You know, there're some things that never fail to transport you to a time and place. Sometimes, it's the haunting memory of something and other times it's a just an evocation of something lost. This video that we shot about 4 years back is one of them.
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Friday, July 13, 2012
Friday, July 29, 2011
Rusticating away...from the past!
This is a post written almost 2 months back. So let's keep the chronology in mind....After all the madness of Production work(which is now comfortably in the near past) in the cities, Post-production now seems to be quite a breeze in ‘the little village we know so well…’, (yes, Asterix reference), ok lemme rephrase, in a little village called Kavanoor, near Arakonam Taluk. For the geographically challenged, it is about 170kms from Pondicherry or about 100kms NW of Chennai. When I say ‘breeze’ it is only in comparison to the city schedule, and I am, in no way, being a reductionist when talking about Post-production being a breeze. Get that! But again, before getting into the details of work, there are some things about village life that begs to be told. Not that 10 days of it are enough or qualifies one to write a thesis on this kind of living, just that in this age when we seem so frantically searching for something in our fast-paced urban life that will take us to the next level or whatever, it feels kinda like taking the back-seat and looking at things retrospectively.Ok ok timeout…for now there’s a thunderstorm that’s adamant on demanding my attention. Am back. It seems months had passed since the rains smooched the earth and today, it's a hard-core French kiss. The strong wind is shaking the living daylights out of the big teak tree that’s in our backyard (as if it wasn’t already breezy enough here to sway the tree thereby emitting the only sound we can hear around us). Ok now continuing after a 4-day hiatus.
And about the subjective reality here. Yes, I’m gonna make a couple of revelations that may shock the shit of you city-slickers out there. One, that power outage happens every morning between 9 and 12. Not to mention the periodic (5 to 10 minute) breaks in power any time and also during the rains. Two, the lack of…uhh…the internet! Yes, don’t panic for us because we have gotten used to this way of life, at least for now.
But the biggest difference or change that you can feel, is the enormous availability or rather the protracted-ness of the indefinable and strangely(but ironically) unquantifiable TIME. There seems to be too much of it. Obviously you can’t help but romanticize the surroundings especially when you haven’t really experienced this way of living before. But then again, this extension of space-time(I use it both literally and figuratively and also because I don’t wanna segregate the two) really helps to do the one thing that’s most imperative right now – EDITING which is a process in itself. I’m gonna save it for the next post. Signing off around mid-June. The above is a shot of the backyard just after the rains.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Evil Mad Scientists at work!!
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories- Making the World a better place, One evil mad scientist at a time!
for more details on the evil mad scientist projects..pls visit..
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/
http://evilmadscience.com/
http://www.becausewecan.org/
for more details on the evil mad scientist projects..pls visit..
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/
http://evilmadscience.com/
http://www.becausewecan.org/
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
A Part of the Whole - 2- Monkey Love
Love is the answer..Happiness is real when you share it with someone you love...a loving sight at the temple AzhagarKovil, located at Madurai, TamilNadu, South India.A Part of the Whole -1
A moment captured - of the wild - on the way to Melur, a place in Madurai, TamilNadu...this place is called AzhagarKovil...the palm trees, the sky, the rock, the grass....co-existing...where is my place in all this?? I wonder if I have alienated myself from all this...what do you think?? Monday, March 17, 2008
Hello from the OBLIVION!
Hello my counterparts...i know it has been such a long time since i've been in touch...but the gap was just in the physical world...i have been thinking so much about all of you during the entire trip to the other side of our Earth...India...so it would be apt if i said "you were there with me"!
how can i explain what i experienced? language has its boundaries but the heart does not...so, i will try to patiently bring each and every experience to you...
My faith that humanity will organize itself to save the WHOLE is still going strong...after i met my other PARTS...
hmmm....where do i start?
i keep getting images of the Earth breathing and living and awakening each of us to our purpose...the peace it gives me within..that i am not alone..
one more thing that i have realized from all of these experiences is that human has to become a human after all...he cannot turn into anything else...it is time our energies get organized to revive our WHOLE...!
wow...it is so good to be back my comrades! i love you all...
Novelist ISABEL ALLENDE - TED TALK...
As a novelist and memoirist, Isabel Allende writes of passionate lives, including her own. Born into a Chilean family with political ties, she went into exile in the United States in the 1970s -- an event that, she believes, created her as a writer. Her voice blends sweeping narrative with touches of magical realism; her stories are romantic, in the very best sense of the word. Her novels include The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna and The Stories of Eva Luna, and her latest, Ines of My Soul and La Suma de los Dias (The Sum of Our Days). And don't forget her adventure trilogy for young readers -- City of the Beasts, Kingdom of the Golden Dragon and Forest of the Pygmies.
