Thursday, September 30, 2010

The India-Pakistan Border Ceremony



Every day, a flag-lowering ceremony takes place at Wagah Border, which connects India and Pakistan via the Grand Trunk Road. The border, the only official land crossing-point between the two countries, separates Amritsar, India and Lahore, Pakistan. Each day, the 45-minute ceremony involves a carefully choreographed “standoff” between Indian and Pakistani soldiers, ending “in the lowering of both flags and the slamming of the border gates.”







The daily Wagah event is a popular tourist attraction, but rather than it being a show of hostility between the two nations, an atmosphere of jovial patriotism coexists on both sides. The ceremony is an exhibition of force mixed with cooperation, reminiscent more of dance battles than military aggression. It even ends with a handshake between the participants.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

What Do You Really Want




An American investment banker was at the pier of a small Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. 

The Mexican replied, "Only a little while." 

The American then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" 

The Mexican said, "With this I have more than enough to support my family's needs." 

The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" 


The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life." 

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you will run your ever-expanding enterprise." 

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?" 

To which the American replied, "15 to 20 years." 

"But what then?" asked the Mexican. 

The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions." 

"Millions?...Then what?" 

The American said, "Then you would retire, move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos." 

Mahen-theguru, reminding you to really look deep to see what you want in life. You may actually discover that you already have it.


Thursday, September 9, 2010

Choosing The Best Travel Accommodation





There are many things to consider when choosing your travel accommodations. The decision could make your trip fun or a disappointment. Choosing the right hotel is a must. Most travelers spend more time in airline ticket reservations and bargains but less time in choosing the right accommodations. Thus they may end up on the wrong side of the bed during their stay. 

To get the most out of your hotel accommodations, remember to book as early as possible and make your dates more flexible. Hotels that specialize for business people will consider weekends as off season. Family vacationers could tap into these special packages during weekends. Primarily, you should choose your hotel based on name, amenities, features, price, packages and location. 


1. Accommodations should be family-friendly. Always ask if your hotel offers children activity areas with educational and fun activities supervised by duly-trained care-givers. 

2. Your hotel should provide a swimming pool for children, daycare service, crib rental and child-proof electrical outlets. 

3. Stay in a hotel that has electronic room-key cards and has a security viewer installed on their doors. 

4. Make it a priority to choose a room on the upper floor. 

5. If you're the one who likes to spend more time in your hotel room and the balcony, you should ask for the available amenities and the conditions of the surrounding environment. 

6. Depending on whether you're on a private or business trip, ask your hotel about the availability of laundry service, hair dryers, coffee makers, newspapers, free meals, fax machine, bar, cable television, parking, shuttle service, internet connection, etc. 

7. The hotel property layout and its location may speak more of its surrounding environment. Noisy locations such as construction on adjacent property, car traffic and noisy waterfalls are not specified on hotel flyers. So be sure to ask about it. 

8. Beautifully landscaped surroundings with trees, flowers and inner courts also enhance your travel pleasure. Moreover, gift shops and restaurants all add up to a wonderful travel experience. 

9. The location of your hotel with respect to main attraction is equally important. It could save you money on taxi and bus fare. 

10. Make sure that the room service is provided 24 hours a day. 


11. Check out the room itself. Is it brightly colored or classical? It sets the mood of your travel. 

In order to get the most out of your travel, whether for business or family vacations, be sure to know everything about the hotel you are planning to check in to. Ask friends and relatives who have been there. Don't just depend on the hotel's webpage which is undoubtedly biased. Having to stay in a hotel which you don't like could ruin your trip. 








Survival China Travel - Tips and Tricks




These China Travel Tips, Survival Techniques, will help you get around and make your trip to China easier, so you will be able to experience the real China with a little less stress.

China is an odd beast that needs to be respected; the major cities, Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian, all have their own personalities.

Some complex situations that you think would be an organizational disaster turn out to be great and you wonder afterward what all the fuss and worry was about. Then the simplest of tasks can turn out to be a major calamity.

This is when you have what we call here a “China day”.

These days come and go and are part of the experience of everyday travel in China. One needs to have an open mind when travelling China. It is a place with thousands of years of history and culture that is trying overnight to adapt to Western ways of living.

