Hosur : LIttle England in India

First impressions

We fly to Bangalore for a short trip to spend a few days in Hosur. We land at the airport in Bangalore. Since it is very late at night we only get some idea that it is a huge and beautiful airport with the officers doing credit to their jobs, being obliging and respectful. We have a booked taxi waiting for us outside the airport. Even with directions here and there we still have to check with airport staff now and then. It is a maze that takes us to the open air leaving us to the elements,and then a narrow walkway that thankfully leads to a lift that will take us to the basement with several sections marked with alphabets. We manage to connect with the driver on his phone and wait for him to pick us up at the designated area. He is very friendly. He speaks English. 

Driver knows best

Bangalore is the Silicon Valley of India. It is the capital of the state of Karnataka. We start off on our long drive to Hosur which is in the state of Tamil Nadu. The road leading out of the airport is a world class tolled highway. But once we get close to the city centre we go through the city instead of taking a shorter and less congested route. Why? There has been criminal activity along that stretch. The driver does not want to take a risk at that time of day when help could be far away and so we pass by some familiar buildings like the Vidhana Soudha almost at snail's pace for even at about 11 pm there is a traffic jam. The city sparkles with lights. All the signs are in Kannada (the local language) and English. And then  the signs change to Tamil/English. We have crossed the border into Tamil Nadu. We have left the frenzy and the neon lights behind us and entered a calmer and fresher atmosphere. We pass by several huge industrial buildings. The  distance of 73 km that should have taken us 1 1/2 hrs takes us nearly 3 hours. 

What's in the moniker?

We are visiting Hosur not only because we have family here but also because we like the outskirts of the city for the fresh air from the hills and the dense forests where elephants roam and rivers flow.  With the area's hills, cliffs and the valleys the climate is very cool and pleasant. The cold and cloudy weather resembles that of England. Hence, during the British regime it was referred to as  'Little England'. 

Thanks to the fertile land and good access to fresh water a variety of fruits and vegetables thrive. A walk through the smaller residential areas means coming across fields of tomatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, onions, mangoes, capsicum, carrot, cucumber, beans, coriander leaves, turnips and radishes. Roses are also grown in large numbers. In fact very early in the morning the main thoroughfare is filled with flower vendors with their baskets full of garlands and strung flowers.

The river flowing nearby becomes our favorite spot. Even though the river is said to be highly polluted, and getting to the bank means negotiating through overgrowth and slippery slopes the river and its rocky outcrops offer us fresh air and serenity. Sometimes cattle are given a good scrub in the river and then left to graze in the vicinity. 

An experience 

Our kin encourage us to accompany them to a Thithi Ceremony where food is offered to the departed so that the descendants would be blessed. It would be near running water for the food offering specially prepared for the ceremony has to be let go in it after a priest performs the rituals. We are at the foothill of Dhakshina Tiruppathi temple. The river is fast flowing. Today is the day of offerings and so it is crowded but not as dirty as we expected. We spend the time sitting on the rocks by the bank brushed by the breeze and soothed by the sounds of the river rushing over and around obstacles.

Tribal village schools

We also visit a Tribal village school in one of the several adjacent hills. What a roller coaster ride it was.The children speak Kannada, the language spoken in Karnataka, even though they live in TamilNadu where Tamil is spoken. It is all a matter of history and political changes. They have a smattering of English. The school graciously allows me to teach them a tongue twister after their regular teacher explains to them what the words mean. The older children are excited to repeat “ red lorry, yellow lorry”. They take it all very seriously.

A fast growing city

Hosur is well known in India as a satellite town of Bangalore. Bangalore is an expensive city to live in. It makes sense for young recruits to live in Hosur and then take the shuttle services to and from their workplace in Bangalore. Hence Hosur town has grown in leaps and bounds. 

It is also known for its concentration of manufacturing industries like Tanishq, Tata, Titan, Ashok Leyland, International Aerospace Manufacturing, etc mainly due to its strategic location, infrastructure and government  policies. 

Stunning is all I can say

We leave for the airport 5 hours early to negotiate nasty traffic snarls. Besides, a local overhead bridge is slightly dislodged. Luckily for us only trucks have to make a detour into the city. But when we meet at the other side there is a bottle neck. Going to or from the airport requires at least half a day!

But what a relief to arrive at the terminal where natural materials and sustainability predominate the architecture. The washrooms are being diligently and meticulously cleaned by pleasant employees. They are delighted by our appreciation of their usually thankless job.

 

Notoriety

These are the very forests that were the haunts and then the refuge of the contentiously infamous Santhanakattai Veerappan till he was caught in a major police operation.

