Category: Inspirations

Window to the World: National Geographic

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They were probably our first glimpse of the wonders of the natural world. As children we eagerly awaited the arrival of the yellow cover magazines with their breathtaking pictures. My father, a lover of maps found a wealth of meticulous cartography in the maps that often accompanied the magazines. The glossy pages with fantastic photographs were the hallmark of the National Geographic Magazine. The magazine has maintained the same level of excellence for the last 136 years!

This month marks the important milestones that led to the launch of this enduring visual record of the world. This began with the founding of the National Geographic Society. The journey started in early January 1888 when a small group of gentlemen prominent in the scientific and intellectual circles of Washington DC received an invitation that read: Dear Sir: You are invited to be present at a meeting to be held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Friday evening, January 13, at 8 o’clock, for the purpose of considering the advisability of organizing a society for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge.

On the given date, 33 gentlemen who were sufficiently intrigued by the invitation to brave the fog and rain, gathered at the Cosmos Club. The guiding spirit leading the discussion was Boston lawyer Gardiner Greene Hubbard, supported by explorers John Wesley Powell and Adolphus Greely, as well as geographer Henry Gannett. The topic of discussion was the organization of a society for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge. One week later on 20 January the second meeting had twice the original number of participants, who agreed to incorporate themselves as a geographical society, and just one week later the Certificate of Incorporation of the National Geographic Society was formally signed on 27 January 1888. Interestingly, the average age of the founding group was around 40 years, and half of these were in their late 20s to 30s, several working for the US Geological Survey or the US Coast and Geodetic Survey. And, they were all male. Ironically, only one member was a journalist, and there is no photograph of any of the three occasions that led to the birth of the iconic magazine. National Geographic Magazine started publication in October 1888 as the official journal of the National Geographic Society.

The original issues were all text articles. The magazine began the transition from a text-oriented publication to including pictorial content with its January 1905 issue which had several full-page pictures of Tibet. By 1908 more than half the magazine’s pages were photographs.  

One of the founding objectives of the non-profit Society was to fund science and exploration across the planet. The first scientific expedition supported by the Society was to survey and map the Mount St. Elias region in North America, which led to the discovery of Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak. Initiated in 1890, and led by explorer Israel Russell, this marked the beginning of thousands of explorer-led National Geographic expeditions. Significant among the early expeditions supported by the National Geographic Society were Robert Peary’s which was the first to reach the North Pole in 1909, and expeditions (1912-1915) to excavate Machu Pichu the lost city of the Incas in the Peruvian Andes. Since the first expedition, the Society has provided more than 15,000 grants to explorers to work across the world.

The earliest natural-colour underwater pictures were taken by the National Geographic staff photographers in 1926. The magazine continued to bring to the readers hidden deep sea treasures with a series of articles by Jacques-Yves Cousteau in the mid-1950s, including the deepest undersea photos from 25,000 under the sea in 1956. From deep sea to outer space, the National Geographic Society flag was carried by John Glenn on the first US orbital space fight in June 1962; and it reached the moon with the Apollo 11 astronauts in July 1969. The exploration of forest ecosystems also got Society support, with funding to Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey’s intensive work with chimpanzees and mountain gorillas in the African jungles. Over the decades, the Society has continued to support explorations in varied ecosystems, and in all spheres from ocean depths to outer space. The discoveries of these incredible missions are shared through the National Geographic Magazine, opening windows and vistas to millions of armchair travellers across the globe. The excellence of standards of journalism and photography are backed with the passion and commitment of documenting the wonders of history, science, anthropology and nature, while also bringing to the fore serious environmental and human rights issues.

The National Geographic Magazine has continued to inspire generations for over a century, reaching out to 60 million readers worldwide each month, including 40 local-language editions. Keeping step with changing times and technology, in January 2001 National Geographic Channel was launched on cable and satellite television in the United States. The channel has expanded the scope of visual storytelling. Nat Geo continues to provide new digital experiences to find new ways of documenting the world and allowing readers to interact with content. In a rapidly changing world, the Society has stayed true to its original mission ‘to pursue and celebrate exploration, scientific excellence, education, and unforgettable storytelling’. National Geographic has remained a vibrant, relevant, world-class brand at the forefront of exploration and knowledge. However, the changing times are making their mark felt even here. Until 2015, the magazine was completely owned and managed by the National Geographic Society. Since 2019 the Walt Disney Company has taken over controlling interest. In June 2023, National geographic announced that it will focus on digital publication and subscribers. The magazine also laid off all of its staff writers, shifting to an entirely freelance-based writing model. Starting 2024, the hard copy will no longer be available on newsstands, while old subscribers will receive hard copies till their subscription runs.

Truly the end of an era. And a time to revisit the family collection of National Geographic Magazines (dating back to the mid-1950s) and enjoy the nostalgic savour of rediscovering the wonders of the world.   

–Mamata

War and Peace

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What can one say about the year that is winding to a close? Sadly, despite many stories of achievements and accomplishments across the world, and even into space, perhaps the images that will haunt us the most will be those of the ravages of war. A frightening reminder of human’s inhumanity to humans. While the voices of the war-mongers are louder and more strident, there are, in every time and generation a few who gently, but passionately, fight the non-violent battles for peace.

One among these was Daisaku Ikeda, the Buddhist philosopher, educator, author, poet, and above all, peace-builder. Ikeda was born in Tokyo, Japan, on January 2, 1928, the fifth of eight children, to a family of seaweed farmers. He grew up in a period when Japan was in an authoritarian and militaristic phase of expansion, and heading towards World War II. As a teenager Ikeda was witness to the devastation and suffering of the war, including the death of his elder brother in action. The young Ikeda was deeply disturbed by the seemingly meaningless human conflict.

