“Flâneuring” here, there and everywhere: my urban walks

 

"Flâneur", I read a few days ago, is a French word for a person who walks the streets looking for fun, a loafer or ”saunterer”. A kinder use of the word refers to a dawdling observer, a person walking with no particular destination in mind other than noticing little details along the way. Well, what do you know? ‘Flâneuring’ is what I apparently have been doing for several years – only I didn’t know that’s a thing.

In the last two decades or more I have walked in several cities across the world. Walking has become a way for me to explore, get to know a new place, discover new beauty or rediscover forgotten joys. However, from the time I stopped working for a living, my work-travels to exciting locations have stopped. Looking back, my city-walks then were actually more typically flâneuring in approach. My walks have progressively become more regular, more brisk, more enthusiastic –as more years got added to my age! Now there’s a fitness quotient mixed in, which explains the brisk pace and added zest.

Some years back I read a marvelous book on Bangalore called “Nature in the City” by ecologist-author Harini Nagendra. Connecting with nature in cities as I walk has since become an uplifting part of my urban wanderings. A young naturalist introduced me to Google Lens which I use to identify - not always successfully - trees, plants or flowers that I come across. Old faithful Google Maps helps in my dogged attempts to master topographies. And, of course there’s my phone camera to click and store away little moments of joy.

 Sitting at my son’s desk in Edmonton as I write this, the city’s flat prairie landscape is uppermost in my mind. Edmonton, where I have spent several summers, is the capital of Alberta province in Canada. A beautifully planned city - rows of elegant homes with gardens, broad tree-lined sidewalks, parks with grassy knolls and wild flowers, a lone dandelion, water bodies where ducks swim lazily - there is beauty waiting for me at every turn. Bursts of colour delight me every time I see beautiful flowers in gardens. 

Now familiar with the vegetation here I feel a thrill every time I think I have identified one more tree - hardy Elms with vase-shaped canopies, Aspens whose leaves tremble and whisper in the breeze as I pass (aptly also called ‘quaking aspen’), Mountain and other Ash, Willow and of course Maple trees. Cherry, Plum, Apple trees tempt with low hanging fruit.

I walk past a summer pop-up dog park where dogs are running around off-leash, madly joyful! I stop to exchange greetings with a couple of dog owners while their dogs come running to put their curious faces on the fence to take a sniff. A bunch of chirping sparrows fly out dramatically from a tree only to go sit on another tree nearby. I had thought the magpie’s loud harsh chatter was to warn companions of my approach. Turns out these birds could actually be “scolding” me for intruding their space    Sorry rude bird! 

Keeping me away from the road and traffic are quiet walking trails (one of the things I absolutely love in Edmonton) that meander between neighbourhoods. I often stop to chat with friendly kids and their families. 

 

Walking is faster than you’d think, but distances here can be deceptive. The clear flat terrain persuades me to set a goal to reach a building or landmark which is actually further away than I had estimated. Several times I have ended up walking longer than I had planned to –no complaints though for its still beautiful! Edmonton is a walker’s dream come true.

 

We spend a good slice of the year also at our daughter’s US home in Redmond, near Seattle. Tall Douglas Firs, Western Red Cedars, large Oaks with dense foliage, Japanese maple, London Planetrees and more, stand on hilly landscape providing green cover along pavements I walk on.

Bunches of Hydrangea form strikingly 

blue clusters in home gardens. Huge 

fragrant pale-coloured lilies stand in 

mud pots swaying gently, gorgeously. 

I feel like a queen walking on a sidewalk breathing in the subtle scent of wild roses that line my path. 

Around August-September thorny black berry plants are growing aggressively all over the town – an invasive growth the city struggles with. Plucking a ripe berry that feels sweet in my mouth gives me a sense of triumph! 

During the Fall months spectacular colours of trees and shrubs add a breathtaking dimension to the beauty of my walking paths. 

Do crows here caw one by one? It sounds that way to me! Is the loud Steller’s Jay (always thought they were Blue Jays) related to the noisy Canadian Magpie? Robins and smaller birds flit about from tree to tree. Sometimes I stop to watch one of them walk across a street. I can never walk past a Little Free Library (here and in Edmonton) without stopping to open the little door to browse and borrow. I just so love these cute markers of trusting free-spirited bookworms. 

