in the middle of the Carribean: Puerto Rico

of the charming sea-walled fortress town of  Old San Juan 
of a strong natural harbor
of a Spanish colonial past that has been transformed into a rich contemporary vernacular 
of its food - that is as evolved and robust as its culture 
of its diverse flora and fauna
of a clan that takes pride in its existence
of the sun & sand and the blue sea


Puerto Rico has many stories to tell! 


pic above: Fort San Cristobal - Old San Juan

of familiar strangers

The guy at the parking garage, the coffee vendor at your neighborhood cafe, the person at the office building front desk, the guy at the grocery store checkout, fellow 'gym'ers, the lady taking order at your regular restaurant...


... they are not family, friends or acquaintances ... but familiar faces you see day in and day out- exchange smiles acknowledging the familiarity... they are familiar strangers


Many months ago, on my last day in Denver- I bid good-bye to all my friends and colleagues I left behind... but as I was walking out of the office building on the last day, a small, insignificant thought occurred to me - would the lady who I picked breakfast every morning from or the juice vendor in the lobby wonder where I was after a few days? probably not! 

pic above...

...walking in New York

Pic Courtesy: the husband!

She calls it ‘Houston’s heart’ …

… I ask – History, unique and fascinating it is! – But has it taken away from ‘Houston’s heart’?

Without further adieu let me introduce you to the subject of this blog post- the TUNNEL!!!

A gentleman once told me –“walking through this tunnel makes you feel like a little rabbit – you occasionally need to peep out to see where you are”. Right you are, Sir!

Ever since I started working in downtown Houston, a few months ago, I have been fairly ‘intrigued’ by the elaborate and extensive underground network that this part of the town exhibits. Lets first talk about my experience and opinion about the tunnel system and if the subject fascinates you too – go on to read more about its history and story in the link that will appear towards the end of the post.

So what is this tunnel you ask? It is a whole different ‘underground’ world – not just a network of streets that connects the entire downtown but a bustling system of shops, great restaurants, eateries, convenience stores, dry cleaners, art exhibits,  so on and so forth. Not only is it a means of getting around downtown on days of inclement weather (in the context of Houston that would mean hot days above 100F or rain) but this well-lit, completely finished, air conditioned and well guarded SEVEN mile long underground system is more a destination in itself- the heart of intense pedestrian activity for the city’s central business district.

As an Urbanist, I have obvious complains about this system – one that takes life ‘off’ the streets leaving for fairly monolithic street frontages of tall office lobbies, minimal retail storefront and activity. To note though, the part of downtown Houston that manages to balance street life and that underground – is the theater district and areas adjacent to it- lively by day and night- restaurants/outdoor seating and street side pedestrian activity.

On a personal note – I am claustrophobic - which makes me feel not so comfortable underground!

Having said all that, this tunnel really intrigues me – for the subterranean urbanism that exists in there, bustling with activity visible and known only to an ‘insider’.  The city’s buildings lend themselves to pedestrians: allowing themselves to be experienced from the inside… manifested in different ways but giving something more to the pedestrian than what he would get as a passerby!

My love for being connected to the outdoors leads me to avoid the tunnel as much as I can but in a climate like Houston where summers are hot and its rains often, a covered walkway system is probably justified but the ideal scenario would have been though for the tunnel to be purely a means for pedestrians to navigate and come up to ‘real’ life on the street and not a world underground!

Discover Houston Tours, does a tour of the tunnel system and this write up makes for an interesting read….the article reads… Although the Tunnel is one of Houston's best-kept secrets, most of downtown's 150,000-person workforce - and thousands of visitors - use it every day, particularly when it's raining or close to 100 degrees above ground. This system of air-conditioned skywalks and subterranean passages has been given many different names - mall, concourse, connection, underground, promenade - but Houstonians continue to call it simply "the Tunnel." …….. CLICK here to read on

Title of post borrowed from Sandra Lord- author of the article above – and calls herself-the tunnel lady

bourdain speaks!

"deeper you go into a country-the more back in time you do"


- Anthony Bourdain in today's episode of No Reservations in India - this so true for any country anywhere in the world!


love his show!!!! 

iron chef fans... read on.

Besides wanting to visit the Hearst Tower, NY Times building, High Line Park, New Contemporary art museum, revisiting the Moma and Guggenheim, absorbing the city all over again, catching up with friends and partying, up on the list was dining at two Iron Chef Restaurants on our trip to New York last weekend – and so we did….

@ Morimotos

And

@ Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill

So with an empty stomach and open mind I say to you America… let the battle begin!!!!

The verdict has been made – and the winner is – Iron Chef Morimoto! While both chefs maxed points on taste and flavor, Morimoto has surpassed in presentation and creativity… not to forget hospitality and ambience too!

