Ganesha Festival Pandal for Green Initiative

Creative in Concept and Context

 Greenery is meant to live with, not merely for visual pleasure.

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Entrance to Ganesha Festival Pandal in Mumbai

A neighbourhood, in Dadar, Mumbai, promoted ‘Green Initiative’ as their theme for the Ganesh Festival. This indeed is unique timely move.

The youths took lead to organize the festival with Collective Participation, albeit with leadership.

They have imaginatively used the narrow lane that leads to the deity.

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Bridge over Water Pool: Ganesha for Green

The pathway to the deity has red carpet lined with potted plants. On the pathway there are a couple of water pools. One of them is under a bridge. From here you have a panoramic view of wider vista in front of Ganesha in view across another pool of water.

On the way there were statues nearly in Greek style, while the pandal is in Indian Style.
It's COOL! Looks specious!! Creative in Concept and Context!!!

This initiative indeed keeps with the concept of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who started the Public Ganesh Festival during the Independence Movement.

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Passage leading to the deity

It is important to take the Green Initiative to Action, beyond a slogan.

And there is scope also to practice the Green Initiative close by within the locality few steps away. The place is the 'Vasant Prabhu Garden'.

It is but important to decide, what corrective action is to be taken at ground level at any place.

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The Sanctuary

Temple architecture goes with Water reservoir, Coconut tree, Banana plant...

The garden indeed needs some corrective action in my opinion. But I don't claim to be an authority. I use common sense as a user of the place.

The Municipal Corporation is the recognize authority. The garden is within the jurisdiction of the corporation (BMC). People seem to be indifferent or resigned as usual.

However, a lot could be done to improve the place, if people, particularly the youth, take initiative and also take further their green initiative from the last Ganesha Festival.

Greenery is meant to live with, not merely to look at for visual pleasure.
Working with greenery rejuvenates our mental and physical health and energies. 

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The lane to Ganesha pandal and VP Garden

The lane with red carpet as in Image-2 and 3

For more on Vasant Prabhu Garden see forthcoming post.

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© Remigius de Souza. All rights reserved.

Water Celebration at Sarkhej Roza, Ahmadabad

Traditional Wisdom of Indian Artisans

 

Sarkhej Roza seen from the pond

Prologue  

We, and all the life forms on the Earth, are waterborne. Our first ancestors were bacteria. Our body contains 70% water. Water has special place almost in all cultures.

(Note: The following text generally refers to the Place; and the photographs are not in any particular sequence of the text or the Place.)

Embankment with steps

Sarkhej Pond attached to Sarkhej Roza (14th Century) is about 7 Km from Ahmadabad city. We — SN Kanade, other friends and I — used to take bicycle rides to visit the place. With Urban Explosion now it is part of the city.

Circular Gates for Overflow

This hot-dry region has scanty rainfall during monsoon. Many areas are under desert.

The built tank adjoining the Roza is indeed a Public Open Place. The pavilions obviously ware for royal families.

Land-Water-Life

The Roza, a religious place, a complex of many buildings, has a good Tree cover.
Water from the tank seeps through Soil and reaches the Plants at Roza and goes even beyond.

The water tanks are central public places in traditional Indian cities and towns. This feature of habitats in India is evolved over centuries appropriate to tropical climate.

Villages, too, have built water reservoirs besides open wells. In Orissa villages, the peasant houses have fish ponds nearby.

Reservoirs help to maintain water level in the surrounding wells.
Where there is water there is life — plants and animals.

Ornate Pavilions

Water, Soil, Plants and Animals — an invisible Natural Organic Community — the Universal Basis of Sustainable Life!

Water brings, restores, recycles, and conserves more water through the Natural Organic Community mentioned above.

Water Reservoirs coupled with Urban Forests are vital to relieve the modern cities from being Heat Sinks in India.
The retaining earth around the tank is lined with steps of stones. Imaginative play of shade and light along the day happens!
Due to decades of silting and lack of maintenance, the tank now becomes dry during drought.

The tank was perhaps built under the patronage of rulers. This is an act of returning part of the wealth collected through taxes to People, I presume.
The Complex was built by the Indian Artisans with their traditional knowledge, besides many historical buildings.

Perhaps, now in the present Democratic setup, there is no mechanism for Maintenance of such Public Places by the local communities? 

