," said a senior PWD official.

Another world heritage site with problems is Red Fort where the parking lot for visitors — which will accommodate up to 300 vehicles and has been under construction for the last two years — is yet to be opened to the public. The delay with the parking lot means visitors to the Mughal citadel find access to the monument difficult due to Red Fort's location in Shahjahanabad.

Said ASI officials, "We will be calling for an expression of interest and then invite tenders from contractors to run the parking lot, which we will open before the Games at any cost. The parking lot has already been hit by several delays and we want to make it operational at the earliest."

- The Times of India, July 12, 2010

The Chitradurga fort is a marvel of military architecture made impregnable by the Palegars or the local rulers. It has 19 gateways, 38 entrances, a palace, a mosque, granaries, oil pits, four secret entrances and water tanks. Amidst rocky surroundings inside the fort complex on the hill are many temples. But the history of the place dates back to the time of Emperor Ashoka, if a rock edict dating back to his time near Brahmagiri is to be believed. The edict reveals that Chitradurga was part of the Mauryan Empire. The fort has stood tall during subsequent reigns. But there are two personalities who are still remembered for their bravery and courage. Madakari Nayaka as a ruler and Onake Obavva as a defender of the fort.

There were clashes between Marathas and Hyder Ali to take control over Chitradurga. After three sharp clashes with Chitradurga in the 1760s and 1770s, Hyder Ali finally took the fort in 1779 and the region became a Mysore province. Madakari Nayaka was imprisoned at Srirangapatna, where he died. The fort remains strong, but the brick walls of the storehouses and granaries built more than 200 years ago are crumbling. Yet, it is an important tourist attraction.

- Deccan Herald, July 13, 2010

Starting September 15, Delhi will join an elite list of international cities which have a 'hop-on, hop-off' bus service for tourists.

With three designated routes that include not just monuments but also museums, parks, shopping areas and foreign exchange bureaus, the buses will ply at intervals of 10 minutes to 15 minutes just like in other foreign cities, including London, Paris, Rome, New York, Sydney, Singapore, Barcelona and others. Though the service has been started with an eye on the Commonwealth Games, it will continue after the sporting extravaganza.

To start with, 15 buses will run on the designated routes to cover monuments such as Jama Masjid, Red Fort, Chandni Chowk, Qutab Minar, Purana Qila, Begumpuri Masjid, Hauz Khas monuments and Tughlaqabad Fort, and other places of interest in Mehrauli area and Lutyens' Delhi. The routes will also cover shopping areas like Connaught Place, Santushti Complex, Khan Market, malls, Dilli Haat, museums, Commonwealth Games venues, parks, foreign exchange bureaus and even popular eating joints. "The service will start from September 15 with 10-15 buses. Based on the response, more buses and routes will be added after the Commonwealth Games," said Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta.

The buses will be luxury coaches with large window panes that will enable visitors a clear view of the city from every seat. The government is going for air-conditioned, low-floor buses. "We needed CNG buses and finding an open/glass top double-decker variant in CNG was not possible. But we will look at introducing such buses after the Games," said Rina Ray, managing director, Delhi Tourism. To make them look attractive, the buses will be painted in bright colours and the exteriors will reflect the character of the tours on offer. Every bus will also have a dedicated guide on board, along with specialised audio guides and literature, to keep the visitors updated on the sites as they pass by. Every trip will be of 2.5 hour to 3 hour duration.

The project started off as a joint effort between Delhi Tourism and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), but the latter pulled out due to excess workload before the Games. Now, the buses will be run by a private operator. The routes have been decided in consultation with INTACH. "The service is not just aimed at foreign tourists. We are also targeting national tourists and Delhiites who would like to explore the city. The fare, though yet to be finalised, will be nominal," Ray added.

Buses run on predefined routes at regular intervals. Tourists can choose a route and board any bus. They will have the option of getting off at a place of their interest on the way and have the choice of taking any of the later buses on the same route. The ticket has a day-long validity. "The entire plan is to empower tourists who come to the city during the Commonwealth Games. As of now, three routes have been finalised but more will added after the Games. The service will follow the model used abroad, where buses visit places of interest and not just monuments," said AGK Menon, Convenor, INTACH.

- The Times of India, July 14, 2010

Even as thousands of crores are spent to spruce up Delhi for the Commonwealth Games, a must-visit for foreigners, the National Museum, remains in a sorry state with almost half the galleries shut. Even of those open, some are in a state of utter neglect and most have remained unchanged for over a decade since they were first mounted.

Incidentally, the museum comes under the ministry of culture, a portfolio held by PM Manmohan Singh himself. A stone's throw from the PM's residence and Parliament house, the museum, home to some of the most valuable artefacts in the country, hasn't had a permanent director general (DG) for almost five years. A joint secretary in the ministry, Dr V S Madan, has additional charge of DG of the National Museum.

"A museum ought to be headed by a qualified and senior museologist and not a bureaucrat. But the museum has seen a string of bureaucrats heading it at various times," said a senior museologist who did not wish to be named.

Of the 15 galleries, seven are closed. Many have been closed for several years and no one seems to know when or whether they will ever reopen. Barring a few galleries like the gallery of paintings, miniature paintings and of the Harappan civilization, the institution, hailed as the country's premier museum, has a weary air of neglect and boredom. Other than a sketchy audio tour in Hindi, English, Japanese, French and German, there is little to help visitors beyond the drily written and fading explanations displayed next to the various artefacts.

"Some of the galleries, like the coins gallery, which has coins from the 2nd century BC to modern times, have remained untouched for years. There is no effort to make the collection interesting or appealing to the visitors. It is row upon row of glass cases with coins," remarked a senior museologist.

"One of the most important jobs of a museum is to preserve and conserve the artefacts in its collection. With a near-defunct conservation department, one wonders what is happening to the artefacts, especially the manuscripts. The manuscripts gallery has been closed for over five years. The manuscripts department does not have even a curator. Manuscripts are delicate objects vulnerable to mishandling, pollution and humidity," said another senior museologist.

- The Times of India, July 14, 2010

A rare collection of Mahatma Gandhi's personal letters, notes dictated to his grand niece, Manuben Gan-dhi, who documented them in her personal diaries, will get a new lease of life at the National Archives of India.

Gandhian academicians claim that diaries Manuben had recorded life of Gandhi after 1920 in exhaustive details Mahatama Gandhi. The diaries written in Gujarati language have several detailed accounts of Mahatma's journeys, his speeches, observations and letters which were dictated to his grand niece Manuben Gandhi.

"This is a priceless collection of information about Mahatma Gandhi. Out of 20 diaries four diaries are personal while the other 16 are dictations of Gandhi to his grand niece of letters and speeches," former director of Gandhi Museum at Raj Ghat Dr Varsha Das, said.

"Manuben used to write daily about Gandhi's journeys and his interaction with other leaders. Every night Gandhi used to sign each page of diary and also comment about the diary entries. I have seen the diaries. Sometime he (Gandhi) wrote good and sometime he would even say that a trifle doesn't need such a long description," Dr Das added.

The rare collection also has a calendar which Gandhi used to teach geometry to Manuben while he was in Agha Khan jail. The collection of diaries were kept in Gandhi Museum in Rajghat. The collection has recently been brought to NAI where the work of restoration has started. "Over 80-90yrs old diaries are not in a very dilapidated condition. So I thought of handing it over to NAI as they have the facility and expertise to take care of such stuff," Dr Das said.

The collection also has personal letters written by both Mahatma Gandhi and Manuben Gandhi to contemporary national and international important personalities. The collection also has rare collection of paper slips on which Gandhi used to write instructions, comments and questions when he observed silence or fast during freedom struggle movements.

"Once translated, the diaries will reveal lot of new things about Gandhi to the world, which are unknown to scholars and common people. We are looking for someone who can translate these diaries and then will publish translation," director-general of NAI Prof Mushirul Hasan, said.

- The Asian Age, July 15, 2010

Raisina Hill is returning to its Lutyens blueprint. Rashtrapati Bhavans Mughal Gardens will soon be rid of the Manipuri-style hut erected on orders of then president APJ Abdul Kalam. Other buildings on the conservation radar are Parliament House and North and South Blocks.

UPA chief Sonia Gandhi is believed to be taking keen interest in the project. Architect Charles Correa, architectural restorer Sunita Kohli and artist Satish Gujral are among the experts consulted for the project. The government will have to source original drawings of Lutyens and Herbert Baker from London for finer nuances and details.

- The Times of India, July 16, 2010

Former president APJ Abdul Kalam's famous "thinking hut" in Rashtrapati Bhavan's Mughal Gardens has been removed as work begins to restore the original character of Edwin Lutyens' best-known architectural creation.

The Manipuri style hut was installed during Kalam's tenure and the former president used to sit there in the mornings and evenings. He fondly referred to it as his "thinking hut" and told visitors that two of his books were written on its sofas.

While the hut made Kalam's creative juices flow, a committee of experts appointed for the restoration project has deemed it an eyesore in a garden designed by Lutyens as a unique mix of English and Mughal landscaping.

The committee has also suggested that Kalam's other contribution to Mughal Gardens a modern-day musical fountain be demolished as this too defiles the heritage character of Lutyens world famous marvel.

The restoration of Rashtrapati Bhavan is part of an ambitious project to preserve the majestic buildings on Raisina Hill that serve as iconic symbols of independent India. Other buildings on the conservation radar are Parliament House and North and South Blocks.

Three different expert committees are overseeing the restoration work but UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is believed to be taking keen interest in the project. She was also the inspiration behind the first heritage project, undertaken in 1985 when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister, in which the Prime Minister's Office, Hyderabad House and parts of Rashtrapati Bhavan, notably Ashoka Hall, were stripped of latter-day additions and restored to their original glory.

Architect Charles Correa, architectural restorer Sunita Kohli and artist Satish Gujral are among the experts whose advice and help have been sought for the project. The government will have to source the original drawings of Lutyens and Herbert Baker (who designed Parliament House and North and South Blocks) from London for the finer nuances and details of the interiors.

- The Times of India, July 16, 2010

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh's request to the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra for giving away some tigers to repopulate the Sariska reserve might fall on deaf ears, at least of the former.

According to sources, Ramesh had recently written to Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Ashok Chavan stating, "To bring in genetic vigour, we need a few wild caught tigers (males and females) for Sariska from adjoining States…I would appreciate if two straying males are provided at the outset to Rajasthan."

However, MP Forest Minister Sartaj Singh on Thursday said the State Government had not yet received any letter from Ramesh in this connection. "We do not have surplus tigers in the State," he further categorically stated, suggesting Madhya Pradesh might not part with its big cats for the Sariska reserve.

Ramesh' decision was, however, welcomed by tiger conservationist Valmik Thapar. He observed that there was a need to look at such an exchange as the male that has so far failed to breed with his siblings in Sariska should now be sent to Panna (MP). While some argued that the purity of Rajasthan tigers was at stake, others felt inter-State talks on shifting tigers would hit roadblocks.

Meanwhile, in an endeavour to revive tiger population in the otherwise extinct Sariska, there are efforts to impregnate the two tigresses at the reserve, following the relocation of a male tiger that was airlifted from Ranthambore reserve in June 2008.

But according to a wildlife official, "Though the tiger has already mated with the tigresses, there is not the slightest indication of pregnancy in Sariska." The DNA analysis of Ranthambhore tigers and their genetic tests have proved that the tigers sent to Sariska were indeed siblings, he added.