At the age of 19, Ikeda met Josei Tado, an educator, pacifist and leader of the Soka Gakka, a Japanese Buddhist religious movement based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren. Toda had been imprisoned during the war together with his mentor Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. Both had held firm to their religious convictions in the face of oppression by the military authorities who had imposed the Shinto ideology as a means of sanctifying their war of aggression. Makiguchi had died in prison, and Toda had resolved to stand up to the militarist regime. This greatly impressed Ikeda who was drawn to the Buddhist philosophy of peace and non-violence. The seeds of Ikeda’s passion for peace were firmly sown.

Toda was engaged in the process of rebuilding the Soka Gakkai which had been all but destroyed as a result of wartime persecution. The young Ikeda shared Toda’s conviction that the philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism, with its focus on the limitless potential of the individual, cultivated through an inner-directed revolution, could help revive society in the devastation of post-war Japan.

Ikeda accepted Toda as his mentor, and the next ten years became as he described, ‘the defining experience of his life and the source of everything he later did and became.’ Toda died in 1958, and in May 1960, Ikeda succeeded him as president of the Soka Gakkai. He was 32 years old. In 1975, Ikeda became the founding president of Soka Gakkai International (SGI), which grew into a global network that brings people of goodwill and conscience together. Under his leadership, the movement began an era of innovation and expansion, becoming actively engaged in initiatives promoting peace, culture, human rights, sustainability and education worldwide. He established the Soka (value-creation) schools system, a non-denominational educational system based on an ideal of fostering each student’s unique creative potential and cultivating an ethos of peace, social contribution and global citizenship.

Ikeda’s philosophy is grounded in Buddhist humanism; the central value being the fundamental dignity of life, which is the key to lasting peace and human happiness. In his view, global peace relies ultimately on a self-directed transformation within the life of the individual, rather than on societal or structural reforms alone.

From a healed, peaceful heart, humility is born; from humility, a willingness to listen to others is born; from a willingness to listen to others, mutual understanding is born; and from mutual understanding, a peaceful society will be born. Nonviolence is the highest form of humility; it is supreme courage.

Ikeda also firmly believed that the foundation of peace lay in dialogue. Dialogue and education for peace can help free our hearts from the impulse toward intolerance and the rejection of others. People need to be made conscious of a very simple reality: we have no choice but to share this planet, this small blue sphere floating in the vast reaches of space, with all of our fellow “passengers.”

Dialogue and the promotion of cultural exchange became the basis of his efforts to build trust and foster friendship in contexts of historical division and conflict. In order to discover common ground and identify ways of tackling the complex problems facing humanity, Ikeda pursued dialogue with individuals from diverse backgrounds—prominent figures from around the world in the humanities, politics, faith traditions, culture, education and various academic fields. Over 80 of these dialogues have been published in book form. Through his writings and actions Ikeda became a pioneering practitioner of the concept of ‘a culture of peace’.

Ikeda also founded a number of independent, non-profit research institutes to promote peace through cross-cultural, interdisciplinary collaboration: the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century (renamed Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue in 2009), the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research (renamed Toda Peace Institute in 2017) and the Institute of Oriental Philosophy. The Min-On Concert Association and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum promote mutual understanding and friendship between different cultures through the arts.

Ikeda was a multi-faceted personality—philosopher, educator, writer and peace-builder. But all his endeavours were rooted in his strong faith in the positive potential inherent in the life of every person. Ikeda was convinced that peace is ultimately inseparable from enabling the flourishing of each person’s individuality. A great inner revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and, further, will enable a change in the destiny of all humankind.

For Ikeda, peace was far more than the mere absence of war. He saw this as a set of conditions in which cultural differences are embraced and appreciated and in which dialogue is firmly established as the means of choice for resolving conflict. In the end, peace will not be realized by politicians signing treaties. True and lasting peace will only be realized by forging life-to-life bonds of trust and friendship among the world’s people. Human solidarity is built by opening our hearts to each other. This is the power of dialogue.

Daisaku Ikeda passed away on 18 November 2023, at the age of 95 years. As another war rages on, the world is in dire need of the wisdom of men such as him, to remind us again and again of the futility of violence. Peace is not simply the absence of war; it is a state in which people come together in mutual trust and live with joy, energy and hope. This is the polar opposite of war―where people live plagued by hatred and the fear of death.

With hope and a prayer that the year ahead may lead humanity from war to peace.

Peace is not found somewhere far away. Peace is found where there is caring. Peace is found when you bring joy to your mother instead of suffering. Peace is found when you reach out and make an effort to understand and embrace someone who is different from you. Daisaku Ikeda

–Mamata

Forts, forts, forts…

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A visit to Rajasthan leaves one with a head swimming with visions of elephants and camels, turbans and bandhini saries, sweets and more sweets .  And of course forts and palaces. I spent last week at Rajasthan, and so obviously these grandiose structures are very much on my mind.

Jaisalmer Fort by Night

Which got me wandering: what are forts vs. fortresses vs. castles vs. palaces,? Well, here we go:

A fort is not a residence, but rather a military fortification. These structures were built specifically for war situations, and used to defend specific territories. A fortress is similar, but it is a larger fortified area than a fort.

A palace is primarily a residential place, occupied by royalty, heads of state, or very rich and important people. They are not fortified against attacks, but rather designed for comfort and elegance, and are often status symbols. 

Castles are large residences or a group of large buildings that have been constructed with strong walls to protect against attacks. Basically, castles are fortified residences. 

