Tree Architecture

May 14, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

About three decades ago, a new colleague joined our organization. During introductions, obviously the topic of what he had done-where he had done came up. It was an impressive pedigree—a Ph.D from JNU, under the legendary professor of ecology Dr. P.S. Ramakrishna. So far, so good. But his elaboration of what he had done his Ph.D on was what threw all of us. ‘Tree architecture’, he said casually, as if was a term we used day in and day out. And embarrassing to admit, though we worked at Centre for Environment Education and should have been up with all terms ecological, none of us had heard this one. Dr. Ram Boojh Yadav, our new colleague educated us.

Last week, as I was doing my piece on topiary or tree-shaping, not surprisingly these memories came back to me. If topiary is about humans shaping trees as per their whims, tree architecture is about trees growing as they are destined to. So I thought I should re-visit that term which mystified me so many years ago, and try to learn a little more about it. So here goes…

When you look at a tree that you are familiar with, even from a distance and maybe even without leaves and flowers, you usually know what tree it is, e.g., mango vs. neem vs. Ashoka. And when it comes to botanists and arborists, obviously they can distinguish and identify many more just by looking at the silhouette.

How does this happen? The answer is tree architecture or the study of the form of trees, which started gaining ground as a formal discipline in the 1970s, and has been use for a long time in management of trees. It is the branch of science that explains why a tree looks how it looks.

Tree architectures studies characteristics like type of branching, type of extension growth, branch orientation, flowering position etc. This is done by observing and schematising many individuals of the same species, in all life stages, to try to identify the ‘building plan’ of that species.’ To cite a researcher: ‘Plant architecture tries to identify fixed and repetitive phenomena in plant structures, valid for all individuals of the same species or even valid for multiple species.

So why does a tree look how it looks? Well the basic reason is genetics. Each tree species has a genetic blueprint of how it would ideally develop. And this goes back to its evolutionary history. For instance, the higher mechanical stresses imposed on trees that are native to windy areas makes them put down more wood to strengthen their structure, and consequently trees growing in such areas develop shorter but thicker trunks, branches, and roots. In contrast, trees that grow in sheltered areas will grow taller and thinner to improve their chances of reaching the light.

But the expression of this genetic blueprint depends on the site where an individual tree is growing—the soil, light, water, wind and other such factors that it finds there. These are the site conditions.

And the last are the environmental influences—has it experienced lightning, storms, insect infestations, human interactions, etc.

The science of tree architecture is based on subdividing trees into groups with similar characteristics (e.g., type of branching, type of extension growth, branch orientation, flowering position). Research has shown that all trees in the world fall into one of 23 architectural models—in other words, there are 23 tree building plans in the world!

Go on out there. Take a walk, get some exercise, breathe in some fresh air. And look at tree building-plans!

–Meena

Thanks: https://www.validtreerisk.com/resources/Documents/News/Tree%20Architecture%20

Lady With the Lens: Homai Vyarawalla

May 9, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

The past few weeks, as India goes through its massive election exercise, the newspapers have been carrying iconic photographs that show glimpses from past elections. For many of us who are firmly part of the ‘morning newspaper’ generation, these black and white images bring back memories of what feels like another age. These pictures capture not only candid shots that evoke nostalgia, but are also telling stories of different life and times. The people behind most of these have been photojournalists. Photojournalists are described as visual storytellers who use photography to document and report on news events, current affairs, and human interest stories. While their camera lens captures, and freezes a particular moment, it is the record of these intrepid storytellers that make history.

A recent exhibition of one of India’s most renowned photojournalists, Raghu Rai presents some pages from this history. But this also reminds one of another name that made her own history. This is Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first woman photojournalist.

Homai Vyarawalla was born on 9 December 1913 in Navsari in Gujarat, in a Parsi family. She had a peripatetic childhood as her father was an actor with a traveling theatre group. The family eventually settled in Mumbai where Homai enrolled in the JJ School of Arts. When she was in her early teens Homai met Manekshaw Vyarawalla, a freelance photographer who first introduced her to photography. The two initially shared a Rollieflex camera, and developed their own films in a dark bathroom. Homai started taking pictures of her friends as she starting learning the ropes. Manekshaw submitted some of her photographs of a local picnic to The Bombay Chronicle for which he then worked, and these were published. Homai began to get some photographic assignments; however some of her works was published under Manekshaw’s name, as a woman photographer was not something people respected professionally. She began to draw more attention after her photographs of life in Mumbai were published in The Illustrated Weekly of India magazine. Later Homai also used the pseudonym Dalda 13 (DALD from the number plate of her car, and 13 which she believed was her lucky number!). Homai and Manekshaw were married in 1941.

