Desicritics Category: Culture: Design

I Begin to Understand Mithila Painting

Deepa Krishnan — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 00:10:09 EST

On a wall in the Delhi Crafts Museum, I spotted a series of paintings done in the Mithila folk style. This is traditionally an art form done by women, painted on the walls of houses, in celebration of major events such as births, marriages and festivals.

Even from afar, the murals were striking. They were large, almost 6-7 feet in height, and spread across the entire wall in a series of arches. Each arch contained one painting. This one below, for instance, shows the Goddess Durga astride her tiger, framed inside an ornamented arch.

The colours were bold, and the flat filling-in of colour made the paintings visually stimulating. Below the painting, the artist had signed her name: Shrimati Mundrika Devi, from a village called Jitvarpur in Madhubani District, in the state of Bihar.

When I looked a little closer at the painting, I found myself loving the "double-line" approach. All the outlines were double lines, with the inner portions either left blank, or filled in colour, or filled with little lines. Here's a close-up of one of the small ducks at the top of the mural: see how the double lines and colouring contributes to the rich detailing? Every object in the painting, from the smallest flower, to the largest human, was painted with the same careful attention.

After five minutes of staring closely at small aspects of the painting, I found myself slipping into the shoes of the painter - what was she thinking, Mundrika Devi, when she drew these? Were the walls of her home also filled with these paintings? Did she lose herself in the lines as she painted, did she forget to make dinner? Or did she, as she cooked and tended her house, look again and again at her creation, mentally adding little details?

The more I visualised the life of the painter, the more the painting appealed to me. This was not "Art" as a leisure activity for those with spare time and money. This was art entwined in the daily life, in the very heartbeat of a woman.

This past week, I have been eyeing the walls of my home. I want to do this too, to fill my living space with vibrant strong lines and bold colours. I want to spend time working and reworking pigments, rushing about from corner to corner of a wall, adding a tree here and a bird there, stepping back, drawing again, wandering into the kitchen, wandering back to my walls...working on my email, but wandering back again, always to the colourful wall.

It seems to me that what I really want is to be seduced into a beautiful trance, by the creative and very personal process of decorating my own home. Perhaps that's what Mundrika Devi wanted too.

Give Me a Dhoti to Wear

Vinod Joseph — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 09:45:23 EST

The other day I met up with a school friend with whom I had been out of touch for many years. My friend is a senior executive at a reputed company in Kochi and I met him during the lunch hour, on his way back to his office from a meeting. Dressed in a well-cut suit and tie, his feet clad in Gucci shoes, my friend was sweating profusely by the time he got to the restaurant where we had arranged to meet. The restaurant was air conditioned and quite cool, but my friend nevertheless asked a waiter to turn up the a/c.

‘I wish I hadn't walked,’ he told me as he sat down. 'My driver was on his way to pick me up from Katcheripady and bring me here, but he was held up in the traffic and instead of taking an auto, I stupidly decided to walk here.'

‘I guess your driver will pick you up from here and take you back to the office,’ I said. My friend's office was a ten-minute walk along M.G. Road

‘Well yes,’ he admitted with a laugh as he enviously looked at me in my holiday shirt, slacks and sandals.

‘Tell me,’ I asked him. ‘Are you really required to wear a suit everyday?’

‘There is no hard and fast rule,’ he told me. ‘But everyone wears a suit these days.’

And you don't have the guts to be different. Not, I didn' tell him that or I would have lost a friend.

I remember a time when people hardly wore suits in Kerala. Even in Mumbai where I used to work (from 1998-2002), suits were the exception rather than the rule. You wore a tie if you had to meet with a client, and that was it. Suits were reserved for conferences, though the moment you were about to sit down, you took off your suit and hung it on the back of your chair. The economic boom seems to have triggered a desire among professionals in India to be as western in appearance as possible. There are a lot more people wearing suits (and sweating profusely) than there were a few years ago. Air conditioners are therefore a necessity rather than a luxury. I’m not sure if many people have noticed the absurdity of wearing a suit and turning up the a/c.

My job in London requires me to wear a suit and tie everyday, and I don’t have a problem with it. For one, a suit keeps me comfortably warm. I’ve always believed the neck tie to be the most useless of all appendages, but when it’s really cold, even the tie contributes to the feeling of warmth. The first thing I did when I reached Kerala a couple of weeks ago was to change into a lungi (a colourful local version of the dhoti) and discard my shoes. And it was so comfortable! However, it is no longer socially acceptable in Kerala to go out in a lungi. One usually wears trousers, though once in a while you do see a brave soul wearing the double mundu, a formal version of the lungi. As long as I don’t have to wear a tie or shoes, I don’t really mind wearing trousers even though a simple lungi is actually a lot more comfortable than wearing trousers.