- The Pioneer, July 16, 2010

In Haryana, the only culture is agriculture. So they say in half-jest. But a visit to heritage museum in Kurukshetra University (KU) may turn the phrase on its head. For the museum called Dharohar exhibits hitherto unknown and lesser-known facets of Haryanavi culture. Be it music, architecture, fashion, manuscripts, pottery, transport, paintings or woodwork, the museum, housed in a three-storied octagonal structure, displays a rare ensemble of artefacts belonging to ancient, medieval and contemporary history of the state.

From a motley cot, which has a Hindu prayer 'Om Jai Jagdish Hare' weaved on jute ropes, an indigenous small-window mud refrigerator, tubular wallet men wrapped around their waists in old times, a bullock-driven palanquin, where bride and bridegroom would be carried after their marriage to a community hookah attached with two long smoking pipes that could be rotated in any direction — the museum portrays the richness of Haryanavi tradition.

Set up by Mahasingh Poonia, a Hindi lecturer and curator, under the tutelage of KU's Registrar and professor of Modern History, Raghuvendra Tanwar, in 2006, the museum attracts hundreds of tourists every day. Besides putting on view fashion, architecture, musical instruments, it boasts of a catalogue of all wooden, brass and iron equipments, which have been used by farmers in the state in last few centuries.

It also showcases the old Haryanavi kitchen, where women cooked on mud ovens (chulhas), pounded grain in a morlar, kneaded floor in basin plates and placed their utensils on mud ledges. It exhibits old skirts (ghagras), bodices and other dresses women wore in old times. The outfits are decked with beautiful embroidery or mirror work.

The museum displays rare silver ornaments and also boxes where women stashed these. It also has a multi-purpose cylindrical box, which was used to store a quintal of grain, water or jaggery. There is an old time-keeping system where a bowl with a small hole in its plinth was floated in a bucket full of water. The bowl would sink in 24 minutes exactly.

There are old brass bells, which the farmers used for embellishing their oxens. There are also yokes, winnowing trays, spades, hatchets, forks and other equipments the farmers used for growing crops and fighting with their enemies.

A scene from the Haryanavi life is sculpted in the right corner of the museum. A model of a woman is shown milking a buffalo with her calf standing close by. A male is sculpted cutting green fodder on his gandasa (axe attached to a wheel) on one side. Instruments used in a plough and wooden fork are dumped on the other side. It is a life-size depiction of a scene from a cattle enclosure you find in the villages of Haryana.

The museum has around 20 sections dedicated to different themes like freedom fighters, folk musical instruments, archeological heritage, wall paintings, local festivals, wells andbaolis (step wells), transport, domestic articles, art and craft, folk costumes etc.

Interestingly, all the artefacts, displayed in the museum, have been donated and have the names of donors inscribed on them. Poonia travelled around the state to collect these.

The university is in the process of putting together a second phase of the museum. Divided into 21 sections, it will show artists and craftsmen at work in actual working environments. It will also have an advanced centre for research in regional studies.

The university is also preparing another museum, which will commemorate India's First War of Independence 1857. This will be the first project exclusively dedicated to the mass upsurge during which many a fierce battles were fought in the Haryana region.

Don't miss these out

Community Hookah: The museum boasts of a hookah with water storage capacity of 32 litres. The hookah having two extra-long revolving smoking pipes, would burn two and half kilogram of tobacco in one go.

Cot (charpai): A 150-year old cot, which has another cot pushed under it (a kind of double bed rolled into one). Another cot has a pillow woven in it with the jute ropes. A third one, procured from a village in Jhajjar and priced at Rs 1.25 lakh, has entire 'Om Jai Jagdish Hare' prayer woven in to it.

Folk music: The section has 42 local musical instruments displayed on wooden cabins.

Manuscripts: Has 53 manuscripts almost 500 years old including some rare pieces from Sikh history.

Archeology: The section stores 25 relics, including fifth century AD statue of Dwarpal (gatekeeper) excavated from Pehowa and remains of Harappan civilisation found in Ghirai (Hisar).

Water Heritage: The section has pots and utensils which were used for procuring water and tools which were used to search lost buckets in the well. It also has pictures of old wells that had spires in four sides.

Transport: It has on display British-period tum-tums, chariots and bullock carts, once considered intrinsic part of farmer's life in the state. There is also a bullock-driven palanquin which carried bride and bridegroom after their marriage.

Art & Craft: It exhibits a rich variety of toys, decorative pieces, cloth wallets etc which a bride would bring as part of dowry.

Kitchen: A lively portrayal of traditional Haryanvi kitchen, it has women-mannequins churning milk, blowing air in earthen oven and thrashing grain in a morlar.

Ornaments: It shows old heavy silver ornaments, the women in Haryana wore in old times.

- The Tribune, July 18, 2010

Calcutta is a city of buildings that are painted either yellow (ela mati in Bengali) with green doors and windows or in a white-and-light blue combination. Keeping this colour scheme in mind, the previous governor of West Bengal had repainted Raj Bhavan yellow and green. But the colour scheme does not seem to have found favour with many architects based in Calcutta, even when the buildings are of a certain age. Two heritage buildings in Calcutta prominently located in Chowringhee and Park Street are being given a new look, tarted up rather, in a fashion that has little connection with the past. The two are Metropolitan Building and Park Mansion.

Marble out, mall in

The first, as is well known, used to be Whiteaway and Laidlaw, the famous department store. After it closed down, the property changed hands. The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) became its landlord, and gradually this grand building that defines the character of Chowringhee went to ruin like most good things in Calcutta.

Yielding to public pressure and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation's (CMC) notices, the LIC undertook a project to restore it. But not before the structure was vandalised — its beautiful Italian marble floors were ripped off and a wealth of stained glass windows facing JL Nehru Road and SN Banerjee Road was smashed for the sake of a mall.

The building looked clean for a while, then began to look shabby once again. In spite of its "restoration" the roof is not waterproof and during heavy showers, the top floors become flooded. Water cascades down the grand staircases. This has not happened yet this time, but where is the monsoon this time?

Gaudy and golden

Now the building is being given another coat of paint. Good decision. But look at the shades being used. Metropolitan Building, even at its shabbiest, had not lost any of its dignity. Now it looks downright vulgar with that abundance of gold on its cupolas and the procession of urns on the terrace and the acanthus on top of each Corinthian column. Metropolitan Building, if memory serves and old photographs are anything to go by, never looked gaudy before.

Even if the architect responsible for this act is under the impression that he is actually beautifying the building, has he forgotten that restoration is far removed from beautification? The conservator's task is to uncover the authenticity of the structure as far as possible. The architect has successfully eliminated all references to its past.

Park Mansion, "restored" by the same architect, wears the same look. A part of this building was gutted in a fire, and it is now off-white with bright red windows and dabs of glitter on strategic points like the cupolas. Perhaps it is not legally binding to paint a building the way it always used to be, but any self-respecting "conservator" would think twice before transforming it into a piece of kitsch.

On what basis does he do it? After painstaking research? One is sure he does not bother like most architects in Calcutta.

Colour code horror

Conservation architect Nilina Deb Lal stresses the importance of research before a restoration project is undertaken: "It is important to find out whether the process of decision-making is supported by rigorous research. Frequently intensive study is not undertaken. There has to be a statement."

Churches in medieval times used to be gaudily painted, she says. Now there is a conscious decision to leave them stark — to understate the object. In the case of these buildings it is a reverse decision. "They should have been doubly careful," feels Deb Lal.

The same architect, who has "restored" Metropolitan Building, Park Mansion and Queens Mansion has all but ruined Great Eastern Hotel and the Mackinnon Mackenzie building.

He has walked out of the latter project but not before destroying the stone-clad building. Why the CMC allowed him to tear down both these iconic structures remains a mystery.

With an unerring eye for the banal he is now meddling with the façade of Great Eastern Hotel, which he was supposed to keep intact. A palm tree has been planted on the pavement under the balcony, its trunk sprouts out of a huge gap in the balcony. How did the architect get away with it?

And now he is collaborating with a British architect to design the annexe of the Victoria Memorial Hall.

- The Telegraph, July 18, 2010

The most beautiful of all buildings in the congested Nizamuddin Basti, it is also the most ignored. Most visitors to this 14th-century village, named after a sufi saint, head straight to the saint's shrine.

A few may notice Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib's tomb that lies on the left of the principal street. Hidden behind this mausoleum is the marbled Chaunsath Khamba (circa 1624), the rare Jehangir-era monument in Delhi, so well-preserved that it does not look old.

Built by Mirza Aziz Kokaltash, a foster brother of Emperor Akbar, Chaunsath Khamba was so named because 64 pillars are said to have supported its roof. You will, however, find only 36. These pillars join the roof in a soft, sloping harmony.

Inside, the hall has 10 tombs, two of which belong to Kokaltash and his wife. Outside, towards Ghalib's memorial, there are more tombs. Since the walls have stone jaalis, sunlight falls through the latticework, making embroidered patterns on the marble.

Chausanth Khamba faces the open courtyard of Urs Mahal, a venue for cultural shows, which remain empty except in the evenings when boys come to play cricket. Ghalib's tomb, too, is usually deserted. Amid the desolation, the monument feels as isolated as the North Pole, yet it is close to civilisation.

Surrounded by the Basti's jagged skyline, sounds of children's cries, women's laughter, hawkers' yells and the hissing of pressure cookers' whistle waft through the pillared hall, where they echo softly. You feel at peace with the world.

- Hindustan Times, July 18, 2010

Vijay Sinh was worried and quite tired. A few hours earlier, he had been full of machismo, daring his friends that he would be the first to get to the top of the hill. But nearly two hours after they commenced the climb, with the hill still looming over them, the machismo had vanished. He wasn't quite sure that he and his mates would be able to complete the climb.

Vijay Sinh was not the first person to have his pride dented at that spot. The hill he had chosen to climb was the massive outcrop of a rock called Pavagadh hill and it had caused even kings and emperors to sweat. The place lies about 50 km from modern-day Baroda and comprises two parts: the first being the hill fortress of Pavagadh and the second being the plains settlement spread around the base of the hill called Champaner. Some historians have preferred to use the word 'Champaner' to describe the place as a whole, passing on the same name to the fort as well.

In 1483, the Gujarat Sultan Mahmud Begarha attacked Champaner. The siege on the Pavagadh hill fort lasted 20 months, finally resulting in the fort being stormed in November 1484. On June 13, 1535, the Mughal emperor Humayun arrived at Champaner-Pavagadh. His expedition to Gujarat was aimed at bringing the prosperous province into the fold of the nascent Mughal Empire, which was less than a decade old at that time. At the same time, he sought to eliminate the ever-present threat posed by Bahadur Shah, the then sultan of Gujarat.

Humayun had already ransacked the port city of Khambat and turned his attention to Champaner, which he knew had immense treasure accumulated over several generations by Gujarat sultans. The sight of the fortress would have been a sobering one for the all-conquering Mughal. The defenders of the fort were believed to have enough supplies to withstand a siege for 10 years.

Help was at hand in the form of some captured villagers who revealed the way into the fort via a vulnerable spot. The attacking army drove in spikes into the stones in that spot and climbed up to the fort, with 300 men—Humayun among them—acting as pathfinders for the rest of the army. An impregnable fort was thus won by treachery. Under Mughal rule, it became a secondary town and remained that way. Today, the hill and town below attract a large number of visitors, with thousands of pilgrims making a beeline for the celebrated temple of Kali atop the hill.

