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Chandigarh Diary
Read more here: Chandigarh DiaryOutlook | October 5, 2009 The Chandigarh of Nehru and Corbusier has almost become a curiosity for a stream of visitors from the West who continue to see him as a giant of 20th century architecture. The year 1947 was India’s Annus Horribilis. From March that year, murder and mayhem stalked the Punjab. By autumn,…
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Don’t Call The Cavalry
Read more here: Don’t Call The CavalryFor Outlook | July 3, 2006 Lutyens’ Delhi is under siege and no one cares. It’s an unholy coup d’etat. I have lived for many years in Lutyens’ Delhi, and for almost two decades worked within the one square kilometre of the capitol complex. Still, every time I go up Rajpath and see the great presidential palace,…
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First flower of freedom
Read more here: First flower of freedomThe Indian Express | October 6, 1978 Chandigarh: Glorious tributes have been paid to Le Corbusier by many great architects of the world. The great American Architect, Louis Khan, once said, “I came to live in a beautiful city called Le Corbusier”. On seeing Chandigarh in 1960, Paul Rudolph, a famous architect, remarked: “It is…
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Chandigarh: road sense and nonsense
Read more here: Chandigarh: road sense and nonsenseThe Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | June 11, 1978 Such is the chaos that one notices on the Chandigarh Roads Many years ago the road going past Safdarjung airport in New Delhi towards the Kutb Minar was christened “the murder mile” by an enterprising journalist: The reason was simple enough. The road was narrow, the traffic…
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In Death as in Life
Read more here: In Death as in LifeThe Tribune | January 29, 1978 Delhi is full of marvellous names: Maharani Bagh, Sunehri Bagh, Punjabi Bagh, Gulmohar Park, Green Park. The list is a long one. The colonies and the names are free India’s contribution to the national capital. The colonies are an expression of the ever-expanding and relentless march of suburbia outwards…