As a memoirist, she has written about her vision of her lost Chile, in My Invented Country, and movingly tells the story of her life to her own daughter, in Paula. Her book Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses memorably linked two sections of the bookstore that don't see much crossover: Erotica and Cookbooks. Just as vital is her community work: The Isabel Allende Foundation works with nonprofits in the SF Bay Area and Chile to empower and protect women and girls -- understanding that empowering women is the only true route to social and economic justice.
As a memoirist, she has written about her vision of her lost Chile, in My Invented Country, and movingly tells the story of her life to her own daughter, in Paula. Her book Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses memorably linked two sections of the bookstore that don't see much crossover: Erotica and Cookbooks. Just as vital is her community work: The Isabel Allende Foundation works with nonprofits in the SF Bay Area and Chile to empower and protect women and girls -- understanding that empowering women is the only true route to social and economic justice.
In one of the most beloved talks from TED2007, novelist Isabel Allende talks about writing, women, passion, feminism. She tells the stories of powerful women she has known, some larger-than-life (listen for a beauty tip from Sophia Loren), and some simply living with grace, dignity and ingenuity in a world that, in too many ways, still treats women unjustly.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
OPEN CONTENT ALLIANCE-Libraries going open!
Imagine a world where each human can have access to information from books, no matter where on earth he or she is! Open Content Alliance is striving to get the books from libraries in universities, online, for each of us to access...the abundant information that would be possible will enable us to view the world with endless possibilities...and alternatives...
This would also unite a lot of elements which are disjointed from each other..in this world..in the current system!
A new consciousness would evolve bringing us together and giving meaning to the yet unrealized phrase - WE ARE ALL CONNECTED!!!
This would also unite a lot of elements which are disjointed from each other..in this world..in the current system!
A new consciousness would evolve bringing us together and giving meaning to the yet unrealized phrase - WE ARE ALL CONNECTED!!!
What is the Open Content Alliance?
The Open Content Alliance (OCA) represents the collaborative efforts of a group of cultural, technology, nonprofit, and governmental organizations from around the world that will help build a permanent archive of multilingual digitized text and multimedia content. Content in the OCA archive will be accessible soon through this website and through Yahoo!
The OCA will encourage the greatest possible degree of access to and reuse of collections in the archive, while respecting the content owners and contributors. Contributors to the OCA must agree to the principles set forth in the Call for Participation.
Building a Digital Archive of Global Content for Universal Access.
For further details please visit: http://www.opencontentalliance.org/
http://www.openlibrary.org/details/oca_test_004
This movie was commissioned by Internet Archive for the 2007 Open Content Alliance meeting held on October 17, 2007. click here for the movie
For further details please visit: http://www.opencontentalliance.org/
http://www.openlibrary.org/details/oca_test_004
This movie was commissioned by Internet Archive for the 2007 Open Content Alliance meeting held on October 17, 2007. click here for the movie
Thursday, January 03, 2008
With Love & Laughter - Jo Wilding!
Inspired by the momentary relief given to a severely wounded Iraqi child by the poking of a soap bubble, British blogger and activist Jo Wilding decides on an unlikely course of action. She'll bring a circus to the children of Iraq.
Improbable as it seems, she gathers an international crew of jugglers and clowns and spends three months in 2004 stilt-walking in schools, streets and community centers all over Iraq.
In a country with virtually no mental health facilities, she brings the only medicine she can – laughter. If this sounds frivolous, it isn't. As one father says of his shell-shocked son after a performance, "This is the first time I've seen him laugh like that – from the insides – since before the war."
Along the way, Wilding interviews everyone she can. Unembedded, unofficial, she goes where the media silence is loudest (including the battle of Fallujah) and unearths the agonized testimony of bereaved parents, unpaid, under-equipped doctors, ambulance-drivers, wounded children and even former Baathist officials.
Her ability to summon these scenes and nimbly describe their contexts in efficient, lyric prose surely places her beside George Orwell and Michael Herr (Dispatches) as one of the great war chroniclers of our time.
Don't Shoot The Clowns is an extraordinary and necessary document for anyone who wants to get a sense of the true human cost of the Iraq war, but it is more than that – a testament to and inspiration for those who seek to revive and rejuvenate a human spirit battered by shock and awe, attrition and insanity.