You need to have a very open mind when you Travel in China.
I have listed below a few China Travel Tips that will make life that wee bit more bearable on your Travel China experience.


• Never expect a clean toilet 100% of the time.
• Be prepared; Carry some tissue.
• You may have to use a squat toilet, again if you know this before hand it is not a shock. If you don’t know how to use a squat toilet, try the following experiment at home.

While holding onto something for support with both hands, lower your body down into a low squat position, so that the cheeks of your bottom is almost touching your heels or the back of your calf. Now, let go with your hands. See if you stay in this position for at least 1 minute. If you fall backwards or you cannot get up, then a squat toilet could be a problem for you! Practice, you will be happy you did.

• If you see a clean toilet, Go… it may not come again for a while.
• There are many public toilets around the cities, usually the ones you pay for are OK, (RMB .5), the others best to stay away from if you can. You will soon notice them as you walk around the cities.
• Be warned that public areas like bus and train stations are usually what I class as “tough toilets”, however if gotta go you gotta go.
• Outside of the major cities, the toilet systems are old or have very narrow plumbing /pipes and get blocked easily. In these cases a small basket is usually beside the toilet, this is for your used toilet paper. 

One of the best China Travel toilet Tips I can give you, is use hotel lobby toilets; these are everywhere and are always clean. Still they may not always have toilet paper. It depends on the class of hotel that you are using.

I do not wish to scare you. However, of all the China Travel Tips in all the other web sites I have read, this is a topic not often mentioned, but it is very important to us all.

So outside of the major cities conditions can be tough. But most of the time everything will be fine, especially if you book a tour; everything will have been checked out before hand. However even the best laid plans can go wrong, so be prepared, the toilets in the smaller cities, towns and villages can be scary.


• The food is great and the variety is overwhelming. Most of the time you get to choose what you eat, or you can recognize what you’re eating, however sometimes you do not get a choice. Carry a chocolate bar or something; this will keep you going until some food that you can recognize turns up. Drink bottled or boiled water, as the tap water is NOT safe to drink, this is for the whole of China. Even boiled water, while sterilised can contain a lot of minerals and iron deposits that you probably do not want in your system. The safest bet is to drink bottle water. Tap water in most big cities is OK for brushing teeth.
• Eating habits - Most Chinese people have a great habit of being very noisy when they eat and lunch and dinner times can be a wonderfully noisy celebration, food tends to go in all directions, its just part of being in China.
• People also smoke at the table while everyone is eating, so some restaurants get very loud and smoky.
• If you get stuck what to order as most of the menu’s are in Chinese just look at the table next to you and point to the dish you fancy and ask how much it is, this system works really well and know seems to mind.
• I have a basic menu that will help you order safe food, (no Cats or Dog) this will enable you to visit a larger selection of restaurants, not just the tourist ones with high prices. You can carry it with you and use it in the local restaurants where most will be able to serve what is on it. This way you will know what you are eating.



These local places are very cheap and the food it great. Contact me if you would like me to send it to you.


• China Travel Tips- Taxis - Taxis are an experience that can have you griping the seat and gasping for breath; however you soon get used to it, after the first few rides, you’re an old hand.
• The taxis in Shanghai are, overall, quite good. Try to get the Blue, Blue’ish Turquoise, Gold and White taxis, these are the best… these are the four major taxi companies and are generally recognised by their single colour paintwork. The others are OK, just older and a rougher ride (the others also may have faulty metres). No drivers will speak English.
• Carry your hotel or accommodation business card with you, written in Chinese, this helps if you get lost walking around town.
• In all the taxis around the country you will see the drivers name and taxi registration number in plain sight. If you have any problem, or if you think you have been over charged etc, just take this number down, make a big fuss about it, and the driver then should wake up and fix whatever problem you have. Even better is to take the receipt. This has all the trip details on it and you can ring the taxi company if you want to take things further or if you’ve left something in the taxi.
• The government takes rip-off drivers in all cities, Beijing and Xian especially, very seriously and if you complain they will lose their license. This is their livelihood. So far I have had not one driver in 3 years that has not backed down and we have then agreed a price for the trip or solved our problem.
• In Shanghai, it is common practice for taxi fare increases after 11pm. However, one can usually bargain for a 20% discount, which will get the fare back to the pre-11pm rate.
Be strong with the taxi drivers, never-the-less, keep your cool, smile and negotiate.


