Category: Meena Raghunathan

Merry Christmas with Amigurumi

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

‘Tis the season of good cheer and brotherhood.

Of celebrations and togetherness.

Of Christmas trees and ornaments.

And this last is what we are talking about today.

Photocredit: amigurumi.com

The tradition of decorating trees with ornaments is thought to have originated in Germany in the 1800s.  An enterprising gentleman by the name Hans Greiner began making glass ornaments called baubles for hanging on trees. These were the first mass-produced Christmas ornaments and were a huge commercial success.  Woolworths was the first company to import these types of decorations into the United States in 1890, from where  the custom spread to other parts of the world.

Common ornaments include globe ornaments, angels, egg ornaments, figurines, snowflakes, icicles and stars. They are made from a variety of materials, including glass, plastic, porcelain, metal, wood, and expanded polystyrene

A trend that has been popular in recent years is amigurumi Xmas ornaments. If like me, you haven’t a clue what this is, amigurumi is the art of creating crocheted or knitted stuffed creatures and objects, which has its roots in Japanese culture.

While the exact origins are not clear, it is believed to have developed from multiple influences over time. Japan has a long history of hand-made dolls and toys, such as “temari” (decorative balls made from thread) and “daruma” dolls. Amigurumi probably grew from these traditions. During the Meiji period (1868-1912), European knitting and crochet techniques were introduced to Japan and became popular. Japanese crafters combined these techniques with their traditional doll-making skills to create amigurumi,which comes from the Japanese words “ami” meaning crocheted or knitted, and “nuigurumi” meaning stuffed doll.  

Amigurumi grew more popular in Japan in the post-World War II era. As the country’s economy grew stronger, it led to increased income and leisure time, and a resurgence in crafting hobbies. It was during this time amigurumi gained recognition as a distinct art form.

A major impetus to the growth of this craft was the rise of “kawaii” culture. This Japanese aesthetic emphasizes cuteness and adorableness—think Hello Kitty.  Amigurumi lends itself to the creation of cute, whimsical, and anthropomorphic designs and hence appealed to the kawaii aesthetic.

Internet and social media brought amigurumi international attention and today, amigurumi enjoys a global following including in its use as Xmas ornaments. Amigurumi angles, cherubs, stars, elves and reindeers decorate trees across the world. Many people take pride in crocheting or knitting figures either on their own or with the help of popular amigurumi kits which include patterns, instructions, wools and needles.

A popular Xmas tree ornaments also rendered in crochet, which we are not very familiar with in India, is the Christmas Pickle. This is an American tradition. A decoration in the shape of a pickle is hidden on a Christmas tree, with the finder receiving an extra gift. It is also thought that he or she will enjoy good fortune for the next year. (While for us Indians, a pickle brings thoughts of mangoes and limes, in the West, it is often a cucumber, and that is what Christmas Pickle ornaments represent).  

The origin of the Pickle ornament is not known. Americans think it came from Germany, but Germans have no clue about this tradition. But here is one story: During the American Civil War, Bavarian-born Private John C. Lower had enlisted in the Pennsylvania Infantry. He was captured in 1864 and taken to the prison camp. On Christmas Eve he begged a guard for a pickle because he was starving. The guard provided the pickle, which Lower later credited for saving his life. After returning to his family in Bavaria, he began a tradition of hiding a pickle on their Christmas tree each year.

Even if it is not true, it is surely a story that captures the Christmas spirit!

Christmas wishes, Peace and Goodwill among all!

–Meena

The Ultimate Flower-Clock

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Wouldn’t it be beyond-beautiful if we had a clock which did not tell time by mundane numbers and needles, but by a particular flower blooming? Imagine if you peeped out of the window and you could look at this clock, and tell if it was 12 noon, or 1 pm or 2 pm by the flower that was blooming!

This was the kind of clock that Carl Linnaeus dreamed of.  Linnaeus’s flower clock or Horologica Floræ is a garden-plan thought up by Linnaeus that would take advantage of plants that open or close their flowers at particular times of the day, to accurately indicate the time.

As most of us would remember from school-biology, Linnaeus was the Swedish naturalist who laid down the principles for defining genera and species of organisms, and created a uniform system for naming them (the binomial nomenclature). His book, Systema Naturae (The System of Nature) consisted of only 11 pages but laid the foundations of taxonomy. It presented a hierarchical classification or taxonomy, of the three kingdoms of nature: stones, plants, and animals. Each kingdom was subdivided into classes, orders, genera, species, and varieties. All modern classification systems in biology have their roots in the Linnaean classification system which is based on similarities—for instance, Linnaeus grouped together organisms that shared obvious physical traits, such as number of legs or shape of leaves.