And like Humayun, pilgrims like Vijay Sinh also find some external help. All they need to capture these days are tickets to buses which take them to a certain halfway point up the hill, from which place a cable car transports them to the top of the hill. All that remains thereafter is a short climb which is easily done. The ride in the cable car is a tad hair-raising, with the 'tinyness' of the cars being exaggerated by the depth of the ravine they cross.

The countryside around can be distracting too, strewn as it is with heritage remains that make Champaner a UNESCO World Heritage site. Most of the structures here are a part of the city built by Mahmud Begarha when he shifted his capital here from Ahmedabad. Pristine among the buildings here is the Jama Masjid, described by the historian Fergusson as "architecturally the finest (mosque) in Gujarat".

If the Jama Masjid is elegant, the other mosques here are striking in their own right. The Shahar-ki-Masjid is smaller but equally graceful; the Kevda Masjid—with its three-arched façade and set in what is now a forested area—looks compact while the Nagina Masjid with a tomb chamber nearby is as charming as its name.

If a person is able to overcome the distraction of the heritage at the foot of the hill, he can finally take the bus and cable car route to the top. Here he would run into more heritage—in the form of Jain and Hindu temple remains. The view from the top of the hill is incredible and a person gets an immediate understanding of the problems a conqueror would face, be it an armed one like Humayun or a more modest one like Vijay Sinh.

- The Economic Times, July 18, 2010

Being very interested in old monuments, every time I am in Delhi, I try to visit a few of the 84 monuments listed under the Archaeological Survey of India. Since I was staying at Chanakyapuri and had just one free day, I selected four that were close to that locality and not too far from each other. Coincidently they all turned out to be lesser-known structures built at the time of Firuz Shah Tughluq (1351–1388), a prolific builder responsible for many buildings constructed during the three decades of his reign. It turned out to be a most interesting tour. That there is a 650 plus year old hunting lodge inside the premise of Teen Murti Bhavan was a revelation. Kushak Mahal as it is called is built on a fifteen feet high terrace with three arched openings. It is not difficult to imagine a Delhi with forests all around and lots of game to hunt. The next site I had chosen was called Malcha Mahal – also a hunting lodge but much bigger than the one I saw first, said the book I was consulting. While asking for directions, I got quizzical looks and one person even asked why I wanted to go "to that jungle". That made me even more curious. As we turned left off Sardar Patel Marg, we drove into quite an isolated lane amidst a forest of acasia trees with no soul in sight. It felt a little eerie but I had to see the end of it so we drove along and in a while sighted a gate that turned out to be the office of the Indian Space Research Organization.

At the gate when I asked the security personnel where the Malcha Mahal was, once again I was asked why I wanted to go there. A few others arrived and all became rather concerned and one of them informed me that it would be rather dangerous as I could either be shot or have dogs turned on me. This just didn't make any sense. Then slowly it all became clear. I hadn't realized that I was standing not too far from the Mahal which was located some distance away to the right side of the ISRO office gate. The vegetation was so thick that only after they pointed out could I see a faint outline of a huge structure. And then I came to know that Malcha Mahal is where the government had shifted Begum Wilayat Mahal and her two children Riaz and Sakina who claimed to be related to the family of the Nawab of Awadh. For years the begum had lived with her children and a pack of dogs, in the New Delhi railway station as protest in support of her demand for a share in the property of her ancestor Wazid Ali Shah. As a sort of solution they were allowed to shift to this shikargah of Firuz Tughluq where they live with no electricity, water supply, no doors or windows! To protect themselves from the prying eyes of journalists and curious people in general, a metal board has been put up outside the gate that warns "Entry Restricted ~ Cautious Of Hound Dogs ~ Proclamation ~ Intruders Will Be Gundown". The old begum has long since died, apparently having poisoned herself and her middle-aged off-springs live on with their pack of dogs and I suppose memories of what might have been. Unwittingly I had fallen upon this bizarre and somewhat sad real life story.

The other two Tughluq monuments I saw that day were Bhuli-Bhatiyari-ka-Mahal that has two impressive small gateways and Qadam Sharif, a tomb intended to house the body of Firuz Tugluq but has his son Fath Khan buried instead after his untimely death. A small stone with a depression, believed to be the footprint (qadam) of the Prophet Muhammad, used to be on his gravestone and hence the name Qadam Shariff. The stone is now in the care of the family looking after the monument.

Four monuments, not what one would list under exciting tourist attractions, yet each with its own stories and memories of long, long ago.

- The Statesman, July 18, 2010

More than a thousand Green Munias, endemic to India, and rare Hill Mynahs were seized from a Pakistani national at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka recently. The Pak national was attempting to smuggle these wild birds through PK-267 PIA Airlines, scheduled from Dhaka to Karachi in Pakistan.

According to sources, the Pakistani, Ahmad Sheikh Wajid, was trying to smuggle the birds in four cages packed in cartons to Pakistan. He has been arrested. A good number of the birds, however, were dead by the time the cartons were seized. Wahid, who hails from Karachi, crossed the heavy scanning machine of customs with the bird cages. He also had a veterinary certificate from Dhaka City Corporation, which is believed to have been forged. Following a tip-off, customs officials seized the birds from the aircraft. The price of a pair of these birds range between Taka 400 and Taka 10,000 (the Bangladeshi currency).

These rare birds are believed to have been smuggled through the Indo-Bangladesh border. Experts have pointed out that thousands of these birds are captured in India and illegally smuggled to international markets. Worse, a huge percentage of them die in transit.

Sources said the customs officials are often duped on the species of these endangered birds by misidentifying them.

Dr Asad Rahmani, Director Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), has written to the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to get India's rare endemic birds back to the country, before they perish.

Talking to The Pioneer, the noted ornithologist said, "These birds are essentially from India and should be brought back to the country they belong to. The Government of India should take up the matter with the Government of Bangladesh. Over a third of the birds that were seized had perished by the next day. So, it is time for the Government to act at the earliest."

Dr Rahmani pointed out the Green Munia or Green Avadavat (Amandava formosa) is a globally threatened bird that is found only in India. It is categorised as 'vulnerable' in the IUCN's Red List. It has been studied very little in the wild by ornithologists and is rarely seen because of its limited distribution in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. It is a highly sought-after cage bird and illegal trapping has severely decreased its already limited wild population.

Similarly, Hill Mynahs (Gracula religiosa) are talking birds and included in the Schedule I (highest protection CITES Appendix II) species. They are well-known cage birds in India and have been recognised as the State bird of Chhattisgarh.

There are three types of these wild birds found in Western Ghats, Odisha, and Eastern Himalayas. Many thousands of chicks of Hill Mynah are raided from their nests for the purpose of meeting the international market for cage birds. Both these birds are getting very uncommon in the country, pointed out Dr Rahmani. "These birds are easily smuggled through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border," he added.

The Hill Mynah has almost been completely exterminated from several parts of its original range due to rampant nest raiding. The Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, adjoining districts of Odisha and also the Similipal Hills of Odisha have suffered severely to this trade. There was a captive breeding programme in Chhattisgarh involving eight birds (of which five died) meant for reviving their wild populations.

Abrar Ahmed, ornithologist and bird trade consultant with Traffic India/WWF India, who has been trying to highlight the plight of the species exploited through smugglers and bird dealers, said, "It was the Netherlands Government that had proposed the inclusion of Green Munias to be included in CITES and ironically the material was provided by us. We need to raise our concern for release of Green Avadavats in the right distribution and habitat as per IUCN guidelines in India, he added.

- The Pioneer, July 18, 2010

Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world, has emerged the winner of a poll for the most popular Asian destination.

The announcement in this regard was made by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) at the Asian Attractions Awards ceremony held during Asian Attractions Expo (AAE) 2010 in Kuala Lumpur.

Asian attractions were promoted throughout May and June on television channels, which has 80 million cable subscribers in Asia. The awards were broken into six categories, and a total of 94,099 votes cast by the public through the AAA website and social media outlets, determined the winners.

- The Times of India, July 18, 2010

Today it is just a 400 year old lonely tower of 46 meters (150 feet) overlooking the old city. It is a mere skeleton of the great church and is in ruins. Yet it is impressive. This colossal, four-storied, arched tower built of laterite, once formed part of the facade of the church of St. Augustine. The ruins of eight chapels, four altars and extensive convent with numerous cells may be seen below it. The portico and the tower are still present and look absolutely splendid.

The ruins first afford the tourist, a glimpse of the high altar, with its large gilt tabernacle sheltered within an arch, through a screen of arched piers. Vestiges of most of these piers were visible until recently; they supported a spacious choir which could have accommodated a large number of Augustinian monks. Now under the broken arches, locals sometimes gather and talk. There was also a barrel vault, whose enormous weight unfortunately hastened its collapse. It was traditional to bury the dead from noble families inside the church itself, close to the sanctuary holding the altar and there are quite a number of graves covered with carved stone slabs.

When it was completed in the early years of the 17th century in 1602, this grand Church was recognised as one of the three great Augustinian churches in the Iberian world, the other two being the Basilica of the Escorial in Spain and St. Vincente de Fora in Lisbon.

During construction, the high vault fell down twice. However, the Italian architect built it again and he and his only son stood under the vault and asked for heavy cannon fire to test the stability of the structure. It did not fall down.

In 1835 the church was abandoned as a result of the expulsion of the Augustinians from Goa by the authorities and the Portuguese government ordered its demolition. The bell of the church, was removed to the Fort Aguada Light House initially (1841-1871) and in 1871, transferred to the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Panaji. This functioning bell weighs about 2,250 kilograms.

After being given up by the Augustines, the church was used for missionary and charity work by the charitable institution of the Misericordia for quite a while. However, the buildings finally fell into neglect. This resulted in the collapse of the vault on September 8, 1842. As a direct result of all these occurrences, the Goa Government appropriated the property and sold the materials of the remains of the church in 1843.

In 1846, the main vault of the church collapsed and the convent rapidly decayed. The facade collapsed on August 8, and August 19, 1931 and whatever was left of the the facade of the church including the 46 meters tall tower fell in 1938. By this time, many of the valuable articles had been either sold or lost or dispersed across other churches in Goa.

Somewhere beneath these crumbling stones was hidden the missing corpse of Queen Ketevan of Gerorgia. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was looking for her grave for the last 15 years at the request of the Georgian government, for whom Queen Ketavan (now St.Ketavan) is the patron saint.

In 1613, the Emperor of Persia Shah Abbas, led an army to conquer the Georgian kingdom and he took Queen Ketevan as prisoner. Ketevan, was martyred in 1624 after refusing to convert to Islam or to marry her captor, who had her flesh torn off with hot tongs! She was killed most brutally. According to an account, her brains were boiled in a giant kettle! Her remains were recovered and hidden by Portuguese clerics in Persia, who then spirited it to Goa. According to historians, the queen's right hand and right arm were buried in St Augustine church in Goa while other relics were buried in a Georgian Orthodox Church cathedral in Georgia.

A team of Georgian and Archaeological survey of India experts, in a joint effort, found the relics from under the window of the church in 2006. DNA tests on the remains are being done under the auspices of the ASI.

But the hoary church may yet have many untold stories which lie buried the debris of the past. What remains of the five storey tall tower is thankfully being conserved against all odds for future generations.