Apparently, there are about a thousand forts in India. Going strictly by the book, most forts in India are either fortresses or castles. But the British when classifying them, used the conventional British system and called them all forts.  The oldest surviving fort is thought to be the Qila Mubarak in Bathinda, Punjab, whose origins go back to the period 90-110 AD. This Qila was built by Raja Deb, a Rajput king.

That is a pretty ancient fort! But the thinking about forts goes back to even earlier times. Kautilya, the man who wrote prodigiously on all aspects of governing kingdoms, as far as the 3rd Century BC, had discussed various types of forts and fortifications.

‘On all the four quarters of the boundaries of the kingdom, defensive fortifications against an enemy in war shall be constructed on grounds best fitted for the purpose: a water-fortification (audaka) such as an island in the midst of a river, or a plain surrounded by low ground; a mountainous fortification (párvata) such as a rocky tract or a cave; a desert (dhánvana) such as a wild tract devoid of water and overgrown with thicket growing in barren soil; or a forest fortification (vanadurga) full of wagtail (khajana), water and thickets.’ he says in Book II of the Arthashastra in a section which elaborates “The Duties of Government Superintendents”. He goes into great detail not only about the construction of the fort, ramparts, towers, turrets, gates  and staircases, but even to the extent of specifying the width of various types of roads within the forts which would make for easy movement in war and peace. He details out how the spaces within the fort should be planned, and where which facility should be set up.`

However strongly fortified a fort, the danger of sieges was always present. It was for this reason that Chanakya laid down that: ‘There shall be a water-well for every ten houses. Oils, grains, sugar, salt, medicinal articles, dry or fresh vegetables, meadow grass, dried flesh, haystock, firewood, metals, skins, charcoal, tendons (snáyu), poison, horns, bamboo, fibrous garments, strong timber, weapons, armour, and stones shall also be stored (in the fort) in such quantities as can be enjoyed for years together without feeling any want. Of such collection, old things shall be replaced by new ones when received.’

Well, I suppose all this detailing could possibly have been done by any conscientious bureaucrat. What really gives the Chanakya twist to the discussion on forts is Book XIII, “Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress”. It mentions such tactics as: Sowing the Seeds Of Dissension; Enticement Of Kings By Secret Contrivances; The Work Of Spies in a Siege; The Operation of a Siege; etc.!

Wow! India not only has the most amazing forts, it probably has the oldest document guiding their conception!

–Meena

Nan Shepherd and The Living Mountain

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George Mallory, when he was asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, is said to have replied: “Because it’s there”. Mallory was the only climber to take part in three of the British pioneering expeditions to climb Mount Everest in the 1920s. Mountains have always “been there” and have over centuries, challenged humans to ascend and ‘conquer’ them. Hundreds of books have been written about mountains, mostly by men. The books are characterised by the language of conquest and victory, and propelled by the goal of reaching the summit.

In the period when men were racing to scale and conquer the highest peaks, was a young woman who perceived, and described, mountains not in terms of heights but in terms of depths. This was Nan Shepherd, not only an explorer of mountains, but also one of the great early 20th century writers of nature, landscape and the Scottish mountains that she so loved.

 Anna (she called herself Nan) Shepherd was born in February 1893 near Aberdeen on the North East coast of Scotland. Not long after she was born her family moved to Cults (now a suburb of Aberdeen). The hills of Deeside close by, were her natural playground, and her love for walking in the hills was encouraged by her father who was a keen hill walker. Nan was also an avid reader, and at the age of fourteen started filling notebooks with quotations and citations from her readings. She attended Aberdeen High School for Girls and studied at Aberdeen University, graduating with an MA in 1915. She went on to teach English literature at the Aberdeen Training Centre for Teachers (later the College of Education). She remained there for the next forty-one years, until her retirement in 1956, having become known as an inspiring teacher with a feminist slant to her work. Although she did travel extensively, she continued to live in her childhood home until she died in 1981.

Having explored the local hills almost from the time that she could walk, Nan ventured further afield, to the Cairngorms. These formidable mountains to the west of Aberdeen, are amongst the wildest landscapes in the British Isles. This was in June 1928, Nan was 35 years old. This first experience of the mountains was the start of a passion that came to define both her life and her writing. From then on, she would head for the Cairngorms whenever her job would allow, often alone, or occasionally with friends and fellow walkers.

For Nan, who conquered all six of the major peaks in the Cairngorms while still a young woman the goal was never to reach the summit of a mountain: it was not climbing up that excited her so much as “clambering down,” discovering all the hidden parts of the mountain that only an attentive walker would notice. It was this perspective of ‘looking within’ both at the mountain, and herself, that inspired Nan to also write copiously during the period between 1928 and 1933. During this time, she published three novels: The Quarry Wood, The Weatherhouse, and A Pass in the Grampians. As she said: “It simply must be written”. Shepherd drew inspiration from the places and people she knew well, setting her stories in the North East of Scotland, with a focus on country communities and the harsh way of life imposed by the landscape. Above all, what shone through was her deep love for the Scottish mountains and her knowledge of these through walking. 

While Nan published these books, the book that was most inspired by these mountains, and her most inspirational piece of writing, was called The Living Mountain. The book, written in 1940, describes Nan’s explorations, as a walker and as a writer, of the Cairngorm Mountains. Nan sent her manuscript to a novelist and publisher friend Neil Gunn who appreciated it, but felt that it was not fit for publication unless she added photographs and a map. Nan put away the manuscript in a drawer and there it remained for over 30 years. It was finally published by the Aberdeen University Press in 1977.