• China Travel Tips - Shopping - China is a shopper’s paradise, Markets, Bargains; Top labels… anything and everything if you have the time. With clothes, the larger (Western) sizes can be quite hard to find, however in the major cities where you get a lot of tourist traffic, you can find them.
• Electrical gear, DVD’s, Cameras, stuff like this is not worth buying in China, Hong Kong is still the best place for this.
• Store hours in the major cities are from 10am to 10pm, 7 days a week.
• Visa card is still the best card to carry, with ATM’s in good supply all with PLUS access etc.
There is usually a surcharge for use of VISA, MasterCard or other forms of credit card.
• Wait on purchasing if you can, look around to get a feel for the prices. The Chinese are VERY experienced at selling and know that we halve the opening price when bargaining.
In the markets go for 25% of what they first ask; go so low that they let you walk away. This will give you an idea of the bottom price. The resulting end-price will probably be around 40% to 50% of where they started.

Whatever the market people say, they are used to pushing and haggling for best prices. Do not worry about being too hard, they are used to it and will not sell you an item unless they make a profit. Don’t be concerned with the apparently hurt body language when you go low – it is all part of the game. As soon as they have wrapped up your first purchase, they will try to sell you something more. Remember to keep smiling and having fun while bargaining. 


• Most hotels will have a doctor that you can see. In the major hotels English will be spoken.
• Always take a small first aid kit, cold remedy, headache tablets at the very least. WATSONS is a very large chain chemist. Most of the remedies, tablets etc, that you may require should be in these shops. These shops are all over China.
• There is a great network of pharmacy type shops; these are indicated by a Green Cross. There will always be a 24 hr Green Cross pharmacy in the city you are in. It is handy to carry a Phase book, as no one will speak English, however you will end up with something that will help.
INPORTANT POINT – for most of the mass produced packet type medicines, the packaging will be written in Chinese on one side, English on the other. However in the shops you only see the Chinese side. Have a good look, turn the packs over, it gives you a lot more confidence knowing you can read the package.
• If you have a specific medical issue, take records, most of the Doctors will have OK written / reading English, even though their oral English will be poor.


• Using the phone is as easy as at home. However the person picking it up will not speak English or have very broken English… the Major 4- or 5-Star Hotels will all be OK.
• What is worth doing is buying a Chinese Telecom SIM card, they are about RMB100 and with this you get RMB50 in calls, the other 50 is for the price of the SIM card; this SIM card will go into all major brand phones and work OK.

By doing this, people can reach you within and out of China if there is an emergency. If you have a couple of phones, you can short (txt) message each other (SMS). Also you are able to call your tourist guide, hotel etc if you have any major problems. It is a cheap way to keep in touch.

NB.Before you buy a Chinese SIM card, check that it will work in your Cell / Mobile phone. There are plenty of China Telecom shops that can help.


• Spring Festival, this would be the Chinese New Year time, around the end of January / Early February
• Early May; Labour day Holidays
• Early October; National Day Holidays

Of all the China Travel Tips National Day is the biggest one. Millions of Chinese travel at these holiday times of the year. Most are travelling back to home towns or visiting family. Hotels, trains, planes, cars, buses, and roads are all crowded to the maximum. Major congestion, everywhere.

Also travel fares are at their full price. No discounts are offered!
Stay in one place and enjoy where you are. It’s best and causes fewer hassles.


• If you want to watch TV, most of the major hotels will have cable and if you are in the smaller places, the national channel, CCTV9 is in English. Over the last couple of years it has got a lot better, with some great China Travel Tips programs, news and views on people and places around China.


• There is a “construction fee” at almost all airports.

Domestic flights RMB 50
International flights RMB 90 – which is to be paid in local currency.

Just recently, tickets are being tissued with the Construction Tax included; however make sure you have the Tax money with you just to make sure. 


I hope some of these China Travel Tips will come in handy and will make your trip to China that little bit easier.

If you have been to China and wish to share your China Travel Tips, please feel free to contact me anytime.