With the outbreak of World War II, the British Information Services (BIS) relocated to India, and were recruiting photographers on the ground. The Vyarawallas were recommended for the job by the then editor of the Illustrated Weekly. The couple moved to Delhi in 1942, with Homai joining as a full-time employee, with freedom to also take on freelance projects. Homai’s art school training in visual composition added to her skills as a photographer. She worked for the BIS as an official press photographer till 1951, and as a freelancer till 1970. Always humble and polite, clad in a khadi sari and carrying a Rollieflex camera, Homai was indeed an unusual sight on the streets of Delhi.

Homai began covering not only events and ceremonies at the British High Commission, but also chronicling significant moments in the transitional phase from the end of the British Raj to India becoming an independent nation. Some of these events included the swearing in of Lord Mountbatten as the first Governor General of India in 1947, the first Republic Day Parade in 1950, visit of Jacqueline Kennedy’s visit to India in 1962. She covered Mahatma Gandhi’s funeral in 1948 but was regretful till the end of her life at having missed his last prayer meeting when he was assassinated.

Besides events, Homai’s camera captured nuances of faces and expressions of a host of personalities that shaped the 20^th century. From Lord Mountbatten to Queen Elizabeth, Krushchev to Nixon, Sardar Patel to Dr Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi to Indira Gandhi, visiting personalities and their hosts were frozen for posterity in Homai’s frames. Jawaharlal Nehru was a favourite subject of Homai’s. Homai was still the rarity in India—a female photojournalist, and her work did not get the kind of attention that the work of a contemporary, Margaret Bourke-White, did for her pictures of Gandhiji.

Homai herself did not seek the limelight, she preferred that her photographs spoke for themselves. And indeed these pictures that span the first three decades of an Independent India continue to tell the stories that defined that era. In fact Homai never travelled out of India. Her first trip to the USA and UK was when she accompanied her biographer on a speaking tour, at the age of 95 years.

Homai’s husband Manekshaw passed away in 1979. Losing her companion of forty years, Homai also gave up photography totally. She spent the last two decades of her life in Vadodara, leading a simple, quiet, secluded life until she passed away on 15 January 2012, at the age of 98. Homai was the recipients of several awards including the Padma Vibhushan in 2011. Homai gave away her entire collection of prints, negatives, cameras and other memorabilia to the Alkai Foundation for the Arts, on permanent loan for safekeeping and documentation.

As Raghu Rai said in a recent interview “If responsible journalism is the first draft of history, then photojournalism is the first evidence of that history being lived.” Homai Vyarawalla will always remain a preeminent chronicler of that history.

–Mamata

Celebrating Tree-shapers: World Topiary Day

May 7, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Have you seen deer walking across a traffic island in the middle of a crowded urban space? Or perhaps elephants in your city garden? Well, that is topiary.

Topiary, as per the Britannica, is ‘the training of living trees and shrubs into artificial, decorative shapes’. It is an ancient art, going back to the time of the Romans. In fact, Gaius Matius Calvinus, a contemporary of Julius Caesar is supposed to have been one of the first practitioners, and Caesar is said to have popularized it all over the Roman Empire.

There are three fundamental types of topiary:

Shrub topiary which consists of shrubs which are designed and shaped in various shapes and sizes. Very experienced gardeners do the cutting freehand, while others use frames.
Vine topiary, wherein vines and climbers are encouraged and shaped to grow in various topiary forms
Moss topiary where a frame is filled with wet moss and the chosen plant, and grown in the desired shape.

Whatever the type of topiary, it is an endeavour which requires ongoing work, care, patience and expertise

The fortunes of topiary have waxed and waned. After a long lull, the Italian Renaissance, which saw the flowering of many arts, also saw the revival of topiary. It became the rage in Italy, France (including in the Versailles), and with the Dutch and English. The British took to it with passion, and it was found not only in the homes of the rich and the famous, but also in the modest gardens of peasants and tradesmen. Imagination was the only limit, with ships, fantastical beasts and human figures, all roaming the lawns.

Till topiary went overboard. And it was the mighty pen which defeated the scissors. Alexander Pope wrote a satirical essay “Verdant Sculpture” criticizing over-the-top topiary, and as a result, by the 1720s and ‘30s, topiary fell out of favour and was cleared from most prominent English gardens. The Levens Hall Garden was one of the few which escaped, and is today the oldest topiary gardens, with 30,000 bedding plants carved in a variety of shapes.

Till topiary was again revived in the 1840s. Not at the same scale, but it became moderately popular.

In its own unique forms, topiary has been quite popular in Asia too. China and Japan have practiced it for many centuries, with the objective of helping the trees achieve their “natural” form. Even the popular bonsai is a form of topiary. Japanese Zen Gardens make extensive use of different topiary techniques.

In 2021, a new event, World Topiary Day, was created by the owners of one of the world’s oldest topiary gardens, the Levens Hall and Gardens in Cumbria, UK, which dates from 1694. World Topiary Day marked on May 12^th every year, celebrates ‘… the fantastic art of topiary (shaping and cutting particular types of tree into geometric shapes and forms that resemble common objects and people) and its heritage within the world of gardening’, and seeks to inspire ‘…keen gardeners and lovers of al fresco living to adopt topiary’s style and structure within their own private gardens.’

