Ritu Lalit's Blog, page 6

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ON CONCEPT AND DESIGN PRINCIPLES

First year students always struggle massively with this huge enemy of theirs call ‘THE CONCEPT’. As a teacher and a studio director, over the year, along with some exceptionally good concepts and ideas by some exceptional students, I have also been subjected to so many funny, ridiculous and at times, irritating concepts. How is design teacher supposed to react when a student, during a design concept submission says, “my concept for a hospital is an apple as ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ means that an apple is good for health so I want to make the plan of my hospital in the shape of an apple.” But the majority of the class is smarter – they choose various design principles as their concept to play safe – unity, harmony, rhythm, symmetry, and so on. After all, all design teachers worship D.K. Ching!

Using design principles is a good idea if you can not generate a ‘philosophical’ concept for your design but one has to understand what that particular design principle does to their design. Is it suitable for their project? What effect it creates? And what kind of built environment does it generate? Not all design principles fit suitable for all projects. I don’t believe in giving examples in any design discussion because I feel that it gives a strong image to the student and it becomes very difficult for them to break away from it but I am gonna throw a hazy example here just to make this idea clear – a museum of ‘deconstructivism’ would not speak honestly if the building is designed in perfect symmetrical harmony.

Design principles are tools and the right tool should be used for the right task (read project)

I will pick up an example from film making to elaborate on this (as in India we only worship Gods and Film stars). If you have seen Nil Battey Sannata, in some scenes, it had a very interesting visual treatment. Most of the shots that were shot inside the house of Chanda and Apeksha, were filmed used a hand held camera. It was done so to portray the instability in their household – the father was dead, the mother was trying here best to get her daughter to study well and get good education and the daughter, a rebel, never wanted to follow what her mother wanted for her. On the other hand, most the scenes at Dr Deewan’s (Ratna Pathak Shah’s) house were shot with fixed camera portraying the stability persistent there. The camera treatment was given a thought.

The film makers did not use the treatments they used because they knew them; they used them because they found them suitable for the situation and the story. And I think this understanding is crucial for all art and design students.

– Rahul Saini

 

Rahul Saini is the bestselling author of five hugely popular novels, all of which have featured in various bestselling lists across the nation. His books have strong comic tones and present up-beat stories about the free spirited and outgoing character of today’s youth. Apart from being light entertainers, his books carry relevant social messages. He is formally trained as an Architect and finished his graduation in 2007 from Sushant School of Art and Architecture, Gurgaon. He is a seasoned traveler and has a keen interest in film making, photography and fine arts.

You can follow him on

His Blog – https://rahulsainiblog.wordpress.com/

Website – www.rahulsaini.in

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/rahul.saini.1213

Twitter – https://twitter.com/rahulsaini258

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/writingrahul/

Mind Rain Architecture Competition 2016 – let your imagination fly!

Designing is all about having fun and we at Mind Rain know that students have a whirlwind of imagination swooping inside their minds.

This is the only non-sponsored design ideas competition in India which gives you complete freedom (in terms of design and expression) to design a project without any restrictions what-so-ever!

We wish you have an absolute joy ride while working for this competition. We look forward to a totally ‘crazy’ design, set up in a fantasy land or an ultra future sci-fi world! We want you to discover how imaginative your minds can actually be!

The competition divided into two categories to make it fair for all – different categories for juniors and seniors.

This competition is scheduled such that the students can work during their summer break and come up with fresh, original designs.

Submission date –  31st July.

LET YOU IMAGINATION FLY

REGISTER NOW!

For details, log on to www.mindrain.org

Feel free to contact for any Query – architecture@mindrain.org

or

 mindrainarchitecture@gmail.com

Kanhaiya and the criminalization of dissent

Kanhaiya, like the politically suave God-King he’s been named after has captured the imagination.  And like the God-King, cousin of the Pandavas and a Bihari to boot, his song has exposed the fault lines in the country.  He has captured the public discourse of the country.

The visuals are fascinating

The first one that caught my attention was of the boy, his eyes half closed, his body swaying to the lyrical rhythm of his Azadi Song

Hum kya chahein Azadi

Manuwad se Azadi

Poonjivad se Azadi

Brahmanvad se Azadi

It reminded me of a dervish dancing to music that only he could hear.  Very Sufi.