Water overflow opening from pond side

The local People's Participation is the only way for the governments, in the context of continued maintenance; not the present capitalist system of Public–Private Participation.

Water overflow opening from outside

  I understand, from Internet (Link), an initiative of public participation for restoration of the tank is started. This is a welcome move. Water is brought from a village to fill the pond. Some gardens are developed with lawns and flowering shrubs, typical of ruling taste among the urbanite. On the contrary such a place should be self sustaining.

SN KANADE at Sarkhej Roza

SN Kanade, architect-planner-educationist, now lives and practices at Bangalore  

Any such restoration should be in tune of the 'SPIRIT OF PLACE' and in 'HARMONY WITH NATURE'. 
Some archaeological study of the place could reveal which plants existed in the 14th century in the premises.

A good tree cover brings water to the land, is an established fact. They raise the subsoil water table. In fact the plantation should continue to expand from here in the region, in reverse action to expanding desert!

WHAT ABOUT BUILDING AN OASIS HERE IN THE 21ST CENTURY!!

Epilogue

Life is larger than all Arts, Sciences, Religions, Philosophies, trade, techs, States... made by civilized societies through times and places. — Remigius de Souza


Google Map Sarkhej Pond at Sarkhej Roza Complex

View Sarkhej Pond, Ahmedabad, Gujarat in a larger map
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© Remigius de Souza. All rights reserved.

'Honey-Bee-Hive' experience

'Honey-Bee-Hive' — Universal Icon of Environment-Ecology-Energy

Natural Apiary

'Honey-Bee-Hive' experience has a point that we must not ignore or forget.

Bees collect honey by travelling several kilometres daily. Besides they help pollination, which increases yield of fruits and farm produce.

In the 'trade' of 'Honey' the Bees don't receive even a least of the cost, price, value or worth of their labour and skill. Forget profit.

The profit on honey is earned by the third party — agents, transporters, toll-tax collector and traders; it's a long chain from the depleting forest to city.

Honeybees, if at all survive; they lose their home and natural habitat.

It is the same story of the peasants and the aborigines in our agrarian country.

Paddy farming in Konkan | Image by Pooja Rani

One may not comprehend the extent of this work, which spans entire year, from photographs or papers.However one may get a glimpse from "Cow dung, Rice and Amartya Sen (a critique): Challenges of 21st Century" and farmers' needs in contemporary context.

Community Participation is a major common feature of the bees and peasants-aborigines, besides may other species and communities. It is an ancient tradition amongst the peasants of India, also may elsewhere.

They are 'out of sight, hence, out of mind' of the ruling class of elite minority.
 

Honey-Bee-Hive Icon of 
Environment-Ecology-Energy

"Honey-Bee-Hive" relates to Environment, Ecology and Energy, simultaneously and comprehensively. Examples are better than scholarly definitions.

NOTE: The beehive in the photo is a “natural apiary” developed by social workers of Anand Niketan, a NGO in the hills near Lonavala. It is different than that developed by the industrial Society for mass production: a colony for bees made of wooden boxes.

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© Remigius de Souza. All rights reserved.

Water lettuce, an aquatic plant

Water lettuce: Drawing by Remigius de Souza

I was travelling through the jungles of Dangs in Gujarat. From there I went to the project site of Ukai Dam on River Tapi, which was then under construction. On the way I halted at village Songad. There is a temple and water reservoir on the top of the hill near the village. The water was covered with a floating aquatic plant. It is called water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), ‘Prasni’ in Marathi, ‘Jalkumbhi’ in Hindi, ‘Jalshamkhala’ in Gujarati.
  
The plant grows by multiplying in numbers like amoeba, and each grows to full size. The plant has shape and size of rose flower with roots at the base. Its petals are green – a green rosette of outstanding beauty.
  
A tribal just then reached at the pond. He had walked about fifteen ‘kose’ (one kose is about three miles) to take the plant for medicine for his daughter who had just delivered. I too fetched a few plants to Baroda while returning, to leave them in one of the many lakes there. I left them in a bucketful of water on the terrace. They remained there. In the course of time the number did increase, but their size reduced – it was miniaturised – and finally disappeared completely (probably it was not getting direct sunlight).
  
After a few years, I found this plant (very few in numbers) in a large pond in village at Vasai Taluka.

