Loksatta against BMTF Chief's Expulsion

The Loksatta team with Dr. Meenakshi Bharatha and Shanthala, the future of our country's clean politics protested on the Town Hall Steps to show their support for the BMTF Chief. The tribunal went ahead and reversed the order as the transfer was not legal.

Gypsy Dreams - 2D/1N Art Outing in Bangalore

This was my first photo shoot for United Arts Society’s Gypsy Dreams. The team behind this is a bunch of art enthusiasts who seek similar minded Indians and offer a platform for art enlightening, joy and absolute fun for 2 whole days. Their goal is remain cut off from the busy life for two days and to get lost completely in the beautiful atmosphere of Temple Tree (North Bangalore) amidst green surroundings, art lovers and plenty of art based sessions.

Location Temple Tree: Just 5 kms from Hebbal Flyover is this beautiful 5 acres of property called as the Temple Tree. It has two shelters, one is for any indoor activity, a large room with  plenty of sleeping space and power sockets. In the corner is a fairly large, exceptionally clean and nicely designed washroom. The washbasin has the finest Jaquar tap and then the surprise, the washbasin is actually a large piece of stone that has been smoothly chiseled to make a washbasin. See the combination? Jaquar tap and Stone Washbasin! This pretty much summarizes the two day outing, i.e., you are lost in art without losing the comforts of modern day life.

Participants arrived from 9:30 am till 11:00 am. As they set foot into this tranquil 5 acre land. As you enter from the main gate, you see a little bit of unused and untouched barren land but your sight will be on to the Kerala styled tiles hovering over fairly large area. You part your vehicle under the trees and you step into the a nicely maintained lawn enclosed on all sides by a wall or a by rope. This is the enclosure where all participants will stay for the next two days. As you walk onto the lawn, you find the open space very inviting and the building is also very open with multi sided entrance that enables any kind of performance based show.

We took our seats on the lawn and while waiting for the participants, we were offered snacks. Fruits, coconut water, brown bread, and rusk. Most of the participants appreciated this 24 hour supply of snacks which was kept on an open counter for anyone to grab a quick bite if hunger struck. This was in addition to the lunch, evening snack, dinner, next day breakfast, lunch and evening snack.

The session began at 11:00 am with Vineet taking to the stage introducing himself and requesting every individuals introduction. 90% of the participants never knew who the others were and this set a nice mix of people from various backgrounds. I found all participants very mature and had arrived at a certain stage in life where they know how their life will progress and wanted a nice art break from their busy schedules. So, everyone mingled ever so easily.

The session began with a few fun games. Some of them so simple, yet so much fun. This allowed everyone to get into the mood of relaxing and flexing their brain muscles other than for work.

As the day unfolded, two sets of teams were formed with a captain assigned to each team. The goal was to ensure that captains steered their respective teams to winning maximum of the games/events. And sure enough, some games were quite a challenge. Some of the games were something I never ever heard, but they were so much fun.

After about 4 events, lunch was served. Lunch was delicious and very filling. Soon after lunch, everyone got indoors and had a quick session on drawing and they were offered all that was necessary to do some drawing. Kenneth Sebastian was the mentor along with Vineet who helped the participants with their creativity. It was exceptionally nice to see Kenny making a creative piece in less than 15 minutes. The goal was to connect their inner self with a piece of art. Char coal, pencil, paper, everything was there and only thing that was to be brought onto the floor was creativity. Some of the participants thought for sometime while the others were quick to make something.

Right after this session was a ‘engineering’ session in which the two teams were given two themes, strings of rope, plenty of bamboo sticks and some metal wires. Based on the theme given, the teams were required to make a creation that represented their theme well. This sounded a little difficult but it was interesting to see how someone who has an artistic mind was able to share the concepts on paper which eventually the ‘doers’ used to make the final output.

In the evening, everyone got together on the lawn to have a quick game of Kho-Kho. I almost dropped my camera to join them but alas, my job was to shoot and not to play. Game was simple but the organizers did require to do a couple of rounds of mock running to explain all. We had a foreign guest who was probably not aware of the rules but that added to the fun because everyone thought she wouldn’t be good enough and she was a surprise package. The game was one hell of a refresher because it made your heart beat fast and this time your heart was not beating because of a report that was due.