But we still love you too Bobby Flay!!!




p.s: morimoto's restaurant is designed by Tadao Ando...need i say more?

random and unimportant!

so... 

 its reflect a sense of appreciation and acknowledgement if one says ' i am so proud of him' ' or even 'i am so proud of myself'

but it indicates arrogance and excessive self-esteem if stated as 'he is so proud of himself'! 

beyond the motor City

Beyond the Motor City ~ [Preview] | Blueprint America | PBS

- Watched the movie this past week at a special screening at the MFAH (Museum of Fine Arts) Houston. It took me back to the two years of Architecture school in Michigan where 50% of the studios/courses I chose were focused on the resurrection of a wonderful city that Detroit once was!

There is no doubt or argument and time and again we are reminded that one of the key factors that a nation's success depends on is its infrastructure - a lesson we cannot ignore, especially in India.

p.s - was glad to see my UMich Prof -Robert Fishman in the movie!

a strange intrigue

Ever since I read Eric Weiner's book-Geography of Bliss sometime last year, I have been intrigued by Iceland. Eric is an NPR correspondent and the book is about his travels across the world in search of Happiness - from country to country, exploring the happiest to the saddest. In his list  (based on research by multiple organizations and beliefs) Iceland tops the list of the 'happiest' country in the world. I was intrigued - by the country's strangeness and uniqueness in many ways - the culture of the vikings, the prolonged dark winter days, the geothermal springs, the active volcanos, the daily life and culture, views and emphasis on art,strange eating habits, so on and so forth. 

Was watching Anthony Bourdain's Iceland episode of No Reservations and that intrigue is reignited! it is a strange land- and not one that  is  on my list of 'must visit' places but the surreality of that land is certainly a calling! 

places that stick...

this post will have to be read in the filmi spirit of 'tera mujhse hain pehle ka nahta koi... yuhin nahi dil lubhata koi' 

It is fair to say that 'travel' finds a spot high up there in my list of interests... 

Time and again you visit that one place which just sticks with you - not exactly for its grandeur or places of interest - but more so for its vibe, energy, culture - that just clicks! In that spirit ... one such place for me is 'Amsterdam'.

Its been over a year since I saw you, also not that we have many things in common - and certainly not those aspects of yours that have made you infamous world over - but I love you dear Amsterdam - love your streets, your buildings,your sense of style, your food, design, culture and life! You are so eclectic! I miss you so and think about you for no reason at times- like, right now! 

do you Doga?

I thoroughly enjoy my once a week regular Yoga sessions.  I can understand - toddler yoga, prenatal yoga- but this one cracked me up - DOGA - yoga with your dog... Yogis and Yoginis are joined by their Dogis and Doginis.


I am not kidding - check the link out here and come back and tell me what you think!

toys-r-plastic

For the purpose of this post I am going to venture into an arena I am not very familiar with - but certainly an aspect of it, I am passionate about!  I am sure I maybe missing something here -feel free to enlighten me!

Last evening, the husband and I walked into a big box 'toy store' to buy something to gift a friend's one year old at his upcoming birthday party. Given I have often either bought gifts for children from trusted online sources or clothes coupled with the fact that I haven't really done much of it, I was certainly shocked on walking into the store.


Almost all of it was plastic! I may have been aware about this at the back of my head - but seeing the shear volume together was certainly shocking. Its probably the most amount of plastic I have seen together at one time. I am sure a percentage of it may be recycled and/or green in some other way but is this really the amount of plastic a child at a tender age should be exposed to? I am not even going to go into the aspect of bad plastic, BPA etc - just the amount in itself was shocking enough!

We walked in and walked out of the store in precisely 5 minutes as the husband sensed an andolan* about to be started by yours truly right then and there.

Emotions apart, there are life lessons hidden here too - do we really want to expose the future of our lives in such huge quantities to a material that is so 'plastic' (pun intended!) ; most of which will pretty much never disintegrate and probably sit there in a landfill even after mankind disappears! 

Does a child really need ALL that junk? Of course they need to play - but there are so many other choices that can be made. After all our life style is mostly a reflection of what we have been exposed to and taught at an early age!

For now I am going to happily stick to my trusted resource - Inhabitots for ideas and suggestions for buying gifts for children!

*andolan - protest in hindi 

of Writing and Design

Writing and Design to me are like two sides of the same coin in many ways! 

- They are both pieces of a puzzle floating in different parts of your brain waiting to fall in place. The peace of mind comes only when that 'falling in place' finally happens. 

- While they both may rely on intuition and require one to be gifted and creative to a certain extent, good design and good writing are often dependent on solid  well grounded research and analysis. 

- They both have this great ability to keep you awake in bed for hours, thinking! 

- You can spend hours of your work day trying to solve the puzzle - but more than often it falls in place at some random time in the day - like while cooking, showering, reading, watching TV or while falling asleep or waking up! and then there is the sudden sigh of relief! 