Wilding and her cohorts exhibit a quality too seldom in evidence these days: courage.
Courtesy: NOW Magazine
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
The healing touch of ALMOND!
I remember eating almonds that were soaked overnight in water,right after waking up...my mother used to feed us once a while in the mornings.She used to say they were for brain power and maintenance of a good glowing skin...
Just recently while trying to read for some articles on the healing touch of Indian Spices...I came across details about Almonds which I want to share with all of you...
though the world of Indian spices are like a universe filled with vital information, I cannot introduce you to all of them...with the advent of the internet, I am sure you can take the time if you need to know about all of them.
I just wanted to give you a few tips on the ALMOND.
It is not entirely without reason that almonds are priced higher than their country cousins, the peanuts. Their nutritive value as well as functional importance in keeping the human body supple, beautiful and healthy, is unsurpassed in the nut kingdom, if one may use the term.
Nearly cholesterol free and abundant in high quality, highly absorb-able protein, almonds provide almost no useless material to the body. Their high mono-saturated fats (that fight bad cholesterol) and dietary fiber content make them easy to digest, provides heat in the body and also ensure no excess oils, like the peanut.
for more on Almonds click here.Just recently while trying to read for some articles on the healing touch of Indian Spices...I came across details about Almonds which I want to share with all of you...
though the world of Indian spices are like a universe filled with vital information, I cannot introduce you to all of them...with the advent of the internet, I am sure you can take the time if you need to know about all of them.
I just wanted to give you a few tips on the ALMOND.
It is not entirely without reason that almonds are priced higher than their country cousins, the peanuts. Their nutritive value as well as functional importance in keeping the human body supple, beautiful and healthy, is unsurpassed in the nut kingdom, if one may use the term.
Nearly cholesterol free and abundant in high quality, highly absorb-able protein, almonds provide almost no useless material to the body. Their high mono-saturated fats (that fight bad cholesterol) and dietary fiber content make them easy to digest, provides heat in the body and also ensure no excess oils, like the peanut.
and here is some more information from Wikipedia
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Documentary clip on Summer School for Designing a Society
This is the initial 3 minutes of the documentary I did on the summer school I attended at Gesundheit for the School for Designing a Society...if you need a copy of this movie please contact Rob Scott
Designing Freedom - Stafford Beer
This is a part of the collection of articles under the title READINGS THAT MATTER TO ME which was suggested by the School for Designing a Society.
This excerpt is from the article Designing Freedom by Stafford Beer
1. The Real Threat to “All We Hold Most Dear”
The little house where I have come to live alone for a few weeks sits on the edge of a steep hill in a quiet village on the western coast of Chile. Huge majestic waves roll into the bay and crash magnificently over the rocks, sparkling white against the green sea under a winter sun. It is for me a time of peace, a time to clear the head, a time to treasure.
For after all, such times are rare events for today’s civilized man. We spend our days boxed in
our houses, swarming in and out of office blocks like tribes of ants, crammed into trains, canned in aeroplanes, locked solid in traffic jams on the freeway. Our unbiblical concern for what we shall eat, what we shall drink, and what we shall put on is amplified and made obsessional by the pressure to consume—way, way beyond the natural need. All this is demanded by the way we have arranged our economy. And the institutions we have built to operate that economy, to safeguard ourselves, protect our homes, care for and educate our families, have all grown into large and powerful pieces of social machinery which suddenly seem not so much protective as actually threatening.
Mankind has always been in battle with his environment. But until quite recently in history his
battles were on a reasonable scale, a human scale.
For more on Designing Freedom click here.
This excerpt is from the article Designing Freedom by Stafford Beer
1. The Real Threat to “All We Hold Most Dear”
The little house where I have come to live alone for a few weeks sits on the edge of a steep hill in a quiet village on the western coast of Chile. Huge majestic waves roll into the bay and crash magnificently over the rocks, sparkling white against the green sea under a winter sun. It is for me a time of peace, a time to clear the head, a time to treasure.
For after all, such times are rare events for today’s civilized man. We spend our days boxed in
our houses, swarming in and out of office blocks like tribes of ants, crammed into trains, canned in aeroplanes, locked solid in traffic jams on the freeway. Our unbiblical concern for what we shall eat, what we shall drink, and what we shall put on is amplified and made obsessional by the pressure to consume—way, way beyond the natural need. All this is demanded by the way we have arranged our economy. And the institutions we have built to operate that economy, to safeguard ourselves, protect our homes, care for and educate our families, have all grown into large and powerful pieces of social machinery which suddenly seem not so much protective as actually threatening.