 

A high point of my walks this summer has been walking to Marymoor Park along the Sammamish River trail, an unbelievably serene path right through Redmond town even passing under the expressway. Bikers, joggers, other walkers greet with friendly waves as we pass each other. 

Neighbourhood walks with my little grandsons end up being flâneuring by default! We dawdle more than we walk making several stops to watch bees hovering over lavenders, bunnies that try to hide from us or tiny bugs on leaves. Sometimes we stop to pat Sparky a friendly dog we know, watch sprinklers jet out water on lawns or squat on the edge of a sidewalk to peer into a roadside drain to see water flowing, and on occasion have even taken a “pedestrian” U-turn to chase after garbage trucks!  

 An abiding image in my mind of my North American walks is of courteous motorists who stop and wait patiently for me to cross the road. I mouth a ‘thank you’ as we exchange a smile and a wave.

 Well before the onset of winter my husband and I fly to India, to Bangalore where we are based. It takes a couple of days to get over the feeling of having landed on another planet. After that I easily slip back into my life here which includes going on my walks. My daily walks are almost always within the relative calm of our apartment complex. The grounds still have old trees – a large peepal surrounded by a “katte” (raised platform), teak, jackfruit, neem, ‘palash’ (flame of the forest) – trees that have been here before our apartment buildings came up. The call of Koels fills the air in the hot summer months. Barbets call incessantly. Sunbirds flutter in and out of trees and bushes so quickly I can barely manage a glimpse. Mynas hop about, butterflies hover and if I’m lucky I see Bulbuls. A small patch of ‘urban forest’ next to our apartment complex has miraculously survived the city’s onslaught of development. This green cover houses Raintrees, Copper Pods, Gulmohars, Eucalyptus and a large Banyan tree. I only walk along the border on our side of the wall as stray dogs pose a risk if you venture into these woods.

 It is when I get out into the city’s streets (and indeed other cities I visit in India) that the walks become exuberant, vivid, sometimes overwhelming but always fascinating! Of course, its crowded and of course the cacophony of traffic is crazy but none of that dampens the spirit and enterprise on the streets where my husband and I often ‘take a walk’. 

It could be Malleshwaram or Jayanagar or Basavanagudi in Bangalore or Mylapore in Chennai - everywhere we dodge past pedestrians and shoppers who flock around street vendors (men and women –high work-force participation of women here) to buy the innumerable items being offered on sale - dupattas, bindis, steel utensils, apparel, flowers, bangles and more. No place to put your foot on this footpath! And to think that’s a term used in India. Loud voices all around are trying to strike good bargains. Do vendors earn enough to meet their families’ needs and aspirations? 

We go past carts laden with vegetables, fruits, healthy "soppu" (greens), tender coconuts. 

Unexpectedly I see a beautiful work of art around a tree amidst all the chaos. And a beautiful Kolam in front of a gate.

Art in the city streets

Lush ‘honge mara' (Indian beech) and other large trees line a street in Jayanagar where I'm taking a stroll-walk......................

.....................while my husband gets his dental work done at the charming heritage property that is the clinic. A large tree has coiled wire on its thick branches, presumably connecting something somewhere.

Dental clinic 

Quaint boards pop up promoting products like “Tandoori Chai” or services of a matrimonial agency that probably promises couples to back-up their marriage wows on “cloud nine”! There’s a ‘By2Coffee’ café – a uniquely Bangalore concept that ‘officially’ allows customers to split and share their coffee sometimes even  allowing 1by3!                                                                                                                                                                                           Our walk down Bull Temple Street during the "Kadlekai parishe” (annual festival of groundnut harvest) is enthralling. Groundnut farmers (again men and women) from across South India spread out their harvest on – where else? -  the footpath, with QR code sheets for phone payments stuck into the groundnuts. We stop to chat with several of them. 

 As we come on to the broader main road, we see passengers of a town bus literally lending a hand, both hands in fact, to push the bus and get it moving. Our walks in urban India rarely come without the unpredictable. But it’s the people here, always the people who win our hearts.....

I’m often asked, “where do you like it better? India or US/Canada?” My honest answer every time – “When I’m in India I love being in India and when I’m in US or Canada I love being there”. In today’s connected globe, why choose one? When you can pick from the best of all worlds.......

Hampi..... A Timeless Fusion

 

Finally, we set off for Hampi.  A visit overdue by decades. The trigger that got us planning the trip was reading ‘Tejo Tungabhadra’, writer Vasudhendra’s brilliant historical fiction in Kannada translated to English. The story is set in Vijayanagar kingdom in the sixteenth century during the reign of Krishna Devaraya. Present-day Hampi, a UNESCO world heritage site, was the capital city.