The Linnaean system of classification consists of a hierarchy of groupings, called taxa (singular, taxon). Taxa range from the kingdom to the species. The kingdom is the largest and most inclusive grouping. It consists of organisms that share just a few basic similarities. Examples are the plant and animal kingdoms. Then come the phylum, then the class, order, family, genus, and finally the species–the smallest and most exclusive grouping. It consists of organisms that are similar enough to produce fertile offspring together.

Linnaeus greatest contribution to science was his method of naming species. This method, called binomial nomenclature, gives each species a unique, two-word Latin name consisting of the genus name and the species name. An example is Homo sapiens, the two-word Latin name for humans, literally meaning “wise human.”

But if Linnaeus saw order in the natural world around him, he saw beauty too. In around 1748 he started thinking about the flower-clock. It builds on the fact that there are species of plants that open or close their flowers at set times of day. In his publication Philosophia Botanica, he gives 46 examples of flowering plants that are open during particular parts of the day. He brought together 43 of these under the heading Horologium Florae, or Floral Clock, arranging them in a time sequence from 3 am to 8 pm. The time at which each flower opens and closes is given in whole and half hours.

To give you a glimpse, here are a few rows from Linnaeus’ table:

Botanical nameCommon nameOpening timeClosing time
    
Tragopogon pratensisGoat’s-Beard3 a.m.–
Cichorium intybus L.Chicory4–5 a.m.–
Reichardia tingitana (L.) RothFalse Sow thistleby 6 a.m.10 a.m.
Taraxacum officinale WeberDandelion5 a.m.8–9 a.m.
Crepis alpina L.Hawk’s beard5 a.m.11 a.m.
Hieracium umbellatum L.Hawkweed6 a.m.5 p.m.

Though Linnaeus worked for years on this, the observations and hence selection and organization of flowers were not complete.  Linnaueus’ son Carl the Younger was given the task for completing the table so that the clock could be built. Unfortunately, Linnaeus the Younger’s floral clock was never completed, and his observations on the opening and closing of flower have not been found among his surviving papers.

Alas, no one has actually built such a clock, and it is not even clear that it is possible.  There are many practical issues to overcome. For instance, it would only function for part of the year since plants don’t flower through the year; the time shown would be indicative at best since blooming times are in a range and would vary with specifics like weather and other atmospheric conditions; many of the plants that Linnaeus observed and selected were wildflowers from Sweden and may not be found in other places, or would behave differently in other places. And then, the clock may not work at all in some seasons, if there are not enough flowers which bloom then.

Well, in this digital age, there are some ingenious people who have created an app based on the idea. They have selected 24 flowers, one for each hour that would normally flower at that time of the day or night. Floræ – Linnaeus’ flower clock app is free on appstore for Apple and iPhone.

So maybe we have make do with that, till some genious actually builds the Horologica Floræ to blow our minds!

–Meena

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/nature/curious-questions-what-is-linnaeuss-flower-clock-259032

Wikipedia

Wikimeida Commons (Picutre)

Word of the Year

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Come the end of the year, and we see various lists, rankings, selections ,’ Best of..’,  ‘..of the Year’, and what have you. For me, the most interesting of these is the Word of the Year, or WOTY.

Word of the Year is what is considered the most important word(s) or expression(s) in the public sphere during a specific year. It is supposed to capture the zeitgeist of the year gone by. There is no THE Word of the Year. There are several Words of the Year, assessed and declared by several bodies—dictionaries, learned societies, etc.

The tradition started in German when the first Wort des Jahres was selected in 1971. The word was aufmüpfig, meaning rebellious or insubordinate.

The first English WOTY was declared by the American Dialect Society’s in 1990, and was bushlips, meaning insincere political rhetoric (from Bush’s ‘read my lips’ comment). The American Dialect Society (ADS) is a learned society, not connected to any commercial interest, and their WOTY is picked by vote of independent linguists, though anyone can nominate a word at any time of the year. As appropirate for a seriously academic institution, ADS really gets into the issue, defining several categories apart from overall WOTY, including: Most useful/Most Likely to Succeed WOTY; Political WOTY; Digital WOTY; Informal WOTY; Acronym/Initialism of the Year; AI-related WOTY; Most Creative WOTY; and Euphemism of the Year. While all other organizations declare WOTYs at the end of the given year, ADS comes out with it’s in the beginning of the next year.