The aquatic weeds were considered nuisance till recently. They help aquatic ecosystems and recycle waste, reduce evaporation of water. Different types contain protein and amino acids as regards lysine and methionine. They also contain various degrees of minerals depending upon location and season. They are often richer in iron, calcium and potassium than land forages. Aquatic plants could be used as soil additives, mulch, fertiliser, green manure, pulp and fibre for papermaking, animal and human feed, and medicines (best known to the tribal for centuries), organic malts for biogas production and for composting.

Image source: Internet

There is lot of information about this plant on the Internet. Some claims are made about the origin of the in some country or other.

Once in geological time, scientists say, there was a super-continent, which is named Gondwanaland. It was fragmented, and five continents floated across oceans.

Obviously along with land, the flora too must have moved; common sense. The scientists found fossilized plants in Antarctica, which proved it was part of Gondwanaland, the super continent. 



Google Map: Songadh, Surat District, Gujarat
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© Remigius de Souza. All rights reserved.

SRISHTI – SUKTA

PRAISE MOTHER NATURE

Srishti Sukta by Remigius de Souza

 Text:

PRAISE MOTHER NATURE

The home of Mother Nature has no gods-idols-hero worshipers
In biotic - abiotic nature comprehend Supreme Spirit personified;
She is ever visible, audible, edible, tactile, sexual...
Progenitor, boon to mortals, Dance of Life and Death, too;
Mother Nature embodies one Language–Dharma–Scripture–Law;
She is Primal Guru–Primal School–Open Book, freely available to all.
Remigius de Souza | Mumbai | 25-12-2009

Mother Nature at our hand

Mother Nature does neither recognize humans as her favourite species nor their social boundaries and hierarchies.

Plants don't recognize boundaries

Civilized Societies are so obsessed with boundaries that they decorate. add on ornaments, make memorials out of them and applause them, such as Great Wall of China, which is no more than a symbol of feudalism!

Similarly plants and other animals too don't recognize human societies' boundaries and social hierarchies. The domesticated animals - chickens, cats, cattle, goats etc. - too don't recognize them, except when they return 'home' in the evening.

Bacteria, in hordes, enter our guts when we start taking external foods, other than mother's milk, in our early childhood; they make colonies there.

Hopefully, we behold 'Nature' beyond 'greenery' of gardens, farms, woodlands, remaining forests, and wetlands; beyond Wordsworth's poems, Turner's paintings, beyond photographs / movies / videos for visual pleasure; howsoever advanced they may be, they are not alternatives to Nature,

They may help us to recall our beautiful/terrible experiences of Nature.

Life Sciences and archaeology, with their advances, also help us to know more about Nature and our place in Nature.

Perhaps we realize power and dreary aspects of Nature in cyclones, cloud bursts, earth quakes, lightening, tsunami and Climate Change (which is not fiction).

First observation of Nature

Any first hand contact with Nature at elementary and personal level is a good beginning, may it be watching self in body-and-mind; no rituals, no auspicious timings, no mantras, no special settings and sitting postures are required. Just observe with attention and compassion, as both body and mind are our tools and we are their custodians. There is no mystery; we are part of Nature just as the ‘greenery’ outside.
We can carry on this observation any time, or through out a day.

Second observation of Nature

 

Roadside Sapling in Mumbai

 In the tropical climate of India plants grow fast.

We, Indic people, believe in Five Elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space. The best option is to observe plants and be in contact with then.

Better still for us is to actually sow a few seeds from kitchen in a small tin / plastic / earthen pot/s (at different seasons) and help them grow. No need to refer any manuals.

Every seed may not germinate. Watch them, see them sprout, take care, feed them sunlight and water. By and by, we come in contact with Elements, together with saplings, thereby with Mother Nature.

 

 Agricultural Revolution at Nature’s Lab

 

Ten thousand years ago half naked humans domesticated wild plants and animals, and Agricultural Revolution began in a most trying natural conditions.

It did spread all over the world (without Intellectual Property Rights attached).

Civilized Society did not exist then. Rise of Civilization which is also called Urban Revolution followed Agricultural Revolution five thousand years later.

Industrial Civilization was born just a few hundred year ago, where we belong. We received our learning on the Assembly Lines in Mass Schooling System.

Isn't it a high time to get acquainted with Mother Nature – Srishti?