- Deccan Herald, July 18, 2010

Archaeologists could end up stopping the railwaymen on the tracks, literally. Taking objection to the track doubling work behind the famous Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangapatna near Mysore, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has issued notice to the South Western Railway.

One of the most important Vaishnavite temples in South India that dates back to 9 {+t} {+h} Century, it is one of the 218 monuments under the ASI protection in Karnataka. Built by Gangas, the temple has been improved by Hoysala and Vijayanagar kings.

The ASI issued notice after the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act 2010 came into effect on March 29.

The new Act prohibits all kinds of development within 100 metres of any protected monument across the country.

The Act does not apply to those projects that were approved already by the ASI, and the ASI sources said the Bangalore-Mysore track doubling had not received approval from the ASI. "Any violation of the new Act is a cognisable offence that can attract a fine of Rs. 1 lakh and a jail term of two years," sources said and added that it was the second notice issued to the Railways.

Incidentally, sources pointed out that the track falls "anywhere between 70 and 80 metres" from the monument.

Pointing out at the provisions in the new Act, sources said: "Even those projects that are essential for the public purposes cannot come up in the prohibited area."

- The Hindu, July 19, 2010

The Indian Railways are all set to establish a Heritage Rail Museum in the historic loco shed here, which is lying redundant ever since diesel engines replaced steam locomotives.

The Delhi Division of the Railways, with active inputs of its Heritage Division, recently devised an action plan to convert it into a Heritage Rail Museum to attract domestic and foreign tourists.

This loco shed was started by the then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar on August 14, 2002.

According to Vikas Arya, Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer of the Delhi division, Rs.10 crore would be spent in two phases on the implementation of the project. The first phase of the project, which would entail an expenditure of about Rs.3 crore, would be accomplished before the commencement of the Commonwealth Games in October.

The Museum, which contains ten steam engines — five each of the meter gauge and the broad gauge – would display the signal system, rail coaches and other allied appliances of yesteryears as well.

The Rewari chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), which has taken a keen interest in the development of the Heritage Rail Museum, recently sent a communication to Manu Goel, Director of Heritage Division, Railway Board, New Delhi, seeking insertion of certain displays, exhibits and other allied activities to make it a vibrant hub for tourists.

- The Hindu, July 19, 2010

It takes just one glance at the Neela Hauz lake to know what ails it. A small but important water body in the southern ridge, the lake should have been brimming with water after last week's rainstorm. But heaps of earth and construction debris in the lake's bed hinder its natural harvesting of the rainwater.

The Public Works Department (PWD) constructed a bridge across the lake to cut short the distance between Old JNU Campus and Vasant Kunj. However it has left behind debris in the bed of the centuries old lake.

The agency is supposed to clear the earth and the construction debri by July 31.

Two weeks before the deadline, the shuttering, scaffolding erected to support during construction, is yet to be removed from beneath one portion of the bridge, not to mention the heaps of earth scattered all over the lake bed.

Residents of Vasant Kunj, who have been protesting PWD's construction over the water body, are unsure about the agency meeting the deadline. On Sunday, a core group of residents met to chalk out a plan to clear the lake.

"If the authorities do not clear the lake, we plan to carry out shramdaan (volunteer work) on September 5 by roping in people from neighbouring colonies and students from south Delhi schools. Our priority is to clear out excess soil and pull out the weeds," said Nitya Jacob, an activist-writer from the group. Another member, Sudha Bhattacharya, who is also the Dean of Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of Environmental Science, plans to rope in her students for the outreach activity.

However, PWD's Principal Chief Engineer A.K. Sinha is confident the department will meet the clean-up deadline. "The bridge would be ready by July 25, only after which we would remove the material and earth from the lake bed. Our work would be over by July end," he assured.

Accordign to the Delhi Development Authority, Neela Hauz is to be converted into a Biodiversity Park.

- Hindustan Times, July 19, 2010

A herd of painted Indian elephant statues may soon materialise all along London's famous Downing Street that leads to the residence of the British Prime Minister. The idea behind the planned display is to highlight the plight of the endangered Asian (Indian) elephant that is so dear to the heart of the British public, reared on the stories of Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli.

This week, Ruth Powys, Director of the Elephant Family charity, is celebrating the outstanding success of auctioning off some 262 artificial elephants that were first exhibited earlier this summer as an Elephant Parade exhibition on the streets and parks of the British capital. The exhibition had the enthusiastic backing of both Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. Charles' brother-in-law Mark Shand, a travel writer and author of the best selling book 'Travels On My Elephant', has also played a major role in promoting the exhibition that has managed to raise £4.1 million (over Rs 30 crore).

Other supporting celebrities include British film and TV personality Joanna Lumley, who commented, "All those who grew up with Colonel Hathi in the Jungle Book film, or those even older (like me) who remember him from the book of Mowgli by Kipling, must be shaken to know that without our help the magnificent Asian elephant may die out altogether. How dreadful to think that we may cause the extinction of this giant in our lives: and how fabulous to know that by supporting Elephant Parade and Elephant Family we can turn the tide and ensure their survival."

Film actress Goldie Hawn said, "Asian elephants captured my heart many years ago. Anyone who loves elephants, as I do, will love Elephant Parade… I am a proud patron of Elephant Family."

The idea of lining Downing Street with elephant statues was explained by Powys, who said it would generate even more publicity and support for a petition to save the Asian elephant. "When we talk about elephants going up Downing Street, we're not talking about live elephants," Powys said. "Can you imagine the reactions of the animal rights people? We'd be firebombed. I mean the painted elephants. We'd like to have a parade of artificial elephants, painted, located on Downing Street to help deliver the petition of 100,000 signatures that we're aiming for."

"This is an objective we haven't yet achieved. When the elephants were on the street, it was wonderful to be able to educate the public and it was incredible to raise so much money for the solution. But the third objective we have yet to meet and on which we are focusing our effort is generating signatures on our petition so we can start influencing the way the UK government invests in biodiversity and aiming to put the Asian elephant higher on their agenda. We can only do that when we have 100,000 signatures…"

In India, working with both the Wildlife Trust and the Wildlife Protection Society, Elephant Family's efforts so far have concentrated on the North East, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala. In each of these three areas, the aim is to identify and protect elephant corridors or migratory routes that elephants use. Elephant Family's aim is to raise £50 million over the next 10 years so that the land associated with the elephant corridors can be bought and preserved for elephants.

"Basically, elephant corridors are strips of land that connect areas of forest that have become separated," explains Powys. "Often it's because people have started living there, communities have cropped up, or maybe there's a road or a mine. Most of the time when people are living there, they want to move out because they didn't realise when they moved there that they were in the middle of a migratory route. So what happens is that we would move out the people who want to move and buy them a new house and a plot of land very near to where they were living but outside of the conflict area. So then the elephants can once again move freely. By doing that, you're helping many other endangered animals as well," she said.

- The Tribune, July 20, 2010

Bangladeshi customs officials recently seized around 1,000 birds, mostly protected species, from a Pakistani national the Dhaka airport. Tipped off by a Bangladeshi ecologist, an Indian ornithologist studied the photographs to find among the captives, the Green Avadavat, an endangered bird endemic to India.

Conservationists have now written to forests minister Jairam Ramesh to get the smuggled endemic birds back from Bangladesh. Among the birds seized, Bangladeshi officials also recognized hill mynahs, blossom-headed parakeets, spotted munia and budgerigars.

Asad Rehmani of Birdlife International was among those who wrote to the minister, asking that the birds be brought back as per IUCN guidelines. "These endangered and endemic birds should be brought to their country of origin immediately and should be released in their naturalized range and habitat instead of being allowed to die in captivity," said Abrar Ahmed, a wildlife expert.

- The Times of India, July 23, 2010

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has started renovating the British-era Mangi Bridge and has said it will refurbish it within a month. The monument, near ISBT in the Kashmere Gate area, was 'adopted' by the ASI a year ago. "The bridge had been damaged due to collisions with goods carriers and other heavy vehicles plying below it," said a senior ASI official, requesting anonymity.

The ASI had decided to renovate the 200-year-old bridge that connects Salimgarh Fort on the east and the Red Fort on the west on July 14, 2009, a week after it had given way for the third time in three months.

"The work was held up because we were looking for a technology to strengthen the monument from inside instead of merely reinforcing it from outside. For this, we have roped in two private construction firms after a study on this subject was conducted at IIT-Delhi," the official told Hindustan Times.

The ASI will use the 'zero abrasion' method to renovate the colonial structure that overlooks the busy Ring Road. "To renovate the monument, we will use what is referred to as the anchoring and stitching method. Diamond-cutters will be used to drill stainless steel wires inside crucial locations in the monument.

This will be locked not only with stones but also mortar to provide longevity to the structure," said the official. Three British drilling experts will be providing their expertise to the project.

"In addition to two private firms, three experts who have been flown from England will be working at the site. They will provide structural engineering and drilling expertise to the project," the official said.

"The work should be complete in about 30 days, well before the Commonwealth Games," the official added.

- The Hindustan Times, July 23, 2010

Right in the middle of the capital, Connaught Place Delhi's central business district sadly stands isolated. Customers have long deserted it and the only people to be seen are labourers busy digging up sideways and hurriedly laying footpaths.

Restoration work is on at a frantic pace but with only 72 days to go for the Commonwealth Games questions are being raised over timely completion. New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is yet to finish facade restoration work in any of the 14 blocks except for the model `C' block but is confident that August 31 deadline will be met.

Work on subways is also under way but none of the three new subways will be completed before the Games some of them are overflowing with water and have been closed. The existing five subways, which were supposed to be upgraded with escalators, might have to do without them. And the big debate about flooring granite or sandstone has ended in a vacuum with the NDMC deciding not to change it at all.

Allaying fears of delay, an NDMC official said: "Work is on track. Facade restoration will be completed in three blocks each in Outer Circle and Inner Circle by July 31. Parking is functional outside blocks C and D and more lots will be ready outside E and F by July 31. All the work in CP will be completed by August-end. No changes will be made to the flooring.''

But traders are keeping their fingers crossed. Only 60% of the work has been completed. Said a trader: "With the way things are progressing, it seems unlikely that the facade restoration work in the backlanes of the 14 blocks will be completed before the Games. There is no proper planning.'' The traders gave the example of blocks-G and H where hardly any work seems to have taken place in terms of facade restoration.

While NDMC is not willing to accept that the CP project will miss its deadline, it has still suggested putting up visual breaks in areas where work has not been completed, according to traders. This could include putting up curtains or placing plants. Said New Delhi Traders Association, secretary Vikram Badhwar: "We agreed for facade restoration work because we thought it would give us a competitive advantage over malls. However, we never thought that it would translate into losses.''

Traders feel that the situation is far worse than what is being projected by NDMC as the civic body has already missed the deadline June 30 laid down by it earlier. According to traders, planning to restore CP to its original glory began in 2006. The work on the project started in 2007, with NDMC taking up the model `C' block which was only completed in 2009.

Asked a trader: "What led them to believe that they could complete everything by the Games when they started only in 2009. Who is answerable for the Rs 600 crore they have spent on the CP restoration project?''

Kunwar Raj Singh, owner of S.M & Sons, said: "My shop is in the Regal block. After digging up the area, they discontinued with the facade restoration work some two months ago. The civic body removed the signboard from the shop also. While we have nothing against the restoration work, NDMC should have taken it up in a more planned manner.''