A new award for topiary has also been announced as recently as this year and the ‘…search is on for Britain’s best topiary artists thanks to the inaugural Topiary Awards, which are now open for entries until May 31.’

In India too, many gardens and public spaces have examples of topiary. But sadly, after the initial enthusiasm, they are not maintained well, and therefore go out of shape.

India is however home to the tallest topiary as per the Guinness Book of Records. This is the Samban-Lei-Sekpil in Manipur, started in 1983, which has now reached 18.6 m (61 ft) in height. The plant used is Duranta erecta, a shrub common in Manipuri gardens. It is shaped into a tiered structure called ‘sekpil’ that honours Umang Lei, the forest god.

Here is to tree-shapers, tree-barbers, tree-architects and their tribe, for adding green landmarks and a touch of whimsy to our lives.

–Meena

A Man of Many Parts

May 2, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

May 1 is marked as International Labour Day to commemorate the struggles of workers, and labour movements, and celebrate their role in society. In Gujarat the day has an added significance as Gujarat Foundation Day. May 1 marks the day that two new states–Gujarat and Maharashtra were carved out of the erstwhile Bombay state in 1960.

One name that it intrinsically linked with this historic moment is that of Indulal Yagnik who spearheaded the movement for a separate state of Gujarat. Indulal was the founder president of the Mahagujarat Janata Parishad that launched the movement which came to be known as the Mahagujarat Movement, in 1956. But Indulal’s activism well preceded this phase of his life which spanned many significant periods in Indian political life. A life that was not limited to public engagement, but also covered a wide range of interests, and contributions including to journalism, literature, and films.

Indulal was born in 1892 in Nadiad in Gujarat, and completed his higher education in Bombay, graduating with BA as well as LLB degrees. He chose the world of words rather than laws, and started his journey as a translator with Mumbai Samachar, a Gujarati daily, and as contributor to a well-known Gujarati monthly magazine. He began to associate with radical nationalists like Shankarlal Banker, and young lawyers like KM Munshi and BG Kher. He was also deeply influenced by Annie Besant and the Home Rule League, which advocated for self-government for India within the British Empire. In the meanwhile his own thinking was becoming more nonconformist in terms of social norms.

He was always a risk-taker. When Madam Bhikaji Cama became the first person to hoist the Indian tricolour on foreign soil at the International Socialist Conference at Stuttgart in Germany, on 22 August 1907, it was the young socialist Indulal Yagnik who smuggled that flag back to India.

Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa in 1914 drew Indulal into a new cause. By 1915, Indulal launched a Gujarati monthly along with his friends Shankarlal Banker, KM Munshi and Ranjitram Mehta. He contributed to the English magazine Young India and when Gandhi it took over, Indulal moved to Ahmedabad in 1915 to work for him.

When the British government decided to dispatch a team of eight editors—four English and four Indians to Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in 1917 to investigate allegations of mistreatment of Indian soldiers during World War I, Indulal was selected as one of them.

In 1917, he was involved in famine relief in the villages of Ahmedabad district. Indulal was an active participant in Gandhi’s 1918 Kheda Satyagraha, a resistance movement against oppressive land taxes for farmers. He was also, with Gandhi, a part of the move to establish Gujarat Vidyapith, an institution of higher learning. He made Ahmedabad the base for his public and political activities, even as he travelled widely, connecting with the most downtrodden and oppressed communities.

While he was close to Gandhi and Sardar Patel, and worked tirelessly for the ongoing satyagraha movement, Indulal was a much more vociferous advocate of the rights of the marginalized and oppressed communities. This often created clashes of opinion and approach. He also had a fiery and mercurial temperament which led him to act impulsively. While in 1923 he had shared a prison cell with Gandhiji, in 1924 Indulal completely withdrew from nationalist activities and relocated to Bombay where he became editor of a communist-published paper. His socialist-communist perspective led him to write a harsh critique of the 1928 Bardoli Satyagraha in this paper.

Subsequently, he distanced himself from both communism as well as the nationalist struggle and the Congress party, and forayed into films. He began in 1926, by translating the titles for the film The Light of Asia into Gujarati. He then began writing about films for different magazines and newspapers, and himself wrote short stories for a few silent films. He even produced a few films. However his stint as a producer was neither successful nor profitable.

Indulal returned to the nationalist movement. This time he took on the role of championing its cause abroad. He travelled to Britain and Germany where he wrote articles and pamphlets. He also got involved with revolutionaries in Ireland and activists in England. He was in England when Gandhiji was attending the Second Round Table Conference in 1931.