Check Link : China Travel TIPS

China Business Travel 101


Ever wondered if you could deal directly with manufacturers... in China?! It's easier than you think. 








First Impression

I visited China in Autumn 2005 with a group of business associates and must admit that I was amazed, both by the warm reception we received wherever we went, and at the factories we toured. Having never been there before, and having only news accounts of "difficulties" between China and the U.S. to fuel my imagination, I assumed things would be overly formal and official at best... at worst, cold... and we would be "watched" constantly. I was so wrong on both counts. We were treated as welcome visitors and had only to ask the hotel staff for something to have it almost magically produced. 

Shanghai

Lost in Translation

Outside of the hotels and manufacturing facilities, doing business in the streets and in small shops was, at most times, terribly difficult. We had arranged our factory visits and business meetings with our contacts in China, and there were no problems on that side when it came to language. But once we stepped out on our own, we rarely found anyone - even in tourist gift shops - who could communicate in English at all. Next time I visit China, I'll hopefully be armed with a few more basic Mandarin phrases, but for everyone visiting, even just for leisure, I'd recommend hiring translators to assist you.




Cash in China 

Another word of warning: business owners back home in the States may be suitably impressed by your Gold Card, but to the Chinese shopkeeper it's just a pretty piece of plastic that won't buy a cup of Chinese tea. Even in the large cities, you're going to have to carry around Chinese Yuan (aka Renminbi) in cash if you want to be able to go shopping or eat at a restaurant. I have to say, the upside of this is that you won't find yourself going over budget. But with the incredibly low Chinese retail prices, that probably wouldn't happen anyway. 

China Money


Low Retail Prices 

Once you've overcome the communication difficulties you'll be amazed to find the bargains you'll find in the small shops. For a start, it's an electronics paradise. Just make sure you do your homework on what will and won't work back in the States. Of course it is easy to load yourself up with personal purchases, but the real value is getting even more ideas of attractive products to start selling back home


Factories in China 

Our visit to a manufacturing plant in Huizhou left us all . . . well, 'impressed' hardly seems like a strong enough word. The building, on the outside was sort of drab looking with banners hanging here and there but inside was quite a different story. First of all we were treated as if we were VIPs instead of mid-level managers from Kenosha. Most importantly, however, the level of automation in this factory was remarkable, even by American standards and, when you look at the numbers, you see that the productivity is really impressive. It's no longer a mystery to this American why China is finding such a willing market in America. 




I wish I had more than the seven days we were able to stay in China, but it won't be long before I'm back, this time with a group of my friends who have been listening to me talking about the business opportunities since I got back... and who now want to go out there to get a piece of the action for themselves. 

China Travel Tips


An Adventurers Travel Checklist

The following is a List that I have gathered through years of experience and research. They don't necessarily apply to an Outdoor Adventurer. You Pick and choose your priorities according to your destination and the length of your stay. Visit An Adventures Travel Checklist for more information and the necessary gear for your trip.

Adventure Travel
Adventure Travel

Gear Essentials 


  • Day Pack 
  • Flashlight 
  • Compact Binoculars 
  • First Aid Kit 
  • Sunglasses 
  • Multi-tool 
  • Watch 
  • Sunscreen 
  • Water bottle (with built-in filter) 
  • Hat 
  • Whistle 
  • Map or Travel Guide 
  • Compass or GPS receiver

Pre-Departure 


  • Passport 
  • Visa if needed 
  • Health Documentation 
  • Transportation Tickets 
  • Frequent Flyer Cards 
  • Emergency Information 
  • Insurance 
  • Hotel Reservations 
  • Traveler’s Checks 
  • Currency (both local and American) 
  • Credit Cards 
  • Guide Books and Maps 
  • Trip Cancellation/ Medical 


Information 

  • Copies of Passport, ID and Documents 
  • Special Event Reservations 

Travel Gear 

  • Main Travel Bag (Duffle/Luggage, etc.) 
  • Packing Accessories (clothes, small stuff and toiletries) 
  • Security (Passport carrier, luggage locks/ tags) 
  • Document Organizer 
  • Everyday Bag 