The publication of The Living Mountain revealed Nan as one of the earliest ‘Nature writers’ who brilliantly captured the Cairngorms in their various seasonal moods. Her descriptions emerged out of her own immersion in the experience of walking in every kind of weather, swimming in the lochs, dipping in the streams, and camping under the sky. It also showed her incisive eye for detail, and her profound understanding not only of the geography and geology of the mountains, but equally of the living elements that made it a vibrant ecosystem. Long before ecology became a buzzword, Nan was acutely aware of the interconnections. 

Shepherd was interested in the ‘essential nature’ of the mountain: in understanding it from all angles and in all seasons. She viewed the mountains not as looming objects of sublime terror, but as acquaintances. She wrote: Often the mountain gives itself most completely when I have no destination but have gone out merely to be with the mountain as one visits a friend, with no intention but to be with him.

The poetic descriptions of the routes are so vivid that the readers can literally walk these with Nan. But Nan Shepherd’s writing is not simply a description, it is equally an introspection. While most mountaineers think in terms of peaks, plateaus and cliffs, Nan looks within, “into” cracks in rocks, and the depths of lochs and rivers. Her prose is philosophical and often meditative: One does not look upwards to spectacular peaks but downwards from the peaks to spectacular chasms, for a mountain has an inside.

Although it was written nearly a century ago, The Living Mountain is today acclaimed as “one of the most brilliant works of modern landscape literature”. It is a lyrical memoir that combines field notes, natural history, and oral history. One of its most profound tenets is that we should not walk “up” a mountain but “into” mountains, thus exploring ourselves as well as them.

December 11 is celebrated as International Mountain Day. The theme for this year is Restoring Mountain Ecosystems. Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain is a reminder that healthy mountain ecosystems can restore us: in body and spirit.

–Mamata

Getting Serious about Play!

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Last week, we talked about the International Dolls’ Museum in Delhi.  And we lamented about its not keeping up with the times and re-inventing itself.

A model from which it could draw inspiration is The Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York, USA. It was established in 1969 based on the collection of one individual, Margaret Woodbury Strong, who by that point in time has collected over 27,000 dolls. Like Shankar who set up the Dolls’ Museum, she started by exhibiting parts of her collection and later added two wings to her palatial house to exhibit to select visitors. Over time, she started thinking about setting up a museum for the public.   Margaret Strong died in 1969, leaving her collection and her wealth for a museum, which was finally opened to the public in 1982.

The Museum’s display of the collection of dolls is only a small part of what it does. It is ‘a highly interactive, collections-based museum, devoted to the history and exploration of play’ and sees itself as ‘the ultimate play destination of all ages’. To meet this mission, it has interactive exhibits in a space of 1,50,000 sft, online exhibits, the World Video Game Hall of Fame, a Play Lab which is a maker-space, and a Skyline Climb. The Strong Museum takes the effort to ensure that the experiences are accessible for people of all abilities. Many of the exhibits on the online museum are viewable to all of us on Google Arts and Crafts.

A very interesting initiative of the Museum is the National Toy Hall of Fame. Every year, the Hall of Fame recognizes and inducts toys that have ‘inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a sustained period’. The public (I think only those who live in America) are invited to nominate their favorite toys based on the following criteria:

  • ‘Icon-status: the toy is widely recognized, respected, and remembered.
  • Longevity: the toy is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over multiple generations.
  • Discovery: the toy fosters learning, creativity, or discovery through play.
  • Innovation: the toy profoundly changed play or toy design. A toy may be inducted on the basis of this criterion without necessarily having met all of the first three.’

What a wonderful way to engage with the community at large! The toys in the Hall of Fame include everyday objects, like sand which is one of the most popular materials for children to play with; blankets which children can make into anything from tents to disguises; to cardboard boxes which as we know are more interesting to kids than the most expensive toy packed inside. The list of course includes items created to be played with—from balls, playing cards, rubber ducks, girl-dolls, hoola-hoops, jump-ropes and  jigsaw puzzles to Rubik’s Cube and Nintendo.

Games and toys

The Museum has the core philosophy that ‘Play sharpens minds and boosts creativity. When children play, they learn to solve problems, make decisions, express ideas and recognize boundaries’, the Museum focuses attention on educators, with special grade-related exhibits and lesson-plans for teachers.

The Museum plays a very serious role in research too. The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play is devoted to the intellectual, social, and cultural history of play and is a 230,000-volume research library and archives of primary and secondary sources, including scholarly works, professional journals, periodicals, trade catalogues, children’s books, comic books, manuscripts, personal papers, business records, and more.

Another important collection is The International Centre for the History of Electronic Games which has 60,000 artefacts and thousands of archival material on the history of video games.

A third collection is The National Archives of Game Show History which ‘preserves the history of game shows—from the earliest panel shows and quiz scandals, to the games and puzzles of the 1970s, to the big money network series and the classic games now in primetime’.

So efforts on every front to be relevant to a wide audience, and to keep up with the times.

A lesson or two or three, our museums can learn?

–Meena

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A Prime Minister, A Cartoonist, and A Dolls’ Museum : Marking Children’s Day

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We celebrate November 14th, the birth anniversary of our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, as Children’s Day. This is because not only did he love children, but children loved him right back! They called him ‘Chacha’—a name that stuck even with adults.

Nehru understood children and the need for loving and carefully nurturing them, as also their importance to the future of the nation.  ‘Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured as they are the future of the nation and citizens of tomorrow. The children of today will make the citizens of tomorrow. The way we bring them up will determine the future of the country’ he said. He also had a clear vision on the purpose and role of education: ‘The object of education is to produce a desire to serve the community as a whole and to apply the knowledge gained not only for personal but for public welfare.’