As we have seen from the newspapers, several other organizations also pick their own WOTYs, using different methodologies. Here is a look at some of the popular ones and how they are selected:

Oxford WOTY

‘The candidates for the Word of the Year are drawn from evidence gathered by our extensive language research program, including the Oxford Corpus, which gathers around 150 million words of current English from web-based publications each month. Sophisticated software allows our expert lexicographers to identify new and emerging words and examine the shifts in how more established words are being used.

Dictionary editors also flag notable words for consideration throughout the year and use other sources of data to identify contenders.

We regularly take into account the many suggestions sent to us via social media.

The final Word of the Year selection is made by the Oxford Languages team on the basis of all the information available to us.’ (https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/)

Cambridge WOTY

‘The candidates for the Word of the Year are drawn from evidence gathered by our extensive language research program, including the Oxford Corpus, which gathers around 150 million words of current English from web-based publications each month. Sophisticated software allows our expert lexicographers to identify new and emerging words and examine the shifts in how more established words are being used.

Dictionary editors also flag notable words for consideration throughout the year and use other sources of data to identify contenders.

We regularly take into account the many suggestions sent to us via social media.

 The final Word of the Year selection is made by the Oxford Languages team on the basis of all the information available to us.’ (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/editorial/word-of-the-year)

Dictionary.com

‘Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year and short-listed nominees capture pivotal moments in language and culture. These words serve as a linguistic time capsule, reflecting social trends and global events that defined the year. The Word of the Year isn’t just about popular usage; it reveals the stories we tell about ourselves and how we’ve changed over the year. And for these reasons, Dictionary.com’s 2024 Word of the Year is demure.’ (https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-year)

Merriam-Webster WOTY

‘When the Word of the Year was started in 2003, Merriam-Webster determined which words would appear on the list by analyzing page hits and popular searches to its website. For example, the 2003 and 2004 lists were determined by online hits to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Online Thesaurus and to Merriam-WebsterCollegiate.com.

In 2006 and 2007, Merriam-Webster changed this practice, and the list was determined by an online poll among words that were suggested by visitors to the site. Visitors were requested to vote for one entry out of a list of twenty words and phrases. The list consisted of the words and phrases that were frequently looked up on the site and those that were submitted by many readers.

From 2008 onwards, however, user submissions have not been a deciding factor, and the list has been composed only of the words which were looked up most frequently that year. Merriam-Webster said that the reason for the change was that otherwise ordinary words were receiving so many hits that their significance could not be ignored.’ (https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year)

The Oxford WOTY 2024 is brain rot, which is ‘any Internet content deemed to be of low quality or value, or the supposed negative psychological and cognitive effects caused by it’.

The Cambridge WOTY for the year is manifest, meaning ‘to speak your dreams into existence. It’s also associated with the practice of visualizing goals to achieve them’.

And stop press! Merriam-Webster has just declared polarization as its WOTY. While polarization means division into two sharply contrasting group, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large clarified further that in the context of their choice. “Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center.”

If only we could ‘manifest’ ‘brain rot’ and ‘polarization’ away, wouldn’t that make for a great 2025!

–Meena

Walking Stick: Symbol of Status, Symbol of Renunciation

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

The walking stick may be one of the most ancient tools ever invented (or should we say ‘discovered’??!!). I can imagine my ancient-ancestress in Africa, 300,000 years ago, stopping to cut a branch and smoothen it, to help her trek and clamber over hills and rocks.

Walking sticks obviously began as mobility aids, in that they help with balance and mobility issues; reduce the risk of falling; help those recovering from injuries and those who experience pain in their hips or knees. But of course, they were also used for self-defence. Having a two-in-one is always great–my ancient grandmother would have used hers to shoo away wolves or hyenas.

What began as a very functional item would soon have become a thing of beauty and pride– my ancestress-grandmother may have spent the evenings chipping at her stick and carving wonderful designs on it.

Down the ages, these sticks became a symbol of power, authority and status. Ancient images show kings, religious leaders and authority figures holding them.

But walking sticks really came into their own in the 17th and 18th centuries, when they became an essential part of the wardrobe of fashionable men in Europe. The cult is thought to have started with Louis XIV. This royal king was conscious of his height—he was 5’4”, and so used heels (red and high). And to help him balance, he used a walking stick. Heels and walking sticks became the rage in the French court, and then spread to the rest of Europe and to England. They became prized possessions  and an oft-exchanged gift between kings and courts.