The next visual was of the lawyer goons assaulting him at Patiala Court.  Sorry Delhi Police and vested interests, but you scored a self-goal there.  In this age of easy recordings and photos, and the strong visual medium of social medai, the power of optics is incalculable.  Within moments the visuals were all social media.

And Kanhaiya was martyr to the cause of freedom of speech and nationalism.

What is nationalism?  What is freedom?  What ethos do we stand for?

I have to thank Kanhaiya for bringing this discourse to the forefront.  It is a dangerous discourse of course.  But I have full faith in my India, our country is strong and rational.  It is not fragile and won’t crumble in the face of a few Azadi slogans.  The sloganeering and flag of Pakistan that is unfurled in Kashmir on a regular basis has not made the country crumble.  The insurgency in Manipur and Nagaland has not done that either.  If anything, this discourse will make us stronger.

I am a proud Indian.  I am a confident Indian.  But I deplore this narrow sense of nationalism being touted around as “Indianism”.  Shouting Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jai at the top of our voices and waving the national flag while flouting all laws and rules is not nationalism.  Any student of history can point out the inherent flaws of such nationalism.  Germany learned this, but that lesson took two world wars to be driven home.  It also cost the Jews dearly and ravaged the whole of Europe before that nationalism faded.

Today, freedom of thought and speech is being criminalized.  To seek freedom of oppression from caste based discrimination, economic discrimination is not a crime.  Dissent is being criminalized.  That has to be avoided.

What Kanhaiya has given me is hope.  The optics of him swaying to the rhythm of his Azadi song is sheer poetry, the kind that ignites.  I hope he wins his freedom, I hope we see more of him and of the youthful idealism in public life.  It makes the soul sing :

Hum kya chahein Azadi

Manuwad se Azadi

Poonjivad se Azadi

Brahmanvad se Azadi

The post Kanhaiya and the criminalization of dissent appeared first on Ritu Lalit's Blog.

Aunty National Me

Women like you should be raped and beaten up.

You divorcee

Sickular , AAPtard, fake intellectual

Anti national

Go to Pakistan

You are not Hindu

Venomous traitor

Party Agnostic (is this pejorative I wonder?)

Atheist (When did the ruling party become God?)

THE ABOVE ARE COMPLIMENTS I HAVE RECEIVED IN THE PAST WEEK FOR MY STANCE ON THE JNU DEBATE

In the past one week, we’ve been inundated with visuals, venom and defiance.  I for one am lovin’it.  Nothing like good old fashioned debate and dissent, I say.  Such fun.  Martinis are not the only things that should be shaken and stirred.  Ideas should be, people should be.

I am Aunty National, to me our kids are more important than the jingoism and regressive thought being forced down upon us.  These kids, our young Indians are more important than any ideology.  I was trained to think differently, examine a topic from all possible angles and arrive at conclusions, thanks to my (now-much-maligned) university education.  Yes it was subsidized and the taxes I have paid all through my life have more than paid for that subsidy.

Two months into my graduation eons ago, I along with fellow students was invited to attend a lecture on Homosexuality in Ancient Greece.  For a small townie like me, it was an eye-opener.  Until then, I did not even understand the concept of homosexuality.  They did what?  How?  Where?  Why?  I was smart enough to not voice my questions and get my leg pulled, and wiser even to keep my mind open.  What followed was educative, boisterous and nothing short of the infamous roast.  Them Greeks!  Naughty naughty!

It was not my first foray into Greek literature.  Greek literature was an important part of English Literature that I was studying for my graduation.  And before any naysayer tries to throw a hissy fit on my vilayati education, please bear in mind that I opted for Sanskrit instead of Hindi as my chosen language for my boards and I find Kalidasa’s Meghadootam a wonderful example of the beauty of our culture.  And yes, I love the ancient vedic lore.  I love the world literature.  Once we step beyond the narrow confines of race/religion/nation, we arrive at the true picture of the human condition.

“Beware the leader who bangs the drum of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervour. For patriotism is indeed a double- edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and patriotism, will offer up all of their rights to the leader and gladly so.

How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Julius Caesar.”

Political leaders have applied this principle time and again.  Pol Pot comes to mind, so does Kim Jon Un.  ISIS does, only it uses religion not patriotism.