Everyday Basics 


  • Travel Clothing 
  • Raincoat/ Umbrella 
  • Travel Footwear 
  • Visor or Brimmed Hat 
  • Camera. Lenses and Film 
  • Radiation Shield for Film 
  • Video Camera, Tapes 
  • CD/ Cassette Player 
  • Electric/ Phone Converters 
  • Travel Alarms 
  • Language Books 
  • Reading Materials 
  • Address Book 
  • Travel Journal 
  • Pen/ Pencil 
  • Scarf/ Bandana 
  • Games/ Playing Cards 
  • Snacks 
  • Hand Sanitizer/ Towlettes 
  • Travel Neck Pillow 
  • Eye Shade/ Ear Plugs 
  • Portable Door Lock 
  • Tissues/ Toilet Paper 
  • Keys 

Maintenance Items 

  • Flashlight Batteries/ Bulbs 
  • Matches or Lighter 
  • Extra Batteries 
  • Sewing/ Repair Kit 
  • Duct Tape 
  • Travel Iron or Steamer 
  • Sink Stopper for Hotel Sinks 
  • Zip-Close Plastic Bags 

Travel Health 

  • Travel Health Booklet 
  • Pain Reliever/ Aspirin 
  • Cold Medicine 
  • Contact Lens Items 
  • Diarrhea Medicine 
  • Motion Sickness Medicine 
  • Laxative 
  • Insect Protection 
  • Sun Protection 
  • Antibiotic Cream 
  • Malaria Medication 
  • Personal Hygiene Items 
  • Personal Prescriptions

On Adventure
Adventureeeeeeee
Visit An Adventurers Travel Checklist for more information and the necessary gear for your trip.

A Complete India Travel Guide Launched

Your wait is finally over. A complete Travel Guide, Complete India Travel Guide that focuses completely on India has been launched. The days of scratching about for information on India before you embark on a tour of this beautiful country is passé. Learn more about the beauty of this enchanting land from this exhaustively informative website Compleye India Travel Guide. This travel guide has quite a few useful tools that enable it to become a traveler’s best friend. 



Are you ready to pack your bag but not very sure about your destination? At BharatExpedition.com you will get to know about some tourist locations, whose existence you were never aware of. No wonder, this is by far the best India Travel Guide that you will find in the Internet. Rich in information, this exclusively India centric travel guide is surely destined to become a tourist’s best pal.

Travel Guide is conceived to provide travelers with enough information on travel so that it becomes easier for them to take decisions. The website enables you to book hotels in more than 150 Indian cities. You also have the choice to book a luxury hotel or a budget hotel. One added advantage that this complete India Travel Guide has is its ability to book hotels real time through partners and give instant confirmation facility. It has more than 500 hotels of all categories throughout India in its database. You can, therefore, be pretty sure of getting a hotel room anywhere in the country.

This extremely informative guide on Indian tourism will help you plan you tour without getting sand between your toes. Tourists who love to stay off the beaten track will find this website to their liking. There are plenty of exotic tour packages like safari tours, golf tours, beach holidays and adventure tours. If you want to re-live history, you will have plenty of information on historic places like Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. Enjoy life in throbbing metropolitan cities like Mumbai. The website aims to provide you will all the travel resources that you may need. Here you will find popular tourist destinations as well as lesser known paradises on earth.

Complete INDIA Travel Guide
Knowledge is power. Your tour can be safe and delightful if you have all the information about the place where you wish to go. At BharatExpedition.com   you will have more than enough information on tourist attractions. Small things often make big difference. BharatExpedition.com  has an eye for detail. Here you will get the direction of tourist hot spots from different transit points like airport, railway station and even bus stop. You will also get to know about the hotels near that attraction. Many websites has the ability to book a flight or car too. 

This complete India Travel Guide is the only one of its kind. It has more information than a typical travel search engine. At the same time it enables you to book hotels, flights, cars and packages online. These entire things combine together to make Complete India Travel Guide a unique India oriented travel guide.


Sunday, September 5, 2010

Vastu Shastra - ancient and medieval canons on city planning and architecture

Adherence to Vastu Shastra, the ancient and medieval canons on city planning and architecture, has suddenly assumed tremendous significance, particularly among the well-educated and affluent in urban India. It may be difficult to predict if this is just a fad or if it will be a way of building dwellings, offices, and factories etc. for many years to come.