After five years abroad Indulal returned to India in 1935. Now he became an active advocate for famers’ rights, and in 1936 was instrumental in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha, and led the Gujarat chapter of the Kisan Sabha. The world was in the throes of the Second World War. His anti-war activities were deemed disruptive to public order and he was imprisoned in 1940. Upon release in 1941, he dedicated himself to establishing ashrams and schools in areas where there were none. The ashram that he established on the banks of the Vatrak river became his own base, and it is here that he celebrated India’s Independence on 15 August 1947.

When the movement for a separate state of Gujarat was gaining momentum in 1956, the activist in Indulal surfaced again. ‘Indu Chacha’ became the mover and shaker of the Mahagujarat Movement. During this period he once again distanced himself from the Congress party, and established a political party called Mahagujarat Janata Parishad, which achieved significant electoral success. The party was dissolved after the formation of Gujarat state on 1 May 1960. Indulal then founded the Nutan Mahagujarat Janata Parishad.

Indu Chacha was very popular himself, appealing to working class and middle class voters alike. He was elected from the Ahmedabad constituency to the Lok Sabha for four consecutive terms starting from 1957 to 1971. He continued to maintain his almost spartan lifestyle until he passed away in 1972.

Indulal’s life story was closely linked to the political events of Gujarat and the world of that time. His six-volume autobiography Atmakatha, written in phases at different points of his life, is a valuable resource to understand the socio-cultural and political history of Gujarat. He dedicated the book to the “bright and fragrant flower-like people” of Gujarat. As a fellow Gujarati, Indu Chacha’s story gives a peep into the people and events that led to the creation of Gujarat.

On a more personal note, Indu Chacha was a friend of my parents, and I have memories of his dropping in to see them when we lived in Delhi in the late sixties, and relishing hot jalebis with milk! He must have been in his last term as member of the Lok Sabha then. As the state of Gujarat goes to the polls next week, Indu Chacha is still remembered.

–Mamata

The Flowers of War

April 30, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

The media has been full of the 50^th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution over the last week. It happened in Portugal. And apparently, Portugal wasn’t even a respectable democracy 50 years ago! Since a coup in May 1926, Portugal was under an authoritarian regime. In 1932, Antonio Salazar took over as Prime Minister, and remained at the helm of affairs till 1968 and continued to hold the reins of power tightly, with little say for the people in anything. He alo would not give up Portugal’s large overseas territories including Goa, Daman, Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In India of course, the Indian armed forces invaded, and supported by the local freedom fighters, took over in 1961. Portugal continued fighting long-drawn colonial wars in other parts of the world. Within Portugal also, it was an authoritarian rule. Finally, in 1974, the people of Portugal lost patience. On 25^th April, there was a largely peaceful coup led by members of the Armed Forces Movement and backed by civilians from all walks of life. It began to be called the Carnation Revolution because there were almost no shots fired. It being the carnation season, the markets were full of carnations, and people started giving them to each other and also placed them in the muzzles of the soldiers’ guns, as well as in their button holes. It was a happy ending!

Many subsequent peaceful revolutions have been named after flowers, including: The Tunisian revolution of 2010-11 is called the Jasmine Revolution in honour of the country’s national flower. In the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003, Opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili carried a rose into parliament when he demanded the resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze, while protesters in the streets gave long-stemmed roses to soldiers called out to stop them. The President resigned. The 2005 Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan forced President Askar Akayev to flee the country.

But the association of wars with flowers goes further back than that. The famous War of Roses was a long-drawn series of inter-generational wars for the British throne. Fought over 30 years starting 1455, the war was between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, descendants of two sons of Edward III who reigned from 1330-1377. Amidst claims and counter-claims to the throne almost as complicated as between the Pandavas and Kauravas, the war raged till Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) who represented the claim of the House of Lancaster, won the Battle of Bosworth, and sealed the claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, the daughter of the Yorkist King, thus uniting the two houses. The War of Roses is so called for the symbols of the two sides—the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. After the marriage of Henry and Elizabeth, the symbol was combined in a way that overlaid the white and red roses.

But the oldest of flower-wars has to be war over the parijata tree fought between Krishna and Indira. The origin of the story goes back to the Harivamsam (1^st or 2^nd century BCE). In this tale, Narada gives Krishna a single enchanting blossom of the parijata flower from the special tree in Indra’s garden. Krishna is with his senior-wife Rukmini at the time, and gives it to her. When the junior-wife Satyabhama hears of this, she is angry beyond belief and is only pacified when Krishna promises to fetch her the tree itself from the heavenly garden. However, Indra refuses to part with the tree, and Krishna has to fight a mighty battle—which of course he wins. And the parijata is brought to earth and planted here. (See ‘Heaven’s Flower’ https://wordpress.com/post/millennialmatriarchs.com/164)

So flowers can cause wars. And they can stop wars.

It’s a choice we have to make today!

–Meena

Words Maketh Books

April 25, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

This week Meena wrote about World Book Day on 23 April. Not exactly coincidentally, this day is also marked as English Language Day. English Language Day is the result of a 2010 initiative by the UN’s Department of Global Communications, establishing language days for each of the Organization’s six official languages (English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and Russian).The purpose of the UN’s language days is to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity, and to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organization. English Language Day celebrates the English language and promotes its history, culture and achievements.