When I was in school, I had to wear shoes, socks and a tie as part of my uniform. When I look back, I'm not sure why I was made to wear all that. It goes without saying that the classrooms were not air conditioned. Even now I don't think there are many schools with air conditioned classrooms, though I think a lot more school students these days wear a tie. Is it meant to instill in students a sense of discipline? Or is it mean to add to a 'western education'?

The other day I was talking to a software engineer who recently finished his MCA from a reputed college in Bangalore. When I asked him what he liked most about his new job, he told me without hesitation, 'the informal dress code.' Then he added, 'I had to wear a tie every day for three years during my MCA course'. I couldn't believe my ears. Why on earth should post-graduate students studying computer engineering have to wear a tie? 'It makes them take their studies seriously,' I was told. Do you really need to half-choke students to make them take their studies seriously? And these are not students who receive a subsidised education that will lead to permanent unemployment, the fate of the bulk of India's college students, but students shelling out a lot of money for an education that despite the recession, guarantees a job at the end.

In a warm climate, the only joy one can get out of wearing shoes and socks is to anticipate the pleasure of taking them off. No, I don't wear chappals when I am in Kerala except when I go to church where we are required to leave our footwear outside for the benefit of thieves who nick them. Instead, I don a pair of leather sandals which allow my feet to remain fresh. Come to think of it, why on earth should feet be enclosed in shoes unless cold weather requires it?

This has set me thinking. Why don't Indian office workers wear Indian clothes at work? I am not saying this because I am anti-West or anti-MNC. I’m saying this simply because Indian clothes – dhotis, kurtas, mundus, lungis etc. – are so much more comfortable in the Indian heat. What’s more, with global warming and the need to save energy, we’d save a shit-load of money if everyone went to work in short sleeved shirts, a dhoti or trousers and sandals and switched off the air conditioners.

Last year Shashi Tharoor set off a controversy when he wondered aloud in his Times of India column why Indian women have stopped wearing the saree. Tharoor cited tradition and elegance as reasons for wearing the saree. ‘Comfort’ was not one of the reasons mentioned in his article, though many of those who attacked him did specifically say that they didn’t wear a saree because it was so inconvenient or uncomfortable. ‘Try catching a bus in a sari,’ someone is supposed to have said. I have never worn a saree in life and so I am not in a position to comment on how comfortable or uncomfortable it is. I have a feeling it is not particularly comfortable and I have no clue as to what would be the most comfortable dress for women to wear in warm weather. For this reason alone, I am going to restrict my piece to men’s wear.

I don't really know what could be done to promote Indian clothes among Indian office goers. Don’t forget, it has to be promoted to a generation which associates attire such as the dhoti, the kurta, the veshti and the mundu with backwardness and ignorance. A suit is always associated with intelligence and more to the point, (western) knowledge. Our politicians have always worn Indian clothes, but then, our politicians are not exactly role models, are they?

Maybe I am asking for too much when I say we should go back to traditional attire like the dhoti or the mundu or the veshti. Maybe we should just start wearing clothes appropriate for the weather - short sleeved shirts and slack trousers and sandals – when it is warm and sweaters for northern India when it does get cold during winter. Hold on a minute. What about the safari suit? Yes, I am talking about that very interesting attire (half-sleeved suit-like shirt with trousers of an identical colour) which used to be de rigeur for bureaucrats all over India. I don't see many safari suits these days, though I am told that some of our bureaucrats still wear it. No, I don't think the safari suit will become popular with the private sector crowd. It is associated with old-style Indian bureaucracy and inefficiency and redtapism, even though it is actually perfect for warm weather.

This brings us to the nub of the problem. It's all about image. I have no doubt that most of us wouldn’t have any problem running to catch a bus in a double mundu or a dhoti or with sandals on. But if you wear a double mundu and want to sell a cutting edge banking software to an MNC bank, you are not going to get far. I'm sure that the woman who asked Shashi Tharoor to try catching a bus whilst wearing a saree will don a saree in no time if a saree is what's needed to project the right image. People are very much willing to wear the most uncomfortable clothes possible in order to show themselves in the right light. Western clothes are reasonably comfortable in a cold climate. They are not suitable for a warm country like India. Israel is a warm country which has a reputation for informal clothes. When I visited Israel, I didn't see anyone wear a suit except the haredim whose religious beliefs require them to wear long black suits.