And of course, befitting the importance given to these objects, they began to be made of precious material and extravagantly decorated. The knobs or handles were carved individually, made of gold, silver, ivory, tortoise shell, or painted porcelain, and studded with precious stones or inlaid with mother of pearl. Shapes ranged from lions to dogs to rams to fantastical creatures. Louis XIV had a stick whose eagle knob was set with twenty-four diamonds!

And no one who could afford it was content to have just one.   Voltaire, the French philosopher-writer owned eighty sticks, though he considered himself a man who did not follow fashion.  Count Brühl of Dresden, owned three hundred canes to match his three hundred suits, and had a snuff-box to match each cane! Queen Victoria had a room full of canes, gifted to her from across the world, though she used only one–one of great historic value which had been presented to King Charles II. The head was made of “An idol which graced the temple of an ill-fated Indian prince… an exquisitely wrought affair in ivory… The eyes and forehead are jewelled and on the tongue is the rarest of rubies.”

But if walking sticks were a symbol of worldly power, they were also the symbol of spirituality. They were among the few possessions of monks–Hindu, Jain and Buddhist.  A staff is part of our image of Swami Vivekananda. And of course Gandhiji! It was with the help of his lathi that Gandhi strode across the country, and walked 241 miles in 24 days to protest the British monopoly on salt in India.

There is a very interesting story about Gandhiji and his lathi. In the 1920s and 30s, Ghorghat village in Bihar made and supplied lathis all across north India, and these were essentially used by the British forces on protesting unarmed Indians. When Gandhiji visited Ghorghat in 1934, the villagers wanted to gift him a lathi. He agreed but put a condition—that they would not sell them to the British anymore. It is a symbol of those times and of Gandhiji’s influence that the villagers readily agreed to give up a means of their livelihood. Gandhi accepted their gift. Ever since, the village celebrates ‘lathi mahotsav’ to commemorate the gifting of a lathi to the Mahatma.

Walking sticks started losing their image as a fashion-accessory around the middle of the last century, but great are the advancements of walking sticks as mobility aids. So now it is about function and not art!

Well, we, especially men, may have lost a fashion accessory. But with better and more functional walking sticks on the market, senior-life is surely better!

–Meena

Grammarly yours…

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

A title itself which will be grist to the mill for the “Grammar police”, a term for people who feel compelled to correct other people’s grammar, often in public. Of course, I would rather be pulled up by the grammar police than the “Grammar nazi”—a term which originated in the 1990s to describe someone who is overly critical of others’ grammar, spelling, typos, and other writing or speech errors.  Grammar nazis are obsessed with formal grammar rules. 

The world of grammar is a contentious one, with some debate or the other making the headlines. The latest is Germany’s outrage about the increasing influence of English on their grammar. The kerfuffle is about what is called the ‘idiot’s apostrophe’ (a translation from the German Deppenapostroph).

What is this intriguing thing? Well it stems from a basic difference between the grammar of the two languages. Unlike English, German does not traditionally use apostrophes to indicate the genitive case or possession. So in German, the correct form for a shop named after its owner, say Kareena or Paul, is ‘Kareenas Kirana’ or ‘Pauls Dry-cleaning’. And this is how it has been for centuries.

However in English, as we know, the correct form is ‘Kareena’s Kirana’ or Paul’s Dry-cleaning’. And for the last several years, thanks to the influence of English, slowly the general usage in Germany has shifted from ‘Kareenas Kirana’ to ‘Kareena’s Kirana’. Which was OK with the general public.

But now the new edition of the Council for German Orthography’s style guide—the official set of rules for the use of grammar has endorsed this shift, saying ‘Kareena’s Kirana’ is perfectly acceptable. Which has set the pedants and scholars up in arms, as they see it as a dilution of the rules of their language due the pernicious influence of a foreign tongue. The controversy continues to rage there!

We in India are rather free in our misuse of apostrophes, though not quite in this way. What we often see is what is called the English greengrocer’s apostrophe, when an apostrophe before an ‘s’ is mistakenly used to form the plural of a noun (e.g., “a kilo of potato’s”). Look closely at emails you receive, menus, or local ads, and you will find plenty of examples.