I think we are witnessing a rather explosive mix of religion bigotry and patriotism in our national discourse right now.  It makes for rather interesting debates.  My understanding of human nature has grown while the current chapter of my new novel has fallen by the wayside.  Nothing comes without sacrifices.

Normally I am not easily diverted from my perusal of books and writing.  But I am Aunty National.  Kids and their educational institutions are under siege.  It scares me.  Unbridled jingoism scares me.  Being a mother I know how rebellious the young are.  The fear that this jingoism will kill and harm our kids worries me.  It has poisoned the national discourse and that pains me.

We’re talking about Bharat Mata.  I ask, should nations be bound by borders alone?  Nations never are, any student of history can tell us.  The India we know is a collection of small towns and states that came together and seperated time and time again.  The modern India was unified at the time British left, thanks to the efforts of Sardar Patel and Tilak.  East and West Germany were one a long time ago, were divided by a wall, have come together again, but are ideologically different now.  To me Mother India is a culture that stands for compassion, for tolerance, for nurture of our young, for free and open debate.

I have a few questions for our country.

Does our Mother India condone doctored videos being used to frame charges of sedition against our own young?

Does Bharat Mata approve of rape threats to women who participate in public discourse?

Does Bharat Mata approve of hooligans in the garb of lawyers beating up our children?

Does Bharat Mata lay siege on our educational institutions?

If so, I am not only Aunty National, I am anti everything that the fundamental forces want our nation to be..

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About Health Tonics and Ancient Lore

Ancient India was not prudish.  I am sure if those people time-travelled to visit us, they’d laugh at us for being such a bunch of self-important and tight assed prudes.  I state this with conviction and no, Khajuraho is not what leads me to this belief – not really.

My understanding of the people who lived before us comes from our epics, our ancient history.  Yes, I am sure that the guys the epics describe walked the earth.  Sadly they did so too long ago for us to claim any kinship  –  a kinship I am moderately convinced they would reject.

They were practical people, down to earth and like I said earlier, not prudes.  No, no, no, perish the thought; I am not saying that anything about the diet of the pure Kshatriya in olden times.  Don’t you know eating cow meat is forbidden but torturing the poor bull for sport is all kosher in the name of tradition?

Tsk Tsk

I am talking about Chyawanprash, the health tonic that has taken up ad space on our televisions all through the winter.  The origins of Chyawanprash are really interesting.  Sage Chyawan was the son of Bhrigu, a powerful sage in his own rights and the son of Brahma.  The ancients were really obsessed with genealogy, weren’t they?   Well he, Chyawan I mean was a premature birth and was really feeble. Bhrigu being really macho did not know what to do about a son who wasn’t the epitome of manliness.  Accounts say he give him the ashram at Dhosi Hill and migrated elsewhere. But that doesn’t really matter.  The sage had a powerful father, embarrassed by him or not.  That’s half the battle won, isn’t it?  Maybe our old and feeble sage would have meditated into oblivion if Sukanya, a princess (a child by all accounts) hadn’t poked a hillock of white ants with a stick for sport.  It wasn’t a hillock, sadly for her.  It was Chyawan practising austerities.  Annoyed at the disturbance of his meditation, he wreaked havoc with her father King Sharyati’s armies.  He cursed the soldiers with constipation.

Gotta love the vengefulness of sages!

Nothing about forgive and forget, turn the other cheek and all such new age nonsense.

The King, being a realist, rushed to the ashram to ask for forgiveness.  He also cut his losses by offering his pesky brat to Chyawan for marriage under the garb of “Oh you are so alone and you need a good woman to take care of you” kind of stuff.

Here accounts vary.  Some say Chyawan realized her could not match Sukanya’s ‘youthful energy’.  Others say Sukanya really freaked at the thought of living with an old feeble man.  Whatever be the case, the Ashwini Twins came into play.  Remember that Chyawan was the son of Bhrigu so summoning the Vaids of the Devas was easy.  Chywan, along with the twins created this “jam-like cooked mixture of sugar, honey, Triphala, ghee, sesame oil, berries and other herbs and spices.”as it is called by Wikipedia.  It rejuvenated the old and feeble sage.  He was also required to bathe in a special pond after applying a paste on his body to make him young and physically pleasing to his young wife.  As a trade, this was a good investment for the twins since Chyawan won a war against Indra on their behalf and increased their stature in the Dev-Lok.