Mankind has always been in battle with his environment. But until quite recently in history his
battles were on a reasonable scale, a human scale.
For more on Designing Freedom click here.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Shadow of a soul...Bella Dizhur
I recently got the book of collected poems by Bella Dizhur from STRAND.
The intense words immediately drew me into the poet's world!
How many humans have to struggle to make their voices heard?
Some of them do succeed... while a vast number of them are pushed to the obscurity by the cruel winds of humans' prejudiced judgments...or...you-know-what...
Well, the introduction was given by Vasily Aksyonov...
Bella Dizhur for many years, a member of the Sverdlovsk branch of the USSR's Writer's Union, and she published several collections of Poems. From the outside, all of this appears to be an absolutely normal. privileged, professional literary life. But actually, and i know this from personal experience, this life consisted of a multitude of petty insults, nasty carping; and sometimes, a truly "endless number of humiliations" unfolded before the poet.
Many of Dizhur's poems were unpublished in the Soviet Union. She was denounced so much for her poetry and lived seven years in Yurmala as a refusnik, a person denied an exit visa. She was finally allowed to emigrate to the U.S. in 1987, at the age of 84.
I would like to share some of her poems which were translated in English with you all...
From the Notebook - URBAN DESERT
Lie for now, notebook, deep inside the desk;
Lie pretend to be without tongue.
My journey is long -
I am not looking for a short one.
So keep safe my truthful voice!
In a large universe
a small world.
Not a room; just a corner.
A book by the window, a view of half-sky,
A crust of bread, a glass of wine
And solitude. Such is the lot
Of someone who keeps to himself.
But this is a fate I do not fear.
Another stands with an outstretched hand
And from my window, a view of half-sky,
bread, a book and a glass of wine.
And all of the universe moves towards me.
There is a saying in Tamil..."Yaam petra inbam, peruga ivvaiyagam!" meaning...
"Sharing the happiness I experienced, with the Universe!"
The intense words immediately drew me into the poet's world!
How many humans have to struggle to make their voices heard?
Some of them do succeed... while a vast number of them are pushed to the obscurity by the cruel winds of humans' prejudiced judgments...or...you-know-what...
Well, the introduction was given by Vasily Aksyonov...
Bella Dizhur for many years, a member of the Sverdlovsk branch of the USSR's Writer's Union, and she published several collections of Poems. From the outside, all of this appears to be an absolutely normal. privileged, professional literary life. But actually, and i know this from personal experience, this life consisted of a multitude of petty insults, nasty carping; and sometimes, a truly "endless number of humiliations" unfolded before the poet.
Many of Dizhur's poems were unpublished in the Soviet Union. She was denounced so much for her poetry and lived seven years in Yurmala as a refusnik, a person denied an exit visa. She was finally allowed to emigrate to the U.S. in 1987, at the age of 84.
I would like to share some of her poems which were translated in English with you all...
From the Notebook - URBAN DESERT
Lie for now, notebook, deep inside the desk;
Lie pretend to be without tongue.
My journey is long -
I am not looking for a short one.
So keep safe my truthful voice!
In a large universe
a small world.
Not a room; just a corner.
A book by the window, a view of half-sky,
A crust of bread, a glass of wine
And solitude. Such is the lot
Of someone who keeps to himself.
But this is a fate I do not fear.
Another stands with an outstretched hand
And from my window, a view of half-sky,
bread, a book and a glass of wine.
And all of the universe moves towards me.
There is a saying in Tamil..."Yaam petra inbam, peruga ivvaiyagam!" meaning...
"Sharing the happiness I experienced, with the Universe!"
Don't misinterpret Nature's art !!
Autumn is here...
you might just mistake this piece of Naure's art for a disastrous forest fire!!
Take some time out and enjoy the art...instead of sitting amidst four walls of your house or office!!
and for the humans who have evergreen trees around them...well, i will fill you in with the moments as much as i can!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Mountaintop Removal or Life-on-Earth Removal???
Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) is a form of coal mining in which up to 1,000 vertical feet of a mountain are blasted away to get to the thin coal seams underneath. MTR requires that the targeted land be clear-cut and then blasted by heavy use of explosives. The debris created is typically scraped into the adjacent river valleys in what is called a valley fill. Most mountaintop removal for more click here to wikipedia.org
Mountaintop mining is basically high-altitude strip mining. Enormous machines scrape away the ridges to get at the coal seams below. The residual rock and dirt are then dumped or carted down the mountainside into nearby valleys and streams. By one estimate, this serial decapitation of Appalachia’s coal-rich hills has already buried 1,200 miles of streams while damaging hundreds of square miles of forests. for more click here...