It is not just the apostrophe which is at the root of grammar-controversies. The Oxford comma is a case in point. The last comma in a list of three or more things is called the Oxford comma (or the serial comma). For example, in She bought peanuts, soap, and candles, there is a comma between each item listed. The comma before and is the Oxford comma. Not everyone agrees on whether to use the Oxford comma. In this case, the comma can be deleted without changing the sense of the sentence. But there are cases when things may get confusing without it. For example, in the sentence I love my dogs, chikko, and cheese, the Oxford comma makes it clear that all three items are separate. This one could be confusing if the Oxford comma were left out: I love my dogs, chikko and cheese, might mean that the speaker’s dogs are named Chikko and Cheese. Which would also of course imply that the writer is not strong with capitalization! But there is a point there, and doing away completely with Oxford commas does not seem a good idea.

Some people have proposed that we should have Grammar Czars–benevolent dictators who would hand down rulings on ambiguous grammatical rules. The GC’s decisions would be final. All would abide by the GC’s decisions, upon penalty of death (or being banned from social media for periods ranging from a month to a year!).

In the meantime, let us enjoy the creativity of grammatical mistakes, mis-spellings and confusions arising from misunderstanding of words.  I love my neighbourhood ‘Karim Puncher Shop’. But surely an ad for a new housing society which I saw some years ago in Hyderabad, which proudly called for subscribers for ‘Mildew Apartments’,  takes the cake!

–Meena

Counting cows…

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

We the people of India have been waiting to be counted for over four years now. The decadal census of people, which is supposed to be the basis of policy-making has been delayed since 2021, breaking a tradition after seven fairly on-time exercises.

Well, our four-legged co-inhabitants are luckier. The 21st Livestock Census started last week, and will take places over almost five months, from October 2024 to February 2025. It will cost about Rs. 200 crore, and around 1 lakh field officials–mostly veterinarians or para-veterinarians–will be involved in the enumeration process. Though 95.8% of livestock population is in rural areas, the census will cover both rural and urban areas.

Livestock is defined as ‘domesticated animals raised in an agricultural environment to produce labour and commodities such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather and wool’. This particular census will collect data on15 species of livestock– Cattle, Buffalo, Mithun, Yak, Sheep, Goat, Pig, Camel, Horse, Ponies, Mule, Donkey, Dog, Rabbit and Elephant, capturing data on 219 indigenous breeds of 16 species. Apart from livestock,the headcount of poultry birds — Fowl, Duck, Turkey, Geese, Quail, Gini Fowl, Ostrich and Emu — will also be taken. The age, sex and use of each individual animal will be documented.

The census will involve officials going from door-to-door to collect detailed data on domesticated animals and birds across the nation—including not just households (about 30 crore), but also household enterprises, non-households (private sector, cooperative sector, etc.) and institutions. Information about the animals will be collected, as also information on instruments and machinery used for animal husbandry. This census will leverage mobile technology for data collection and transmission and hopefully, this will enhance the accuracy and efficiency of data collection.

The Livestock Census has a hoary history in India, with the first one being conducted in 1919-1920. It is conducted every five years with the 20th Livestock Census taking place between October 1, 2018 and September 20, 2019. It put the total Livestock population at 536.76 million, showing an increase of 4.8% over Livestock Census-2012.  Total Bovine population (Cattle, Buffalo, Mithun, and Yak) was 302.79 million in 2019 which shows an increase of 1.0 per cent over the previous census.

The livestock sector is critical in our country given that it provides livelihoods to over 2.1 crore people. It contributes about 6 per cent to the total GDP, and 25 per cent to the Agricultural GDP. The share of livestock in agricultural sector GDP growth has been increasing faster than the crop sector. This is fuelled by rising incomes, a rising population and increased urbanization, which are all propelling demand for livestock products, and hence the rising importance of this sector. As per the 20th Livestock census, the total livestock population shows an increase of 4.6 per cent over the Livestock census 2012. India has the largest population of cattle of any country in the world, with about 33 per cent of the total number.

Worldwide, livestock make up almost 10 per cent of vertebrate biomass—more than human beings, wild birds and wild animals put together! While today cattle make up the largest livestock group worldwide, it was sheep which were among the first animals to be domesticated—probably as early as 10,000 bce.

While there is enormous potential for livestock to contribute to livelihoods of the poor especially women, there are many challenges in India—from disease, to lack of access to veterinary care, vaccination, insurance, fodder and clean water, to diminishing grazing lands,  to challenges in increasing productivity, to lack of organized markets which leads to the exploitation of the sellers, to tackling the contribution of this sector to climate change.