 

So, dear readers, Chyawanprash originated as an aphrodisiac for an old man who had to match his young wife’s ‘youthful energy!’

On that note, I wonder who Sheela was of the Sheelajeet fame.

 

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2015 in a nutshell

As the year winds up and because I love a good mystery, I declare 2015 to be one of the best years we’ve had.

Mystery No. 1 : Who drove Salman’s car on that fateful night?

[image error]

Mystery No. 2:  How did Temple Run end up in jail for both Asa Ram Baapu and Radhey Ma?

( Wanted to add a meme here from the internet, got spoilt for choice, gave up and kept this pure and pice.)

Mystery No. 3 : How many husbands does Indrani have?  How many crores does Peter have? The nation wants to know!  Someone actually made this chart

 

 

Mystery No. 4 : Why was the movie called MSG made?  Wha..?  Who?  Never mind.  I would put 50 Shades of Grey in the same trash heap, but then there are people who liked it.  They may call me (gasp) intolerant.

Mystery No. 5 :  Is India intolerant or not?  Statements were issued, retracted, re-issued until it became hard to keep track.  As Chulbul Pandey said, Conphoos ho gaye ki …

Mystery No. 6 : Who wrote those unsigned articles in the Congress party journal – you know those which actually spoke the author’s Mann Ki Baat and Solah Anney Sach truth without the sycophantic Congi spin?

Mystery No. 7 :  Acchey din kahan gaye?

Mystery No. 8 : Whose bright idea was it to take an up-front honest-to-God porn actress and make her act in sleazy Tushar Kapoor movies and that too with clothes on?

Mystery No. 9 :  Arvind Kejriwal ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai

Mystery No. 10 :  Is Putin immortal?

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#Technocrat with Micromax

We’re the people of today

We talk on our smart-phones all day

Chat with our friends for hours

Keeping in touch, using battery power

We’re technocrats, we mouth technical jargon with glee

Instead of Haan ji and Na ji

We say 3 G and 4 G

4 G data speed is the nirvana we hope to achieve

 

Single core and dual core are so old

Our phone processors are quad core and Octa core

We crunch data fast, but we still want more

To stay forever in touch at home or outdoors

Chatting, texting our fingers to the bone

Sharing pictures, even shopping on our smart-phones

Skill is in getting the right phone our needs to match

For me it’s the quad core, dual sim android from Micromax

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The Diwali Gift Wars

 

Diwali for me is a time of nostalgia.  A time when I feel that the world has changed so much.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the lights.  I am not complaining about the firecrackers or even the sweets.  On a side note, I never complain about sweets.

I am feeling nostalgic about the Gift War we practiced around this time, with the dexterity and grace of a ballet dancer and with the smiling ferocity of a hardened political courtier.

Back when this gift exchange ritual was more personal, I recall a pretty ugly umbrella stand that someone, let’s call her Mrs. S brought to our home wrapped up in dark red guddi paper.  I really don’t know the English equivalent of guddi paper, just that it is the same grade of paper that is used to make kites.  Yes it is flimsy and tacky.  Three elephants made the base of the umbrella stand and one of the elephant’s trunk and tooth had pierced the guddi paper and was peeking out.

Mama welcomed her with a social smile and asked me and my brother to relieve the nice Aunty of the burden and welcomed her into the drawing room.  Both my brother and I engaged in a friendly tussle as to who would carry the gift inside.  We won, the guddi paper lost.  Consequently the umbrella stand revealed almost as much of its body as the desi item girls do.  My mother was bringing in the tea tray as we marched into the room.  She froze mid step and I’ll never forget that expression of disgust that came on her face for a split second, and then the mask of polite affability came on again.  The lady was served tea, a plate of chainna mirgi and biscuits and packed off.  The platter of expensive dry fruit and homemade dahi bhalla were not brought out.

My mother spent the entire festive season agonizing over the umbrella stand.  “It does not even rain so much here.”

We had a time of our life coming out with names of people in our social circle to pass the gift on to.  Every name was rejected.  “I don’t hate him/her that much!” she’d say.