(12/09/2012)

Note: While writing this post I came across this blog-pot “Humans and Nature: Can the Gulf Be Bridged?”. The very title shows how the west / westernized / the urbanite etc. is divorced from nature. (Please see my comments on the post.)

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© Remigius de Souza. All rights reserved.

Desert Soil

Cactus in the Desert

Desert Soil (Painted Poem)

Land — Water — Life

At home in Konkan, a biodiversity hotspot, I had seen flowering of cacti takes place during winter.

Deserts as well as the Polar regions of extreme whether have been homeland of many peoples — Pigmy, Eskimos. They have been living in harmony with nature. Their shelters — circular mud houses or tents and igloos — have been expression of their way of life and sustenance.

I first saw a desert in Rajasthan during second year of my college studies. And I also saw Udaipur, the city of lakes built by maharajas. However the villages and villagers are most colourful and charming in Rajasthan.

'Dharmashala' is a Desi (indigenous) rest house free for travellers and pilgrims in India. It is said that Marwadis started building dharmashalas in villages, towns and at pilgrimages.

Later I saw parts of Gujarat where the visionary the late Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad built water tanks in several villages to solve their water scarcity problems.

While travelling in Gujarat several times I passed by Lothal, the Indus valley civilization site, located in ‘Bhal’ (meaning desert / forehead) region, but never stopped to visit the place. Each time I passed by a thought rang in mind: “wherever the civilization stepped it left desert behind”.

I am fond of reading Louis L'Amour about cowboy stories of Wild West that lucidly describes the deserts. Sound of desert also rings in the mind, though it might seem quiet and peaceful.

There are diverse tales of desert...! The inimitable spirit of humans!! However, Mother Nature reigns supreme!!!

I love even deserts! If I am left in a desert by destiny, learning from Mother Nature I would strive to raise an Oasis! 
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© Remigius de Souza. All rights reserved.

Sisal blooms in Mumbai City

Going beyond Face value

Sisal at road crossing, Mumbai -1

What luck! It is rare to find sisal on road crossing in Mumbai, and anywhere in the city. Some sensitive artist/ 'landscape designer' used sisal as garden plant at a 'traffic island' on road junction in a cityscape. It is neatly done without obstructing view of the moving drivers and pedestrians.

And I noticed, besides me, there were some other guys too. They were small honeybees, smaller than house flies. I was picking pictures with mobile phone, they were picking honey. (As a kid I used to suck Adulasa flowers for honey at my native village in the mornings.)

Sisal Flowers-2

Sisal is known for its tough long fibres. And villagers use it appropriately. India's biodiversity has many plants that give fibres: coconut, cotton, Ambadi (Hibiscus cannabinus kenaf), silk cotton, banana, pineapple, jute etc.

Sisal leaves give four to five feet long fibre, while branches of Ambadi are a source of 6 to 8 ft long fibres. Farmers, fishermen, adivasi make fishing nets of these fibres.

These fibres last longer than synthetic fibres. More they are used (in water) stronger they get.  On the contrary the nets, made of synthetic thread, in dry conditions, get disintegrated.

The plants in the photos are grown in the confined place.
Looking at the bloom, it is anybody's guess the plants grow on the water and manure supplied from outside.

They don't get anything from the soil – ground bellow. In short, they are dependent on others – the gardeners, garden department, budget etc. How could their growth be without any effect of this artificial environment? In the natural open condition their leaves would have grown longer than five feet.

The birds in cages, fishes in aquariums, potted plants and decorative plants along Mumbai's concrete roads and footpaths, as well as in the homes, also face the same situation.

 What then must be happening to us – the urbanite? Do our cities and housing complexes help us to grow, flower, bloom to our all-round full potential – physical, mental and conscience? Do they provide an opportunity and means of growth of human potential?

Such questions I would ask myself, and also try to find answers myself.
Funny part is: the answer does lie in these questions!

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© Remigius de Souza. All rights reserved.

Narali – Coconut – Punam festival day

Narali – Coconut – Punam festival day

Koli – fisher folks – worship their boats on Coconut Day, which falls on 1st and 2nd of August this year. Koli send their boats to sea, and start fishing on this day.

During the monsoon, the Koli are busy mending their nets, making new ones,
Repair and paint their country crafts. They moor their boats on sandy shores, covered with leaves of coconut palms, and cultivate vegetables on monsoon rains.

