Deccan Dexterity

It was on a recent trek which covered Mullyangiri, Kammengundi, Halebidu, Belur and Donigal, that the aura behind the deccan struck each an every one of us. Though for most part of the journey we trekked sitting comfortably inside a Qualis, I still prefer to call this trip a trek, because we did trek for a few hours towards the end.

Not only were we awestruck by the beauty of the deccan plateau, its history and the complex intermingling of geology, history, religion and economics in this region, but also by our ignorance of these facts. Adding to the insult, I managed to grab a book on the Deccan titled “Diving the Deccan” written by Bill Aitken, which not only exposed my ignorance, but also that of multitudes of Indians living their lives in blissful ignorance.

What does the word ‘Deccan’ mean to you? In all probability the geographical region that we know as deccan today or nothing at all.
Deccan is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘dakshina’, which also means “On the right hand” (from which incidentally the word ‘dexterity’ is also derived). It also referred to the southern direction in general. Today, in the hugely popular field of Vastu Shastra, the south is considered very auspicious.

Dakshina was corrupted by the British, probably to suit their tongue, to the word ‘Deccan’, which they defined as the semi arid land in the south central plateau.

The Deccan plateau is a semi arid region, that does not even boast of fertile lands. What is it here then, that has attracted people here? What is it in this land, that has caused so many battles to be fought over it?

People would argue that most of these battles were based on religion. But just a closer look would reveal that religion was hardly the reason. Hindus hated the Muslims, Buddhists and Jains, the Deccani Muslims hated the Mughal Muslims as much as they hated the Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, and Orthodox Muslims hated the Unorthodox Muslims as much as they did hate any other religion. In fact there have been repeated instances of alliances between the Hindu and Muslim rulers.

Though many of these battles have often been camouflaged by religious motives, these should be viewed from the diametrically opposite side, as battles for power, land and wealth. To the rational mind, it all made pure economic sense.

What the Deccan did possess was wealth. The Deccan throws up some of the earth’s richest minerals.

The Deccan to us today is a fusion of the North and South. It is a cultural melting pot, having ingredients from the Dravidian and the Aryan Culture, resulting in a flavour that is unique to the Deccan. The region boasts of high quality architecture, influenced by history geology and religion. To a theologist this region forms a treasure trove of competing religious ideologies.

My visit to Halebid and Belur, left me flabbergasted at what I saw and at my own blissful ignorance of it. ‘Halebidu’ in kannada, as I was told means, ‘destroyed house’ or ‘old house’. It was so named after it was attacked by the Alaudin Khilji. It was earlier called Dwara Samudra, the Capital city of the Hoysalas.

Many small stories that our Guide had to tell us, brought to life the carvings in the temple, each one of them telling us a story of its own.. For example, the story behind the name Hoysala. Apparently while a group of students were being taught by their Tutor, they were attacked by a Tiger. One of the students Sala stood his ground while most of the other students fled. The master throws a weapon towards sala and shouts ‘Hoy Sala’, which means ‘Kill Sala’, instructing him to kill the Tiger. Sala later went on to found the Hoysala Dynasty.

There was this one statue with a boy embracing a girl. But what was strange about it was that the girl had a donkeys head. The guide went on to explain what the artist was trying to explain here and it made a lot of sense to all of us. It simply meant, to a boy. at the age of sixteen even a donkey looks like a beautiful girl.

What was planned as a short 10 minute trip in and out, took us a whole two hours. The details of the carvings were simply breathtaking.

A trip down the Konkan coast, exposes us to the western tip of the Deccan Plateau. These gigantic rocks, which also happen to be one of the oldest on the surface of the earth, command respect as you look at them. You cant but help get the feeling that some of the rulers that the Deccan has churned out, owe their qualities of strength, ruggedness and enduring character to these very rocks.

Unlike the deserts or the oceans, where one is engulfed by the same constant monotony for miles to come, or the Himalayas, where each and every step is distraught with danger, the Deccan explodes with a mind boggling range of emotions, drawing you further towards it.

Looking forward to visit a lot more places.

Gastronomical De-Lite

The IT industry as a whole seems to be making a very conscious effort to contribute to the calorie levels of its employees. “Employee Growth” is being taken care of in every sense of the phrase.

Pssst…. If anyone is in the Office Furniture business, armless chairs are going to be the next super sellers. It is only natural that the comfort needs of employees are satisfied along with supporting their growth.

Like every other occasion, which is celebrated without fail, today too was celebrated. Ofcourse, when there is free food, who the hell cares what for? Anyways it was called Karavali Parba. It’s a traditional festival in Karnataka, they said. Starting of from a state of “delicate incertitude”, I have now attained the state of “Strong Suspicion” about the actual existence of any such festival. Power searches in google did not yield any fruitful results. But as they say, as long as its fun, who cares?

An enthusiastic start to a very traditional lunch on a plantain leaf was soon to become a concerted attempt at emptying the leaf. We had grossly underestimated our traditional meals. What saved us was a timely announcement by one of the organizers where he detailed the variouses courses in the meal. I don’t think I registered that entire list. But I remember, that he went on for quite some time.

Well it was certainly a Gastronomical Delight that was indeed also “De – Lite”.
What is scary, are the Olfactory Delights that lie in store in the air conditioned office interiors… Who says Art of Living and Meditation are not useful or practical???

tracert

For those of you who could not make any sense about the subject, its just a command in linux/unix that lets you trace the route to any machine on the internet from your machine.

Well frankly I had no idea what i was trying to name when i was asked for a name for my blog while registering. In fact it left me wondering as to how i got myself into this at all. This in short is the story behind the subject of this mail and the name of my blog.

Now that i seem to have figured out what it is that i have named, i suppose it is only my duty to enlighten anybody else who may wonder what all this is about anyways.

Boarding the same train of thought, it would not be pertinent to keep myself in the shadows, especially when i am throwing so much light around. I am a computer science engineer from the Cochin University of Science and technology. Following a short stint at Tata Consultancy Services and two years at a b-school(SCMHRD, Pune), I now find myself idling away my time at Infosys in a sleepy little port town in Karnataka.

Frankly, I am not much of a writer and this and the days to come would be my maiden attempts at it. As you probably have guessed already, its only after exhausting all other options of keeping myself busy in office that i am venturing into these realms.

It is only with the intention of making this introduction of mine technically "Complete", that I am about to take this post of mine perilously close to the lines of a hindi film script. I am not technology averse. I am totally new to blogging. I enjoy all kinds of music and movies. I read anything that is hot and in the news. Have just read Da Vinci Code. And I am trained in carnatic classical vocal and violin. And love indian food. Thats about it I guess.

I suppose you guessed most of that already, but the Hero has to sing a song and express his love for his heroine to make it a hit Bollywood fillum.

Please do mail me your comments, suggestions et al.
Hoping to churn out as many posts as the box office does films.

Abe oye, khatam nahi hua #$@# ...

to be continued...

Vinod