A contemporary who also loved and valued children was Shankaran Pillai, India’s first political cartoonist. Shankar, as he was called, and Nehru, enjoyed a great friendship, though the cartoonist featured the PM in over 4000 cartoons, many of which were merciless. Nehru was a tall leader—not only could he laugh at himself but he also appreciated the need to do this: ‘It is good to have the veil of our conceit torn occasionally’. He urged the cartoonist on, saying ‘Don’t spare me Shankar.’ Nehru even used to enclose Shankar’s cartoons in his letters to his daughter Indira Gandhi when he was in prison.  

Those were different times, those were different people!

Shankar founded the Children’s Book Trust (CBT) in 1957 to ‘to promote the production of well written, well illustrated and well designed books for children.’ CBT has been bringing out high-quality books in English and Indian languages and these are highly subsidized, to make them widely accessible. In 1968, CBT started a magazine called Children’s World. An International Children’s Competition for Painting and Writing has been on-going since 1951. These were pioneering initiatives.

Shankars Dolls Museum

But maybe the most innovative idea was The Shankar’s International Dolls Museum, which has now grown into one of the largest collections of costume dolls anywhere in the world, housing over 7500 dolls from 85+ countries. And it all started with a single doll—sometime in the ‘fifties, the Hungarian Ambassador gave Shankar a typical doll from his country, to give away as one of the prizes in the International Children’s Competition. So fascinated did Shankar become with this doll that he started collecting costume-dolls whenever he travelled.

He did not just do this for his own enjoyment. He often held exhibitions so that children of all strata could see and enjoy them. Pandit Nehru and Indira Gandhi visited one such event, and Indira Gandhi suggested then that Shankar should set up a permanent museum of these dolls. The idea slowly crystallized, and the Museum was inaugurated in 1965. The building where it was housed was appropriately named Nehru House. Nehru gifted a large number of dolls to the Museum and these were the core around which the collection was built. Subsequent PMs as well as Ambassadors and visiting dignitaries from various countries also added special and unique dolls from their nations.  And thereby, a landmark institution was created.

While these were pioneering ideas in their times, the question that needs to be asked is how can the Museum be made relevant for today? How can modern understanding of museums and collections be brought in to revitalize the display and hold the attention of today’s children? The collection is unique ,and the rich collection of artefacts would be a dream for many a researcher to delve into –how can that be facilitated?

We are sitting on a treasure-trove. If we respect the legacy left by Pandit Nehru and Shankar, we have a duty to use this better.

Happy Children’s Day!

–Meena

Pic from https://www.childrensbooktrust.com/dollsmuseum.html

Washoku: The Harmony of Food

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Continuing with the theme of food that Meena introduced this week. She urged gratitude for those who produce the food that sustains us all, and that we ponder on our relationship with food. Nothing expresses this sentiment better than the Japanese word kansha which refers to appreciation toward those who cultivate, harvest, and prepare food.

And nothing encapsulates the intricate relationship with food than the Japanese concept of washoku: the harmony of food.

My first introduction to the importance of balance in diet was through the classic book Totto Chan, an engaging memoir that tells about an ideal school in Tokyo during World War II, which combined learning with fun, freedom, and love. In the story the headmaster asks the parents to include in their children’s lunch boxes “something from the ocean and something from the hills.” This meant food from the sea (fish and seaweed) and food from the land (meat, grain and vegetables). This simple guideline ensured a nutritious and balanced diet that could be put together economically and easily in Japan.

Many years later when I visited Japan, the first thing that struck me about Japanese food was the delicacy and aesthetic with which it was presented. This was a visual demonstration of the principle of balance and harmony as small portions of each item were arranged so as to create a perfect composition of colour and form on the equally beautiful serving plates. The act of partaking from this palette of shades and forms was in itself a reverential and delicately synchronised process, which respected as well as celebrated the gift of food.

It was only some years later that I discovered that this harmony in Japanese cuisine is created by the nuanced combination of five essential elements: Goshiki (five colours), Go-Ho (five cooking methods), Gomi (five flavours), and Gokan (five senses).

Goshiki: Every meal should include each of the five colour groups. These are: Red (aka) which include tones of orange, purple, crimson etc., and Yellow (kii) including golden and ochre tones. These are warming colours said to stimulate the appetite. Green (ao) also includes blue, which is said to refresh. White (shiro) which includes tones of silver or ivory provides a sense of cleanliness. Black (kuro) including very dark tones like eggplant skin or shiitake mushrooms. A serving of a Japanese meal will include components that provide these colours, which are further enhanced with decorative leaves and flowers. The colours help give visual cues to the different nutrients included in the meal and including each colour group ensures nutritional diversity.

Go-Ho: In an earlier time when the ordinary Japanese people had limited food resources for daily meals, they brought variety by cooking the same ingredients in different ways.The tradition continued to become a principle of a Japanese meal which would include five modes of cooking.

Simmering (niru) anything cooked in a boiling liquid

Steaming (musu) any steamed dish, most often rice.

Grilling (yaku) including broiling, searing, roasting to create layers of flavours.

Frying (ageru) food is deep fried in oil

Cutting (nama) is a very important element especially in food that is eaten raw (sashimi or pickles). This requires skillful knife control and adroit fingers.

Gomi: The Japanese believe that by including five flavours in each meal, the craving for any one flavour is minimized through the balance. The flavours are: Sweetness, Sourness, Saltiness, Bitterness and Umami. While it is known that the human tongue can distinguish the first four flavours, the fifth, umami, is difficult to explain. It comes from the umami component of kelp (glutamic acid) and was discovered by Japanese scientists more than a hundred years ago. The word was coined in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda from the words umai (delicious) and mi (taste). In 2002 it was scientifically proven that our taste buds has receptors for umami, that translates from the Japanese as a ‘’pleasant savoury taste’.