Books certainly come in all the languages of the world, but the very fact that we are, at this moment, reading and writing in English, is a testimony to the fact that English is indeed one of the languages that unites word lovers across the world. English is one of the languages of international communication; it enables people from different countries and cultures to communicate with each other in a common language, even if it is not their first language.

April 23, as English Language Day, celebrates the life and works of William Shakespeare, who not only died on this day, but is also believed to have been born on the same date in 1564. The day is a tribute to the enormous contribution that Shakespeare made to the English language.

Shakespeare’s prodigious output of sonnets and plays was remarkable as a body of creative work. These literary works were expressed in thousands of words, many of which (1700 it is believed), he created himself! When he embarked on his literary marathon, there were no dictionaries that Shakespeare could dip into. The first such reference to meanings of words in English was A Table Alphabeticall that was published in 1604. Texts on grammar appeared only in the 1700s. Thus Shakespeare did not have ready resources which could be used to populate his vocabulary.

Scholars believe that Shakespeare’s vocabulary owed to a combination of sources. It is likely that he lent an alert ear to the commonly spoken language of the time, and drew words from there which were written into his plays and verses. Thus he can certainly be credited with the ‘first recorded uses’ of numerous words. But he was equally a master of wordplay. He coined new words himself, often by combining words (eye and ball to make eyeball) changing nouns into verbs (from ‘elbow’ to ‘elbow someone out’), adding prefixes and suffixes into preexisting words. He anglicised foreign words, such as creating ‘bandit’ from the Italian ‘banditto’, and the word ‘zanni’ which referred to characters in sixteenth-century Italian comedies who mimicked the antics of clowns and other performers, and used it as a noun–zany.

These introduced words were soon adopted into the English language, enriching it considerably.

I must admit that in my younger days, I did not take as easily to Shakespeare in the original as may have been done by the more “literary types” of my generation. Whatever Shakespeare we were exposed to was in the form of the ‘abridged and simplified’ versions that made their way into English language textbooks year after year. Yes, we knew that “a rose by any other name”, and “all the world’s a stage” and “all’s well that ends well” was quintessentially Shakespeare, but I for one did not know that so many words that we use today, imagining them to be ‘contemporary’ language were coined and couched in William’s prose and poetry!

Here are some very ‘modern’ terms that first appeared in Shakespeare’s writing.

Addiction, assassination, auspicious, baseless, barefaced, bedroom, champion, cold-blooded, critic, elbow, fashionable, generous, gloomy, hint, hostile, lackluster, lonely, majestic, manager, obscene, overblown, puking, pious, radiance, reliance, skim milk, submerge, swagger, watchdog!

Here are some that have not travelled intact through the centuries. Today some of these are “Greek to us” (incidentally it is Shakespeare who first coined this phrase!).

Mobbled: With face muffled up, veiled.

Foison: Abundance, plenty, profusion

Ganesome: Sportive, merry, playful

Noddle: The back of the head

Fleshment: The excitement associated with a successful beginning

Gratulate: Greet, welcome, salute

Kicky-wicky: Girlfriend, wife

Bawcock: Fine fellow, good chap

Buzzer: Rumour-monger, gossiper

Gallimaufry: Complete mixture, medley, hotchpotch

Garboil: Trouble, disturbance, commotion

Miching: Sulking, lurking, sneaking

For Shakespeare “all the world was a stage” and he also coined a number of colloquial phrases that added drama to the dialogues of his many characters, from Romeo and Juliet to Othello, from the Merchant of Venice to Hamlet and Macbeth. These “as good luck would have it” continue to enrich our speech even today.

All that glisters is not gold

A sorry sight

Bated breath

Break the ice

Cold comfort

Come what may

Dead as a doornail

Devil incarnate

Eaten me out of house and home

Fair play

Green-eyed monster

Laughing stock

Naked truth

In a pickle

Seen better days

Set your teeth on edge

The world is my oyster

Too much of a good thing

Vanish into thin air

Wild-goose chase

What’s done is done

And, it is not Sherlock Holmes but Shakespeare who first said “the game is afoot!”

Shakespeare may be “as dead as a doornail” but he remains the most quoted writer in English of all time. How zany is that!

Well, words maketh a book, and Shakespeare maketh words!

–Mamata

Wishing you a Green and Happy World Book Day

April 23, 2024April 23, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Today is World Book Day. Oh Happy Day, Oh Happy Day!

It is a day that UNESCO, in 2001, declared for ‘a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books and reading. Each year, on 23 April, celebrations take place all over the world to recognize the scope of books – a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures.’

Why specifically April 23^rd? Well, it seems that it is the date on which prominent authors William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (Peruvian chronicler and writer) all died. A bit macabre, but well, there has to be some peg!