Palace in Rajasthan
Interestingly, practically none of the practitioners of Vastu Shastra has an academic background. So there is a lot of genuine practice as well as hearsay going around. In this brief introduction, the intention is to give a broad overall picture of the Vastu Shastra with some examples.


Vastu Shastras are canons dealing with the subject of vastu which means the environment. Put differently, one may regard them as codification of good practices of design of buildings and cities, which will provide settings for the conduct of human life in harmony with physical as well as metaphysical forces. These Vastu Shastra canons provide guidelines for design of buildings and planning of cities such that they will bring health, wealth and peace to the inhabitants.


Mythological beliefs are certainty at the root of the origins of these canonical texts and their discourse. The first of these relates to Vastupurusha, which appears to be the first step in ordering a part of the vast cosmic space, the brahmanda, for human habitation. According to myth, long ago there existed an unnamed, unknown and formless being which blocked the sky and the earth. The Gods forced it down on earth and pressed it face down. To ensure that it did not escape again, Lord Brahma, the supreme creator, along with other gods weighted it down and called it vastupurusha.

Lord Brahma, of course, occupied the central portion and in a hierarchic distribution along concentric rings assigned different quarters to different major and minor gods. Thus emerged a geometric configuration, which is called mandala. From one basic square, the canons have listed up to 1024 divisions of a square and given each one a name. The most popular among those have 64 and 81 divisions known as Manduka Mandala and Param Sayika Mandala, respectively, which are widely used for temple and dwelling plans.
Vashtupurushamandala

The mandala is also given an orientation with Surya, the sun-god, occupying the central point of periphery to east; Varuna, the Lord of winds, to the west; Kubera, the Lord of Wealth, to the north; and Yama, the Lord of Death, to the south. The rest of the squares are occupied by the other minor gods. With the positions thus assigned and the beneficial or otherwise attributes of gods established through other myths, it is possible to assign the activities of living, working and support facilities over the mandala and therefore the layout of a city or a building.

The mandala is, of course, the most popular aspect of the vastushastras as it is constantly referred to for the location of the various activities in a building. The proper texts themselves, however, deal with a wide range of topics relating to built-environment. These include site selection, soil testing, building materials and techniques, design of temples separately by number of floors, palaces, dwellings, gates, image of the deity, their vehicles and seats even including the making of image of a linga for Shiva temples. All these are treated in different chapters of the canonical texts.

As an example, one may mention the matter of site selection, which is dealt with in both scientific and religious terms. The method of digging a pit and refilling it with excavated earth is given scientific treatment. If a lot of earth is left out, then the soil is compact with good load-bearing capacity.

A similar test checks the seepage of water in the soil. It if is quick, the soil is obviously not good. The religious prescription suggest that if the soil is white with ghee-like smell, it is good for Brahmins, if red with blood-like smell it is good for Kashtriyas, yellow with smell like sesamum oil, it is good for Vaishyas and black with the smell of rotten fish, it is good for Shudras. While the first two suggestions would still find the approval of a modern engineer, the third more likely betrays the caste-ridden nature of some of the Shastra's recommendations.

The Shastras also deal at length with town planning and form of towns suitable for different purposes such as administrative towns, hill towns, coastal towns or religious towns built at a sacred place. Among the most famous examples of a town planned according to these standards is the example of Old Jaipur which is based on a Prastar type town described in several texts. Built in 1727 AD, the final form and structure of the town shows a skillful manipulation, according to the Shastra's prescriptions, of the square mandala right from the whole to the smallest of the plots, the location of activities, and distribution of the caste groups.

City Palace Jaipur- Rajasthan
Based on the studies carried out by scholars it is suggested that these texts were written down largely between the 7th century AD to 13th century AD following the Gupta period. They are found in all the major languages of medieval India. Of course, the earliest references are also found in the Vedas, which deal with carpentry among other subjects.


Vastusastras can be said to be companion texts to Shilpasastras and Chitrasastras dealing with sculpture, icons and painting respectively. Strangely, among all these texts, those devoted exclusively to one of the areas. i.e. vastu, chitra or shilpa are rare. This is because in the Indian artistic traditions, each was an important and integral part of the creative endeavor largely because all of these, including performing arts such as the dance and music, were based at the temple.

