Clicked on the way

 What a relaxing seat !

Who is this?

 

I saw this interesting statute on my way in the city of Kolkata. 

Just had the time for a quick click as i was passing by in my car. A man with his hands on his chin in a sad thinking pose. Wonder who he is? Is he a Brit from the colonial past or a Bengali from recent past ? Is he a philosopher, a politician??

May be on my next trip I should checkout...

Colors of Kolkata 02

Hard working senior citizens of Kolkata...random clicks on the way....

Colors of Kolkata 01

My first trip to the colorful city of Calcutta / Kolkata. It was a short business trip on a tight schedule. Just managed few random clicks on the way...

Street vendors

The yellow city taxis

The "no refusal" city taxi and the city bus competing

The colorful tricycles

Colorful passerbys

Birds eye view of Kolkata

St Paul's 1847

Mother Teresa statue

Window seat

 Clicked at Kolkata

View thro' the shattered glass

Distant view of the famous Victoria memorial Museum at Kolkata...

Tamil thai

Digital painting

Today is "World Mother Language day". 

This is a tribute to my mother language : Tamil. 

My painting of Tamil Thai ( Tamil mother)/ தமிழ் தாய்  in a traditional depiction sitting on a lotus seat.

தமிழ் வாழ்க !

Lalitha Mahal at Madurai

'Lalitha Mahal' - the villa I designed in the year 2003-04 for CT and family.  The design is inspired from Chettinad Architecture to reflect the background of the client. I had to design against many constraints. There was a 800 sqft structure that had to be integrated into the plan. CT's family had a strong belief in vasthu sasthra which became the base for planning. But through the construction phase, CT and family transformed from clients to family friends and remain very close to me till today. It remains one of my most memorable projects from my early career.

 

Traditional main door

The central open to sky court is the central element around which the house evolved.

Traditional wooden pillars from Chettinad

Visitor lounge

 

Aachi at the courtyard

WA Award , 3rd cycle 2009

Lalitha mahal won the World Architecture Community award in 2009, a proud moment for me.

6 bed room - 6000 sqft villa plan 

With CT during our trip to Sri Lanka , 2004

Boom boom oxen

Another vanishing superstitious practice...The Boom boom maadu. These are 'holy' male cows (ox) that are used for fortune telling by a nomadic tribe as a tradition for many generations.  I am surprised to see a few still prevalent in Bengaluru city. The name 'boom boom' comes from the unique booming sound made by the fortune tellers by  rubbing a stick against the drum leather. The ox is trained to answers the questions posed by the owner by shaking its head as "yes or no". Thus predicting the future of the customer. 

Clicked on the way...

 A flower shop by the temple

Park wines building at Madurai

A small commercial project I designed in 2003 at the bypass road, Madurai. It was designed as an office but ended up being used as a restaurant and bar. I am not sure whats happening here today after 20 years! 

It was constructed by my late friend Mr.Balan ( Ramanand construction). This was the first column steel cladding work in Madurai. 

 

Krishna kumar's house at Madurai

 

This is one of the earliest projects of my career (1996-97). A multi tenant residence for my friend and college junior Krishna Kumar's (Kitcha) family. I designed this when I was in my final year of college and the influence of my training under Architect Ganapathy is very much obvious. It was a 'big' project for a student architect and thanks to the trust Kitcha and his family placed on me, I could do it with confidence.

Engineer Kannapiran was the contractor for whom I did many works later in my practice.

When I met Kitcha in London, 2013

Tailor

 A road side tailor...a vanishing profession

Cotton candy

 Clicked on the way...