What are we waiting for?? When there are so many things we can try and stop...
Try to figure out what and where your purpose in this lifetime is...and then act accordingly...please help save the planet and its beings in some way or the other...make a difference somewhere!!
For other resources on Mountaintop Removal and how to take action...
http://www.stopmountaintopremoval.org/
http://www.blackdiamondsmovie.com/
http://www.ilovemountains.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining
Mountaintop mining is basically high-altitude strip mining. Enormous machines scrape away the ridges to get at the coal seams below. The residual rock and dirt are then dumped or carted down the mountainside into nearby valleys and streams. By one estimate, this serial decapitation of Appalachia’s coal-rich hills has already buried 1,200 miles of streams while damaging hundreds of square miles of forests. for more click here...
What are we waiting for?? When there are so many things we can try and stop...
Try to figure out what and where your purpose in this lifetime is...and then act accordingly...please help save the planet and its beings in some way or the other...make a difference somewhere!!
For other resources on Mountaintop Removal and how to take action...
http://www.stopmountaintopremoval.org/
http://www.blackdiamondsmovie.com/
http://www.ilovemountains.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Gesundheit - SDaS 2007 -1 : My Experience
Hey Beautiful People!!!
Am back after a whole month at the Gesundheit Institute...I was there for the Summer School for Designing a Society...
The experience was amazing...the whole place was filled with so much vibrant energy and I got lots of it to share with the rest of the world...WEST VIRGINIA is a wonderful piece of art by the Creator...
During the train journey, I was engulfed in total awe at the sight of the endless mountains and sky which seemed to hold each other in an embrace that was breathtaking...
There were moments when I asked myself, "If there is so much beauty around me, then what change did I want from the world around me...for a moment, I felt the earth was perfect and there was no chaos or war or hunger or pollution or any atrocities of any kind...How can something so beautiful be messed up?? But my memories of the news about war, poverty, unrest, insecurities etc that existed in the world outside this place brought the harsh reality to me!!
Is it even possible to transform something that is so perfect into something that is totally un-livable?? well, we somehow managed it I guess! SIGH!
This is the first of its kind! More to come my comrades!
Am back after a whole month at the Gesundheit Institute...I was there for the Summer School for Designing a Society...
The experience was amazing...the whole place was filled with so much vibrant energy and I got lots of it to share with the rest of the world...WEST VIRGINIA is a wonderful piece of art by the Creator...
During the train journey, I was engulfed in total awe at the sight of the endless mountains and sky which seemed to hold each other in an embrace that was breathtaking...
There were moments when I asked myself, "If there is so much beauty around me, then what change did I want from the world around me...for a moment, I felt the earth was perfect and there was no chaos or war or hunger or pollution or any atrocities of any kind...How can something so beautiful be messed up?? But my memories of the news about war, poverty, unrest, insecurities etc that existed in the world outside this place brought the harsh reality to me!!
Is it even possible to transform something that is so perfect into something that is totally un-livable?? well, we somehow managed it I guess! SIGH!
This is the first of its kind! More to come my comrades!
Sunday, May 06, 2007
On Permaculture...
Picture Courtesy: http://permacultureactivist.net/about-us/about-us.htmPERMACULTURE or otherwise Permanent Agriculture is something I came up for the first time when I signed up for the School for Designing a Society summer course.
There are a lot of people in this world trying to create a positive change to make this world a better place for everybody... and for that... there are many systems already in practice. If we keep our eyes and minds wide open, we can find all these people and reach out to them...and work in unison and make it happen in many cultures simultaneously!
Check out all these links for PERMACULTURE.
http://permacultureactivist.net/
http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/index/
http://www.permaculture.net/about/brief_introduction.html
http://perma-intro.blogspot.com/
Related links in this blog
http://acchor.blogspot.com/search/label/Nature
There are a lot of people in this world trying to create a positive change to make this world a better place for everybody... and for that... there are many systems already in practice. If we keep our eyes and minds wide open, we can find all these people and reach out to them...and work in unison and make it happen in many cultures simultaneously!
Check out all these links for PERMACULTURE.
http://permacultureactivist.net/
http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/index/
http://www.permaculture.net/about/brief_introduction.html
http://perma-intro.blogspot.com/
Related links in this blog
http://acchor.blogspot.com/search/label/Nature
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