NORTHERN QUARTERS: OKLAHOMA

Northern Quarters is an amazing place in Manchester. It spans around a large area and hosts lots of pubs, cultural centres, shops and other little artistics places which I have not found out about yet. I have personally been to the Northern Quarters many times, but have not really explored the place a lot. However, on my first few visits to the place, on High Street , a certain shop has caught my attention. This shop is called the Oklahoma. The cute penguin welcoming its guest inside the shop is what intrigued me the most. after having crossed the shop on many occassions, I finally made up my mind one day to enter and check it out.

At first glance, the dimly lit light of the shop, which provided an impetus for the displayed lampshades to glow more brightly struck me. The shop has lots of gift items at reasonable prices that you can buy as souveniers. From lampshades to lights; cards to post cards; soft toys; trinkets and stoles; and many more items that would attract someone with an artistic taste.

I am personally neither attracted towards interior designing nor an I a great fan of art; but I could not stop myself from appreciating the shop. Right from its decor and ambience , to the quality of the stuff that it sells and customer service all appeased me to quite an extent. I even bought some really funky postcards to add to my ever expanding post card collections. I intend to go there again preferably before I leave so that I can get some cool stuffs for friends back home.

Oklahoma also has a cafe which I have never been to, but it is on my bucket list. I would definately post on the Cafe when I go there. If any of you want to visit Oklahoma, The details are below.

Where? : High Street, City Centre M4 1ES
When?: For Christmas the times have changed to incorporate longer hours. But mostly it is open on all day from around 9-10 AM to 6-8 PM.
Queries?: You can also get further information on Oklahoma by visiting their website at  http://www.oklahomacafe.co.uk/contact/

Signing off with a photograph of some of the items I purchased from there.

 

POSTCARDS THAT I BOUGHT

PEEL PARK, SALFORD

Peel Park is one of the best Parks I have been to till date. In fact, I have been to this place more than once. Its strategic layout is right beside my University and I often plan to take a long walk amongst the greenish-yellow canopies of this park. At times, it has come across  as a saviour and helped me to take shelter during rains.Many times, it has just been a serene place where I can wander around undisturbed with my thoughts to give me company. The different birds and animals that live in harmony with the natural resources of the park, has often intrigued the amateur photographer in me. At other times, I deliberately go with a frame of mind to get some good photographs out of the place- to capture the various colours and sights of Autumn and the approaching winter.

Peel Park is just like any other park and needs no special description. It functions as a beautiful ground through which the River Irwell flows. It is a regular on the list of those who have pets because on many occassions I have seen alsatians playing happily in the park or chasing a squirrel. It serves as a great picnic spot too, although I have not seen any picnics happening there. It is a great den for the morning and evening walkers to just take some time off their busy schedules and interact with nature. Peel Park also has many subjects that would interest photographers and sometimes I see some photography groups on a mission to take great photos visiting the park. 

This post curates some of the photographs that I have taken of this Park during my visits to the place.

PEEL PARK
OVERLOOKING OLD PINT POT
FROM THE MAIN ROAD

BURST OF AUTUMN COLOURS

THE DESERTED PATHWAY

PEEL PARK OVERLOOKING IRWELL

PATH TO PEEL PARK FROM UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

THE WORLD FROM BELOW 

THE WORLD FROM BELOW II

HIDE AND SEEK

THE LONELY VISITOR 

THE WORLD FROM BELOW III

THE WORLD FROM BELOW IV

THE YELLOW FOLIAGE
EDITED BY: ZISHAN ASAD

HERITAGE AND LANDMARKS OF MANCHESTER

On one windy afternoon a group of around twenty five students from my University set out on a tour of some of the legendary places of this city. This post, in short describes some of the must see destinations of Manchester but every destination would be individually highlighted in later posts.

CHAPEL STREET 

Chapel Street is famous for being the first street in the city where street lights were switched on. Chapel Street today hosts the Peel Park Campus of the University of Salford.

PEEL PARK 

Some distance down from the Chapel Street is Peel Park. This park is a very pretty place to lose yourself amidst natures beauty. The colours of autumn, in full bloom, can be best experienced in the silent surroundings of this park. In fact one of the campuses of the University of Salford has been named after Peel Park.

THE CRESCENT

 Right opposite to Peel Park is The Crescent which has always been a great hangout place for the youth. Moreover, the Crescent gives special discounts to the University students.

THE BLACK HORSE HOTEL

 The Black Horse Hotel is another beautiful building standing almost entirely on its own. When I first saw the inn I was very impressed by it. In fact I had even made up my mind to go there one day and check it out; but very recently I found out that the hotel itself has closed down. Now only the building stands as a remembrance of what used to exist days ago.