- They are both at their core ,tools of communication and expression, but often times a means to influence lives in many ways

- While design is mostly my profession and writing mostly a hobby,  I often find myself 'designing' my writing and 'writing' my 'design'! 

Local jewels

Houston may or may not be good for many things but it is certainly a great place for 'eating out' (and I don't mean national or international chain restaurants). I remember once long ago, a friend telling me how you could eat at great restaurants every day and not repeat any for years and I completely agree with her. Of course, we never do that! Mostly out of choice, to be good to our pockets, health and mainly because we love to cook, eating out is restricted to 1-2 times a week.

While my familiarity with Houston goes back a couple of years as a weekend resident of the city, it is only in the last month that Houston has become home, day in and day out - 7 days a week and I am experiencing life as a daily resident.  Without further ado let me get to the point - while we have eaten at a number of great restaurants in the city, one that it quickly climbing up on the list of my favorites is 'Ruggles Green'. Having been to lunch there twice in the past week, I can say that  this restaurant hits all the 'must-haves' in my list. It is a Certified Green Restaurant, has a great menu, great ambience, super-fresh organic  and local ingredients,  a good organic/bio dynamic wine list,  all natural and most importantly ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.

So here's to exploring little jewels in the city- one at a time!

Sharing is...

Shareable: Design for a Shareable world is one of the latest additions to my RSS feed list and I am just a little disappointed in myself for finding about it only recently. Better late than never!


'Share' is such the key word to a better life- on a personal as well as big picture level!
We share lives, resources, ideas.. just about anything and everything...


... this one to caring!

Even baby steps will do!

Last night as part of Architecture for Humanity's Houston Chapter's fund raising event for rebuilding effort in Haiti we watched the film 'One Peace at a Time'. In case you haven't watched it you can find more information about the movie here .

The film features the work and insights of various Noble Peace Laureates and many others with fundamental issues related to education, food, water, shelter, peace.

As individuals who have had the privilege of a great education and lifestyle, I am quite surprised by the minimal number of people I come across who are interested in being part of any cause or contributing towards it. Many a times there seems to be interest and empathy but a number of excuses. The most popular ones I have heard are:

1. I want to do something but not in this region- Why does passion for a cause or an issue be have to be bound by boundaries? And even if you feel strongly about a certain community in a certain region, with the ease of a global world, living thousands of miles away is no excuse any more.

2. Wish I had the time - Well, I am guessing you don't have the time because you are busy making money out of it - how about donating some of that then?

3. I cannot find anything I can be involved in or that matches with my area of expertise/ interest- Really? Have you tried? I can help you find something if you are really interested. 

I believe an education is fruitful even if a small part of it is applied to something that's bigger than yourself. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects... we all have something that we got in our training that we can contribute to a great cause- that of humanity.

The movie makes a beautiful case for just finding something you are passionate about and acting on it. Could be as small and simple as not using plastic or driving a hybrid or as big as working towards opening a school or bank in an underprivileged community ! It really is about the choices we make, isn't it? 
As was rightly stated in the movie - 'the thing that thrives most is the one that you feed well!

We always have something to say!

The advent and wide spreading popularity of the 'social media' has certainly given each individual, young or old, popular or not, a medium to express- and these days everyone has something to say.

With this phenomenon an integral part of our lives- an addiction if you will, I am beginning to wonder, especially about the younger generations - in a race to state your own and be heard is one losing the ability to listen and to read? 

Are the abilities to listen and read patiently, to acknowledge and process what one has to say seem to be on the road to becoming rare virtues... seems like the average mind already jumps to something it wants to say. 

It's great that we all have so much to say...  I just hope someone is listening.

Cheers to the ' art of listening' ! 

the red fins...

... seen above are from one of the buildings on the ASU downtown campus on my visit to Phoenix last November! 

the frame above

My blog header has been a place for random images - there is randomness in the way I select the images to put on my blog - but a common theme that came to me when I posted this one - each image is associated with a travel memory... and most likely an image that only my travel partner  and I can tell where it came from...
so this one above... Kolhapur, India - Rankala Lake


the one prior to this (a sweet tooth) - with the hot chocolate - no guesses... Brussels, Belgium!


and the one prior to that (unfocused) - a forest of silver winter Aspen trees - from Aspen, Colorado!

Ring Roads of the world - poster

came across this poster through the Archinect website - for those familar with houston - sprawling cities and urbanization might find this poster very compelling like i did

Ring Roads of the World 

Rice School of Architecture, 2009
22 by 32 inches
Production by CPY, Houston

This poster is designed as a sort of calling card for Rice School of Architecture, located in Houston. We collected ring roads from 27 international cities and layered them all at the same scale. As it turned out, Houston has the largest system of those we surveyed. (Beijing was second)

1/4

Here is where I came across it - could associate with the description and thought was a great representation of an idea! 

http://www.archinect.com/schoolblog/blog.php?id=C0_539_39