The Livestock census aims to provide data to frame policies and programmes which will hopefully improve the situation.

But as they count cows, maybe they need to count humans too. We too could do with better policies and programmes in many, many areas of life!

–Meena

The Moving Finger…

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Last week was devoted to calligraphy, which we are assured by practitioners, is not handwriting at all. Rather, they aver, it is an art form.

Calligraphers are few and far between. But each and every one of us is a hand-writer. Children start doodling and scribbling by the age of two, and most write the alphabet before they are four. It might be one of the most universal of skills! And an essential one too, because research suggests that writing by hand enhances learning and memory. Brain patterns established during handwriting are important for memory formation and learning new information. And of course it improves fine motor skills. So hand writing practice is pretty important even for children who are digital natives and may not use the skill very much as grown-ups.

There are 12 characteristics on which quality of handwriting is evaluated: line quality, spacing, size consistency, pen lifts, connecting strokes, complete letters, cursive vs. print, pen pressure, slant, baselines, embellishments, and placements.

But it is a fact that the quality of penmanship has gone down with time. As we use the skill less, we get worse at it. In fact, there are times when I can’t decipher my own scribbled notes. Reports and records based on these notes are my only forays into fiction!

Which is why it is probably important to highlight and celebrate this skill.

In the US, they observe National Handwriting Day on January 23rd. Why this date? Well, it is the birthday of John Hancock, the first signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Among the 56 signatures on the document, his large, flamboyant signature stood out. In fact, so prominent was it that “John Hancock” is an informal synonym for signature in the US!

The Day started to be observed in 1977, when educators were already beginning to feel that the art of handwriting was getting lost. The Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association came forward to do something about this (and of course at the same time, increase sales of pens, pencils, paper and writing instruments). They initiated National Handwriting Day.

(Incidentally, though we use handwriting and penmanship interchangeably, they are not quite the same. Handwriting is the act of writing out full words or sentences by hand on paper. Words may be written either legibly or illegibly. Penmanship is the art or skill of having excellent writing, and good penmanship makes the process of reading written work much easier.)

Lately, something called the World Handwriting Contest has been initiated. Each year, the World Handwriting Contest opens for entries between January 1 and June 30. There are eight age categories, starting from Children below age 7, right through –Teens, Teens, Adults and Seniors (age 65 up). And it is open to anyone, anywhere.

There are two styles for which prizes are given:

Functional Handwriting which strives for legibility, speed, and fluency without aiming at artistic effect. For this category, the judges will further separate entries as cursive, which joins 50% or more of its letters or manuscript printing, which joins fewer than half of its letters; and
Artistic handwriting which uses a monoline or calligraphy marker, pen, or brush along with decorative strokes, flourishes, and/or combinations of shading, hairlines and/or thick and thin strokes to create an artistic effect.

NRI domination over the Spelling Bee contests is well accepted. People of Asian origin now seem to dominate among winners of the Handwriting competition too, with Indians and Indian-origin names finding frequent mention (with stiff competition from Bangladesh!). Among Indians, Salil Jha of Bhopal has won a prize (above 65 category). Roslin Richard of Bangalore is first place winner in the Adult Category; Feba Sara Saji of Kerala is a winner in the Teens category. Keep it up people! May the moving finger keep writing beautifully!

–Meena

Frozen Poetry: The Art of Calligraphy

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Though the term ‘calligraphy’ is Greek for ‘beautiful writing’, as the art form evolved, the word has taken on a larger meaning. 

Today, people think of calligraphy as:

‘… the art of forming beautiful symbols by hand and arranging them well.’
or
‘…a set of skills and techniques for positioning and inscribing words so they show integrity, harmony, some sort of ancestry, rhythm and creative fire.’

Calligraphers don’t like you to equate the form to ornamental decorated letters or to the use of letters as ornaments, insisting it is about symbols themselves being beautifully formed and arranged.

They say at some level, it is not handwriting at all, because the primary goals of handwriting are to be quickly and easily written and accurately read. In fact, beauty, personality and artistic impact are nowhere near as important in handwriting as clarity and speed (I wish someone had told my primary school teachers that!).

Calligraphy, they say, is ‘writing as an art form’ and not ‘artistic-looking handwriting’. So while handwriting aims to be read, calligraphy aims to produce an ‘art’ reaction.