Arabs wear their traditional clothes even when doing business, but then, Arabs usually hold the purse strings and when you do that, you can wear pajamas and still get away with it. I wish I could say that as India's economy grows, Indian businessmen and executives will start asserting themselves and wear traditional Indian clothes while doing business in India, but I'm not too sure of that. Look at Japan. You almost never see Japanese businessmen or executives wearing traditional clothes when doing business. We all have a tendency to imitate the sucessful and the West has been succesful in doing business and generating wealth to an unbelievable extent. We Indians want to copy their success and we make no bones about it. I just wish we could do so wearing the right clothes for India's climate.

Trident Gurgaon- A Nice Hotel

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:23:50 EDT

Ever since I joined the current firm, I have had to make 2 trips down to Delhi. Short trips, both of them, but one of the good points is that I have had the pleasure of staying at Trident Gurgaon. I had never heard of this chain before and was a bit doubtful about this entire thing but hey, it had a bed, didn't want anything else by that time.

My first trip in June was only for a day and 1 night and did not really get to appreciate the ambiance but it was still lovely, the suite was good, the views were brilliant. But this time, I stayed for 2 nights and 2 days, and got a chance to enjoy the hotel.

The first thing that strikes you is the simplicity and clean lines of the hotel. Nothing too much hits your eyes, simple clean lines, open spaces and minimalist architecture and furnishings.

Another thing that I liked was that each and every staff member would do an namaste to you. Feels good to see and reciprocate. Anyway, between running around like an idiot, I took some photographs. You can see some 3D views here.

I searched up and down but did not get much information on the architecture. It reminds me of Mughal and Rajput architecture in strange mixes. See here for an example of the gates. Here are some examples of the arches and gates in Alwar. Here's an example of the same arch on a tomb. The same window in the Madrasa Ghazi-ud-Din Khan from a distance here. Interesting, no?

In the middle, you have a pool which is lit up in the night, but the poor chap in the middle, is dressed in a raincoat and his job seems to be sweeping the excess monsoon water from the sandstone flagging. What a job.

Anyway, when you enter the reception, its white, cool, minimalist and just two desks, with not much clutter on the desk. And a beautiful flower arrangement. 25 rose buds, arranged in a tight 5x5 square, looking beautiful. I took almost 50 photographs before one came out right, the shiny white marble was creating havoc with the photographs. But you can see how lovely it looked. My eyes kept on getting back to it. And the staff were lovely and patient with my credit card details till I finished grumbling and muttering and bubbling over the flowers with my little mobile camera.

I was lead into the hotel. And there were lovely views. The rooms are arranged around a set of pools. The next set of 2 photographs is from my previous trip.

The pools have frangipani trees strategically positioned around the pools. I just love their aroma. Funny story, me and my boss were waiting for our car to come and I noticed the trees. I told Peter- <i>you got to smell this, its lovely<i>. Muppet BD. Anyway, my room is on the other side. Following are some of the photographs of the room.

a small kitchen

with a sink and stuff. Did not use it.

the dining room and the view of the pools and frangipani trees outside

in the foreground is the desk and in the background is the sitting room

another view of the living room (can you see the fat git in the mirror in the bedroom?)

the pool viewed from the living room

the living room from the hall

the hall

the dining room

the living room with the hallway

the bed before I ruined it :)

view of the left hand side wall with the door to the loo

entering the bathroom. Nice butt

the Jacuzzi, bloody hell, you can play water polo in there

the basins, there were two, one on each wall. Hmm, too far away...

What's with the backside pictures, eh? But hey, to have two apsara's in my bathroom, I wouldn't mind at all.

All in all, lovely hotel and I think I have found my regular haunt in Delhi! :)

Full resolution pics and slide show here

Technorati Tags: Hotel,India

Born Confused: Hi Dad...er...Mom

temporal — Fri, 4 Jul 2008 01:50:40 EDT

Poor baby!

The two word opening is not condescending.

Can you imagine the little baby being utterly confused between mom and dad. Thank you mom….er……dad….er…..not you mom, dad…

34 year old Thomas Beattie, former pageant queen Tracy LaGondino of Hawaii, lately of Oregon has given birth to a baby girl, ABC News has reported.

He told People magazine he decided to get pregnant after wife of five years Nancy had a hysterectomy.

So to answer the question: how can a man be pregnant? Well, Beatie actually used to be a woman, then decided he wanted to be a man, and then decided he wanted to have a baby. When he had surgery to become a man, he had his breasts removed and was given testosterone to make him look and sound like a man, but he chose to keep his female reproductive organs. So Beatie is really a man/woman hybrid. Call him a freak, if you like.

Baby incubating aside, renting a womb aside, switching roles aside, I found this very interesting. Beattie has a penchant for coining words. Look at this play on maternity clothes:

'Unfortunately, they don't make man-ternity clothes,' he remarked recently.

