In one way, it's a body. Lying on its back on the ground. The head, the temple of padmanabha swamy, seems to be separated from this body. Just like the part of neck that would joining the head, a small part of chalai seems to be adjoining the temple but severed from the main street by the road and bus bay. Just like blood that runs through our veins, it's people that is pumped in and out through the streets of chalai. There's no land gap in chalai, except for those at the rear. Lol, I would. Every part or any part that is cut or modified grows back, in time. And every such newly grown ones have a story to tell. All the veins, or streets having endless branches all of which ends up joining a main road or the courtyard of one or more residence, provides the life to chalai. In short, Streets are the life of Chalai.

After almost 5 dates with chala, I think I'm getting to know a little about chala. There's life in here. What I imagined to be an example, is the myth of stone giants. In those stories they say that rocks, mountains that lie long enough on the earth develop life, similar to an electric or magnetic induction, they might have been induced with life force, from the earth and nature. Chalai have been here for a long time. It has seen life, death and decay. Nature might have accepted it into itself, life flourishes in it in all forms, birds, mammals, plants, reptiles, microbes, etc. It has a character of its own. My conclusion is that, whatever it maybe, the present chalai, the bazaar, it's alive. If one tends to change it, however small the change may be, there will be an impact. Not only to the roads, shops, people but to the whole ecosystem. Clearing it out and building something else would be like amputating one's live limb and replacing it with an artificial one. However useful or cool it maybe, the rest of the body will not accept it that easily. There will be consequences. This makes the designing process further complicated, yes. But still, there needs to be constraints, or it won't be fair...

So, today I got to know, that we may have a two week "short vacation"/free time. I would love to use this time to study the site. But how? I can't think of a way to observe and analyze this small part of the city.

And the third blog... Well, I paid a visit to Chalai a day before, just so its my project site this semester. I was not alone, I brought along my friend Ronish. He was more excited as he could update google map and get upgrades as a local google guide. Fortunately, it was not raining and we got in around 11 o clock in the morning. I thought of observing and analyzing the street on the basis of space, people and conjustion, but at the first glance, I realised I was wrong. Then, I was standing there, thinking how to collect some info, or record something interesting. 1408, audio recording. I recorded some 30 minutes of audio after my visit while my friend collected images. Now I sit here at home, not knowing how to turn these audios into sheets. Or is there anything relevant in these. Is there? Isn't there? Yes there is. The problem is that I can't see through it now. Probably I have to ask google for help.

Second blog

First blog