- The Times of India, July 23, 2010

As you climb up to this awesome Roman Catholic Cathedral shyly showing off its sacred bells under a turquoise blue sky, its ancient stained glass windows beckon you with their golden, rose and emerald glitter. It has its own school and convent alongside it. It is in Hyderabad's Gunfoundry, north of Abids and King Koti.

Once you enter the Cathedral it immediately shows you that all its gorgeous architecture, glorious murals, carvings of the various historical events of Jesus and Mary, and the Crucifixion were imported from Italy. Its famous 5 bells were shipped from Milan and installed in 1892. Pope Leo X111 notified St. Joseph's Church to be the Cathedral of the Diocese on 17-03-1887. In 1952 the Nizam of Hyderabad gifted the clock, the oil painting of the Madonna by Murillo, the chandeliers and furniture. This has been the Mother Church for 2 centuries.

The gorgeous bells were used to tell the time in ancient days and also to warn people against impending storms and tempests. The blessings of the bells are even now sought after by the people. In the olden days they were used to draw out evil spirits from the body. The bells have been tuned in such a way that a number of hymns can be played on them!

An imitation of Michelangelo's Pieta , a famous work of art depicting the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion is in the alcove inside the Cathedral. And there are glorious images of Mary and Child that will hold you spellbound for several minutes, even hours, because they have been done by the world's most famous artists.

The stained glass windows and the re-telling of the Crucifixion under them, makes the morning shine with the magic and misery of the world's saddest story. This Cathedral holds you snugly in the solemn sweetness of its ancient treasures. Its silence allows history to flood your heart with sorrow and ecstasy. I was a bit jealous of the school boys there who could enjoy this historical art everyday.

Then a small yellow and white cat stalked in coolly, sat down under Mary's gorgeous watchful face, to wash her own! So I decided to be jealous of little kitty too, as I walked out into the turquoise and grey slate lunch hour.

- Deccan Herald, July 23, 2010

With the forests-versus-development hullabaloo making it to screaming headlines every so often, one would imagine that a large number of development projects are getting stuck with the various agencies mandated to protect and conserve wildlife and forests. But, an analysis of recent decisions shows otherwise.

In the past five years, the Supreme Court has allowed the diversion of forest land from national parks and sanctuaries in each and every case that has come before it – 42 in all. Another set of data shows that in a decade (1998-2009), the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), which is headed by the prime minister, cleared 54 cases of diversion. The standing committee of NBWL has not rejected a single mining project in the national parks and sanctuaries in the past 10 years, data reveals.

While the data on the NBWL's standing committee was collated by members of Kalpvriksh, a conservation NGO, the data on the Supreme Court's decisions has been analysed by other researchers.

Unlike the reserved forest areas, diversion of land from national parks and sanctuaries (often bunched together as 'protected areas') for any kind of project, at least on paper, is supposed to be much tougher. At the moment, there are 661 protected areas which includes 99 national parks and 515 wildlife sanctuaries, roughly covering 5% of the country's geographical area.

If a state government wants to carry out or allow any project in national parks and sanctuaries, it is required to seek the nod of the NBWL, which is a statutory body under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1976, and has conservationists and officials on board.

The Supreme Court, on the other hand, has been entrusted with forestry-related issues for more than a decade now, and has a Centrally Empowered Committee appointed since 2002 that has helped it deal with hundreds of cases.

Apparently unhappy with the way forest, national park and sanctuary land was being allowed to be diverted by the government, the apex court passed an order requiring all cases of diversion of protected areas to be routed through it and the Centrally Empowered Committee. But that move too seems to have done little to help conserve wildlife hotspots across the country.

While the NBWL has a dubious record of clearing more projects than it has held back, it has also sat for long on more than 200 projects, not giving a signal one way or the other.

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, seems to have interpreted the law uniquely to give the green signal to projects in forest areas that had begun work without even seeking clearances. In the case of Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh, even as the court noticed that work on a dam had begun illegally, it allowed construction to continue after imposing a penalty.

In Madhav National Park, Madhya Pradesh, Reliance Telecom was allowed to lay optical fibre cables through the forests despite the fact that the company had gone ahead without seeking permission. Again, it asked the company to merely pay a penal amount that went into the controversial compensatory afforestation fund.

In fact, the practice of imposing a nominal cost of the land and just another penal cost in case of post-facto clearances by the Supreme Court has come under recent scrutiny. It is being questioned in several quarters for legitimizing diversion of forest land.

The court-sanctioned trade-off of irreplaceable wildlife areas with monetary compensation that goes to grow plantations and buy infrastructure for forest department, as a model to balance growth with environment, has been questioned by conservationists as well as tribal activists.

While the clamour from the 'growth' ministries to rein in the environmental watchdogs has risen, it is interesting to note that out of the 54 national parks and sanctuaries that were allowed to be cut into, the permission for 29 of these came only in 2009.

- The Times of India, July 23, 2010

Sandip Saini (37) still remembers the time in his childhood when he would step out of his home to see the buffalos from entire village leisurely wading through the johar (a small community water body) in the Khirki village near Select City Walk in south Delhi. But as he grew up, the water body continued to shrink due to encroachment from all sides. And unfortunately, all that remains in place of the water body today, is a fairly well maintained lush green park with a board declaring it as a private park.

A road runs around the park. There are neat row of houses on northern and western sides at the edge of the erstwhile johar (also being called jhor in some official records). Revenue records demarcate the entire water body as 7.17 bigha (approximately 2.86 acres) with 7.17 bigha as johar and .04 bigha as a well. A family has been occupying a plot of land on the northeastern edge of the johar

Another resident Anish Kumar (40) said, "We had even won a case to free this plot of land from encroachment way back in 1940s from the Lahore Court then. This is very much part of the johar. This family continues to occupy it."

Countered Sumitra Saini, "No portion of our land is part of the johar. Instead, up to 50 feet of land from the road towards the rows of houses on the northern side is originally part of the water body."

Her clan member 80 year old Balbir Singh Saini said, "Our family has been staying here for generations. Hamara hukka paani yaha chalta tha (we used to spend time with the community members here)"

The Delhi High Court, in connection with a PIL filed by Vinod Jain of NGO Tapas, had ordered demolition of encroachment earlier last year. When no action was taken, a contempt petition was filed. The court gave contempt notice, following which the agencies filed an affidavit that demolition would take place on Friday, July 23, 2010.

Deputy Commissioner Revenue (South) Vivek Pande, Tehsildar (Mehrauli) Sameer Sharma and SDM Juhi Mukherji visited the place around 4.00 p m on Thursday.

After inspecting the whole area, Pande appealed to the people, "We are bound by the high court orders. Please cooperate with us."

- The Hindustan Times, July 23, 2010

Rajasthan plans fine to enforce conservation

Save water or slake your thirst in jail — the choice is yours.

Recent guidelines issued by the Rajasthan government have made it compulsory for residents to conserve water. If they don't, the punishment is jail or a fine that can go up to Rs 1 lakh.

The new rules have come in the wake of a severe water crisis in the desert state, leaving the Ashok Gehlot government with little option but to come out with the order.

Under the guidelines, new buildings coming up on more than 300sqm plots must have a rooftop rain harvesting structure, an underground water storage tank and a water recycling plant.

Flouting the rules can lead to imprisonment for seven to 15 days or a penalty of Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

The guidelines also say if these new buildings don't have provisions for such water conserving structures, they wouldn't be given electricity and water connections.

Home minister Shanti Dhariwal said the new rules were okayed at a recent cabinet meeting and no building plan would get sanction unless the blueprint had provisions for these structures.

Residents said the erratic monsoon had deepened the water crisis in the state. Water is now being supplied to homes in the capital every 48 hours.

Among the worst sufferers are people who have come from far-off states like Bengal to work as domestic helps. They live in one-room homes in dingy colonies and depend on the supply by the water department.

Malti, who works as a maid, is thinking of going back to her native Cooch Behar.

"We have come here for money but if we don't get water, we would rather go back to Cooch Behar where water is not scarce," said the resident of Moti Doongri in Jaipur.

"Here we get water every two days and that also after fighting over it. In my last 20 years here, nothing like this has happened."

In Ajmer and Tonk districts, water is being supplied to homes every five days. In Barmer, Bhilwara, Pali and Nagaur, it is once a week through trains and tankers.

In remote villages, water is being supplied through government as well as private tankers.

The erratic monsoon has left 75 per cent of dams in the state dry. A recent irrigation department report says 469 of the 618 reservoirs in the state are empty. Dams in Ajmer, Jaipur, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Sawai Madhopur and Tonk have no water left. The three major dams in Jaipur — Ramgarh, Chaparwara and Kalak Sagar — are all empty.

In Jaipur, the water resources department has taken over private bore wells. There is also a plan to charge people extra if they use more water.

In his previous tenure from 1998 to 2003, Gehlot had faced the same problem of severe water shortage. The joke going around in political circles is that with Gehlot at the helm now, rain will again elude Rajasthan.

But with the strict guidelines in place, Gehlot, it seems, is ready to weather the crisis. If not rain man, he can play waterman at least.

Did anyone say the new rules needed to be watered down?

- The Telegraph, July 23, 2010

A major ceremonial monument, very similar to Stonehenge, has been discovered less than one kilometre away from the iconic World Heritage structure in England. The new henge, made of timber instead of stone monoliths, was uncovered this week, by team led by the University of Birmingham and Austrian archaeologists just two weeks into a three-year international study that is part of the international Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project.

The new monument, called "henge-like," is from the Late Neolithic period and archaeologists believe it to be contemporaneous to Stonehenge and it appears to be on the same orientation as the World Heritage Site monument. The new monument comprises a segmented ditch with opposed north-east/south-west entrances that are associated with internal pits that are up to one metre in diameter and could have held a free-standing, timber structure. "This finding is remarkable," Prof. Vince Gaffney of the Birmingham University said. "It will completely change the way we think about the landscape around Stonehenge. People have tended to think that as Stonehenge reached its peak it was the paramount monument, existing in splendid isolation." The discovery has been described as the most significant yet for those researching the UK's most important prehistoric structure. "Stonehenge is one of the most studied monuments on earth but this demonstrates that there is still much more to be found," he added.

The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project aims to map 14 square kilometres of the Stonehenge landscape using the latest geophysical imaging techniques, to recreate visually the iconic prehistoric monument and its surroundings.

- The Asian Age, July 23, 2010

Right outside the bustling Neral railway station in Maharashtra's Raigad district, a tiny train awaits its next batch of passengers. It's the light rail link to the Matheran hill station, lovingly called the toy train by locals. Still led by a tooting steam engine, it chugs slowly up the steep inclines and hairpin curves along the way. So slowly, in fact, that passengers often hop off and jog alongside, for quirky holiday photo-ops.

But the truth is the little train, built by a local Bohri businessman, is a masterpiece of engineering. It's over 107 years old, built in some of the most challenging terrain for a railway.

And it may soon be a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of the already listed Mountain Railways of India.

India currently has 27 such sites, including the Red Fort, Qutub Minar and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST).

Over the next four weeks, the Indian Railways — which has runs the mini-railway line since the 1950s — and the Central government will speak before a global committee at the UNESCO World Heritage Convention currently on in Brazil (July 25-August 23), presenting their arguments for why the 19-km, 2-ft-wide 'toy train' line should be included on the prestigious list of protected sites.

In Matheran, one family is awaiting the results with fingers crossed.