Is it progress? Tides run - time does not remain still. But what is this? Will pigs fly next? Will democracy take root in Iraq? Or Pakistan? Will Bal Thackeray come out of the closet? Will Modi waltz with Mullah Omar?

What will the kid do when the school wants her to bring her dad with her next PTA meeting?

Now there will be no solace in beer drinking. A beer belly can be mistaken for pregnancy.

And did you read about the one year old baby carrying another fetus? No, not another miracle, I assure you. It is a medical condition called FiF. Fetus-in-Fetus.

So to the All India Eunuch Association Chairperson and the Von Siffers: hold your peace. We are not there yet.

Why do Women Get More Tax Exemption Than Men?

Varun P — Fri, 9 May 2008 13:28:47 EDT

While I was busy catching up with my work and those rare, few friends of mine who missed me, one of them asked me a very common, sometimes unnoticed question: Why do women get greater tax exemption than men??

Here is my reply: Historically, women have earned less than men on average. Plus, their working life-term is shorter than men, hence they are given more tax-breaks to enable them to save a higher amount over a comparably lower working life period.. Does this sound reasonable?

The question gave me a pretty weird idea and so I decided to conduct an in-office poll of the same.. Here are some replies which deserved special mention!!

--- because they deserve the best in all areas of life (a feminist..)

--- I think women are better than men and should have some privileges enhanced. (a thoughtful feminist)

--- they already have so many extra expenses (Definitely a shopaholic!)

--- because they have two letters more than we do!! (Wise-ass!!)

--- because men are better managers than women!! (This seemed like such a chauvinistic reply.. Does this even answer the question?)

--- because men keep asking for money from us!! (Certainly a lady-in-command. I wonder about the asking for money phrasing -- doesn't it go vice-versa?)

--- because they are the best in every way, and the best people get the best reward. (Hmm. I wish this person had elaborated further -- "best in every way.. which way?? how many ways?? Okay, okay, Censor Board calling!!)

--- because P Chidambaram (and FMs before him) seem to like women more than men ;) (What a sad truth! Sigh. No comments on this one!)

So, dear readers, I would love for you people to come forward and express your opinion on this question

While you are at this task, do check out this article which appeared in the Times of India in 2005. "All's Fair in Love and Tax"

For women seeking emancipation from the clutches of a male-dominated society, this year's Budget by finance minister P Chidambaram takes the first definite step not only towards gender equality, but gender empowerment. Like a Times of India editorial recently argued, finally it is the woman on top.

For generations, man-woman relationship in India has been defined by the contours of a woman's role in the family and, thereafter, by extension in society. And I dare say that these contours have been drawn since the time of Ramayana by male guardians of civil society, first with Lakshman's rekha and finally with Sita's banishment from Ayodhya on grounds of staying in Ravana's Lanka, far and away from her husband.

You will agree that our role as women is first defined by the duties we perform as somebody's daughter, then as somebody's wife, and then again as mother, grandmother... We are never really expected to be ourselves.

So in a small way, this year's Budget gives Indian women the chance to stake greater ownership over her 'real' streedhan. In terms of the income-tax benefits offered to women income earners, the Finance Minister has taken a small step towards gender equality and a giant leap for womankind. It makes a fine distinction between incomes earned by men and women and the need for women to retain a greater control over their earnings by way of providing an income-tax exemption limit of up to Rs 1.25 lakh against a limit of up to Rs 1 lakh for men.

...

Let us hope that we all move towards less taxing, more relaxing times - and make this world a better place to live in.

The author's wish sure seems to have been answered, with Mr. P. Chidambaram hiking the tax exemption limit for women from Rs. 1.45 lakhs earlier to Rs. 1.80 lakhs in the budget for financial year 2008-09!! Rock on gals!!

Sometimes I do wonder that when women all around us are fighting for equal rights, then why do we even have this reservation quota/preferential treatment for women? If you want equal rights, then shouldn't you be allowed to stand up for it and fight? Why this discrepancy? Why is it in some office places/educational institutes that they strive for a healthy male:female ratio? Why is a comment against a women by a man considered sexist while a women can get away with anything she says to a man, sexist or non-sexist? This society, which is now increasingly getting behind the female side of human beings, needs to reconsider some of the shortcomings in the justice which is meted out these days.

While I am all for females having equal rights, I certainly am amused by the fact that women in all spheres of life get preferential treatment over men in most cases. A woman's word is given more weightage than a man's word: now many of you might disagree with this generic statement but those of you who have been at the receiving end of just such a thing will know how it feels like!