The Drive Up

We drove to Hampi from Bangalore at an even pace. Bursts of pink Tabebuia blooms and bright yellow Nile Tulips on Bangalore’s roadside, messy roadworks in Tumkuru town led us to the excellently crafted highway with road dividers full of pink and white bougainvillea blooms. We now picked up speed, but of course were no match for the daredevil speedsters who raced past us in their cars at breakneck speeds. Our long smooth cruise on the road was shattered when we got off the highway. The instructions sent by the hotel to navigate our way from this point did not look as precise as it had at home in Bangalore. We sought help but even the all-knowing Google seemed as confused as us. It was late afternoon by the time we entered Ballary district to pick up again, with relief, landmarks from the navigation sheet. We stared out of the car at the massive set up of Jindal Steel Works (JSW) - steel and cement factories, hospital, sports complex, airport.

Soon we were at the hotel – about 35 kms from Hampi – located inside Vidyanagar. This is the JSW township, a green wooded oasis of trees and birds and water bodies surrounded by arid land, giant boulders and ochre stone hills.

Taken For a Hampi Ride

As planned our taxi to Hampi was waiting the next morning.  As soon as the cab began to move Mahesh, our cheerful driver, tried to convince us to book his cab directly for the reminder of our rides rather than through the hotel. We declined politely but eased our twinge of guilt by telling him we’d keep that option in mind. Then we called Basu, our English-speaking government certified guide who we had spoken to earlier. Basu then spoke to Mahesh and they agreed on the pick-up point for him to join us. We sat back to watch the passing scenery when Mahesh tried once again to convince us – this time to dump Basu and take the tour guide that he would organise at a lower rate. We declined again, a bit more emphatically now. A few minutes later there was a call from one Vishwanath to inform us, in a Hindi-Kannada-mix, that he was waiting at the pick-up point for us. Puzzled my husband asked him what for? He said he was our guide assigned by Basu. Basu, we realized, does not actually go out as a guide but operates as the manager who matches guides to tourists. But he doesn’t tell you that and lets you believe he is your man until someone else shows up. A neat piece of work. Feeling tricked we made our annoyance clear to Basu on the phone, and to Vishwanath when we met him. Anyway, we spent the rest of our time at Hampi with Mahesh and Vishwanath. They were sweet guys really, helpful too. By the time our trip ended we had grown quite fond of them, even admired Mahesh’s entrepreneurial zest, treated both to expensive lunches, given hefty tips each evening and top rating feedback. And we never met Basu.

Donning our ‘made-in-China bought-in-Hampi’ wide-brimmed sun hats we began our heritage excursions in earnest.

 

Heritage Excursions into History, Mythology, and Faith

What can I say about the magnificent Hampi monuments and sites that hasn’t already been said. The hype, the wait………it was all worth it.

We spent an entire morning at the Vijaya Vittala temple monuments marvelling at the amazing art that is embedded in every stone. The unbelievable intricacy of aesthetic detail carved onto pillars, doorways, walls depict scenes from the epic Ramayana, from ‘Dasavatharam’ the ten avatars of Vishnu, stories of Krishna - as a child, a flirtatious teenager, as slayer of demons, the protector of devotees. There were figures of animals, dancing ladies, buyers and sellers of horses, scenes of battle and more, much more. It was endless, timeless beauty etched on stone. 

From here a small walk down across a rugged expanse took us to the ‘Purandaradasa Mandappa’, a memorial to the father of Karnatic music. This is where we had our first glimpse of the grey-green waters of the Tungabhadra, shimmering in the sun flowing gently over boulders……. serene, tranquil, ageless……

In contrast to the exquisite carvings of the Vijaya Vittala complex are the gigantic figures of lion--faced Narsimha, Kadalekalu Ganesha (peanut Ganesha), Sasivekalu Ganesha (mustard seed Ganesha), and Nandi the holy bull. These figures, cut out of single huge rocks, are located across Hampi. Charming legends underpin every figure. 

                                 

The stunning stone chariot shrine of ‘Garuda ‘at Vittala temple, the elaborately designed pillared pavilions where music, dance, religious rituals flourished, the majestic elephant stables and tall watch towers within the Royal enclosure give you a glimpse of the grandeur and riches of the Vijayanagar royalties. 