Calligraphy is ‘a skill which involves touch, pressure, hand movement, unity, and that elusive quality we term “beauty.’ (V. Studley).

The art originated in ancient China, where characters were initially carved onto materials like animal bones and tortoise shells. Over time, this practice evolved into using ink brushes and writing on paper. From China, it moved to neighbouring countries, and slowly Westwards. The ancient Romans used reed or quill pens dipped in ink to write on long rolls of paper, while Christian churches later adopted western calligraphy to reproduce Biblical texts. Arabic calligraphy based on Arabic letters is also very well-developed, and an important part of art and architecture.

The tools used in calligraphy are all-important. While initially, the Chinese artists used ink brushes, the Romans started using reed or quill pens. Calligraphy was revolutionized with the invention of the steel nib. Different types of steel nibs—e.g., those with pointed tips and those with flat, broad edges being used for different calligraphy styles.

Calligrapher PP Raju’s work–both spiritual and meditative

The symbol of Indian Rupee adopted in 2010 is a great example of calligraphy. The symbol is an amalgam of Devanagari “Ra” and the Roman Capital “R”. It was conceptualised and designed by Udaya Kumar, an alumnus of the IDC School of Design of IIT Bombay.

The reason for this meander down calligraphy-lane is because only last week, Kochi hosted the second edition of the International Calligraphy Festival of Kerala (ICFK). The festival was organized by the Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy and the Thiruvananthapuram-based Kachatathapa Foundation, which is led by renowned calligraphy artist Narayana Bhattathiri. It brought together calligraphers from South Korea, France and Vietnam with Indian calligraphy experts like Achyut Palav, often referred to as the patriarch of Indian calligraphy, and D. Udaya Kumar, the creator of the Indian Rupee symbol. It was a priceless learning opportunity for students, teachers, advertising artists, art lovers and art enthusiasts from fine arts colleges, design institutes and design colleges in Kerala.

Apart from lectures, demonstrations and discussions on the subject, there were a range of activities including workshops, live demonstrations, an international calligraphy exhibition, and calligraphy quizzes.

What a beautiful event that must have been, for as someone said ‘Calligraphy is a kind of music not for the ears, but for the eyes.’

–Meena

I am a Little Teapot..

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ 1 Comment

I suppose in today’s world, children don’t often see teapots. Fortunately, the poem ‘I am a teapot’, one of the cutest action-songs, is still a part of the pre-school repertoire. As the poem tells us, typically teapots have an opening with a lid on top, through which the dry tea and hot water are added; a handle for holding the vessel: and a spout through which the tea is served. And there may be a small air hole in the lid, though the poem does not mention it.

A teapot is basically a vessel used for steeping tea leaves  in boiling or very hot water, and then serving the resulting brew.  

Assassin Teapot: Essential Kitsch from China!

The teapot has a hoary history. It originated in China—of course! The first recorded one goes back to the end of the Sung dynasty (1271-1368). These were Yixing teapots which were red or purple-colored earthen vessels. These containers made in the city of Yixing are still produced today and still very popular and are considered the epitome of teapots.

The idea of the teapot spread to Europe after the East India Company introduced tea and teapots in the late 17th century. In the early 18th century, the Company used to commission Chinese artisans to make teapots as the quality of porcelain in China was better there than in Europe. But slowly Germany and then France got into the game, and started perfecting the art and science. In the mid-1800s, an English pharmacist William Cookworthy, after several experiments, finally hit upon a way to make porcelain similar to that made in China and set up a factory in Plymouth.  And from then on, English and tea and teapots became synonymous!

Many and fantastical are the shapes, sizes and colours in which teapots have been crafted down the centuries. It is a thing of beauty and elegance.

And it is this that the annual Sydney Teapot Show has been showcasing for over 30 years. This is an exhibition and competition where participants take up the challenge of making a unique teapot. Each year, there are specific themes, and this year’s categories are Australian Poets, Toy Story and The Natural World. There are also prizes for Best Pourer and Supreme Teapot – Best in Show. The Show celebrates craftsmanship at its best. As the organizers point out: ‘The skill of the clayworkers is employed in making a teapot – one of the more difficult tasks in ceramics – and their imagination and creativity is also evident in their response to the categories suggested’. The show started on 3 October, and is on for a month. Anyone lucky enough to be down under on these dates can catch the show.