ST. PHILIPS CHURCH

 Manchester is filled with churches and cathedrals. Every neighbourhood has one church of its own. This is St. Philips Church beside Peel Park. This church displays Greco-Roman architecture.

SALFORD CATHEDRAL

Two steps from the St Philips Church is the Salford Cathedral which has the aura of a mighty gothic- looking structure standing erect and high claiming its authority over the place.

CHURCH OF SACRED TRINITY

MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL

Moving further on you would find the Church of the Sacred Trinity and if you walk straight ahead you get to the Manchester Cathedral. This cathedral is said to be the Centre of the city as it is from here that the City Centre and one of the biggest shopping malls Manchester Arndale starts which later on merges with Market Street which is one of the high points of the city.

CHEETHAM LIBRARY

For those who have the slightest connection with Karl Marx, the Cheetham library would be an ideal place to visit. Not only because the membership is free but also because it was the very place where years ago Marx met his fellow companions and propagated his ideas.

CHEETHAM SCHOOL OF MUSIC

 Western music is always described by bands like Beatles, Eagles, pink Floyd, and more recently by Jackson, Madonna and the rest. But Cheetham School of Music has been imparting music to children and youth for years alike making it one of the most famous destinations of music.

VICTORIA STATION

Opposite to The Cheetham School of music is the Victoria Station Railway which connects the city to places like London, Leeds, Newcastle, York and Scotland.

SINCLAIRS PUB

 The Manchester City Council can be reached via a shortcut through the Sinclairs pub. It is said that when the city centre was being built, the Sinclairs pub was relocated to a new place brick by brick.

BEETHAM TOWER 

 A little further away from the City Council one comes to the Beetham Tower the tallest skyscraper of the city. With 47 floors tall, this building houses a hotel and is a primary landmark for those (like me) who frequently get lost in the city. The Museum of Science and Industry is built very near to this hotel.

CANAL SYSTEM

Right opposite the Museum is the Canal System of River Irwell. In fact I was told that many students take this unique arrangement as part of their studies and research work.

THE WORLD BEYOND HORIZONS

With the canal being our last point of visit, our tour came to an end. But as they say “the road goes on and on”, my journey is far from over and I would definitely try to visit all these places again and know more about their history and legends. 

OFF TO A NEW CITY : MANCHESTER DIARIES

Life takes a different turn when you decide to relocate to another country. Apart from the feeling of missing your house, bedroom, study table, friends and other objects of interests, you have to face the herculean task of facing what's waiting for you in the new country.  The people, the landscapes, the language, everything changes . Most importantly you have to start establishing connections and make friends all over again. But, this is part of your journey . In fact, I believe that relocation does not only correspond to physically moving to another place but mentally moving yourself and adapting to the newness of the place.

Most know why I am talking about relocation but for those who are unaware it is because I am having to go through the task of adjusting and settling down in Manchester after having taken the decision of relocating here for a year to complete my higher studies.

Manchester is one of the most beautiful places I have seen, not because geographically it is picturesque but also because the people play an immense role in making it look beautiful. The city flourishes because of the people who live in- Courtesy seems to be everyone's middle name. The smiling and cheerful faces even on the rainiest and darkest days in this city can brighten up anybody's day . 

To be really honest I have not been around the town in my sightseeing mode so as to start describing the city ; but there are some photogenic places which I have been able to capture at this stage through my lens. So, the photos in this post can best be considered as a prelude to what is to come. 

With new experiences and friends in this cosmopolitan city, hardly will there be a day when I would not have anything to share with you. But as of now I would leave you with some photographs so that you get an idea of what is to come in the following days.

TOWN HALL MANCHESTER NEAR THE CITY COUNCIL

EMPTY BENCHES NEAR THE TOWN HALL

BEAUTIFUL AND COLOURFUL  TREES OUTSIDE (SOMEBODY'S) WINDOW

RANDOM STREET PHOTO

STREET SHOT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

STREET SHOT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

CLOUDS OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

Travel, Memories and Me

Travel has no real meaning without memories collected from experiences. This post as the name suggests, is on a very personal terms, where I try to recall and relive the memories gathered from various travels. Of course, while some were made with friends most were embarked upon with family. I do not wish to hinder the privacy of any person and thus the names are strictly withheld. But the memories which are shared by many would surely make them remember their part in it. This post is a rather different listicle than I have ever made till date; and I do so because most of us are on a verge of starting a new life- joining work, pursuing masters, maybe even getting married (who knows!). This may well be the last time before we hear of many until we meet in person years later.

So, let us begin!