That lady, needless to say, got a set of tea towels for Diwali.  Mama did not even go to her house, we were sent to do the honours.  I’ll not bore you with the cold war that was waged by the two ladies in question; just leave you with the information that she was very miffed when she saw that we were using the umbrella stand as stumps while playing galli cricket in the winters.  My mother actually enjoyed that reaction.

We found out later that the lady had been gifted this horrendous piece of decor by another person and thought Mama might like it, having recently been posted to Delhi from the jungles of Assam.

I almost miss those days before the big brands took over the Indian market.  Now everything is so staid and standardized.  We buy juicers/ tea sets/coffee mugs/sundry kitchen or home appliances in bulk, pair them with dry fruit boxes and distribute them.  Now we even have online delivery people.  We just have to pay and supply the addresses and neatly packaged gifts reach the people we want to gift.

I fear that I have become old.  I miss the anticipation with which I used to watch the visitors who came to visit around Diwali and wait politely for them to eat the home made sweets and snacks.  I used to wait for them to politely compliment my mother for the delicious treats, get up and leave so that I could tear open the carefully gift wrapped goodies.

They came in all shapes and sizes.  Nothing was in flat easy to stack boxes.

And once the gifts were opened, I would wait for the moment Mama would wail, “But this is exactly the one I gave her on her birthday, that stupid woman.”

The diwali gifts were varied, doilies, tea cosies, brass figurines, tea cups.  Once we got a matka full of rasgullas.  One of the most memorable diwali gifts came when we were neighbours to a dacoit who stayed in a double storied haveli where both his wives (he had two of them) occupied separate floors. He gifted us a brass thali filled with homemade dal halwa, neatly covered with an orange velvet cloth.  It was brought by a hefty looking moustached bravo, who looked ferocious and better suited to hunting or pillage.  That cloth was good, I should know.  Mama hemmed the edges and I wore it as a scarf that winter.  There was also a mega huge pack of phuljharis for us, the baccha log.

Our parents were scandalized and intimidated, but not us.  For us the phuljari wala daaku was hero.  Ah, those were the days!

The maid just came in looking upset.  I asked her the reason for her angst and out came the story.  Apparently the other lady she works for gave her a plastic spice container for Diwali.  She gifted the spice container to all and sundry, the driver, the maali, the garbage collector, the maid, the courier guy and the guards of our gated community.

My maid said, “She did the same last year.  I think she goes to Chawri Bazaar and buys them in bulk at wholesale prices.”

Then she tossed her head and gave a disdainful sniff.

My mood of pensive melancholy vanished.

We haven’t called a truce on the gift wars.  We’ve learned that we can’t offend our peers so we placate them with staid and boring gifts.  The war thrives, but at another level.

 

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The All Out War

From time immemorial we humans and bugs have been at war with each other.  The jury is out on who started the war first, but I think it must have been the mosquitoes.   They must have looked at the prehistoric humans and said, “Hey there are these moving bodies of mostly blood and water roaming around the woods.  Let’s feed, have a party.” The mosquitoes drew first blood.  We humans suffered diseases, discomfort and loss of life until we found ways to take the battle to them. As time went by, I think we survived by using various herbal remedies.  They evolved too, and brought to us more virulent forms of diseases.

Some of the diseases that mosquitoes bring to us with their bites are Malaria, Chikungunya and of course the wide spread and life threatening Dengue. Many people in India live in risk of catching dengue.  Symptoms such as high fever painful muscle and joint aches, chills and nausea should not be ignored.  This could be dengue and can lead to hospitalization and even death. Children are the most vulnerable.  I know of mothers who have lost children to Dengue.  Words can’t express what they went through, first watching the child suffer extreme pain and fever, and then watching the child die.

There is twelve year old girl called Payal from Jaipur.  She saw her friend suffering from dengue, and it motivated her to be a part of the campaign against dengue called “Save your family from dengue.” #SavePayal has become the hashtag of this campaign.  More information on this campaign can be found at http://www.fightdengueforyourfamily.in/

Herbal remedies do not work in the modern times.  Most chemical remedies have side effects. As the old adage goes, prevention is better than cure.  I sincerely wish there was a vaccine to give our children immunity to this horrible disease.  Until then, for me, All Out is the best option.

Yes my family has declared an All Out war on mosquitoes.   I use the liquid electrics from All Out indoors and the coils and repellent if I am outdoors.

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