A brush with protests and riots

A beachfront experience thanks to an inconvenient protest

In1997, we visit Allepey ( Kerala, India) near Kumarakom which is a bird sanctuary. We  book into a two-bedroom thatch-roofed houseboat on the backwaters. It has a reasonably sized dining room. The onboard 'chef', prepares our meals and refreshments. When there are no mosquitos we sit out on a platform that extends out of the boat at a lower level.  This could only accommodate two chairs. The backwaters are calm and so we are never in danger of being washed over by waves or slipping into the waters.

When we are about to disembark the next day we find out there is a hartal in place. Our car with a driver has been waiting for us at the pier but he will not take us. He will not drive us to our next destination. He fears the car will be damaged by the protestors. Now, we have to spend the night in Allepey. A quick thinking boatman says we could book into a local hotel for the night and just hope the hartal would end the next day.

He has got someone with a motorbike to take us 2 at a time to a hotel he recommended. The suitcases also come on a motorbike. 

We are lucky to meet the owners of the hotel. They are resolutely hanging on to the house the have inherited along the beach front, refusing to sell out to hotels sharing the expensive beachfront with them. We have lovely home made meals and naps in a hammock on the beach. 

The hartal ends the next day and so our relieved driver feels it safe to take us to our next destination.

A hartal is a mass protest, often forcing a shutdown of workplaces, offices, shops, and courts of law. It's somewhat like a labour strike. 

In Kerala, unlike most other Indian states, normal life almost comes to a standstill, during a hartal. Union leaders ask people to keep vehicles off the road and to shut shops and other establishments, including schools, for 48 hours. 

A real threat

In that same tour we are stuck in traffic jam in one of the main thoroughfares in Bangalore, India. We are just a few minutes away from the hotel but the traffic is at a standstill. We hear protestors. We get angry looks. Our driver gets jittery. They might smash our windows. Shards of glass could wound us. I'm sure we all kept our fingers tightly crossed. We were fortunate that within a few minutes traffic began to move and we were spared.

Steering clear 

We are just ending our day of walking around 'Japan Town', Sao Paulo , visiting the special museum depicting the history of the largest Japanese Population outside of Japan (see my blog: Alms and the Man). As we walk down the main thoroughfare and turn into the street leading to our AirBnb apartment right in the city centre. We see suspicious activity. Shields held by riot police form 4 walls at a busy intersection. They are not movinng. Our minds sense urgency. We just know that we have to leave the area immediately. Since we are very familiar with the area, having spent a few days there, we immediately turn into the side streets and alleys. The circuitous route takes us safely into the condo. 

We are already thinking of taking the metro bus and train to the outlying areas of Sao Paulo the next day. Little did we know then that a riot did take place and had turned violent. And what was the protest about? Fare hikes! 

In the thick of it

Our AirBnb apartment in Buenos Aires was right on Avenida De Mayo, the main road leading to the seat of Argentinian governance, right next to the historic Parisian style Cafe Tortoni, the haunt of famous figures from all walks of life, including Albert Einstein and world leaders. It is best known for the salon downstairs that holds interesting daily events, including live radio performances, poetry readings and a tango show. ( Little did we know that we would watch a life performace outside a restaurant on our forays the next day.)Of course, there was always a long line outside the cafe waiting for their reservations.  If there were any famous figures we were glibly unaware. 

We returned from roaming the streets, negotiating a long queue next door, before entering our temporry premises. A cruise friend, a tourist agent from Buenos Aires, came to share the simple dinner I had prepared. Over dinner she enlightened us on why Argentina welcomed immigrants. "We are all boat people," she puts it simply.

Just as she leaves we hear drums and dismiss it as some activity next door at the cafe. But it continues and we hear chants as well. It's all in Portugese and so we are clueless. Curiousity gets the better of me. I  look out the window. What do I see? Groups of people all walking towards Plaza de Mayo. It all seems peaceful. No need for bravado in going out on the streets to really get to know what is happening! So, I do. I see some musical instruments but no visible weapons. I don't see police. A woman comes by and hands me a pamphlet. I try to make out the message. Could it be a commercial advertisement? it is in a foreign language. Since it didn't seem exciting and I simply couldn't comunicate with anyone ( blog on having trouble with exchanging tickets) I called it quits and retired for the night. Weeks after we left Buenos Aires we found out that I had witnessed a protest against repression and censorship.

Tent 'city' in Seoul

Walking down the arterial road in Seoul, taking in a world war 2 picture exhibition and then posing in borrowed hanbo, we stroll towards Seoul's City Hall, an imposing glass structure with a living wall in its foyer. It is right beside the old city hall which houses a library. And next to it? A tent 'city'!

We knew that tents came up In Zucotti Park, NYC during Occupy Wall Street, a protest against ecconomic inequaities. But it is 11 years now. Is it still alive in South Korea? What a stark contrast to the buildings and the preparations for the Spring Festival. Typically, it is only much later that we learn of the protest by supporters of an ousted president. 

We were very lucky indeed not to be terribly inconvenienced by any of these events.