Sigh! I think I have just sowed the seeds of a major debate here and while I would love to rationalize and explain my stance more elaborately, I believe in listening to the most primal and urgent calling in this world: that of your body's and mind's telling you to put all rubbish, garbage and dumpsters aside and climb into a sweet, inviting bed for a good night's rest!

But hey it's just me who needs to listen to my mind and my body -- you merry fellows go all out and rage a huge debate among yourself over what ever I have said. However, I would like to add that I do not hold any grudges against the females -- I love my Momma, I love my sisters and pretty, single girls, I am crazy about you all! :-)

The Wired Life

Manasa Pamaraju — Thu, 1 May 2008 14:25:20 EDT

Everything these days is automated, electronic and somehow or the other designed to reduce human effort/intervention. I have absolutely no complaints about these new inventions. After all, they make my life easy. But, did you notice that every such gadget has to come with a wire, usually black. The television needs a power supply, a wire here, the cable for the thousands of channels that we never see has another big wire. The laptop has wireless internet, but the router needs the power connection and hence the wire, and yes, the laptop needs a wire too. Thankfully the TV remote does not. We have indeed made great progress from the days when electrical lines used to run over the walls, I still remember my old childhood home, where the wiring was exposed in that manner. There are a number of other things that have come up in the recent past that can operate using the wireless technology and I am not unaware of them.

But, for a person who is trying to keep her home neat and clean, these wires have now become a necessary evil. In a way they bring out individual creativity. These wires give us an opportunity to utilize our brain to come up with contraptions that will help us conceal them or make them look less obvious. In our small apartment, my husband and I have tried hard to conceal a huge chunk of those necessary evils - wires. It all started many days back when I tried to clean my home. Somehow, I always felt that the hall looked really untidy and whatever I did, it never ever seemed to look prim. At the heart of the problem lay the chunk of black and white wires, running all along the room. Ma’s words then struck me like a lightning bolt . She used to remind us time and again to wrap up those wires when we were done. I can now strongly empathize with her feelings.

Anyways, back to our small home, we did manage to conceal the bunch of wires. We used some coloured paper as screens, and in the process, induced colour into our rather white and boring looking apartment. (The rent restrictions make it too much of a bother to paint the walls.) Let me confess, we still have some wires that are visible. I suppose we can’t hide everything. But, it's now much more tidy. Ah! So wires also lead to good teamwork and help in relationship bonding. After all, my husband and I were working collectively toward a certain cause that plagued us. It takes me back to another aspect, my degree in Electrical engineering, how coincidental. Now that I think of it, I used to be irked sometimes by the bunch of wires found in the labs too. I suppose my aversion to bunches of electrical wires is dated.

I have come to conclude, never take electrical connections lightly. When you decide to do your home, make sure you plan the connections and points ahead. If you don’t, trust me, they would create a havoc later in your otherwise well-planned home.

However weird this may be, our lives are wired and connected in a number of ways with all these modern contraptions - so live an Electric life!

Photo Essay: St Paul's Cathedral, London

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sat, 5 Apr 2008 06:02:32 EDT

It was evening when I got to walk past St. Paul's on the way to a meeting at the London Stock Exchange and as I was a few minutes early, I took out the camera to take some photos of the St. Paul's Cathedral. It is an imposing building.

Once upon a time, many moons ago, I was working at Goldman Sachs, which had a building right in front of St. Paul's and at that time, I used to walk over to the grounds of St. Paul's and have my lunch there. But of course, at that time, I did not have a handy camera. But now I do and here are some of the pictures taken in haste.

the pillars on the front of the cathedral with quite intricate carving

this was an iron fence which presumably protects the corner of the building from getting knocked and damaged.

this is a view of the northern side of the cathedral looking due east. The cathedral has a strong Greco-roman feel with those columns and crenellations.

Looking back up west and if you keep on going up, you will hit Fleet Street.

There seems to be some restoration going on as well, its Albion Stone, a very nice buttery cream coloured limestone. Can you imagine trying to restore stone to what it was like before? And St. Paul's restoration is a long term project. Mind you, this particular building is the fourth to occupy this site and this latest one was created around 1700's. Designed by that great man, Christopher Wren. See some pictures of the restoration here.

The fence is made up of some serious ironmongery, the casting of these fences should have taken up serious amounts of money, time and skill.

This is the statue of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. He looked far too stern for my liking, reminded me of one of the teachers I had in my Jesuit school, but you can see the man who is perhaps responsible for one of the greatest flowering of evangelical Christianity in modern ages.

