Filter Coffee #143

On The City of Tunnels

Atlanta, GA

FC #142 on negativity inspired some great comments from you all.

• Tarun Kunzru says: “Attitude is harder to fix than skill gap. A negative attitude kills enthusiasm, risk-taking ability or building sincerity and teamwork. I have seen intellectual ability in a person completely negated by a bad attitude. It's the worst situation. A positive attitude can make ‘nothing is impossible’ to ‘impossible is nothing’.”

• Lakshmi Raman says: “I tend to agree with what you say about negativity. For instance, you could go to Mexico saying 'it is a dangerous place to travel in, I had better not trust anyone there.' Or you could go there saying ‘All places have pockets that are unsafe. I will avoid them and try to make the best of my visit.’”

Readers, I did go to Mexico undeterred by the rumours of imminent danger. Apparently, a big city like Mexico City has its share of underworld activities but which city in the world is absolutely safe barring some like Singapore etc?

🌆 City of Tunnels

In one of my posts, I had adverted to tunnel vision in a different context. Please see 🔗Filter Coffee #097 - by M R Prasanna. But this post is about the vision the founders had when building their city around a maze of tunnels.

I am referring to this phrase in the context of my visit to Leon, in the State of Guanajuato, a two-hour flight from Houston. Leon, is home to a lot of industrial activity and I visited the manufacturing facility of RSB Mexico in my capacity as an Independent Director of its holding company in Pune. Please click this link to learn more about the company’s 🔗History. It was a very short business trip. 

After attending to business, in the evening we headed out to the city of Guanajuato, which is the capital of the State of Guanajuato (its abbreviation is GTO). I have not come across many cities that share the name of the State in which they are situated. State of Madras & State of Mysore come to my mind. There could be others.

From the expressway, we branched off to the road that led to the city, and I was simply astounded by the labyrinth of tunnels under the mountains over which the vibrant city is located. These tunnels are literally the arterial roads of Guanajuato, which was founded way back in 1548. Given its uniqueness in terms of its history and architecture, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

The city is famous for its many cultural activities, including the Cervantes Festival, one of the largest performing arts festivals in Latin America. Please visit 🔗Guanajuato - Full of Song and Spirit! to know more.

History of the city tells us that Silver was flowing in the mountainous region and the silver mining activities led to the creation of a network of tunnels to facilitate underground mining activities. The city became prosperous, as is evident from the lavish architecture of the city and its famous landmarks.

From what I heard, when the silver ran out and the mining ceased, the town planners of that era had a great “tunnel vision”. They converted all the tunnels into underground pathways and interconnected them in such a way that the paths led to different parts of the city. Today, these tunnel roads are well maintained. There is also another explanation for the creation of this tunnel network. It appears that these were intended to keep the traffic away from the city centre. You hardly see much traffic on the city roads. There are very well-planned parking lots which seem like caves carved out of the rocky underbelly of the mountains. Apparently, these tunnels were also created, during the mining days, to divert the Guanajuato River from flooding the city. If you wish to know more, please visit this site: 🔗Guanajuato Tunnels 

It came as a bit of a surprise for me when I was told that the tunnels are also used for car racing! It attracts race-loving people from all over, and even very experienced drivers find this race daunting. Please watch: 🔗WRC - Rally Guanajuato México 2018: ONBOARD Neuville SS1

A narrow alley in the city is referred to as the ‘Alley of Kiss’. It is so named after the tragic tale of two lovers from different backgrounds. The girl was from a rich family and the boy was from a poor miner’s family. The girl's house was overlooking a narrow alley, and the young boy found a place across the alley which faced the girl’s room. The alley was so narrow that they could lean across and kiss each other, and the boy could even hop across the valley onto the balcony of the girl’s room. The lovers died at the hands of the girl’s father who caught the boy on his daughter’s balcony and pushed him down to instant death, and the girl too was killed by the father. It is rumoured that if two persons in love kissed each other at the spot where the boy died, they would be blessed with happiness. If you wish to read more, visit 🔗Alley of Kiss Guanajuato.

Dear readers, I had very little time to write this post, therefore it is much shorter than my previous ones. But I do hope you enjoyed reading it and will consider visiting GTO when you plan a visit to Mexico. There are lots of places to stay and many sights to enjoy. The Mexican cuisine is also delicious, particularly if you are a non-vegetarian. Of course, vegetarians like me won’t starve. There are excellent salads, tacos, enchiladas, guacamole etc. to keep you in good spirits, not to forget the tequila shots! The streets of the city are so spic and span, no littering whatsoever. Better than Singapore, if I dare say 😀

In just 48 hours we will be on our flight to Bangalore to our empty nest. I am sure my readers would endorse unanimously that after having bonded over a few weeks, it is very tough to imagine our days far away from our grandchild who filled our life with boundless joy. 

Of course, I must end this in a lighter vein:

An unmarried Mexican maid tells the lady of the house that she wants to quit. The lady is a bit puzzled and asks why, and the maid says because she is in the family way. The lady asks: “Who is responsible for this?”

 “Your husband and your son,” says the maid.

The lady is aghast and asks,

“But, how can this be?”

“Well,” says the maid, “whenever I go to clean your husband says ‘you are in my way’ and your son also says ‘you are in my way’. Since I am in the family way, I quit.”

My next post is due on the 7th of May, and I hope the jet lag doesn’t overpower me. See you next week. Fingers crossed!

PS: Just got back after seeing on a huge screen the premier of PS2 (Ponniyin Selvam) in a multiplex in Atlanta. Quite enjoyed the experience.