Anagha Speaks

Just last week I had begun to compile a blog post on Pune's infamous Chandni Chowk and its precarious traffic and safety situation. While I was writing my blog, a young motorbike riding student was rammed into by a school bus in this very Chandni Chowk, to lose his life at the age of 18. Suddenly, overnight, the Chandni Chowk witnessed citizen and political protests and believe me, when I say that in 2 days, all encroachments were removed, the road was widened by mobilizing 3-4 JCBs and the road resurfaced during the night. The reaction of the otherwise slumbering administration was worth watching!  However, I am left wondering how the reaction of the political and administrative departments is completely missing the point of the tragedy. The Chandni Chowk is, because of its ill design, high slopes and cramped road widths, a spot of slow moving traffic. So a fatality, which occurred would actually have been of a greater magnitude if the traffic was faster moving. But the ...

In 2012, citizens of Pune will elect a panel of corporators who will become their official elected representatives in the Standing Committee of Pune Municipal Corporation. Currently, quoting directly from a friend's email, there are 144 electoral wards in Pune. So there will be 144 elected representatives! Citizens will recall that earlier to 2007, the electoral wards and the adminstrative wards were somewhat alignged in number. Hence each electoral ward was larger and each elected corporator represented about 50000 to 60000 citizens. Since 2007, this larger electoral ward was split two or sometimed three ways to create smaller electoral wards called as 'prabhags'. In these 'prabhags', each elected corporator represented about 10000 to 15000 citizens, making the corporator more accessible. I have found that due to the limited size of the 'prabhag', the elected corporator often stays very close within the locality that he/she represents and hence is more liab...

On Sunday, I attended a lecture by renowed theatre and film personality Girish Karnad. He was speaking on the subject of 'Colonial Influences on Art forms of India' as a part of a programme organized in the memory of Master composer and musician Bhaskar Chandavarkar on Sunday 25 July 2010 in Pune.As an Architect-Planner, I was thrilled to hear Girish Karnad make references to the formation of cities in India by the British, which in turn was a major turning point for all visual and performing arts in India. He brought out the fact that before the three British cities namely, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, were established, the Indian cities like Pune, Lucknow, Kolhapur and many others were more contiguous with its hinterlands. So while these urban pockets were primarily 'urban' in character, the lifestyles of people and economic wealth was closely linked and similar to those in the rural fringes and the hinterlands. When the three British cities were established, these we...

About two weeks back, a collaborative workshop was conducted between the students of M.Arch Environmental Architecture, Dr B N College of Architecture and post graduate students of Dept of Architecture, Royal University of Fine Arts, Sweden. The idea was to brainstorm on Sustainability Planning measures that can be undertaken for a pilot study area in Pune. The area selected was the J M Road and Narayan Peth stretch on either side of the river Mutha, capturing the commercial newer face of Pune at J M Road and the old, heritage laden character of Pune at Narayan Peth. The experience was amazing! The exchange of ideas between students of the two countries was great to observe. While Indian students tended to be more realistic and grounded while thinking of proposals, Swedish students opened up a whole basket of options and opportunities for the area. The mix of the two was the outcome, thereby bringing many new and exciting dimensions to Sustainability planning for the pilot area in Pune...

. . . And that is the classic question that Punekars have been asking since the last 10 years. Frankly, I have been unable to take either side. At one end I know that the remaining 'open' space will disappear surely if permissions are given to build on the hill tops and hill slopes. At the other end, I am not sure if Pune, via its municipal corporation, has the capacity to develop hill tops and hill slopes as natural preserves for biodiversity. Is there a middle way? I often ask myself. What is it that it prompting activists to react on one end, while the municipal government is pressured to act on the other end? Is it just the developers lobby seeking more core city land to build premium condos and earn money that is pressurizing action against biodiversity preservation or are their other forces at play too? When in San Francisco, I had a chance to look at a hilly and completely contoured terrain of California being developed as breautiful city suburbs, which led me to thinkin...