Among the vasthusastra texts are Mansar, Maymata, Vishwakarma and Samrangana Sutradhara which is credited to Raja Bhoja. The others are believed to have been authored by ancient saints and sages. These include Lord Vishwakarma who is architect to the gods in the Nagara or northern traditions, and Maya who is architect to the gods in the Dravida or Southern tradition. In the northern tradition Maya is regarded as architect to the danavas or demons. To give some idea about the size of the text, Masar comprises 5400 verses organized in a total of 70 chapters.
Bhrigu Rishi

However, the nature, content and format of the texts as discussed above is in total contrast to the books that have recently been published and gone through, in some cases, half a dozen reprints in a span of one year. They share very little in common. As to what are the origins of the practitioners' texts recently published, I can only suggest that these would he more ritualistic practices broadly interpreted by the various puranic texts such as Agni Purana, Matsya Purana and their Agmic versions in the Dravidian traditions. The parallel I can draw upon is of Brigusamhita used by the palmists, which by itself has no serious pretensions to astronomy. The practitioners themselves are silent and unresponsive when questioned about these aspects.



One of the more recent texts goes so far as to suggest the location of two weighing scales in different parts of the plot in a factory. One was for weighing raw materials which would in that location weigh less than actual, and the other one of weighing finished goods which would register more weight than actual. Very neat, one may say, and very tempting for the factory owner.

As to the beneficial aspects of following these suggestions, the available experience is equally divided. There seems to be an equal number of success stories as well as failures. Here, I believe, the analogy of the typical palmist is best. Perhaps there are genuine jyotish shastris as well as frauds. Is it that human beings want to be able to put blame on some unknown forces for failures? Or that they would want to appease the unknown to ensure a success? These are more a matter of faith rather than belief.



Fortunately, Indians are not alone in this in recent times. Across Asia there is a resurgence of these beliefs and practices. Feng-shui, the Chinese version of Vastusastras, is practiced all over the Far East and South-east Asia. There, too, the situation is one of either you believe and practice or you don't believe and don't practice. Does this mean that one cannot explain this on a rational basis?

These texts (i.e. the genuine ancient and medieval canons) dealt with the classical manner of arts and architecture. This meant that irrespective of who was doing what and where, a certain quality, content and perfection would always be achieved just by following the texts. To paraphrase Einstein's observation for a similar work, "it makes good easy and bad difficult". This means that a temple made on the banks of Ganga would be as perfect as one made on shipra though patronised and designed by different persons.

Even those uninitiated can learn and practice the entire range of connected activities right from the selection of a site to the execution of all the elemental details. Then there is some reason to believe that some of the suggestions may indeed reflect more real concerns such as climatic suitability of locating the human activities in a building. An entrance front north ensures that it will always be in cool shade in India, besides allowing the wealth to flow in as it is the direction of Lord Kubera. The next alternative of entrance from east certainly brightens up the morning environment with the first rays of sun to start a great new day on a cheerful note.
Tirumala
Then there is a metaphysical aspect to it all. This one concerns the fears of the unknown on one hand, and attempts to intellectually grasp the nature of the world on the other hand. And between these two is the human desire to do things right, in conformity and in harmony with the unknown world and its forces. This is where particularly the mandala diagrams become very useful. These, in abstract terms, manifest or represent the cosmological conception of the world, albeit the world as conceived or interpreted by the ancient and the medieval scholars.


It is therefore natural that buildings and cities which represent a significant alteration of the terrestrial world be based on the mandala to make them harmonize with the unknown world. In other words, it, is undertaking a human act in tune with the nature as well as the unknown in the belief that these will not clash but work harmoniously to bring peace and prosperity to the builder and the inhabitants.

Architecture is a human act. It requires carving out a segment of that omnipotent, universal space of the brahmanda, the cosmic space, for the use of the human beings. It is not often that architecture truly rises to the challenges of capturing the divine character of the brahmanda in its folds. When it does happen the architectural experience exalts generations of people to come. Is this not true of Mahabalipuram, Khajuraho, Kailashnath? Or the city of Jaipur, its havelis as well those of Samod and Shekhavati region? Let us remember that these are all based on the Vasthusastras.