UNESCO and international organizations representing the three major sectors of the book industry – publishers, booksellers and libraries, select a World Book Capital each year. (New Delhi was the Book Capital in 2003, just two years after the concept came into being—looks like India had a stature and soft power even two decades ago!). The city of Strasbourg is UNESCO’s World Book Capital for 2024.

Book Days are usually marked with reading circles, events where people dress up as their favorite book characters, literary quizzes, book sales, author discussions, and various other innovative events to celebrate this most important of days.

The thought of book day prompted me to dig a little into a question that has been bothering me for a while. Are physical books more eco-friendly or e-books? Some research and calculations have been done, which say that:

‘.. one physical book has a climate impact of about 2.7kg CO2e*.’

‘And a Kindle e-reader has a climate impact of about 37.4kg CO2e per year.’ (Incidentally, text files are tiny, and the impact of downloading books is pretty close to negligible. The bulk of the e-book’s footprint is in the production and charging of the e-reader itself.)

‘So if you read 14 different books or more in one year, e-books have a lower footprint than physical books.

But if you only read a handful of books each year, physical books are the better option for you.’

(*CO2e: “Carbon dioxide equivalent” or “CO2e” is a term for describing different greenhouse gases in a common unit.)

As an educator, I want to children to read and read and read. And I would much prefer that they read physical books. Since 14 is a ridiculously low number of books to read per year, we need to find ways to make physical reading greener. Here are some tips for ‘greener’ reading—for kids and adults:

Use libraries: Not for very young children, but beyond the age of 8 or so, children can get their reading dose from libraries. Thanks to the Delhi Public Mobile Library and my school library (Carmel Convent, New Delhi), supplemented by neighbourhood lending libraries during summer vacations, we got more than enough books. (In fact, we were allowed to purchase only one book a month, so that was the bonus and used as leverage in book exchanges.) Even today, I don’t buy too many books. I receive a lot of books as gifts, and am a faithful subscriber to Just Books!

Used books: Pre-loved books are a great way to go. Shops like Blossoms in Bangalore have some of the greatest selections. And don’t hesitate to pass on books you have read to others who may find them of interest. Reach out to schools, colleges and educational institutions—they may welcome books you no longer have space for. You could also organize book-swaps.

Support green publishers: Buy books printedon 100% recycled paper, and create awareness about this aspect amonth other readers..

Happy Book Day! Happy Sustainable Reading!

–Meena

PS: The picture was taken ata library in Englands in the 1890s. The image is available at Getty’s Open Access Library.

A Mark of Citizenship

April 18, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ 2 Comments

When we were children, and very much into Enid Blyton’s mystery and adventure stories, a fascinating element in some of these was the notes/letters that appeared to be blank, but which revealed secret messages when warmed. The excitement was heightened when we ourselves tried to make ‘invisible ink’. This usually involved some lemon juice with which we wrote on paper. Once the juice dried, the paper appeared to be blank, until a hot iron was run over the paper, or it was placed close to the flame of a candle, upon which the words would slowly show up. Many a summer afternoon was spent in this ‘mystery’ activity, with much excitement and anticipation on the part of message writer and receiver!

These memories came back recently when another kind of ink is soon to be in the news, except that this ink is far from invisible, it is indelible! The purple mark on the forefinger is inextricable linked with election season. As soon as the voting process begins, this mark becomes the symbol of a citizen who has exercised their right, as well as duty, to participate in the process to vote-in a democratically-elected government. In a country like India in which millions across the country take part in the electoral process, this mark is a great common indicator of participation, as well identification. An inked finger identifies a voter not just when they emerge from the polling booth, but until the ink on the finger ‘wears’ off, a period that may last from a few days to a couple of weeks. The key word is ‘wears’ off rather than washes off. And that is where the search for, and use of, indelible ink in elections began.

In the early 1950s, in newly independent India, there was concern that fraudulent voting could upset a free and fair electoral process. There needed to be a common, easily applicable and low-cost way to ensure that the ‘one voter one vote’ principle was adhered to in letter and spirit.

Research on this started in the National Physical Laboratory of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-NPL). The research and experiments led to the formulation of the chemical formula for indelible ink which could be used on the finger of a voter who has just cast their vote. This ink was unlike other inks that were commonly used to fill the fountain pens that were the main writing instruments of the day. A key component in this special-formulated ink was silver nitrate which is photosensitive, it reacts when exposed to light (sunlight or even indoor light). The water-base ink also contained a solvent like alcohol which allowed for faster drying, as well as some other dyes. The composition was optimized such that it diffused into the skin spontaneously to make a mark which could not be chemically or mechanically manipulated. The precise proportions, formula and protocol for making this ink were a closely guarded secret, and was patented by the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), New Delhi. But for the ink to be produced in vast quantities, it needed a professional ink-making company.

