Maximum cities

A corporate honcho indulges in his passion for photography and history and the outcome is a stunning photo exhibition of the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro

A corporate honcho indulges in his passion for photography and history and the outcome is a stunning photo exhibition of the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro

When Makarand Khatavkar (HR head at Deutsche Bank) took up a posting in Pakistan, it was not all business.

Having a keen interest in history, he decided to explore the much-talked about Indus Valley Civilisation the urban cites of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. From there his interest deepened and took him to the ancient civilisations in Gujarat Lothal and Dholavira. The result is a photo exhibition early next month.

Khatavkar says, "It's not easy to get a personal visa to Pakistan. My visa was even rejected once." This did not deter his plans, it just delayed them by a year, "I worked on this project since the Christmas of 2005. The exhibition would have been up last year but due to visa problems, it was pushed back a year."

Mohenjo-daro's well planned drainsu00a0

Khatavkar says that even after extensive research and talking to leading archeologists, nothing prepared him for the sight that was Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. He was taken aback by the marvelous collection of seals and coins. He says, "When you see the seals u00e2u0080u0093the unicorn, the hump-bull, the buffalo, the swastika, you realise it was part of a much bigger city."

Bead makers' kiln where the heat was distributed equally to all the holes

Every city had its peculiarities and exceptions, says Khatavkar. "The great bath was specific to Mohenjo-daro.

Harappa was the most planned city. Can you believe that a city built 5,000 years ago had 41,000 people staying in it? Lothal had a dockyard and Dholavira had a water harvesting system." He states that there were similarities also, like the wells and the streets. Some streets of Mohenjo-daro were 33 feet wide and had markets on either side.

He also talks about the famed drainage system of that time. "The drains were two feet deep and had terracotta pipes as outlets." He goes on to list the other wonders of these ancient cities, "The granary at Harappa had outlets at the bottom to let air circulate and lessen pest formation. Oxcarts were used for transportation with separate chambers to preserve perishable goods. The boats had flat ends and not tapering ones because, maybe, they lived in an area where the Indus River was relatively calm. The bead makers used to place coal at the centre of the construction and the heat used to get distributed to all five holes equally."u00a0u00a0u00a0

Lothal: The area used to store grains with the chullah behind it

Khatavkar says that his readings on these ancient cites might be more than the average traveler's, yet he chose to take a guide along. "I had seen images of the places but it is always a good idea to have a guide.

They can give you the local perspective. Most of them also work at the site with German and Japanese archeologists and have great insight. At Mohenjo-daro, the guide showed me a well that is 5,000 years old that the workers still drink water from. The guide at Lothal pointed out shells from 4,000 years at a now-dry dockyard. Which meant that 4,000 years ago, an arm of the sea extended to the dockyard.

Harappa: A brick platform for harvesting of grains

"In Mumbai, we have a perception of guides like those at Gateway. But I met a guide at Dholavira who did it for the love of history. He was semi-literate and owned a farm. He even refused to take money from me."

Khatavkar seems to be satisfied with the preservation measures undertaken at these heritage sites but insists more can be done. "Many villages are around these ancient cities and some evidence from these cities might still be lying underneath these villages. Relocating the villages is a problem."u00a0

Khatavkar concludes with a fact that is not found often in our history books. "People who belonged to these ancient cities were merchants and traders. Sure, they lived in walled cities but no weapons or images of warfare have been excavated so far."

The photo exhibition is on at Nehru Centre from May 5-11

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