These five flavours are provided largely by the five staple ingredients of every Japanese kitchen: Sato (salt), Shi (sugar), Su (rice vinegar), Se (soy sauce), and So (miso).

Gokan: The Japanese believe that in order to truly savour the five flavours, it is not just the tongue, but all five senses that come into play. Thus eating is not just a taste experience. It must begin with the sense of sight that takes in the attractive presentation of the food; the sense of sound which takes in the sounds from the surroundings (preferably nature) and evokes anticipation of the experience. The sense of smell enhances the gustatory experience, and the sense of touch does justice to the variety of textures that one puts in the mouth.

Food for the Japanese is thus as much about experience as it is about sustenance. The emphasis on simplicity of ingredients and cooking techniques, and seasonality of ingredients also makes the food nutritionally balanced. Washoku has been one of included in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It is described as a social practice based on a set of skills, knowledge, practice and traditions related to the production, processing, preparation and consumption of food. It is associated with an essential spirit of respect for nature that is closely related to the sustainable use of natural resources. 

The recently popular series of documentaries on Blue Zones, the five places in the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives, included the Okinawan diet of Japan. While the segment did not go into the depths of the many principles of Five that make the Japanese cuisine what it is, it did add another interesting principle of hara hachi bu, an ancient mantra that reminds people to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. A gentle reminder that moderation and mindfulness are also key to the healthy consumption of food.

Japanese food has gained popularity in India in the last few years. This surprises me as this is so different from most Indian cuisine which is usually a rich mixture of multiple spices and flavours. However for most people here, Japanese food usually means Sushi. Perhaps it is time to learn more about, and appreciate the breadth and depth of this Oriental cuisine.

–Mamata

With Gratitude for Every Morsel of Food…

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The recurrent theme in the last few days has been FOOD.

First, the passing away of Dr. MS Swaminathan, the father of India’s Green Revolution at the age of 98. Today, we have forgotten the first few decades after Independence, when hunger was a reality for many in our country. At Independence, hardly 15 percent of agriculture was under irrigation. The food grain production was 50.8 million tonnes. Agricultural methods, tools and equipment, were centuries if not millennia old, and were grossly insufficient to feed the country’s growing population. On top of that, the vagaries of nature, which saw floods and droughts disrupting cultivation. Food insecurity and shortages were common, and two severe droughts 1964–65 and 1965–66 led to major food shortages and famines. We were dependent on food imports to feed our people, and many people doubted the survival of us as a nation, when we could not even fulfil this basic need.

It is this dismal scenario that pushed people to look for solutions that would make us food secure and food sufficient. And the hero of the hour was Dr. MS Swaminathan. Swaminathan, a student of zoology, who was a witness to the tragedy of the Bengal Famine of 1943 and frequent food shortages, decided to devote his life to improving this situation. And that is what he went on to do just this. He joined the Indian Agricultural Research Institute soon after Independence, and from there went on to do research and post-doctoral work in the subject. At IARI, he learnt about the work of Dr. Norman Borlaug in Mexico, where he had developed a dwarf variety of wheat which yielded more grain, and at the same time had stalks strong enough to hold the weight of the grains. Dr MS saw this as a beacon of hope and worked with Dr. Borlaug to develop improved crop varieties suitable for India. He also worked on fertilizers suitable for our conditions, as well as more efficient farming techniques. This laid the foundation for our Green Revolution, and paved the way for India not only to becoming self-sufficient in food, but becoming a grain basket for the world. Today, our food grain production is estimated at a record 330.5 million tonnes (MT).

The Green Revolution though the saviour, was however not without its flip-side. It needed increased amounts of chemical pesticides and fertilizers thus reducing the soil fertility and quality in the medium term; these crops needed more water; and it led to monocultures based on specific crops and varieties, leading to erosion of agri-biodiversity. Dr. Swaminathan recognized these issues, and for many years led the movement for what he termed ‘the Evergreen Revolution’ which focussed on more environmentally sustainable ways of increasing productivity of the land.

As a part of Centre for Environment Education, we were fortunate to have opportunities to meet and interact with this giant. He came to our campus maybe a few times a year, as Chairman of our sister-institution VIKSAT, and also as guide and mentor to many of our projects and initiatives. I had the good luck to work under his guidance when CEE was putting together Government of India’s official submissions to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and he was one of the advisors to the process.

And coming to the other food-related events:

Oct 2 marks the birthday of Gandhiji, who believed that farmers, farming and rural India had to be at the core of any development in India. He summed it up with his statement: “To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves. “

It also marks the birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri, our second Prime Minister, who gave the nation the slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’, seeing soldiers and farmers at the same level when it comes to ensuring the nation’s security.

And Sept 29 also marks the observance of UN’s International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. The goal of this day is to raise awareness on the importance of the problem and its possible solutions, and to promote global efforts and collective action towards meeting

And Sept 29 also marks the observance of UN’s International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. The goal of this day is to raise awareness on the importance of the problem and its possible solutions, and to promote global efforts and collective action towards meeting Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3, which aims to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030, and reduce food losses along the food production and supply chains.

No more appropriate time to ponder on our relationship to food, those who produce it, and how we interact with it. And lets not forget: the prevalence of undernourishment–the share of people who lack regular access to sufficient calories– is increasing, with as many as 828 million people undernourished in 2021.

With gratitude to all the farmers and farm workers; the policy-makers who understand their importance and respect them for their contribution; those who work on the science of it; and those who cook it.