The NRDC approached Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd. (MPVL) to manufacture and supply the ink. An agreement to this effect was signed by the Election Commission of India in collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory and NDRC with MVPL. The factory was established during 1937 by Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, then the Maharaja of Mysore province. It was originally called Mysore Lac and Paint Works Ltd.It was renamed as Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd. (MPVL) in1989.

The original rationale behind the establishment of the factory was to provide employment opportunities for the local people, and for effective utilization of the natural resources of the forest, specifically lac, which was used for the manufacture of sealing waxes. Apart from lac, the factory manufactured paints which were supplied to Government departments, especially to the Defence Department, particularly for war tanks, during the early days.

The factory was converted into Public Limited Company during 1947 as one of the Public Sector Undertakings (PSU). The company continues to be among the prominent undertakings of the Government of Karnataka, meeting the requirements of PSUs, Central Government, State Government, PSUs, private industries and the paint dealers. Although the Company also manufactures and supplies industrial coating paints, decorative paints, wood polishes, varnish and thinners, the largest chunk of its output is the manufacture and supply of indelible ink for elections.

The indelible ink was used for the first time in Indian elections in 1962 and has MPVL has remained the sole supplier since then. MPVL initially supplied ink only for parliamentary and assembly elections, but over the years it has also been supplying ink for elections to municipal bodies and cooperative societies. The concentration of silver nitrate in the ink varies depending on its usage. For example, in 2017, MPVL was commissioned to manufacture special marker pens to mark children during the polio drops drive in South India. The silver nitrate ink used in these pens was less concentrated, keeping in mind that children are prone to put their finger in the mouth.

According to MPVL, the high-quality indelible ink dries out completely in less than 40 seconds, but it leaves its impression even after a one-second contact with skin. The ink darkens with exposure to light and can remain on the voter’s fingernail and skin for at least two days, and up to 3-4 weeks, depending on a person’s body temperature and the environment. It cannot be simply washed away mechanically, or removed by any known chemical or solvent.

As the ink is photo-sensitive, it needs to be protected from exposure to direct sun rays. Earlier it used to be stored in brown-coloured glass bottles; now amber-coloured plastic bottles are used. The bottles used are designed in such a manner so as to prevent any kind of reaction with sunlight until they are opened. The ink is distributed in 5 ml, 7.5 ml, 20 ml, 50 ml and 80 ml vials. A single 5 ml vial is sufficient for an approximated 300 voters. The Election Commission of India places orders for the ink based on the number of registered voters involved in the election. The ink is then supplied to the Chief Electoral Officers who subsequently distribute it to individual voting centres.

The MPVL is the sole supplier of voter’s ink in India since 1962. The PSU also exports the ink to at least 25 other countries including Canada, Ghana, Nigeria, Mongolia, Malaysia, Nepal, South Africa and the Maldives. This ink is made as per the respective country’s specific use of the ink. For example, in Cambodia and the Maldives, voters need to dip their finger into the ink, while in Burkina Faso the ink is applied with a brush, and nozzles are used in Turkey.

So this election season, as we walk into a polling booth and walk out with the small purple line on our finger, we know what has gone into making this distinguishing mark!

–Mamata

Happy Hampi

April 16, 2024April 16, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ 3 Comments

Hampi. On the list of history-buffs. On the list of backpackers. On the list of pilgrims. On the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is indeed a ‘listed site’!

This is what UNESCO has to say about it:

‘The austere and grandiose site of Hampi comprise mainly the remnants of the Capital City of Vijayanagara Empire (14th-16th Cent CE), the last great Hindu Kingdom. The property encompasses an area of 4187.24 hectares, located in the Tungabhadra basin in Central Karnataka, Bellary District.

Hampi’s spectacular setting is dominated by river Tungabhadra, craggy hill ranges and open plains, with widespread physical remains. The sophistication of the varied urban, royal and sacred systems is evident from the more than 1600 surviving remains that include forts, riverside features, royal and sacred complexes, temples, shrines, pillared halls, Mandapas, memorial structures, gateways, defence check posts, stables, water structures, etc.’

On a recent visit to Hampi (I know, I know. Who goes there in April???) we were of course awed by the architecture and the sculptures there. At a landscape level (over 4000 hectares as UNESCO says) like Angkor Wat, one can believe that this was the capital-complex of one of the most powerful and rich kingdoms India has ever seen.

So much has been written about this by experts, I don’t think there is much I can add. Of course, we were there only for two brief days, and in fact sight-seeing was not even top of the agenda. But personal impressions are unique, and I shall share them.