"It is the pride of our family," says Ali Akbar Adamjee Peerbhoy (45), great grandson of Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy, who built the raiwayline. "UNESCO has already included the railway line on its tentative list in December 2005. Now, we're in touch with the officials at the convention and we're hoping for some good news."

Aside from the prestige of having a fifth world heritage site in Maharashtra — which already has Elephanta Island, the Ajanta & Ellora Caves and CST — listing as a world heritage site would mean increased protection and more funding for the maintenance and preservation of the Matheran mini-rail.

But why does it deserve to be on the word heritage list? "It was built more than a century ago, with comparatively primitive technology, in some of the most treacherous terrain for a railway," says B.V. Bhosale, associate professor at the department of sociology, University of Mumbai. "It is, quite simply, a masterpiece."

But that's not all. The light rail link transformed the lives of the remote hill station's residents, providing connectivity and opening Matheran up to the world, and vice versa.

"The Matheran Hill is part of the tough Sahayadri range. The terrain is tricky even as far as roads are concerned, so Matheran was very cut-off," says Bhosale, who was born and raised in Matheran and is currently working on a book on the 'toy train'. "It also rains very heavily here, and the monsoon made it that much more difficult for build tracks that would not get washed away as the loose earth eroded."

From planning the line to building it and eventually getting German-made steam engines to run on it, this was a perfect example of a single family undertaking a mammoth task for the benefit of their community, Bhosale adds.

In their appeal to the UNESCO, the railways argued that the Matheran light railway is one of the best-preserved heritage railways in the world, remaining much as it was at the time of its completion in terms of stations, signals and rural environment. Such railways are rare, they have argued, and it deserves conservation and global recognition.

"The railways is our family's creation and we would like to see it honoured with a world heritage tag," says Ali Akbar, who still lives in Matheran, where the family runs resorts, a charity and a school. "We would also like to see it renamed after Sir Peerbhoy, a long-standing request that has still not been heeded."

- The Hindustan Times, July 25, 2010

Thanesar is a bit confusing to a first time visitor. For one thing, it is quite impossible to understand when the temple town of Kurukshetra has gone past and when Thanesar has begun, so closely intertwined are the alleys and lanes of the two. But if the visitor is of a curious bent of mind and persistent in his enquiries of Thanesar's past, he could find a tiny treasure trove of history sitting by itself in the heart of the congested town.

Harsh-ka-teela, to give the treasure trove a working title, is the popular name used by the locals while referring to the Archaeological Survey of India-managed complex within Thanesar. While driving to the complex, the vehicle moves through slow-moving traffic amid congested roads. After a series of turns, all of a sudden the complex looms in the form of a high wall. Flanked on two sides by a row of unremarkable, supposedly 'modern' houses, the walled structure looks almost Martian amidst the surrounding chaos.

But the origin of the main structure within the walled complex is Mughal rather than Martian. This is the madrasa and tomb of the Sufi saint Abdur Rahim, better known as Sheikh Chilli. The saint is believed to have been the spiritual teacher of the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh and while this is not confirmed, the design, elegance and ornamentation of the tomb suggest a patron of considerable wealth. The tomb is believed to have been built around 1650 which is the time Dara's star was in the ascendant. Having said that it is remarkable that the tomb survived the pillages of Aurangzeb who detested everything his brother Dara stood for.

Sheikh Chilli's tomb and madrasa survived the demolition, and in great style at that. The complex is entered into by an arched gateway much like one would enter a small citadel. Within, a person finds himself in an open courtyard flanked on all sides by a quadrangular madrasa. Each side of the quadrangle has nine cells, each of which is entered into via a high arched gateway and now house an ASI museum and offices.

A stairway from a corner of the madrasa leads to the tomb which is built on a raised platform. The tomb platform is ringed by chhatries on all sides with a small pavilion at one end. In the exact centre of the platform rises the actual tomb—a slender octagonal structure made of yellow, buff stone with a nearly white, bulbous dome at the top. The place has been heavily restored but that does not take away from the effect.

The ASI complex has more to offer. A tiny mosque built on another raised platform behind the madrasa is the elegant Pathar Masjid, a pre-Tughlak period creation which shows signs of using temple remains. A still-functional Dargah dedicated to another saint stands within the green lawns behind the madrasa. The entire complex is built on what appears to be an older artificial mound worthy of excavation itself – something borne out by the discovery of ruins of what could possibly have been the King Harsh Vardhan's capital. There is also a small museum within the complex which cries out for an interested curate, for it has real potential.

Driving away from the place back through Thanesar's chaos, it is hard to imagine a Mughal Prince patronising the place or a King of the stature of Harsha ruling much of India from here. But then, imagination is what history is all about...

- The Economic Times, July 25, 2010

Exquisite colouring and details of the paintings of the Mughal court at its zenith were captured at the exhibition The Indian Portrait – 1560-1860 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London recently.

The Indian Portrait – 1560-1860 is a small and intimate show of just sixty portraits over a three hundred year period. Curated by the well known textile and painting expert, senior curator Rosemary Crill of the Victoria and Albert Museum with Kapil Jariwala, an independent curator, the show is an insight into what Jariwala mentions in his opening curatorial comments:

"The development of the genre within the vast body of Indian painting, it looks at the different ways in which Indian artists have approached the portrait over a 300-year period at various places across the geography of the Indian subcontinent. The story of the Indian portrait is a fascinating journey, encompassing notions of the real and the ideal, the observed and the imagined. The selection presented here consists mainly of paintings of known people and documented portraits, but also includes some that remain anonymous. These images reveal the history of the period, the role of patronage in driving innovation in artistic representation, and the emergence of the artist as an observer with a distinct and subtle vision… These works are a record of a rich and complex past, embracing influences from Iran and Europe as well as local Hindu and Muslim traditions. They not only demonstrate the growing self-awareness of how Indians saw themselves, but also how they wished to be seen".

There is already a history of portraiture that predates the period of the show. Ajanta paintings, the frescos in the temples of Thanjavur as well as portraiture on the Jain and Buddhist manuscripts not to mention those shown in sculptural hints left in temples. However, as art historians will tell us, these were idealised portraits where there seemed a certain prototype/archetype followed and while the characters depicted were definitive they were to be imagined from a classical pictorial grammar. All this started changing with the Mughals, who brought with them painters from the Persian firmament. Celebrated artists, these men set up 'Tasvir Khanas' to train the locals and every successive Mughal monarch improved and perfected the art of portraiture.

The starting of this is mentioned by Susan Stronge in her essay "The Chronology of Portraiture at the Mughal Court".

"In the late sixteenth century, a radical innovation in Mughal court painting was recorded by the historian of the Emperor Akbar's reign. Abu'l Fazl wrote his magisterial chronicle the 'Akbarnama' between 1589 and 1596. Its third volume, entitled the Ain-i Akbari (Akbarian Ceremonial) described various court institutions, including the 'tasvir khana', or atelier of figural painting. Here the historian mentions the excellence of the royal artists at producing the likenesses of prominent individuals. Due to the Emperor's encouragement, Abu'l Fazl reported, the 'magical art' of tasvir, or 'representing figures', had gained in beauty. By order of Akbar himself, portraits ( surat), have been painted of all His Majesty's servants, and a huge book ( ketab) has been made."

Emperors and hierarchies

The show has a wonderful selection of paintings from the Mughal era and one of the finest is a miniature of Jahangir. In size it is 73 mm by 57 mm. But the work shows his face and side profile at the jharokhaor window where a subject could view him; attributed to the artist Daulat who had been in the Mughal Court this painting may have been amongst the last of Jahangir's as he died later that year. In its subtle glow there is a golden aura about the portrait. Besides the royal nimbus with gold lines, the clothes, turban and jewels accentuate a grandiose majesty. For that size, there is an incredible detailing at the eyes, the gradations at the chin and the greying hair at his sideburns as well as the layering folds of his dress at the arms. Another beautifully rendered composition is from a page of the Padshanama attributed to Abid around 1635 from the Royal Collection of the Queen of England, Elizabeth II. Here however, as the Emperor has a great likeness to the earlier small painting, what is noteworthy is the faces of the various levels of the court or Darbar hierarchy. The prince Khurram who would later be the Emperor Shajahan is shown paying his respects, but underneath the balcony a series of nobles are shown in various clothing styles – some opaque and embroidered and others in fine summer muslins, gossamer fabrics printed with gold motifs of Mughal flowers or Chinese inspired clouds. What this painting also does is show various commoners in different postures. A bearded laughing man and others with a multiplicity of turban styles. The finesse of the colouring and detailing make paintings at this time the high point of Mughal art.

Mingling cultures

The Mughals interacted with the Rajputs, capturing their kingdoms, marrying their daughters and respecting their traditions. As a result Rajput painting also benefited from a cross-cultural engagement at the courts of the Mughals. Their rulers were shown in a similar manner, in profile, usually against a background of green, holding a jewel or flower in their hands, or finery, hunting or in processions to reaffirm their majesty. The poster for this show shows Anup Singh of Deogarh, Mewar atop his horse with his falcon, having just slain a bird. His tasselled horse and his profile create a composition of great beauty.

The British Company school produced paintings as keepsakes and also to send back as officers and gentlemen sat in profile with hookah pipes like the royalty of that time. Landscapes allowed for telling details to be filled. Soldiers, courtesans and the minions that worked for the company were shown in styles influenced by Rajput, Mughal and the Pahari traditions of portraiture. The result of this was how people saw themselves. There are three wonderful portraits that show this intermingling of genres. Seth Manekchand at the balcony is a huge portrait of a merchant much in the style of earlier Jharokha views of the Mughals but here in a large format painting probably one that graced his home and this is how he probably wanted to be seen. A prince among merchants. Then there is portrait of the Sindhia General Ram Rao Phalke, with his typical Maratha headgear and scarf, the picture, though flat allows a wonderful colour balance in its border and the subjects placement has a strong graphic element. Finally the Mona Lisa of the show. 'Sahib Jan' is shown looking directly at the painter. Her hookah pipe about to be put to her lips. This is a rare composition as Zenana women were in purdah.There is no threat of a smile and yet her imposing presence fills the composition.

An interesting essay on materials by curator Jariwala, throws light on the incorporation of certain colours in the Mughal palette allowing dating. "One of these that makes its appearance is Indian yellow - a transparent yellow pigment that gives a deep luminescent yellow. It was probably developed in India, as it does not occur previously in Iranian painting. It was manufactured in rural India from the urine of cows fed a diet of mango leaves and water. The urine was collected and dried; the resulting solid matter was formed into balls of raw pigment, called piuru or peori.

The peori was then washed in water and purified, separating the yellow and greenish tints. Interestingly, the first known uses of Indian yellow appear in the illustrated manuscript Harivamasa and in the Akbarnama, dating from about 1590."

- The Hindu, July 25, 2010

The Ashokan rock edict near East of Kailash, the city's link to its Mauryan past, gets a facelift

Delhi's ancient connections are all but lost--ravaged by time and conquests or rebuilt and renovated in a manner that has wiped out the relics completely. So, it's heartening to see that at least efforts have been made to beautify the environs of the city's lone link to its Mauryan past.