 

They are one of the original residents of the islands of Mumbai.

The British, and the following governments, bulldozed the pristine creeks, hills and the sea, with increasing pressures of development economics.

These pressures pushed the Koli communities of Mumbai to the brink, to “THE LAND’S END”.

Whenever I recall this map, an emotional tsunami erupts, my blood boils. I'm still a Konkani village brat.

What extraordinary place this land must have been then, with creeks, hills, tropical greenery and the nesting villages with sweet water wells and lakes, before the Portuguese landed here!

They attacked Mahim Fort, won the battle, and their soldiers walks on the streets of Mahim village, killed innocent villagers just to intimidated them. On their heels came Missionaries to spread the Good News, Gospel of Love !!

All the splendor Mumbai's nature was later bulldozed by the British bunya, forever!

King is dead. Long live the king!

NOTE: While editing this post, I receive email from Nat Geo about World's Best Surf Towns with photos. A notable city is Venice with canals; it is said Venice is literally floating on sea water and is in danger of sinking. We may compare Mumbai before 1670 had it continued with same land mass for its organic growth with Venice.

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© Remigius de Souza. All rights reserved.

Fibrous Life of Vegetables

Fibrous Life of Vegetables

Cotton, coir, jute, sisal etc. plant fibres is well-known. They are useful in daily life in many ways, particularly for villagers.

In the picture above, one is a ripe gourd and other shows inner fibres after removal of its skin. The soft green skin is now dried and turns hard and brown. The water, salts and minerals have gone.
The other shows thick vertical fibres that start from the stem. They are attached to the skin, carnal and stem to hold them together.

They are proportionate to the size and weight of a fruit, or rather every fruit on the creeper.
Therefore pumpkin, for example, being too heavy for its creeper is left on ground, and the creeper can't be raised on pergola – Mandapa. Interestingly pumpkin flowers are very small.

In this whole schema, from root to fruits, there is no part without use or wasted, or unnecessary.

I quote here a comment on Design by Nature by Martin Jones, which is as good as definition:

QUOTE

 “In whole organism, randomness structure is uncommon. Everything seems finely tuned by the brutal rigours of natural selection. There are no spare limbs to be found and hardly any dispensable organs. This forced economy of whole organism design has always limited the use of bodily form as an evolutionary timepiece” (Martin Jones, ‘MOLECULE HUNT: How Archaeologists are Bringing the Past Back to Life’, Penguin, 2002, p. 48)”.

This definition could be beneficial guide to many a designs we make, from foods, house, clothing, food, or even a talk, poem, painting, movie... to industrial products, just anything.

As a human being I can strive for excellence, not for perfection.

However, modern civilised society believes progress is their ability to increase wealth, no matter the waste also increases proportionately.
Then let it be their lifestyle or home and habitat or leisure, no matter they need crutches of external aids to satiate their wants.

Note: The fibres in the photo is used during bath for rubbing the body. All plants have fibres. Vegetarian foods being fibrous are good for health. Wood fibres, now, are used in making yarns for clothes, besides papers etc.  


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© Remigius de Souza. All rights reserved.

Where Plant Life, Wildlife There

 Where Plant Life, Wildlife There

‘Historically the study of evolution has concentrated almost exclusively upon the animals. If plants are mentioned it is only in passing and usually to reconstruct the environment in which to view the animal record.’ ─ The opening sentence of the book, “The Evolution of Plants” by Willis, K.J. & McElwin, OUP, 2002.

 

Plant life and Wildlife at Micro-level

On a parapet, there were many potted plants. A spider builds its web at a most lucrative site. After a few days, someone had cleaned (sic) it.

Where we grow plants, there should be sunlight and moisture in soil. Various insects, worms, flies, bees, earthworms and bacteria live.

Spider knows where to build its web, by intuition. Even in homes there are cobwebs. Sometimes a spider is predator, sometimes a  prey – a victim of chemical insecticides.

Nature maintains the balance of Environment, Ecology and Energy fields by inbuilt planning. However, there may not be any other predator species like civilized humans, particularly the Post-Historic man for his immense insatiable greed.

Civilized societies have a strange idea of aesthetics, smeared by hedonistic visual pleasure. Plant life and wildlife support and feed each other at micro, meso and macro levels. But who cares!

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© Remigius de Souza. All rights reserved.