On a business trip to Pakistan, Deutsche Bank MD, Makarand Khatavkar, decided to visit the ancient cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. He completed his journey with Lothal and Dholavira in Gujarat, and ended up collecting images never seen before. Manish Gaekwad quizzed the banker on the freeze frames

Even as their insides look scooped out and mute hollow, the remnants of the past seem to echo through

Deutsche Bank manager Makarand Khatavkar. PIC / BIPIN KOKATE

Makarand Khatavkar's photographs, of a time and place, lest we forget the cradle of the Indus Valley civilisation. The Managing Director of Deutsche Bank, in his endeavour to document the Indus cities, has become an amateur historian-guide to India's great beginning.

What lessons do we need to learn in architectural planning from past cities?
From a management perspective, I see a huge amount of planning invested in creating this civilisation. Citizens hadu00a0 tremendous insight in town planning, granary husking platforms, wide roads and water harvesting. They had vision and exemplified it with a great exhibition of their skills. About 40,000 people inhabited the city peacefully. Mohenjo-daro, which is over 5,000 years old, remains intact to date.