Around eight to ten years ago, this mound between East of Kailash and Sreenivaspuri was nothing but a garbage dump and an open toilet for the nearby slums and shacks. Then, the ISCKON temple came up in the vicinity and with a Buddhist monastery already in the area, the Ashokan rock edict atop a small hillock on Raja Dhirsain Marg got its due, at least somewhat. An ugly concrete shelter with iron grills was built over the rock edict for its protection. Now, the hillock is amid a huge park, with stone pathways lined with shady trees, flowering plants and creepers. And as Omprakash, the enthusiastic Archaeological Survey of India employee, pointed out, there are also trees planted by visiting dignitaries — the most recent one being a peepal planted by the Princess of Thailand.

A flight of stairs with a steel railing takes one to the rock edict and Omprakash is only too keen to open the iron gates so that the rare tourist visiting the park sees the centuries-old edict.

The city's other two Ashokan edicts are on pillars, both of which were brought here by Feroz Shah Tughlaq in the 14th century — one from Meerut and the other from Topra. The rock edict then is a Mauryan legacy Delhi can claim as its own. It was discovered only in the 1960s. Historians have classified it as a minor edict on an ancient trade route. The area was known as Bahapur and with the 'ancient' Kalkaji temple at almost walking distance it was perhaps on a pilgrim route as well. In fact, there was also a Mughal Kos Minar nearby and so it was in all probability one of the main caravan routes during both ancient and medieval times.

In the edict, the king says that it's been only two-and-a-half years since he became an upasaka or a devotee and how he was drawn towards the sangha or the Buddhist monastic order. Ashoka claims that due to his efforts, gods and men were mingling with each other in Jambudvipa (India) and that anyone — rich or poor — could attain heaven by following the dhamma. While urging people to follow the path of dhamma, the edict also proclaims that people living beyond the empire's borders could also learn about it.

As one climbed down the stairs, one could hear the temple bells and noise from the adjacent car repair shops overlap. A monk from the nearby Buddhist centre led a group of Sri Lankan Buddhist monks towards the edict.

"They are here for a fortnight and come here almost every day. But the place hardly sees any tourist otherwise," says Omprakash. Outside, vehicles line up on the road as tourists and devotees queue up to visit the ISCKON temple next door.

- The Indian Express, July 25, 2010

Keith Vaz, a British MP of Indian origin, has asked Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss the issue of returning the Koh-i-Noor diamond during his visit to India next week. "I believe this is the perfect opportunity for the prime minister to discuss the issue of the Koh-i-Noor," Vaz said in a statement. "It would be very fitting for the Koh-i-Noor to return to the country in which it was mined so soon after the diamond jubilee of the Indian republic and 161 years after its removal from India."

Since Indian independence, there have been several requests for the return of the gem to India. The latest was the demand made by the Archaeological Survey of India last month. The diamond was taken to England in 1849 following the defeat of the ruler of the Punjab region, Duleep Singh.

- The Hindustan Times, July 25, 2010

The repair work of the roof of Bababudangiri Inam Dattatreya Peetha cave which has collapsed, will be carried out in three phases, said Revenue Department Secretary Prabhakar.

He was addressing reporters at the deputy commissioner's office here on Saturday, after conducting an inspection of the monument at Bababudangiri, along with the officials of the Archaeological Survey of India and a Committee formed as per the orders of the Supreme Court.

Prabhakar said the Committee members had met in Bangalore the previous week and discussed repair of the cave. After conducting an inspection, it was decided to implement the project in three phases.

A technical sub-committee has been formed to chalk out the entire project, he said. The secretary said, care will be taken to ensure that no more damages are caused to the cave during the renovation. A decision in this regard will be taken by next Wednesday.

The repair work will be entrusted to an expert agency, under the guidance of the Archaeological Survey of India.

Before the last phase of work is taken up, a technical investigation will have to be conducted by the Geological Survey of India.

INTACH, a expert in restoration of historical monuments will provide necessary assistance to Mines and Geology Department.

Director of Geological Survey of India Venkatesh said permanent renovation work cannot be taken up unless an assessment of the laterite soil in the region is obtained.

- Deccan Herald, July 25, 2010

Inside the fortified 330 acres of Rashtrapati Bhavan the country's national bird, the peacock, may be safe from poaching and hunting, but is still in need of more attention to be able to multiply in numbers.

A study conducted by the World Pheasant Association-India on the national bird in the President's Estate has made several recommendations for ensuring better protection and conservation of the species. While the study points out that the population of the peafowls has not declined in recent years, it has cautioned that there is need for further protection to maintain better numbers.

The study estimates that around 104 peafowls have been spotted in the Estate during December 2008-November 2009. Conducted mainly around the Dalli Khana, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Veethi, Giri Veethi and the Nature's Trail, the study points out that distribution of peafowls is more concentrated towards the Gardens and the Ridge areas.

The study that was formally handed over to President Pratibha Patil on Sunday cautions that it has inferred that some disturbances are jeopardising the successful nesting of the peafowls in the Estate. The researchers found only two abandoned nests and a small number of juveniles in the Estate, indicating the need for intervention to allow the population to double.

To assist in the peafowls, the WPA-India has suggested conservation of their habitat, highlighting the importance of the green cover, diversity of herbs and grass.

"In 2008, the ground cover was high in Dalli Khana, whereas in 2009 it was all cleared. The ground cover should be restored immediately in the Dalli Khana and the Ridge areas," the study recommends, pointing out that the maximum sightings have been in the two areas.

Preventing the fragmentation of the habitat has been cautioned against as the birds have an aversion to humans and are reluctant to fly long distances. "The semi-forest type habitat of the Estate should be kept intact and as a continuous block. Already many offices and staff quarters act as a barrier for the dispersal of the bird," the report suggests.

With the Dalli Khana and the Ridge area being more likely to become nesting areas due to green cover, the study suggests more attention to the two areas. It also suggests reviving and providing more water bodies and water course in the Ridge area. Suggestions also include increasing the bamboo thickets near nesting sites and increasing the number of native trees and shrubs rather than the ornamental ones.

The study also calls for limiting vehicular movement inside the Nature's Trail and the Ridge as vehicles jeopardise nesting and an end to the practice of collecting fuel wood from the Ridge area. It calls for people's participation, and special attention by the gardeners. "Peahens should not be disturbed if found nesting, some hoardings and posters depicting the do's and don'ts for the protection and conservation should be installed in the Estate for general awareness."

- The Hindu, July 26, 2010

As has happened with a great deal of environmental legislation in India, 'ineffective' would perhaps be the most accurate way of describing the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, and its subsequent amendments. Its failure is partly because of the casual exercise of the ill-defined powers of the Act by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It also has a great deal to do with "rapid urbanisation, construction of multi-storeyed residential and commercial buildings and implementation of development projects", as stated in 2005 by the minister of culture in Parliament.

For the first time in 1992, the Act was amended to define a 100 metres prohibited zone and 200 metres regulated zone around protected monuments. These were naturally seen as stumbling blocks to the greed of property developers and insensitive local authorities. In order to ward off mounting criticism by such lobbies that the 1992 notification was too rigid, in 2006 the ASI obligingly convened an advisory committee and empowered it to transgress the 100 metres prohibited and 200 metres regulated zones. Over three years, this committee considered a few hundred cases and gave about a couple of hundred questionable decisions on heritage issues.

Particularly ill-conceived were the decisions to allow the construction of an elevated road right over the 400-year-old Barapulla Bridge in Delhi as also its alignment within 104 metres of the Mughal period Khan-i-Khana's tomb. Matters came to a head in October 2009 when the Delhi high court, in an unrelated case, declared the ASI's advisory committee illegal. Obviously, a committee convened by a central ministry's administrative order had no powers to amend an Act passed by Parliament. Under the circumstances, the government backtracked. An appeal against the high court's order would have been embarrassingly fruitless.

Faced with the prospect of having to demolish structures considered essential for the success of the Commonwealth Games 2010, a nervous ministry of culture hastily drafted an ordinance to legalise the ASI's moves. This was ratified by the president on January 23, 2010. The ordinance, while attempting to save the government's face, was so unskilfully drafted that it may well have paved the way to large-scale degradation of heritage all over India. Alarmed at this dismal prospect facing heritage sites, concerned historians and intellectuals immediately brought the possible damaging consequences of the ordinance to the government's attention.

It is to the government's credit that it immediately appointed a high-powered committee to recast the January 23 ordinance before it could be brought to Parliament as a Bill for ratification. The committee, under the chairmanship of law minister Veerappa Moily and with two other members, completed its mandate and comprehensively reviewed the earlier legislation of 1958 in light of emerging realities. The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010, which came into effect from March 29, is a major departure from the earlier legislation. Faithfully implemented, the amended Act's bold and innovative approach could catalyse conservation efforts, helping to reverse the alarming decline of heritage all over the country.

The Act's most important feature is the creation of a national monuments authority (NMA) charged with the responsibility of, first, overseeing the preparation of comprehensive maps of 3,675 centrally protected monuments and their environs; second, placing all monuments in appropriate categories; and, finally, freezing heritage bylaws which will override building bylaws and extend 300 metres or more around monuments apart from being site specific. The maps and details of the bylaws being electronically available will go a long way in ensuring transparency in the grant of permissions.

The repair and renovation of structures built prior to 1992 and of those sanctioned by the director-general of the ASI subsequently within the prohibited zone would be permissible. The same goes for construction of buildings according to heritage bylaws, or reconstruction of existing structures to their existing horizontal and vertical limits within the regulated zone. These people-friendly measures substantially allay the fears of numerous property owners living in the proximity of monuments.

INTACH, an NGO with a network of 150 chapters all over India, has been specifically named to play a pivotal role in the documentation of monuments and assist in formulation of heritage bylaws. Private agencies and consultants would be hired to complete the exercise in a time-bound frame.

The amended Act, with its path-breaking approach to heritage conservation, explicitly defines the NMA's status and powers. Appointments of bureaucrats and ex-bureaucrats are excluded whereas membership of architects and town planners is specifically ensured. Selection of NMA members would be in the hands of a three-member government committee headed by the cabinet secretary. The government's seriousness of intent is abundantly reflected in clause 20(o) of the Act, which debars civil courts from granting injunctions or interfering in the enforcement of the Act. Besides, defiance of the Act can result in up to three years in prison.

The distinction between the powers and functions of the ASI and those of the newly created NMA has now been made clear. While the NMA is to proactively safeguard the environment around monuments, the ASI will be free to pursue archaeology. The Act needs speedy implementation.

- The Times of India, July 27, 2010

Pondicherry Inscriptions — Part II: Compiled by Bahour S. Kuppusamy; Edited and translated by G. Vijayavenugopal; Pub. by French Institute of Pondicherry, 11, St. Louis Street, P.B. 33, Pondicherry-605001. Price not mentioned.

This second part provides an English translation of the inscriptions found in the Union Territory of Pondicherry — 544 in all, of which 454 are from the Pondicherry region and the rest from the Karaikkal region. The first part, published in 2006, carried these inscriptions, duly edited. In the introduction, a note on the corpus says that all the inscriptions found in the administrative territory have, as far as possible, been copied, estampages taken, and the texts published. Even inscriptions found in bronzes, sculptures, and conch shells have been included. They are all in Tamil script, except for the four in Sanskrit (grantha script), two in Kannada, two in French, one in Latin and another in English. Apart from one inscription in Tamil-Brahmi discovered in Arikkamedu, inscriptions datable before the 9 {+t} {+h} century AD are not found in the area. Emmanuel Francis and Charlotte Schmid, in a substantial preface to the volume, explore the form and changing role of the ' meykkirtti', the royal eulogy in Tamil that prefaces and dates many inscriptions of the Chola period. An array of indices and appendices has been provided to open up the corpus to potential users.