We owe every mouthful to you all. And may we never forget it.

–Meena

Health Activist: Banoo Coyaji

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Among the recently announced Magsaysay Awards is Dr Ravi Kannan, an Indian surgical oncologist who has revolutionized cancer treatment in Assam through people-centered health care. 

The citation for the award lauds the doctor’s ‘devotion to his profession’s highest ideals of public service, his combination of skill, commitment, and compassion in pushing the boundaries of people-centered, pro-poor health care and cancer care, and for having built, without expectation of reward, a beacon of hope for millions in the Indian state of Assam, thus setting a shining example for all.’

The Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s premier prize and highest honour, recognizes greatness of spirit shown in selfless service to the peoples of Asia.

Thirty years ago this award was conferred upon another Indian doctor whose life and work reflected the same spirit that the above citation lauded. She was Dr. Banoo Jehangir Coyaji who was not only a medical practitioner, but an activist who used her profession and passion to change the lives of thousands of women in remote geographical areas.

Banoo Coyaji was born on 7 September 1917 in Bombay. She was the only child of Pestonji, a civil engineer, and Bapamai Kapadia. She spent her early childhood with her parents, but when she started schooling, her mother sent her to live with her grandparents in Pune, where she attended the Convent of Jesus and Mary. Thus Banoo grew up in a large loving household among aunts, uncles and cousins; while the family was affluent, the children were brought up to be disciplined. While many Parsis of the day were supportive of the British, Banoo’s family was nationalistic. Banoo herself was deeply influenced by Gandhiji and his philosophy.  

One of the big influences in Banoo’s life was the family doctor Edulji Coyaji who was known in Pune for treating the poor as well as the rich. It is he who encouraged the young school graduate Banoo to study medicine. Sixteen-year old Banoo joined St. Xavier’s College in Bombay for pre-medical studies, following which she pursued medical studies at Grant Medical College in Bombay, completing her MD degree in 1940. In the meanwhile she met Jehangir Coyaji, her mentor Edulji’s younger brother, and an engineer. The two married in 1941 after Banoo completed her degree. In 1943, she moved back to Pune where Jehangir worked, to set up house. Although she had an MD in gynaecology, Banoo joined Dr Edulji in his general practice. One day Dr Edulji told her that she was to go to KEM Hospital, as they were in urgent need of a doctor.

KEM was a private charity hospital that had been founded in 1912 by Pune’s leading citizens. When Banoo entered the hospital in May 1944 it had only forty beds. Primarily a maternity hospital, most of the patients were poor women, many who came from remote areas when their medical condition had reached a critical stage. The women also came with other medical issues so the small staff had to be prepared to treat any emergency. The workload was relentless and they worked over 18 hours a day. Banoo and her husband moved into a flat above the hospital so that she was able to attend to her young son, as well as her patients.

In 1947 Banoo and her husband were among the millions who witnessed India’s tryst with destiny as we became an independent nation. Around this time Banoo also made her first major intervention at KEM hospital. Having treated, over the years, women whose health had suffered due to child bearing issues (too many children, too early or late pregnancies, and the toll of unattended childbirth) Banoo opened Pune’s first birth control clinic. She was joined by Shakuntala Paranjpe a social worker and family-planning advocate who helped her reach out to women and promoted birth control classes for local women. This was a revolutionary initiative for the time.  

This was the start of many new developments that took KEM hospital from being a small maternity hospital to become a full-fledged general hospital, and one of the leading charitable institutions in Pune. To achieve this Banoo had to be continually fund-raising, adding new equipment and wards as and when she got funds. All the while she took no pay from the hospital.

Working tirelessly to maintain and grow the hospital, Banoo had no time to attend to something that had always been at the back of her mind. This was the question of what was happening in the villages from where patients often came with serious health conditions. In the late 1960s Banoo felt that it was important that the medical services should reach the villagers before the villagers needed to come to the city for treatment. She began exploring how KEM’s services could provide this outreach. Her team started by identifying a poor rural drought-prone area in Vadu Block, about 40 km from Pune. She approached the Health Secretary of Maharashtra government with the offer that the hospital run the block’s Primary Health Centre. This was agreed upon. In 1972, KEM set up a small outpatient clinic in Vadu. Maternal and child care, and family planning were the early priorities of the programme. From the beginning, KEM had emphasized the importance of research linked to its ongoing medical and public health programmes. In 1972, Banoo Coyaji seized an opportunity to establish a research society at the hospital.

While the first step to outreach had been achieved, Banoo felt that this was still a treatment service to those who came to the clinic. She felt that it was preventive care which could make a real difference, which addressed not the symptoms but the causes—sanitation, clean water, nutrition, and antenatal care. She felt that this would be best done by the local people themselves. Thus she asked each village to recommend a man and a woman who could be trained to serve as part-time health volunteers. The newly recruited volunteers underwent a comprehensive three-week training with a holistic approach to health and a healthy environment. The volunteers returned to their villages as community health guides, forming the grassroots base of a pyramid of healthcare services connecting their villages with KEM hospital at the top.

As the experiment showed results, there were suggestions that it be scaled up. In 1980 the model was introduced into the adjacent blocks of Kendur and Nhavra, where the village panchayats had passed a resolution inviting them to come. But the implementation had numerous challenges. However by the mid-1980s, Banoo Coyaji’s multifaceted interventions in Vadu were bringing about a quiet transformation, not just in human health but in the health of the local environment, and in the capacity and confidence-building of the local population, especially the women. 

By 1987, many elements of the Vadu model were accepted by Maharashtra state. These included KEM’s process for selecting and training village health guides, its insistence upon retraining middle-level health officers and on continuing education for its field staff, and its effective patient referral and grassroots record-keeping systems. This model was later used in many developing countries.

