Swathi Sangeetholsavam

If you are a carnatic / classical music buff and happen to be in Trivandrum till 13 Jan, perhaps you may think of attending concerts at the Swathi Sangeetholsavam.event.
Venue: Kuthira Maliga, adjacent to Sree Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple.
Dates: Jan 4 to Jan 13
Complete schedule
Frankly, I am trying to keep superlatives under control, after attending the second day's concert by Prince Rama Varma, accompanied by .... continue reading

Tolpava koothu (tOlpAva koothu)

Among the many folk arts of Kerala, tOlpAvakoothu (leather puppet play / ancient shadow puppetry) is a ritualistic art form performed in specially made theatre (koothu madam) in front of temples. (see Tol paava koothu - The shadow puppet theatre of Kerala)
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A Festival's Aftermath

Yesterday was the festival of lights. 

Perhaps the festival of noise, smoke, wasted paper and wasted energy too. Deepavali. 

Through my window, I heard enough the whole day. 

Through the same window, I hear the "music" of brooms cleaning up after yesterday's excesses. 

The sound of that music has just moved on, and yesterday's leftovers are out again, to create further leftovers. 

This in a city where there is no place to dispose of solid waste intelligently. 

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TEDxTrivandrum

With a TEDx edition happening in town, it was not difficult to get oneself a ticket (₹750 per session) to attend the event at the Trivandrum Technopark campus.

The newbie organizers did a great job though they must have faced several hiccups. One cannot but like the  convenient and attendee-friendly format (18 minutes per speaker) that TED events follow.

Have a look at the list of visionaries / thinkers / speakers:

Sabriye Tenberken of kanthari

Mathew Jose of Paperman

The one and only Sashi Kumar

T.P. Sreenivasan, a former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations

Bina Paul of India Foundation for the Arts

G.Vijayaraghavan, a former CEO of Technopark.

The bonus at TEDxTrivandrum, on 10 November, 2012, was a video featuring Mallika Sarabhai's Nov 2009 TED talk  (see Mallika Sarabhai: Dance to change the world), and a brief rendition of instrumental music by a local amateur group.

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Did You Sense Gandhiji's Tears?

Transcript of PM's speech

Valiyathura Pier- No-Cost Outing!

Have a look at some views from the dilapidated Valiyathura Pier at Trivandrum.
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An unusual top view of waves

A tryst with Mt Kailash & Lake Mansarovar - 1

During the 14-day long trip from Kathmandu to Kailash and back, we (a group of 18 women, ranging in age from 21 to 60) crossed magnificent mountains, sacred lakes, deep gorges, virgin waterfalls and lush green canyons. We climbed to over 18500 ft height. This trek is one of the more difficult in Asia and physically challenging due to dry, cold Tibetan terrain and difficulties faced at high altitude. Many of us felt unwell often. 
More...from  Kailash Mansarovar yAtra - Nepal Route
    

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra: Some images

Kailash Mansarovar yAtra - more images

A note on the Inner Kora -

The Inner Kora of Mt Kailash parikrama involves trekking for about 28 km. Not all the K-M yAtris attempt this parikrama. (This is simply a digital attempt, courtesy Google Earth). 

More... from Inner Kora - Just a FYI

Off to Kailash-Mansarovar

For those of you interested in spending a few days among majestic mountains, look up KMY-2012 and Amarnath yatra opportunities.

This blogger did...

"Two Visionaries"

Captioned 'Beyond Words', have a look at this rare picture of two greats  from opposite ends of the world, taken 82 years ago.
"In this rare photograph from The Hindu’s archives, Helen Keller, the blind American author and labour rights activist, greets Rabindranath Tagore at a meeting in New York in 1930."

A Not-So-Golden Paradox

One is always surprised at the preoccupation with gold, the infatuation, craze and passion for the yellow metal in India, and elsewhere. The WGC (goldDOTorg. Ha Ha.) happily encourages any and all kinds of marketing gimmicks, including the kind about which Raji ranted in blessed-if-you-buy-jewellery-day.
Staying in Kerala, you simply cannot avoid lengthy TV commercials and full-page newspaper ads by gold 'supermarkets' (how vulgar that sounds!). Nor can you miss seeing driver-distracting, ...

Internet Haves and Have-Nots

We now have (further!) official confirmation of the Digital Divide in India.
Hardly 6% of households in urban India households have an Internet connection.
This figure reads as 0.4% for rural India.
Does this indicate infrastructure falling short or inability to afford the minimum (by today's standards) technology? Or a dismal combination of both? More....

Life after the Civil Services Exam?

Every year, we read stories about young, successful civil service aspirants with professional degrees and how they cracked their exams and interview. What happens to them later? Say a year down the line, more....

More from the Coconut Tree

Chiratta Puttu maker

The entire coconut tree and its constituents are usable during their lifetime and indeed in their afterlife.
Here are a few products originating from the coconut tree. (bark, as well as coconut shell). You'll get to see plenty at craft shows and handicraft outlets. These pictures were taken at the Shantigiri Fest 2012. One only wishes that they were even more ubiquitous, and replace plastic to any extent possible...
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Let's celebrate coir

At the Santhigiri Festival 2012, there is plenty of stuff to browse and spend a useful few hours. One pavilion showcases everything about coir, including the rugged machines needed to process the raw material, more...

Eco-friendly Vs Enviro-friendly - Some forced re-definitions

P Sainath's writes in the article The Iron Laws of the Earth Sciences - "He also became the Minister for Earth Sciences (which, as often pointed out, is seen in his home State as jargon for real estate expertise). Jealous detractors say it is his raising this sector to the level of a science that makes him priceless to the Congress."

Just as (Ministry of) Earth Sciences means more about ministering to the real estate expertise, one can come up with more re-definitions.
Here's one - for those in the Indian (media) elite circles,
eco-friendly = (neo-liberal) ECOnomy-favouring policies.
Further, the words 'climate change' probably refer more to vagaries in the economic weather of the country than the Inconvenient Truth that humankind faces!

For those who bat for the environment - let's talk about being enviro-friendly, shall we?

"After You Sir"

The Sainik School at Kazhakoottam, Trivandrum which happens to be the Alma Mater of so many of my friends, is observing the Golden Jubilee of its existence this academic year, and the grand finale is scheduled for 21 Jan 2012.

One of the SSKZM alumni has brought out a collection of school stories titled "After You Sir", .... continue reading...

FDI in Retail in India

The debate rages on.
This is one area where ringing in the new may not be quite what the nation needs....
Instead of the friendly neighbourhood, dhoti-clad grocer selling you rice, atta and dal, you will be piling up all sorts of mostly superfluous items on to your shopping trolley and get checked out of store by young, suited and booted, extra-polite MBA degree holders.

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A Font Type Inspired by Gandhiji

"Mahatma Gandhi - A different type" aptly sums up the design of a font inspired by the Mahatma. You can download the font from gandhijifont.com.

Let's strive to keep everything simple!

Indian Boardrooms

Pic courtesy - The Hindu
In Indian boardrooms, we hardly see any colour and some sense of national identity. Why do we don dress that is appropriate in some other climate, and also use extra energy to cool. Big Paradox!

Temple's Riches

The Lord's abode is in the news, because material treasures have been found in secret vaults under the temple precincts.
I can't help contrasting this event with the other incidents where treasure taken away from India have been merrily auctioned away.
If kings and chieftains elsewhere in India had also reposited / donated similarly, Indian history and civics and perhaps even geopgraphy would have been very, very different! More...