Stone arcades that stretch along both sides on broad pathways were the famed bazaars of Vijayanagar, teeming with people and trade, merchants intensely engaged in selling diamonds, silks, spices. 

The desolate silence arising from these colonnades today fills you with a strange feeling as you try to grasp at images and sounds from medieval times........... 

Faith of believers and abodes of mythical figures beckon you from every direction.  Hampi region is believed to be the Kishkindha from Ramayana, the kingdom of monkeys that monkey kings Vaali and Sugreeva fought over. The Matanga hill is where Sugreeva hid from his brother Vaali before the arrival of Rama and Lakshmana. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Anjanadri hill is believed to be the birthplace of the endearing Hanuman. We did not brave the steep climb of five hundred and seventy five steps to the temple at the top. Yet I felt an unreasonable joy chanting the Hanuman Chalisa at the foot of the hill.

Deep tones of “Om Namah Shivai” reverberated in the air as we neared the tall ‘Gopuram’, the main gateway of the ancient temple of Virupaksha (Shiva) and Pampa Devi (Parvati) that is said to be functioning uninterrupted since the 7^th century. 

Hemakuta hill, just a climb up away, is where Shiva is believed to have sat in meditation as an ascetic, but finally gave in to the beauty and charm of Pampa devi. The temple, a celebration of their coming together in marriage, was host to another wedding that day – a young techie couple from Bangalore. 

 A huge bull at the temple’s Northern gate was demanding peanuts from a lady vender. We wanted to believe it was Nandi giving us a live sighting, a ‘special darshan.’

The Archaeological Survey of India Museum, our last tour stop, has a collection of tools and artefacts used by inhabitants of the region in the Neolithic age, predating Hampi’s history and probably its mythology. The museum also has a scale model of Hampi that provides a panorama of the whole area, which we found fascinating. Winding up our site visits at the museum thus turned out to be a nice sum up of everything we had seen.

 

Contemporary in Hampi – including a brush with royalty

Even as we lost ourselves in the magic of Hampi’s history and mythology, inevitably we had to slip out to engage with the contemporary. Encounters that alternated between charming, unsettling, and on one occasion, unexpected!

Young men at the main tourist sites beseechingly pushed souvenirs and booklets at us making it difficult to refuse.

Our coconut water pitstop between sites took us to a roadside cart managed by a bright young woman whose husband was tending their flock of sheep nearby. Their two little children were inside a makeshift shelter of dry grass (or probably coconut fibre), eating sweet tender coconut pulp that they scrapped out of the shell themselves.The woman was friendly, confident, and very clear that she would not take the bunch of coins we offered for payment,saying she would not be able to use them. She insisted and we paid paper money. Digital payments are not the norm here. 

 In another instance two women were managing a bigger roadside stall that had, in addition to tender coconuts, biscuits, crisps, chocolates, and a couple of fridges set up under a tree stacked with bottled drinks and water. There was much cheer and laughter when we found out that the name of the younger woman was the same as mine! 

                                                                                                                                                                             

For lunch, at a much-recommended restaurant, we had pasta served on banana leaf.  Autorickshaws, like in any other town, displayed messages that were wise, attempting profound, in the end a bit wacky. 

An interesting family we met at the hotel pointed us to a series of lectures on Hampi being delivered at the ‘Vijayanagara Utsav’ celebrations. We were almost at the end of our tour but had some time and reasonable energy to spare, and decided to go there. The lectures were being held in the former palace of the Vijayanagar royal family in Anagundi, which was the original capital before Hampi. The palace was significantly damaged in the 18^th century by invading armies forcing the royal family to move into a new palace located just across the street. By the time we got there the lectures were over but a young lady, volunteering for the Utsav, took us on a tour of the palace that is now a museum. On display were household items and artefacts that were used by the royals over centuries. A beautiful brass coffee filter caught my eye! Sarees on display showcased beautiful motifs, an initiative of Devaraya Heritage Weaves to revive traditional designs and support rural weavers. As we stepped out, we saw activity across the street. A visitor was leaving. That is when we saw him! Raja Krishna Devaraya – 19^th descendent from Emperor Krishna Devraya and the present titular head of the Vijayanagara Samrajya. Titles and terminology still in use here. He had come to the gate to see off his guest. An unexpected finale to our trip.