In 1988, with the help of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Coyaji launched the Young Women’s Health and Development Project to support an experimental training programme for girls. Aside from lessons in health, hygiene, personal development, and family life, the girls also studied population issues, the status of women, and the importance of education for girls. A second component of the programme involved learning vocational skills such as sewing, knitting, embroidery, crochet, and making costume jewellery and decorative items.

Thus Banoo Coyaji’s vision and the work of the KEM-trained volunteers went well beyond health and family planning to encompass literacy, livelihood options, legal advice, and even the support to question social issues like dowry. It was always a challenge, but as Banoo said All social change is slow. And very profound social changes indeed are needed before India’s women can achieve their full potential.

Dr Banoo Coyaji continued to work for the causes dear to her heart till she passed away on 15 July 2004. In addition to the Magsaysay Award she received many national and international awards, including the Padma Bhushan.  

–Mamata

More Than Just a Library

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Recently there was an article about heritage libraries in India and how some of these are in the process of being restored, renovated, and upgraded so that the rich history and legacy could be shared with a new generation of bibliophiles. Among these is Mumbai’s David Sassoon Library established in 1870 and the National Library in Kolkata the roots of which can be traced back to 1836.

Coincidentally, around the same time I was reading a novel called The Paris Library. While the story and the two main protagonists are fictional, the library around which it revolves, and most of the other characters that are part of the story are based on real people and places. This was the American Library in Paris or ALP as it was called.

As a curious bookworm I was intrigued by this and decided to investigate further into the ALP. I discovered a fascinating history.  

The seeds were sown during World War I. This was when thousands of young Americans were fighting with the Allies on the battlefronts in Europe. At this time when the main supply to the front was in the form of arms or medical equipment, the American Library Association felt that the troops needed something to engage them mentally in the midst of their grueling physical existence. So it collected books and periodicals donated by American Libraries and personal collections and shipped these to France to the Library War Service from where they were sent to military bases, training camps and hospitals where American soldiers were fighting. It is estimated that around 2 million books and five millions periodicals were shared in this way with American soldiers fighting the war far from home. One of the centres which housed part of the collection was also in Paris.

When the war ended, there was a discussion about what to do with the books that that been an important support all through the war, not just for American servicemen. During this period the citizens of Paris had also become fond of browsing through the collection of English language books in open stacks (an uncommon feature of European libraries at the time), and international newspapers and periodicals in the Paris centre. Thus although there was no plan to establish a permanent library in Paris this idea seemed to evolve and slowly take root. The thinking was that the library could also serve as a functional model to demonstrate American library methods, especially the use of the Dewey decimal system and open stacks.

Thus the decision was taken not to ship the books back but to establish a permanent library in Paris in the spirit of Atrum post bellum, ex libris lux: After the darkness of war, the light of books. This also became its motto. There was however the question of funds needed to establish and run the library, but the idea had many advocates, and contributors from all walks of life, in America and in Paris united to pledge every kind of support. This was probably an early example of crowd funding.

As a result the American Library in Paris was founded in 1920 by the American Library Association and the Library of Congress with a core collection of those wartime books. Its charter promised to bring the best of American literature, culture, and library science, to readers in France.

Having been established, there was a continuous struggle to keep it not only running but also to enhance its collections and also serve as a cultural hub. The library constantly innovated to keep itself up and running. The Library worked with sixty-five leading publishers in the United States, who sent free copies of newly published works which the Library displayed in a dedicated exhibition space. Over a thousand new books per year were acquired through this channel. Meanwhile, the Library staff, wrote widely published literary reviews of the new titles, and in 1924, they launched their own literary journal called Ex Libris, to which Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein contributed. The library also formed relationships with other libraries through inter-library loans and other social organisations. The American Library in Paris quickly became a vital hub of reference services and educational outreach. Within just three years of existence, the library’s reference room was visited by 35,000 users. It founded its own children’s section in 1928 and had Story Hours for children. The library had highly qualified and dedicated staff as it invited librarians from some of the best libraries in the USA to come on sabbaticals. Some of these stayed on.

The library which grew out of World War I played a critical role during World War II. Once again it sent thousands of books to the troops fighting at the front in Europe. The library became a refuge for its habitués (regular subscribers) not just providing the comfort of books, but companionship, solidarity and solace. As one of the characters in the book puts it: Libraries are lungs, books the fresh air breathed in to keep the heart beating, to keep the brain imagining, to keep hope alive.

The library remained open even during the dark days of the Nazi occupation of Paris. Many of the American staff including its doughty librarian Dorothy Reeder stood firm, until they were forced to evacuate the country, but a handful of local staff bravely continued to run it. They themselves faced great personal risks in delivering books to the homes of some of the regular Jewish subscribers who were no longer permitted in public spaces. The library was also subject to “inspections” to check if they were harbouring any forbidden literature.

The book The Paris Library tells the story of the library and its habitués during the period of World War II. It is a heart-warming tale of the manifold power of books and the unique bonds that books create between people. As the library director Dorothy Reeder says in the book: Because I believe in the power of books—we do important work, by making sure knowledge is available and by creating community.

The story reflects that the original motto of the library: After the darkness of (another) war, the light of books.

The American Library in Paris celebrated 100 years of its founding in 2020. Even in an age where there is a deluge of information at the fingertips this library serves over five thousand members from sixty countries. It holds the largest collection of English language materials on the European continent, and is wholly community supported. It is now as much a community and cultural centre as it is a library, and its users are as diverse as its collections.

–Mamata