The base of the pillar containing the statue of St. John the Baptist (I think, it wasn't clear which John...) But the raised bronze/copper? inscription was very interesting. Makes you wonder about your own mortality. One erects these monuments to the dead and 100 years later, a man will be standing in front of it and wondering who or what Anne Richards was. It says:

IN MEMORY OF ANNE RICHARD BVRIED IN THIS CHVRCHYARD OF HER SON FREDRICK RICHARDS FOR MANY YEARS RESIDENT IN WAITING STREET AND OF HER GRANDSON FREDRICK FIELD RICHARDS PRIEST RESIDENT FOR MANY YEARS IN ST. PAVLS CHVRCHYARD THIS CROSS WAS ERECTED BY HENRY CHARLES RICHARDS CITIZEN BAKER AND TVRNER ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S COVNSEL TREASURER OF THE HONORABLE SOCIETY OF GRAY'S INN 1904 1905 AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR EAST FINSBURY 1895 1905 WHO SPENT THE HAPPIEST HOVRS OF A BVSY LIFE AS A FREQVENT WORSHIPPER WITHIN THE WALLS OF THIS CATHEDRAL "GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME AS A SINNER".... 1905

Notice that the U's are replaced with V's, impact of Latin perhaps? A bit verbose and perhaps I would not have written so much, but hey, who pays the piper gets to call the tune. But the craftsmanship was brilliant, very nice.

Then we have a bench which has a plaque which states:

IN PROUD MEMORY OF THE LATE LT. COL. H. N. CLARK, DSO, TD, COMMANDING OFFICER, 290 BDE RFA (T) PRESENTED BY 2/1ST CITY OF LONDON, RFA, OCA, 1914-1918.

That's Royal Field Artillery for you. Here's an interesting site which tells you about the man who commanded this group of men, they were part of 1st corps, 58th London Division, and I quote: "58th Division advancing on Lens on the right" on 11th November 1918, the day the first great war ended...

So while I was sitting there on that peaceful evening looking up at the great building, this bench was commemorating a man who led men on the battlefields of one of the most violent conflicts known to man. All quiet on the western front?

Then I trundled around back to the front of the cathedral which has an interesting series of polished stone bollards around the front. You can see up the road and walk down the stairs holding on to this massive bronze handrail, very nicely crafted as well. Although I think the stone bollards are new.

The porch (although it is way too big to be called as a porch) was massive with the pillars and the marble flooring. You can see the huge wooden doors on the left hand side photograph behind the photographer. Although the alcoves looked empty. It was as if they were designed to hold statues, but they did not. I was also not sure about the purpose of the pillars, so close to the main wall. Are they really load bearing or just for show?

The wooden doors were massive and the bronze rosettes were big as well, and looking at the ceiling, it is very tightly sculpted in that Albion stone. Lovely warm stone, but apparently it gets dirty very quickly...

As before, for the full slide show (and some more photographs) in much bigger resolution, please click here or click on the thumbnail to go to a bigger resolution picture.

Technorati Tags: London,Photo Essay

Movie Review: Jodhaa Akbar - Mystery Solved: Why There Was No Birbal?

Aditi Nadkarni — Wed, 2 Apr 2008 10:49:52 EDT

Those who have read my movie reviews know of my unexplained aversion to commercial Hindi films....at least the plot-less, song sprinkled, melodramatic embarrassments that we have to watch dazzling at us from their lofty places on box office charts.

I now have developed significant and upsetting reactions to the Punjabi family of Bollywood, to the melodramatic unmarried uncle (Alok Nath), manic Papa (Anupam Kher), plump and cloying mummy-jis (Reema Lagoo, Farida Jalal), overtly shy, mature bahus (god, there are so many of them) and the immature and tomboyish damsels who continue to roller-skate in the house, eat unexplainable amounts of candy and pull kiddish pranks way into their twenties (usually the leading lady).

More about these characters "here" , but whatever. Since this is Bollywood's treatment of family dramas, I am all the more skeptical about how they would execute the period romances that require intricate detail. But this review is about the one film that I watched in the theater armed with my narrowest and most disapproving gaze and emerged not half as disappointed as I had expected to be.

If it hasn't been said enough, the visuals of Gowariker's Jodha-Akbar were breathtakingly beautiful. Aishwarya's couture stood out and so did Hrithik's brawn.

The actors did what they have always done. Aishwarya looked pretty and wept when she wasn't engaging in occasional bouts of hip-jutting sword duals. Hrithik flexed his biceps and fought wild elephants with his bare hands. Apart from a few notable performances such as Ila Arun as Maham Anga, this film was a director's feat and not really carried by any of the actors' performances. The director's sensitivity can be detected in scenes where the new bride cooks a feast for her husband, where a mother advises her daughter to pick death over humiliation, where a princess first earns her husband-to-be's respect by making known that her faith and beliefs warrant a non-negotiable place in her life and where a great king stands up for his wife and becomes a husband.

