We countered the monotony of a dull landscape and a perceived menace by coining arbitrary automobile terms. Patspin – it came from the enormous quantity of cowpats we encountered on the road – was when a car slid its rear wheels on a particularly large bovine discharge. A cataract corner was a blindish bend, not definitively blind, but dangerously tempting. And as we drove on, we also devised strategies to thwart ambushes, assaults, and, with Sac’s gupti by our side, even skirmishes.
We got out to take a closer look, not intending to buy any. The stall owner told us what we already knew – about truck drivers taking them along in case they encountered trouble along the way. “There are no dacoits here; this is our area, but then you never know. A friendly man by day in Bihar can’t be trusted at night,” said the oldish man, wearing a ragged shirt and a brown dhoti.
For decades, Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab, was known as an affluent but quiet, laid back city ideal for retired people that had little to offer beyond its modern town people and its relaxed way of life. However, it is the first city to initiate the concept of town planning in India. Designed by Le Corbusier, Chandigarh is strategically segregated into 61 sectors. The pollution free air, the wide tree-lined boulevards and avenues, the cool ambiance of Sukhna Lake and the plush interiors belying the dull exteriors contribute in making Chandigarh a haven for fun-loving tourists.
The Rock Garden: An unpretentious entrance leads to a magnificent, almot surrealist arrangement of rock fossils, broken chinaware, discarded fluorescent tubes, broken and cast away glass bangles, building waste, coal and clay – all juxtaposed to create a dream folk world of palaces, soldiers, monkeys, village life, women and temples.
One of the interesting points to call attention to is the adoption of a circular form for the hall which seems contrary to the development of good acoustics. The Assembly Hall is made in a hyperbolic shell with an average thickness of 15 cm, constant throughout its surface, resulting in a very low cost and a minimum of weight (here the principle of industrial cooling towers has been applied to the architectural intentions). This shell does not terminate in a horizontal but in an oblique section which shall receive a metallic framework (aluminum). This framework will become a veritable physical laboratory destined to ensure the interplay of natural lighting, artificial lighting, ventilation and acoustic-electronic mechanisms.