1. I remember having gone to Shantiniketan with school friends for a project. Though the project itself took us only three hours of field work (and God knows how many months of analysis and factory manufacturing of graphs later); the rest of the time was free to explore the place. The excitement of travelling with friends (maybe for the first  and last time) started our day with some of us actually forgetting to bid goodbyes to our parents (me included).Upon reaching the place, all of us were most interested in taking in the air of a new place and enjoying a part of the authentic culture of West Bengal. We visited a park- played bowling, took some groupfies (the term wasn’t very popular then), and caught our teacher lying flat on the grass trying to capture some insect which had camouflaged itself in the grass. The next morning a dear friend was greeted by a monkey and I, well saw someone rather good looking outside my window. Well, I cannot miss out on the great food that we had especially snacks (at least I had never had such tasty veg pakodas in my life before and sadly never after too). The evenings were spent working on our project, sharing ghost stories and one distinct night we indulged in a sleepover. Most of us are in different parts of India today, but I am sure that these memories of our trip together (and also a promise to have a reunion ten years later in 2021) would always bind us with an invisible chord.

2. Mandarmani has been covered at large in the blog previously, but here are some more tit-bits which actually made the trip so interesting. This trip was made immediately after my higher secondary examinations and involved my family members. We had a quite uneventful journey except some constant blabbering from the driver regarding the choice of  songs that I played on the mobile phone. Our first day spent in the beach passed quickly. We admired the beauty of the place. My grandmother started talking to the people of the hotel. We found out the timings when there would be no electricity and planned to leave for sightseeing during those times. I also spotted a couple (maybe honeymooning, who knows) wearing  matching clothes at all times. Evening came, and our super smart driver instead of taking us to the local shops drove us straight to the fish market and got the tyres stuck in a quicksand! The rest of the evening was spent in telephoning the reception to fix our AC till both we and they got equally irritated of it and replaced it altogether. Oh and I missed the shell collecting part! The next day saw my uncle hastily entering our room while my aunt and I were playing (cards probably) to say that he had been calling my aunt many a times but she had not picked up. She replied calmly that the phone was on silent mode and thereafter he left. I spoke aloud just then that he actually did not say the purpose with which he was calling though he came and asked why she did not pick up the phone! That apart there were no memorable incidents and after a two night stay we reached home safely and I was indeed happy with the trip and to get rid of the fidgety driver.

3.  The first time I went to Delhi was in 2009 and I fell in love with the place. The ambience is such that every nook and corner of the city reminds you of an era of royalty. Our first destination was the Rajghat where I almost burnt my feet. The second was the Red Fort where I almost fell down in the moat below. It is said that in the Mughal era, the moat was filled with crocodiles .I thanked my lucky stars that I did not fall on a moat full of crocs! Let me also hint, that this isn’t the first and last time I was about to fall on a moat. Looks like I have a magnetic pull towards moats of all forts. The usual sightseeing followed with Lotus Temple, Street Shopping, Birla Temple, Humayun’s Tomb and Qutub Minar. I distinctly remember the name of the hotel we had lunch in -Art Chillies. Delhi Haat was reserved for some shopping. In fact we had such a friendly driver this time, that he actually influenced us to change our train schedule to Mussoorie, the next day to another road trip to the place. (But it was not altogether a bad idea!)

4. My visit to Mussoorie deserves special mention. I was practically dragged out of bed- a groggy eyed me – at 3:30 am by my mother. All of us were up and ready by 6 am. It was to be a long trip and we were to start as early as possible. But we got delayed. Apparently, the driver was not informed that we were to reach Mussoorie and so he backed out. But, the hotel staffs were cordial enough to get hold of another chap who took us. We stopped for breakfast at nine at a place in the highway (the name of the inn quite evades me) but I never knew highway food could be so tasty. We resumed our journey through sugarcane fields, a very rocky stretch of road near Ghaziabad and lastly hit the mountains. We stopped for lunch at the foothills and then continued. On our way back a day later we proceeded towards Haridwar before going back to Delhi.

5. My next trip to Delhi (2014) was just a stopover to check on a relative and then proceed towards Agra the very same day. But, the day happened to be the oath taking ceremony of PM Narendra Modi. Delhi was jam packed and so we were diverted to Jaipur for a halt till the Delhi airport got cleared. We were already delayed by a long time. Nevertheless, we resumed our journey checked on our relative and proceeded towards Agra. The next morning finally ended my patience of 19 years to look upon the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort (where I  was about to fall in the moat again !). The evening was reserved for shopping. But  Agra is an expensive place. The handicrafts are best to look at for people like me. For those who know me, they might recall the fact that a baby donkey, which I was trying to photograph, did not appear very polite and its push nearly wrecked my camera.