Australia seems to particularly treasure teapots. The Bygone Beauties Museum there has over 5500 pieces! But it is not just in Australia that teapots are celebrated.  The Victoria and Albert Museum has a good collection. The National Museum of Asian Art at the Smithsonian has some special beauties.

There are also several private collectors and collections. Sonny and Gloria Kamm of Los Angeles have been collecting teapots for over 35 years, and have about 17,000 pieces. Sue and Keith Blazye have 8,450 teapots in their home in Kent, plus around another thousand duplicates in the loft,.

Of special interest is the Chitra Collection. It is private museum of historic teawares.  As the site explains, ‘In 2011 Nirmal Sethia, the Chairman of the luxury tea company, Newby Teas, set himself the task of acquiring the world’s greatest collection of teawares to record and preserve tea cultures of the past. Today, the collection, named in honour of his late wife, Chitra, totals almost 2000 objects and is already the world’s finest and most comprehensive of its kind.’  So if you are not able to make it to Sydney, check out https://chitracollection.com/collection/ for a teapot-treat!

As the weather turns balmy, it’s the perfect time to bring out your teapot and sip a refreshing cup, while reflecting on these teapot-related pieces of wisdom!

‘Disciples and devotees…what are most of them doing? Worshipping the teapot instead of drinking the tea!’ Wei Wu Wei (Theatre producer and philosopher)

‘A great idea should always be left to steep like loose tea leaves in a teapot for a while to make sure that the tea will be strong enough and that the idea truly is a great one.’ Phoebe Stone (Author and artist).

–Meena

Tragedy in a Paradise: Kuru Disease

~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Viewers of hospital serials like House become familiar with the names, symptoms and treatments for a variety of obscure diseases, from Wilson’s disease to Fulminating osteomyelitis to Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency to Epstein Barr to Amyloidosis and Sarcoidosis.

But even to a hardened medical-series watcher like me, the most horrifying disease that I came across was in a news report. And the disease is Kuru.

Kuru is a prion disease. A prion is a type of protein that can trigger normal proteins in the brain to fold abnormally. Normal prion protein is found on the surface of many cells. Prion diseases occur when this protein becomes abnormal and clumps in the brain. It then causes brain damage. (https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/)

This abnormal protein build-up in the brain can lead to memory problems, personality changes and trouble with movement. Symptoms include rapidly developing dementia, difficulty walking and changes in gait, jerking movements of the muscles, hallucinations, confusion etc. Death usually results within a year or two.

Experts still don’t know a lot about prion diseases. There are several of them, with the most common form of prion disease that affects humans being Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Others include Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy, Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease etc.

These are sometimes spread to humans by infected meat products. In rare cases, the infection can spread through contaminated corneas or medical equipment.

But fortunately prion diseases are rare, with about 200 being reported in the US, because unfortunately these disorders are often fatal—there is just no cure.

Even among prion diseases, Kuru is particularly bizarre. It is caused by eating human brain tissue contaminated with infectious prions. But why would anyone eat human brain tissue? Well, it was a widely practiced funeral ritual among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea
Idyllic Papua New Guinea

The Fore people live in the Okapa District of the Eastern Highlands Province of PNG. Research in the 1950s indicated that the Fore tribe had a population of about 11,000 people. Of this small number, almost 200 people a year were dying of an unknown illness. As they started investigating this, they ruled out contaminants from the environment, common infections and the possibility of genetic inheritance. They narrowed it down to something in their practices. And then a study of their funerary rituals gave a clue. The Fore people would cannibalize their dead. The anthropologist  Hertz uncovered the reason for this—it sprang from love and respect for the deceased. ‘By this rite the living incorporate into their own being the vitality and the special qualities residing in the flesh of the deceased; if this flesh were allowed to dissolve, the community would lose strength to which it is entitled…. at the same time, endocannibalism spares the deceased the horror of a slow vile decomposition’, he wrote.

Children and women were usually more affected by Kuru  than men, probably because they consumed the brain as compared to the men who preferred muscles.

‘Kuru’ in Fore means shivering. It is also called the laughing disease because the affected would exhibit sporadic uncontrolled laughter.

The practice was banned in the 1960s by the PNG government. But sadly, the deaths continued for quite a while after that, since Kuru has a long incubation period—30 to even 50 years. So someone infected in the late sixties might have shown symptoms only in the late nineties. The last diagnosed case was in 2005.

Thank God, it is behind us!

Sorry if this has been a morbid and depressing piece. Blame it on the news item which triggered it!

–Meena