The Making of the Awadh Culture:Madhu Trivedi; Primus Books, an imprint of Ratna Sagar P. Ltd., Virat Bhavan, Mukherjee Nagar Commercial Complex, New Delhi-110009. Rs. 1095.

The nawabs of Awadh are known for their patronage of art and culture. They forged an elaborate and synthesised version of the rich tradition of the Mughals, the ganga-jamuni tahzib that represented Persian aesthetics, and Indian cultural values. Surprisingly, this rich cultural heritage has not been accorded its due place in the historiography of post-Mughal India. This book, which has seven chapters, makes an extensive study of the art and culture of Awadh during the Nawabi period (c 1722-1856), with its focus on Lucknow city. While the first two chapters give an overview of the capital as the 'culture centre' and of Awadh as the crucible of Shi'a culture, the rest deal with literary culture, musical arts, painting, architecture, and industrial arts. It also explores how some of the arts and crafts assumed considerable European colour due to the foreigners' interaction with local elite and shows how the ethos of the syncretic Indo-Persian culture managed to remain intact.

- The Hindu, July 27, 2010

The Lodhi Garden, which has been home to several significant Lodhi period heritage structures, has thrown up yet another surprise for conservationists. An unknown Lodhi-era mosque, tucked away in a corner of the Lodhi Garden, was discovered to have unique fresco paintings all over the walls as the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) was in the process of conserving it.

The Lodhi-era mosque was hidden behind the bushes, neglected for years. But with the Department of Archeology (Delhi) taking the initiative to notify and protect lesser known monuments of the city as part of a Commonwealth Games project, the INTACH identified the monument for conservation and notification.

While portions of the roof and walls had collapsed when the INTACH took over, the remains, after several layers of chemical cleaning, exposed fresco paintings. "The exquisite fresco paintings are unique. After identifying the pattern, we thought of conserving the entire monument and restoring it to its original state. The frescoes could be easily recreated as we brought in skilled traditional labour from Rajasthan to recreate them," said an INTACH official working on the project.

Over the next 20 days, the mosque will be restored to its past glory, intact with the fresco paintings all over the walls. "The texture of the frescoes is smoother and different from those on other monuments, and to recreate it we used lime fresco mortar which is very fine lime plaster. It was slaked in yoghurt for four months and then mixed with shell powder and bound with adhesives made of bel powder and pulses. The process is lengthy and painstaking, but when the work is complete, one can see the intricacy," the official told Newsline. "The monsoons, however, washed away the lime plaster layer on the 'kanguras' and the wagon-vaulted dome three times."

The mosque is assumed to have been used as a tea stall over the last two or three decades. The INTACH officials said that while the walls were being chemically cleaned, after the first few layers were removed, 'tea stall' was written on the exterior wall.

With this, the Lodhi Garden has five monuments protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and three smaller monuments, which have been notified by the state Department of Archeology.

- Indian Express, July 27, 2010

Gandhians were aflutter last year when the well-worn leather sandals of the Father of the Nation, his trademark round metal spectacles, a pocket watch and a metal bowl in which he had his last meal before he was assassinated, came under the hammer at Manhattan's Antiquorum Auctioneers.

It exposed again the country's helplessness in safeguarding its national treasures. That a representative of millionaire brewer Vijay Mallya walked away at the last minute paying $ 1.8 million (Rs 9.3 crore) for the lot is now history.

Waking up to the issue, the Centre has constituted an expert advisory committee, comprising antique experts, archaeologists and a private art collector, to suggest an amendment to the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 to bring Gandhi's belongings, historical letters and other documents under the protection of the law and declare them rare, national treasures.

- The Times of India, July 28, 2010

Rains seem to have derailed the already slow heritage conservation process in the national Capital. While much of the landscaping work around heritage sites is affected, illumination plan for the sites has also stopped midway.

Since the beginning, history experts felt that due to the Commonwealth Games focus was more on popular monuments, as out of more than 1,200 monuments in the Capital just 55 or 60 were picked for conservation. And, surprisingly, even work on them has come into question on grounds of quality and timely completion of work.

The Archeological society of India (ASI) undertook the task of sprucing up 46 heritage sites in the Capital, work on most of which still continues. The intermittent rains have added to the delay at Tughlaqabad Fort, Safdarjung Tomb and Qutub Minar, among other places.

Out of the 46 monuments, 13 had to be illuminated. Just five have been lit up as of now. They are-- Safdarjung Tomb, Red fort, Purana Qila, Qutub Minar and Humayun's Tomb. The remaining eight will not be illuminated as the authorities feel that there is not enough time. These eight monuments include Najaf Khan Tomb and Badi Puthi Gumbad, among others.

Apart from this, mandatory facilities like parking, toilets, caféterias and small souvenior shops may also get delayed. It was just two weeks ago that the tender for world-class public toilets was approved for the Humayun's Tomb.

"Bathrooms are under process. The main retaining walls of the toilets are also not completed. It's a bad situation when it comes to parking. It's a known fact that the entire Pragati Maidan stretch gets jammed on days when there are more visitors to the Purana Qila and zoo. Parking is a problem at the Qutub Minar as well. Parking at the Red fort is under planning since the last two years and is likely to stay the same during the Games as well," said a heritage conservalionist from the city.

The state archeological department on the other hand had teamed up with INTACH to conserve 14 smaller sites in the city which are in proximity to Commonwealth Games venues. While work on most of them is complete, the landscaping is stuck due to rains.

"Even today we could not do any work. There is no point to work on rainy days as the material gets diluted. The moisture also harms the plaster at times. We have heard that the city might see heavy rains towards the beginning of August. If that happens, work may get more delayed. Illumination will come, once everything else is taken care of," said a state department official.

Most heritage conversationalists, ASI, state department and NGOs feel that if the work continues on optimum speed without any more hiccups, most of it can be done within the deadline.

"The deadline given to us is August 31. We should be able to wind up most of the work by that time. However, weather plays a big part. Moreover, issues like encroachments have also delayed the process. We are hoping for the best," said a senior ASI official.

- The Tribune, July 28, 2010

Big changes usually start out with small, out-of-the-box initiatives focussed on improving people's lives. It is such initiatives that the EMPI-Indian Express Innovation Awards seek to reward. The awards are geared towards recognising organisations — whether in the government, corporate or development sector — which, through the implementation of unique ideas or processes, have been able to benefit a large number of people at the grassroots level. The winners of the fourth EMPI awards, announced earlier this month, were a mix of government, non-government and private initiatives, all of which had succeeded in taking an established idea and tweaking it to achieve path-breaking results. Among the eight gold trophy winners were: government undertakings like the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam and Nagpur Municipal Corporation; NGOs like the Akshayapatra Foundation, INTACH and Pratham Education Initiative; and private players like Arvind Eye Care and Samtel Display Systems.

Intach

"For their innovative initiatives in restoration, preservation and enrichment of India's diverse cultural heritage embedded in communities and simultaneously improving the living conditions of communities."

The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, registered in 1984 as a society, has become the saviour of many a building that could have easily given way to a glitzy mall. The Vysial Street in Pondicherry will testify to the truth of the above citation. It was INTACH that came to its rescue when land owners were being lured by land sharks. The outcome of the intervention was a 50,000 Euro model street restoration project that restored the facades of 20 traditional houses and put in place four new buildings designed to harmonise with the traditional streetscape. This harmony is what won INTACH the gold trophy. The project also won the UNESCO Asia Pacific Award of Merit 2008.

Intach realises that the stakeholders — those who live in and around the buildings it helps preserve — are crucial to the long-term success of the project. INTACH's craft, community & heritage director Bindu Manchanda, speaking at the panel discussion after receiving the award, chose to dwell on the self help groups formed, and the marketing and designing skills training given to people in the area.

"The heritage building can become a liability for these people. Why not a modern building, why not a mall, they think," Manchanda observed. She narrated an incident regarding the Jaisalmer Fort, which has been conserved by INTACH. "None of the 200 havelis around it had toilets. People were still using the area around the fort. That depressed us a lot... it was just not right. We put in 200 toilets, we felt that we had done a great job," she recalled.

However, Manchanda noticed that people were still not using the toilets, some of which had even been converted into extra rooms. She finally asked an old woman what the matter was. "Amma, we have installed such good toilets for you, but you still do not use them. They have become useless now," she told the woman.

"The woman simply replied: 'It is impossible for me to consider a closed room as a toilet'," said Manchanda. It was then that the people at INTACH realised that it was futile to expect the elders to suddenly come out of their old mindset, so they chose to focus on the younger population of the area, encouraging them to set an example. Consequently, more people, especially the younger women, have started using the toilets.

Pratham India Education Initiative for Read India —- A Movement

"For developing an innovative approach to children's learning through intensive and extensive field studies and its delivery based on mobilising people's involvement to provide quality education to underprivileged children."

Established in 1994 to work among Mumbai's slum children, Pratham today describes itself as India's "largest non governmental organisation working to provide quality education to the underprivileged children." The Read India initiative, as programme director Rukmini Banerjee puts it, was driven by the question, "What are our children learning in school?"

"They were learning, but they were not learning enough... That frustration with our own efforts led us to develop a very simple method that allows the child to read fluently within 60 days. Once you are convinced that you can do it, it is much easier to convince other people to do it," said Banerjee on the origins of the Read India project.

The project's national launch was in the year 2007 and there has been no looking back since. Read India aimed at teaching all Std I children at least alphabets and numbers, all Std II children to read at least words and do simple sums, all Std III-V children to at least read simple texts fluently and confidently solve arithmetic problems.

The results have been impressive. By 2008-09, the campaign has reached 33 million children across 19 states. It has covered 305,000 out of the 600,000 villages of India and mobilised 450,000 volunteers. Over 600,000 teachers and government workers have been trained under the ambitious programme.

In most states, out of the children who were a part of the intervention, the proportion of those not able to read alphabets has come down to zero. Likewise, the proportion of children able to read simple sentences has also gone up by almost 20 per cent.

The soon-to-be-launched Read India II programme, which is a three-year project, will focus on higher levels of academic content, focusing on subject-specific and grade-specific content for Std V-VIII.

Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam

"For their innovative approach that has enabled Gujarat to become the first state in India to achieve 100 per cent village electrification."

The project, called Jyoti Gram Yojna, segregated rural power feeders, classifying them separately for agricultural and non-agricultural customers. Agricultural feeders supplied power exclusively to agricultural consumers while the latter category, called Jyoti Gram Feeders, supplied to residential, commercial and industrial consumers.

The programme started in 2003 as a people's initiative and was later taken up by the state government, which gave it full grant. In 30 months' time, it had covered all 18,065 villages of Gujarat and the 9,680 suburbs attached to them. The result is uninterrupted power supply to all villages.

Of the total Rs 1,290 crore spent in the project, the Gujarat government has contributed Rs 1,110 crore. The project has ensured a minimum three hours continuous supply of three-phase supply to agricultural consumers.

"The state of Gujarat has acute water scarcity. One of the objectives was to bring about the sustainable use of groundwater resources that was supposed to be achieved through controlled and regulated water supply to the agricultural sector while at the same time improving the quality in terms of reliability and voltage stability. During the last three-four years, we have not had a single case of load-shedding in the villages," said L Chuaungo, commissioner of GUVN.

Nagpur Municipal Corporation

Shops razed at Gol Gumbad

Gol Gumbad encroachments demolished