Artist’s impression of the Scottish pavilion at Calcutta Book Fair and (below) Graeme Massie. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Architect Graeme Massie was in town last week to plan and oversee the erection of the Scottish pavilion of the British Council for the Calcutta Book Fair, opening on January 27. In his early 40s, Massie is the director of the architectural firm named after him based in Edinburgh. Massie is from a town in north Scotland called Forfar. He teaches at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow. Massie is aware that many Indian jute technologists were trained at that university. On his first visit to Calcutta he regretted the neglect of the splendid colonial buildings.

Graeme Massie Architects is currently involved with township projects in Reykjavik and Akureyri, both in Iceland. The former combines housing and commercial development and the latter is a town centre plan. Both are taking longer than planned as Iceland is facing a severe financial crunch, he says.

He is also creating Bonn Square in central Oxford, which will be a little public space in the historic city, compatible with the old fabric of the city but modern at the same time. At Akureyri, the waterfront was reconfigured so that now the properties overlook water. “We do not replicate what is there. We develop a stage further. It is a hybrid of local technology and what we use,” he says.

Massie will develop a timber structure for the 400 sq m Scotland pavilion at the book fair. There will be different spaces inside — some will be defined by jute curtains, reestablishing the link between the two countries. He will have 10 days to work on from January 17. The best thing about the pavilion is that it can be dismantled and reused.

Yoga postures

A yoga workshop is in progress in Salt Lake, conducted by Yogi Ashwini from New Delhi and his Dhyan Foundation. The sofa and the table on the dais are draped in saffron. On the table is a big gada – yes, Lord Hanuman’s defence. Big posters show Yogi Ashwini with the mace resting on one shoulder too.

The foundation insists that yoga is the coordination of the mind, body and spirit. “The body has to be strong to take the physical awakening,” says the yogi, who is a businessman draped in saffron dhoti and kurta, with rudraksha beads strung around his neck. If he can be a businessman and a yogi, why wear saffron? “I used to dress in track pants and T-shirts earlier, but then people would take me to be one those so-called yoga experts.”

There are other problems, too. “What we know as yoga is actually an aping of the West. These yoga experts make one jump up and down, promising weight loss,” says the yogi.

Too many versions of yoga are indeed doing the rounds.

Bidi ritual

A young woman was buying cigarettes at a paan shop when a gleaming red sedan rolled into the lane. Clad in a Dhakai, a posh Bangali mashima stepped out and headed for the paanwala. Caught with the incriminating packet, the young woman was trying to duck for cover when the lady (you wouldn’t want to call her anything else) placed a two-rupee coin before the shopkeeper. He took out a packet of bidis and placed it in her palm and she walked away. The young woman’s eyes were ready to pop off, to which the paanwala said nonchalantly, “Arrey didi, madam buys a bundle of bidis from me some times.”

The young woman was walking down Vivekananda Park when she spotted the Dhakai again, under a tree. She couldn’t stop herself. “Will you really smoke the bidi here?” she walked up to her and asked.

“Na, na, eta to Hari mamar gurudeb-er jonno (No, this is for Hari mama’s gurudev),” said the lady. “So, you are waiting for the guru?” the young woman asked. “O God, no! He’s dead. Every time I misplace something, I pledge a bidi to him and he finds it for me. If I don’t place a bidi under a tree as promised, I will lose the item for good.”

How many bidis will mashima’s have pledged so far, if everything that is lost is counted, wondered the young woman.

Security blitz

Terror is the theme these days. Even at college fests. The Calcutta chapter of Footprints, the media seminar of the management institute, Symbiosis, has tied up with eMotions, a security agency. The young organisers, rattled by their efforts to raise money and arrange for speakers, have also included a session in the seminar on Monday at Vidya Mandir. The talk will empower citizens to protect themselves, they promise.

(Contributed by Soumitra Das, Poulomi Banerjee, Samhita L. Chakraborty and Malini Banerjee)