6. The same journey continued the day after to Jaipur stopping en- route to Fatehpur Sikhri and Salim Chisti. I had great fun riding  a local shared auto which is quite different from the ones found in Kolkata. It is more colourful and spacious. Of course thereafter inside the monuments I burnt my feet . A little kid started stalking us inside Salim Chisti repeatedly saying that he would recite poetry for ten rupees. Finally after seeing the monument we heard his poetry, gave him some money and bid him goodbye.

7. Jaipur was my favourite amongst the lot. The feel of Rajasthan is something different and invokes in me an excitement that no other place has managed to invoke. Chouki Dhani a village resort is a must visit for those who haven’t seen it. That apart I visited the usual places. The best part of the place was our hotel. It was built on the upper storeys of a shopping mall. The food was nothing less than that of 5 star hotels. The only thorn in the entire trip was the return journey when our Kolkata bound plane got delayed by almost six hours .

8. Asansol was my last family trip taken in December 2014. This trip also had our neighbours join in. Actually, it was on the insistence of my friend and me that our parents took this short journey. The first blow was when my father’s flight got delayed and we had to shift the entire schedule by a day. We were to start early in the morning but got delayed because I slept on. I was woken up by my friend at 5 am but then I got back to sleep and was late by almost an hour. We visited Maithon and Kalyaneshwari Temple. The next day just as we were about to start our journey – the car broke down. It took around an hour to get it fixed. We saw Panchet and so excited were we to reach our next destination that we forgot all about lunch. At nearly 2 pm we remembered , abandoned our destination , started food hunting and got something to eat nearly an hour later. The rest of the journey was quite smooth and on our way home we stopped at Saktigarh to buy Langchas –which are my favourite sweets. The days ahead were filled with my examination and were quite boring.

This post is probably the longest I have ever written but what is the fun of reiterating memories if not explained in details? Keep following for more such experiences, memories and travel accounts. 

An Ode to Fruits

                    "Autumn is the mellower Season,

                     and what we lose in flowers,

                     We more than gain in fruits."

                                       -Samuel Butler 

                                            

It is not that I am too fond of fruits; in fact, I am a very picky fruit eater. I might like something one day and dislike it the other day. But that did not stop me from going into the wholesale fruit markets of bara-bazaar on 11th October, even if it was to only look at the place and see the various activities going on there. Here I must acknowledge that the fruit bazaar was certainly not what I had imagined; it was even better.

On entering the fruit bazaar, apart from some shops where the people were busy in packing and loading and unloading fruits from the trucks, we were greeted by a very old goat. It must be too soon for me to say, but the goat seemed to tell me that he had seen everything that possibly went on inside the mandi (popular term for the markets) and was probably waiting for a change.

Nevertheless, what interested me was that the entire place was abuzz with various activities which appealed to one’s senses. People were busy collecting fruits that had come from the trucks. While many unloaded carton full of fruits; there were others who sat and maintained records and finances of the deal. At many corners men gathered around a table and one person howled prices on top of his voice. Not knowing what it was when I went to check, I was told by another man that it was live auction at progress and those auctioneers surely wanted me to leave them in peace.

Delving further into the market one can notice that the ground had been covered by straws and hays. These were the materials in which the fruits were brought every morning and they were just discarded on the floor. This covered the floor into layers of hays and actually one can say that the ground was hardly visible. One has to walk on the "hay" floor inside the mandi. Looking up, the entire market is surrounded by houses- two or three storeyed houses. They were so old that it felt like they might fall any moment. But I prayed that they would not, at least not while I was there.

The actual market was a colorful delight. Everywhere one looked there were stack and stacks of fruits of various colors- red juicy pomegranates, huge fat pineapples, guavas, lovely peaches, delicious dates, ripe bananas, green and black grapes and the lot. But what dominated the scenes most were the green lemons. Everywhere you look there were lemons, lemons and more lemons.

While I stopped to take the entire feel in, I realized that this is nothing but an entire colony in itself. People living in the houses had their occupations just outside their thresholds. Apart from the fruit dealers proper, there were auctioneers, truck drivers, barbers, people who owned food shops and many others.

This post would not be complete if I miss out on the reactions of the people in the mandi. It was a mostly male dominated place where I could spot an occasional sari here or there. While most of them were middle -aged, many were also young who helped their fathers or uncles in this trade. Seeing people with DSLR’s in their area they became quite thrilled and gave a variety of responses. While some willingly posed in front of the camera, some started howling at us.  Many were eagerly calling us to take their photographs and one gentleman even posed for a single shot. I was actually lucky to be able to experiment with various techniques which I had recently learned from my mentor. Though not everything came out exactly what was in my mind, nevertheless it left me satisfied, though smelling of fruits and eager to go back for some more shots.

All in all, the entire trip was worth it and made me discover a new aspect of Kolkata which I had been negligent of all this while.