Soon, all participants rested on the relaxing lawn as the sun set and there was a neat snack that was served. Shortly, firewood which was already collected was made into a neat cone for bon-fire. Fire attracts one and all and without any invitation, everyone seated themselves around the fire. The most surprising package was about to be unfolded. Kenneth (Kenny) takes the center stage and how. He brings his guitar and then what transpired was simply exceptional. While we originally thought that Kenny was a painter, we now see him playing good music. But wait, he’s actually more than that. He is a stand-up comedian who can sing well, create great music and is a true artist to the core.

His stand-up act, which he did seated on his chair was hilarious and people almost fell of the chair. Of course, a few participants teamed-up well to add to the effect. His explanation of why he learnt playing guitar was very honest and the songs he played added to the fun. His Kannada song which is created out of sentences he heard in Karnataka without he knowing what it meant was the show stealer.

This was then followed by a nice sumptuous dinner. But it wasn’t time to sleep. Plenty of fun activities followed the dinner which:

Next day early morning, everyone went to bed to sleep. It was around 4:00 am. Quite obviously the good morning call of 8:00 am seemed to be a little early for many. But the yoga camp helped everyone rejuvenate and the morning breakfast pepped all. Later in the day, once everyone took their shower, there was a session on dance and body relaxation, this was fun and at the same time very relaxing as the instructor demonstrated a few simple techniques to loosen one’s body. The music that the team played was simply out of the world and a complete surprise package. Most of it sounded like lounge music and anyone would love to add them to their collection.

Lunch once again was apparently the most awaited ‘session’ by one and all. Almost everyone, with a heavy stomach wanted to rest and sure enough, they all rested but not for long. The oil painting session seemed difficult for many as not many had done this for a long time. However, the a little bit of support or ideas that came in, the team sat down to unleash their creativity. After washing hands, everyone sat down to have a filling evening snack with coffee. The day program was closing and everyone were invited to sit on the lawn, relax and speak a little about their experience. They were required to write a small feedback which of course would help the UAS team to improvise which is what they have been doing since their first Gypsy Dreams session.

Gypsy Dreams has been unique from many points of view:

-          Never ever have we seen such an art outing with so many things being done

-          It was more like a picnic with some great participants (I say great participants because these were folks who have seen life, have accomplished something for themselves and were here to connect with their inner self and have fun doing so)

-          The location and the fact that one did not have to go outside the city to have a mini-vacation is so nice

I hope they keep improvising their sessions and may this be a more regular feature in Bangalore.

United Arts Society - ART IN ME (for children)

United Arts Society is a not for profit organization that works at developing the artistic side of young children. While doing so, children thoroughly enjoy the experience. I got an opportunity to cover a weekend art activity, ART IN ME, that took place on the 24th of July.

Nestled in the heart of the city, and yet somehow the place was completely cut off from the city life, is Smriti-Nandan, the location that UAS chose to let children explore their dancing and photography interest. Smriti-Nandan is a place meant for art - the stage, the surrounding, the entire locale had an out-of-the-city feel. Children loved the spot & it was interesting to note that parents were also delighted on seeing the spot.

The program was to begin at 10:00. Some parents were a little late but the dance mentor, Veena, was happy to accommodate the late comers too. All children were thoroughly disciplined by the parents to ‘behave at their best’ and the mentor advised the children to be left alone while the parents would wait outside or go for a shopping drive. Cunningham road was near by and so were the malls for the parents to explore.

The mentor ensured that the children were feeling at home and sure enough the children connected very well with her. Soon, the entire team began with various body flexibility moves and fun games and the children were loving every bit of it. What was interesting was the various run and catch games that were played in various 'positions'. In one game, you would have to chase without letting your foot palm touching the ground.

It was good to see every child so engrossed and why not, such opportunities never come their way in their routine mundane days. It was an hour and half and the children were completely enjoying albeit thirsty by the end of the first half of the session. That was the end of the part 1 of the session and all children took a 10 minute refreshment break.