With Lagaan, director Ashutosh Gowarikar established that he could tell us a fascinating story, with Swades he demonstrated his prowess at weaving art into the escapist fabric of commercialism and now with Jodha Akbar he proves that he has the finesse to convey the delicacies of a love story.

The redundancy during every intimate scene in all the songs bare his weakest points and that somehow to me makes him seem like a better director than those who are brilliant at the choreography and love scenes but fail at the story-telling.

What is interesting to note is Gowariker's clever use of rich, warm colors that add to the cultural identity of each scene. He used this apparatus in Lagaan for the song "Radha Kaise Na Jale", did it again with Swades and Jodha Akbar is teeming with such cinematographic delights which underscore the cultural richness that a period romance would've been incomplete without. Gowarikar also uses a dash of unexpected humor especially in the Jodha-Akbar sword dual.

The art and creative direction is what truly gives this film its grandeur. The colors surround you and make the film worth watching in a theater rather than on a television screen. The orange and red hues with the dusky backdrop of the desert, the cackling fire set amidst colorful tents, the majestic pink forts and the glorious white robes light up the screen. A.R.Rahman as always delivers and while all his songs are catchy, the "Khwadja Mere Khwadja" number is sublime.

For those who criticized the film for its conspicuous lack of political detail and a sorely missing Birbal, I would just like to point out that the film is called "Jodha Akbar" and not "Akbar the Great" or "Akbar Birbal" or "Akbar and the Navratnas". Any focus on the navratnas or the presence of a witty Birbal would've, I strongly believe, pulled attention from the romance itself. Sure, Jodha's role could've been meatier, Ms.Rai could've sobbed less and Hrithik could've delivered his dialogs in a more believable tone without looking like he was going to sneeze each time.

My only major grouse was with the length of this film. This romance was about the cultural disparities between a couple that had an inter-religious marriage in a time when religious differences were probably more pronounced than they are in the present world.

The film showcased a husband-wife relationship and managed to include snippets of loyalty, trust, identity and respect that form the basis of a successful marriage.

It could've covered all those areas and been wrapped up in lesser time if we wouldn't have to watch Aishwarya riding a horse for ten long minutes only to then fall on Sujamal's chest and do what she does best...weep. We could always do without the classic "running to Krishna idol" scene whenever someone's life is in jeopardy and the listless stream of foreplay poses packed into a never-ending song. If Mr.Gowariker is reading, I would want him to know that with Lagan he changed the acceptable format of commercial cinema and no longer requires to stick to it.

But I am starting to make peace with these lost hours of my life that Bollywood devours and that I will never get back. I tell myself that directors have considerately made these lengthy inclusions just so I can have a samosa and still have time for a leisurely bathroom break.

...and that my friends is probably where Birbal went.

Photo-Essay: The Magical Collection of Ganesh

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:47:38 EST

Ganesh is one of my favourite Gods, for many reasons, such as his knowledge, his writing ability (he should be the God of bloggers). But this essay is not about him per se, but about the collection of statues which my mother has put together. There are more than 200 statues of various types, but in the interests of time and not to be boring the pants off of people, I have selected the top 100 which I liked. Those are in the full slide show (link at the bottom), and then I have further selected some which "spoke" to me.

Ma got them from all over the country and some she sculpted herself. What amazed me was the sheer diversity of how people see Ganesh and then represent his divinity using clay or any other materials.

On the left is Bal Ganesh, baby Ganesh, crawling on the floor. It is a tiny statue, hardly 2 inches tall and 3 inches wide. Very cute statue from the Bastar District in India. On the right is a statue showing Ganesh playing the cymbals.

On the left is a statue of Ganesh from Calcutta wearing a dhoti, proper Bhadralok, a typical Bengali gentleman. In the middle, Ma made this out of twine and beads and on the right, Ma made this out of stones, pebbles and glue.

On the left, is a statue carved out of a Bamboo plant, very nice carving. The one in the middle is made out of gram flour. Can you imagine? It's Bengali again. And the one on the right is a modern art Ganesh, made out of polished marble.

A tribal Ganesh is on the left, made out of brass. Ma picked this up during one of her trips out into the jungles of Madhya Pradesh, while she was researching for one of her books. And then you have a rather startled looking colourful Ganesh in the middle. I am not surprised, I would be startled as well if I was painted in those colours! Then you have a rather corpulent fired clay Ganesh on the right. Again tribal (Originally from Orissa).

The orangish translucent Ganesh on the left is made of some kind of plastic material, it was gifted to Ma. On the right, you can see a Ganesh perched on the dashboard of a car. He is obviously there as driving on Indian roads requires divine assistance and protection. But what is worrying is that he is facing the driver and not the road!