Hampi 2024

What we saw was but the briefest glimpse of an incredible past that eludes the imagination. That is Hampi in 2024 - where mythology, faith, history, and the contemporary meet in a timeless fusion.

 

 

 

Bus to the Library

I

t was a cloudy, chilly Saturday morning. I hoped it wouldn't rain for we had plans for an exciting trip downtown. Pavy and paati (Grandma, that's me) were off to the library. And we were taking the bus! The red bus that we watched everyday passing by on the road below.

In the last couple of months every time Pavy picked up his favorite book " Little Blue Truck" he saw a picture of its companion book "Little blue truck leads the way" on the back cover. He wanted that book too. He looked for it on his visits to the library but it was out - someone had borrowed it. The library had messaged earlier in the week to let us know the book was now available and reserved for Pavy.

Getting ready to head out we gathered up the books Pavy had borrowed and put them into a tote bag. And I added in surprise lunch and snack packs!

Soon we were on our way. We walked down the hill to the busy intersection with traffic lights. Pavy pressed the pedestrian button and we waited. When the stop sign turned to 'go' we crossed the big roads. Now on the other side we walked up the hill to reach the bus stop. Pavy ran and sat on the little bench.

 After a few minutes we saw the red bus coming at a distance. We donned our masks in prep. The bus arrived and yay!! we were on board!

I tapped my bus card on the card reader to pay the fare. The driver looked at Pavy, smiled and said no fare for him. As soon as we settled into our seats Pavy asked for his snacks! Just like his car rides. I told him eating snacks on the bus was not permitted which he seemed ok with. He was too busy looking out anyway. 

The bus stopped at the traffic lights. When it revved up and began moving again Pavy said "bus is going bam boom" - being noisy that is😄

It was a short ride to our stop. Once we got off it was a short walk to the library. Of course our short walk took pretty long as Pavy stopped to watch a couple of police cars passing by, another red bus going in the opposite direction, pet a dog, stopped again to look at sparrows. "Birds are not flying they are hopping about, why? " Then answering his own question,      "They're looking for food maybe."

Finally we reached the library. 

Before going inside, we stopped to return the books Pavy had borrowed. Pavy watched me fumble at the self-check-in slot which closed even as I was sliding books into it. Standing on his toes to reach up he helpfully pressed the button. The slot opened again. 

He grinned at me saying "Paati made a mistake" 😒

Once inside we headed straight for the shelves that had the reserved books. And there it was - "Little blue truck leads the way!" - with a reserved tag tucked into its pages. How exciting! We picked it up and took it to the reading corner in the children's section, sat down and I read it to Pavy.

              

Then we scouted around the children's section for more books. 

The selection process involved taking each book to the reading corner and reading it fully. Unsurprisingly the books mostly themed fire trucks, trucks zooming on highways, and so forth 😀 - trucks Pavy's favourite at the moment! Happy with the books we had Pavy began counting the four we had selected. One, two, three, four......but he didn't stop there! He kept counting.... five, six......he got to sixteen.....when he was distracted and finally stopped!

We checked out our books and we were done at the library. It was close to Pavy's lunch time.  Just outside the library we sat down on the low stone seats by the side of the rear door. I took out Pavy's surprise lunch pack of French toast and fruit. To my delight he devoured it.... then wanted more!

"Who's a hungry caterpillar?" I asked and brought up his snack pack that had dried banana and mango slices, raisins, nuts most of which he ate up. Clearly, he was famished  😍

Now topped up Pavy readily agreed to taking a longer walk to the bus terminus for our ride home. A good call, as it turned out. There were several puddles on the way and Pavy played in each one of them!

At the terminus there were two red buses standing next to each other.  "which one would leave first?" we tried to guess. Shortly we saw the bus on the left start up and come around to us. And we were on board again. As the bus turned on to the main road there was Pavy's library! Pavy waved "bye bye library!"

A little further up Pavy suddenly burst into song, "wheels of the bus go round and round......." then louder, continued....."babies in the bus go wah wah wah.......till I had to whisper,. "paatis on the bus go "shhh shhh shhhh.....": He found that hilarious. We reached our stop, got off and walked up the hill towards home, now both of us singing, " Babies on the bus go wah....... Paatis on the bus go shhhh........ "

Hard to tell who had a more fun bus trip to the library - Pavy or paati!

 Pavy 2 years and 10 months

Redmond, WA, USA 13^th May 2023