"How can I write Haiku about Chandigarh"
Trip Start
Nov 14, 2007
1
40
92
Trip End
Apr 20, 2009
Chandigarh,
India
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
But just when they thought the invasions were over, up pops one Le Corbusier and gives them yet another lesson from on high- His masterplan for Chandigarh. It is a startling intervention in a place of so much history. It is like an organ donation gone wrong - of the man who needed a new knee cap and was given a liver
High Court Verandah
.This not to say it is all bad - India has made do with its new liver - but there are obvious constraints. The overwhelming feeling is that the city as a design, as a masterplan, sits uncomfortably with the impulses of local folks. Its rigidity, its need for constant maintenance, its traffic lights, are happily - though maybe not consciously - being eroded away. This is the way of India, just as it is the way around the world. Why would Corb's planning succeed here where it failed elsewhere?
Unfortunately, more maligned than Corbusier's masterplan are his three Capitol buildings: The High Court, Vindha Sabha (parliament) and Secretariat. The Vinda Sabha is actually quite extraordinary - the parliamentary chamber itself being part discotheque, part Star Trek film set. Unfortunately interior photos were not possible. The High Court building, Christina and I enjoyed - It was about as fun as a High Court could get. The Secretariat? Well, we'll leave that one out.
The 'psychologically harmful' part of the capital experience is the dysfunction of spaces and views between the key buildings. It is unusual to see a plan for a capital complex so obviously under-utilised and/or mal-appropriated
High Court Verandah
. Do we attribute this to Le Corbusier's or Modernisms limitations or just chalk it up as another 'win' for India - I have no idea. But the thought did occur to me that this was not the most culturally de-basing Capital Complex in India (this is still reserved for Lutyen's Capital in Delhi).On the rickshaw ride back to our host's bungalow, the sun is low and in the absence of strong street illumination, my attention is earned by the bright signage hanging off grey dingy buildings.
"Visa's Guaranteed to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Great Britain!"
"Study and Work Overseas!"
"Boomerang English Applications"
These sorts of services (and signs) are common in India, but are in obvious excess in Chandigarh. It gives the sense that Chandigarh is well connected to the 'international scene' and also somewhat dependent on it, whereas, whole parts of India - contrary to what the IPL and service outsourcing offer as symbols - continue to float in near-total ambivalence to the outside world (Uttar Pradesh comes to mind)
High Court Verandah with pidgeon holes
. Should this connection be a surprise in the context of Chandigarh's Modernist planning? Nahee. "How can I write Haiku about Chandigarh" - Our host Manu says. For him, Chandigarh has none of the intensity necessary for inspired observation and significant poetry. He would much prefer to be in Kolkata, Delhi maybe.
I tell him that Chandigarh - the supremacy of the road network, vehicles, front yards and backyards and driveways- reminds me of Perth and some American cities I have seen. He seems disappointed. The thought of Chandigarh being folded into the world's alumni of bourgeois cities, is it appears, a fearful prospect for Manu. Kolkata and Delhi offer something more.
sdf kjh. g/adfh srt
Excuse me. I have just been interrupted. As I write this post (in Amritsar), a young Sikh man - the owner of the internet cafe - has just asked how we have come to Amritsar today.
"From Chandigarh", I say.
"Ahhh, Chandigarh - very beautiful place......Chandigarh.......Very educated person in Chandigarh, very educated."
I'll leave it with that.
ciaociao