The statue on the left bears a striking resemblance to Dumbo (or perhaps a gremlin?) but frankly, it is one of the few statues with an anatomical verisimilitude about the size of the ears. Most don't even have ears or if they do, they are more like afterthoughts, like the lacquer statue in the middle. And the statue on the right is made out of some kind of amazing stone. It almost glows from the inside and has tiny pinpricks of light. I was reminded of the sentence from 2010, OMG, it is full of stars when I took the photo of the tiny statue on my jeans clad thigh.

Three transparent and translucent statues, all made out of glass, two clear and one blue. The one on the right is a masterpiece, it is obviously not blown but they have made parts and then stuck them together to make up this statue. Can you imagine the workmanship and the amazing attention to detail?

On the left is a Sandalwood Ganesh from Mysore, in the middle is a Ganesh from Bihar made out of a strange kind of very light stone, while the Ganesh on the right is made up of tile pieces which Ma stuck on the wall of the roof. God (Ganesh!), she does indeed have an artistic eye!

Then we have a statue of a clay Ganesh dressed up as an English Gentleman, briefcase, three piece suit, umbrella and a hat. Very cute! Then another tribal Ganesh, which Ma found while she was filming somewhere in the depths near Gwalior. Apparently the tribe which makes this keeps women away from the entire process of statue making. And another statue which she made herself out of pebbles.
This was made out of orange wax and the wick is on top, not sure if you can make it out.

The left hand side is a Ganesh which Ma made out of sea shells and some string/beads. Another pebbly Ganesh in the middle, while at the right end you can see a Pushnir Ceramic Ganesh.

When people talk about worshipping statues, I smile because when you look at all these representations of Ganesh, you do not see a statue, but rather different emotions and feelings of each individual different sculptor. Every different representation shows how the Divine is seen and discloses how there just are so many viewpoints, infinite number of dimensions. He means something different to different people. If one was indeed worshipping the statue itself, then over the past thousands of years, the representation would have been reduced down to only a few common images. I see those statues and I feel the love. Perhaps that is worship indeed.

Here is the full resolution slide show. Warning!!! There are 100 images in there so only see if you have few minutes to spare! :) May Ganesh bless you.

Technorati Tags: Photo Essay,Hinduism

How Green is My Antilla!

arZan — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:00:28 EST

In a hard hitting and valid argument Daniel Brook talks about Mukesh Ambani's Antilla being billed as a Green Building by its American architects Perkins+Will.

When completed, the 24-story Ambani family home will include its own health club, terraced sky-gardens, and 50-seat screening room (the reclusive Ambani is reputed to be a huge Bollywood fan). Antilla also boasts three helipads and a 168-car garage. This may sound like transportation overkill, if not outright eco-terrorism, for a family of six. But despite its 38-to-1 car-to-person ratio, Antilla has been billed by its American architects as a “green building.” And under the leading standards for green architecture, the building will likely qualify.

The LEED rating system at best is a guideline and at worst is riddled with loopholes.

Installing a $395 bike rack is worth the same under the LEED checklist system as installing a $1.3 million environmentally sensitive heating system. Which is the cynical builder going to choose?

This allows for architects like Perkins+Will to claim to design green buildings while in reality it is all a hogwash.

The rating system is designed for US standards and when implemented on Indian conditions and buildings, every project could bag the "green" tag.

Perkins+Will is not the only ones who ride the hype-mobile. Even reputed Indian architects like Karan Grover do the same. By understanding the system and finding the loopholes, Grover has the "distinction" of being the first architect with both a LEED Platinum Building and a LEED Platinum Commercial Interior project.

Even FXFowle who is designing the India towers at Charni Road in Mumbai are billing their project to be

within a sustainable network of green roofs and hanging gardens; creating a singular, extraordinary building that, when completed, will be the tallest and greenest - building in India. [link]

Green has become the buzzword of the latter half of this decade. And it helps to sell everything from food to apartments costing millions (in whatever currency).

And from what I read and see, India seems to be picking up the hype which has somehow started clearing out in the US, as the article above points out .

The Indian Green Building Council has just now woken up to the big difference in standards and the first LEED guidelines are being formalized for India. However it will take a few years for the real effects to trickle down to the individual building level.

People like Mukesh Ambani and Reliance should be leading the way instead of being an example of the moral bankruptcy that Reliance has time and again shown.

Architects in India have an easier job designing in sustainable ways. A lot of our building materials procurement and construction technology are sustainable to start with. Indian architects, developers and designers have a real opportunity to push beyond the "green" envelope and set an example.