Then, it was the photography session which was led by another mentor Amulya. Everyone encircled her as she took her seat on the floor making a circle out of the children’s team. These were the children who had seen digital cameras on their first b’day and therefore, the device was not new. But when Amulya pulled out her digital SLR camera, all eyes were awestruck. She then carefully started to explain the camera’s outer parts and how they help in taking a picture. Lens, flashes, apertures, they were all explained in a simple manner that ensured that everyone understood. I was 22 when I understood what aperture was. The average age of these children was 8, much better than me already.

Then it was show time, all children with their respective digital cameras were given an assignment to shoot something or someone from the garden and bring it back for review. That took about a good 30 minutes and then the team broke sub-teams of 3-4 to make a pin-hole camera. Cardboards, cello tapes, were all kept ready for the children to start ‘manufacturing’ their first camera.

All the work was finally evaluated by Amulya and the children were allowed to take home their ‘manufactured' piece.

It was a perfect outing for children that were fun-filled, energetic and more importantly allowed children to explore their artistic side of their brain. Not everyone in this group would eventually become a dancer or a photographer but without these type of sessions, the chances would’ve been even less. Kudos to their parents for being thoughtful to start nurturing their children’s interest areas so that children grow up to become what they want to become and not just money making machines.

Wipro Earthian - The sustainability program for students

When you visit a new place, the first thing that you notice is the neatness and hygiene factor. Earth is actually very beautiful and some countries have done an exceptional job to preserve and even better it. India has so many issues that neatness is the last thing in our agenda.

While we live, trying to make the best out of this life, lets also try and give back something back to the society. I've chosen cleanliness and energy as my social responsibility areas. I will ensure that I do my best to keep my area clean by not littering, by advising fellow citizens. I will also ensure that I reduce my carbon footprint by reducing the usage of my private vehicle, walking and cycling more and also by using by using public transport like buses and trains more than private vehicles.

If you feel strongly like the way I do, Wipro is giving an opportunity to present your thoughts and ideas in a whitepaper which if selected, whitepaper stands to earn Rs. 2 lakhs. Your photographs will be published across Wipro network on mails and your work along with your photos will be published in this blog site.

Reducing carbon foot print and neatness is what I chose. You can also chose any topic of your choice from the following and submit your entries.



Here's an example of what all we can do:

- If you have your own home, try and build a water harvesting set-up so that dependence on water from government reduces. This, on the long run, will reduce your water bill.
- Use solar water heater, which not only saves power but also electricity bills over a 7 year period.
- Don't throw garbage or litter on the streets, they are ugly to look at, and they clog the drains meant for water and then the area floods. Government then spends money to clean this up. Whose is this money? Yours and mine... Advise anyone throwing litter on the streets not to. It also affects tourists whose most common complaint is not India's poverty but India's complete disregard to neatness and hygiene.

Watch this video to understand how human greed and want for things have put so much pressure on other living creations and the planet. If don't mend our ways, forget the planet's sustainability, our own existence will be under threat!

To register: India needs to be at the vanguard and to act as a role model to demonstrate how it is possible to grow national wealth in a sustainable manner. For India, the future adults are the only hope and you are that only hope. Future generations of children and young adults, are the key stakeholders who will be impacted by what is happening. The nature of these problems requires completely new ways of thinking, sensibilities, changes in behaviors and responses. They require interdisciplinary subject knowledge and a radical change in approaching the problems. Educational institutions are ecosystems where this can flower.
'earthian Sustainability Program' is designed to act as a catalyst for fostering excellence in sustainability thinking and doing amongst young people. The annual awards program is a first step towards a deeper engagement with children and young adults in schools and colleges.

Amitav Ghosh - Book release River of Smoke at PageTurners

Considered as the most awaited book of the year, on 28th PageTurners celebrated the launch of Amitav Ghosh's River of Smoke amidst his fans, most of whom seem to be completely mesmerized by his words.

River of Smoke

Listening

Amitav Ghosh with River of Smoke

Fans and guests asking questions

Sea of Poppies, Amitav did not have any interested in China until he  began writing this book

Fans waiting for Amitav Ghosh, author River of Smoke

Amitav Ghosh Signing-off

Fans waiting for Amitav Ghosh's autograph