There is no charge to visit any of the sites except a nominal charge to go into the Vithala temple. Pre-Covid, the number of visitors to Hampi was about 7 lakh annually, and is likely to be much higher today. Many of these people go for worship to the temples. But for those purely on the tourist trail, surely it makes sense to charge something? Maybe Rs.100/monument or Rs. 500 for a day pass or something? Surely the case cannot be that our archaeological sites don’t need money for conservation and upkeep? Or that tourists who travel all the way to Hampi and spend on hotels will grudge the small amount for actually seeing what they have come to see? But it felt that the locals see this as a sign of hospitality, with two guides telling us ‘No charge to see anything here. Happy Hampi!’ That is rather nice!
Another thing was that the guides were not overwhelming or too persistent. Just appropriately persistent! In fact, we did not encounter too many of them, maybe because it was off-season. As well-informed and articulate as any to be met anywhere in India—which means they all told more or less the same stories and the same jokes, but pleasantly.
There were not enough toilets, and those there were, were not inviting! They were not dirty per se, but definitely yellowing, stained and wet, exhibiting a lack of an active effort to keep them up. This also probably circles back to the point on charging for entrance. If there were more money to spend on toilets, would there be more of them and would they be better kept? (Of course, in the convoluted system of incomes and allocations to such sites, there is little correlation between the two!). The strangest thing was that while the sites open 8.30 a.m., we found the toilets locked on arrival, and informed that they would open at 9.30 a.m. only!
And Hampi and other sites do have some structures in the name of toilets, we simply do not provide for drinking water. While most of us carry water these days, what about the unfortunates who forget? In a place like Hampi, it is quite possible for someone to come down with a heatstroke, and having access to clean, potable water is an essential that must be provided, not a luxury.

5.A very welcome move by the State Tourism is the introduction of e-vehicles to take the tourists to the various sites. Cars have to be parked at a certain point, and only these electrical vehicles run by the government are allowed beyond that. They charge a nominal amount. And it gets better! All these vehicles are driven by women. Our feisty driver went through a training of 15 days after selection, and confidently drove us around!

Hampi is divided into three core zones–the Sacred Centre, the Royal Centre and the Islamic Quarters. We got to see some parts of the Sacred Centre, so a lot is waiting.

Hampi is happy indeed, but with a little care, could be so much more so.

Here is to Happier Hampi!

–Meena

The Sleeping Prince

April 11, 2024April 13, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

The story of Sleeping Beauty, in one form or the other, has been around since the 1300s. The story of Rip Van Winkle was written in 1819.

But there is one famous sleeper who goes much further back—to the Ramayana in fact. That is Kumbhakarna, the brother of Ravana. Kumbhakarna’s sleep was different from that of the first two—it was intermittent sleep. He slept for six months, then woke up and ate and drank for six months to satiate his enormous appetite, and then fell back asleep.

Kumbhakarna was a good and decent man, a mighty warrior, who was, as is often the case, cursed thanks to the fears/insecurities of some gods. There are two popular stories regarding his curse, though they may be many others.

Both begin with Kumbhakarna carrying out intense austerities, praying for months to Lord Brahma. The first variation goes that Indra knew that what Kumbhakarna would ask for was his throne, and so begged Brahma to curse him. The other goes that all the devas were worried that the asura-prince would gain too much power if Brahma decided to shower his benevolence on him. So they went to Goddess Saraswathi to beg her intervention.

After a length of time, Brahma appeared to Kumbhakarna, quite pleased with him, and said ‘Ask what boon you will.’ At that moment, Saraswathi, the Goddess of words and music and learning, put a hex on Kumbhakarna’s tongue so that he mis-spoke as he articulated his requests.

Kumbhakarna meant to ask for “Indrasaana” (the home of Lord Indra), but it came out as “Nidrasaana” (bed for sleeping) and when he asked for “Nirdevatvam” (destruction of Devas), it came out as “Nidravatvam” or sleep.

Brahma was quite a hasty God and obviously did not reflect too much on the boons he was granting and probably just said ‘Thatastu’—so be it. And in fact, the original grant was of unending sleep. Ravana had to intervene on behalf of his brother and go through loops before getting the boon modified to six months of sleep, followed by six months of waking. And so it was.

When Kumbhkarna slept, nothing could wake him—not horses and elephants walking over him, not a war or battle, nor all the musical instruments playing next to his head. And when he woke up, he would be so hungry, he would eat anything in sight.

As the war between Rama and Ravana began going against the asura king, his one hope was Kumbhakarna. Some accounts say that he ordered a 1000 elephants to walk over his brother to wake him up. When he did wake up, he counselled his brother against the war. He told him that he was not in the right, and they should give up Sita in all honour, and plead for peace. But Ravana obviously refused. Kumbhakarna, knowing they were fighting an unjust war, still threw himself into it in loyalty to his brother and kingdom. He is said to have killed 8000 monkey-warriors before Rama himself finally subdued and killed him.

Some scientists, analysing texts about Kumbhakarna suggest that he suffered from hypothalamic obesity whose symptoms include obesity, somnolence and rage (all three of which Kumbhakarna exhibited).

Well, whatever it was, his story had a sad ending. When Sleeping Beauty woke up, it was to love, a prince and a kingdom. For Kumbhakarna, it was death, defeat and loss of a kingdom.

–Meena