Photo credits: Renuka Menon
Located in Kanchipuram in the state of Tamil Nadu, Ekambareswar Temple is one of the famous Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. This vast temple, covering an area over 40 acres, is one of the most ancient in India having been in existence since at least 600AD.
ILLUSTRATION: TOM BACHTELL
Thanks for this (and other recent) attention from the New Yorker‘s stable of super-writers (and others, elsewhere) on a topic of ongoing interest to us, especially this important comment:
The New York Public Library’s announcement that it is abandoning its Central Library Plan has been praised as a good and sensible thing, and indeed it is. The C.L.P. would have sold off the Mid-Manhattan Library and the Science, Industry, and Business Library (called sibl; five of its floors not open to the public have been sold already). The collections of those libraries would have been moved to the main research library, on Fifth Avenue, and elsewhere. That hundred-and-three-year-old edifice (now known as the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building), with the stone lions out front, would have been reconfigured: seven floors of its stacks taken out, a lending library added to what had been a research library only, more than a million books moved off-site, and a four-level atrium and other new elements put in, following a design by the architect Norman Foster. Continue reading
Munnar, Kerala
Annie Leonard, a veteran environmental campaigner, is taking over as the new head of Greenpeace USA. Photograph: Erin Lubin/Greenpeace
We have linked to her work more than once, and this time it is a story of her new commitment that pulls our attention in her direction (thanks to the Guardian for their coverage). Just as we have noted about Paul Watson, not everyone agrees with all the tactics of environmentalists and the organizations they lead, but it is still our interest to share moments of importance like this one:
One of the first things Annie Leonard was asked on being named the new leader of Greenpeace USA this month was: are you willing to get arrested?
“I said: ‘Absolutely! I just need to figure out who is going to drive the car pool’,” Leonard told The Guardian. “It’s going to be interesting being a single mum doing this,” she said.
The last time Leonard worked for Greenpeace, over 20 years ago, the campaign group was known – only half-jokingly – as “boys and their boats”, because of its reputation for dangerous, high-visibility actions. Continue reading
Photo credits: Salim
Anamudi Peak, highest peak in South India, is situated in Idukki district at Munnar. The slopes of the hills abound in all kinds of rare flora and fauna.The peak is on the southern end of Eravikulam National park and can be reached on foot from there, a technically easy hike on grass slopes. Continue reading
Thanks to the Hindu’s ongoing coverage of this important work:
The Centre for Heritage Studies at Tripunithura is embarking on a novel effort to document the state’s heritage.
The research and training institute is planning a heritage survey that will stretch across the state and involve the work of students, senior historians, local body officials and the common man.
“We will train students and they will go to the panchayat and ward levels to conduct the heritage survey. The students will speak to local body officials, people across the social strata, elders in the community, and anyone else who can contribute to the study of the region’s heritage,” said N.M. Nampoothiri, dean of academic affairs of CHS. According to Dr. Nampoothiri, the students will go door-to-door and collect information about historical documents, artefacts, architecture and the oral history of each region. The interdisciplinary survey would provide a detailed picture of the social, economic, and political structures of each region. Continue reading
Photo credits: Remash Kidangoor
Cochin is one of the largest and fastest growing cities in Kerala. Situated on the coast of Arabian sea, it is one of India’s major port cities. Cochin is considered as the gateway to Kerala for attracting national as well as international tourists. Continue reading
Photo Credit: Jithin Vijay
Kerala Egg Masala is a tasty and simple gravy dish which goes well with Kerala style palappam. A favorite dish for breakfast, the main ingredients for making egg masala is boiled egg, grated coconut, chili powder, coriander powder, onion, tomato and garam masala.
A section of tree showing holes made by the Asian long horned beetle. The city of Boston, the Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources, the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, and the US Dept. of Agriculture celebrate the eradication of the Asian longhorned beetle at the Arnold Arboretum. The event lifts the 1.5 mile quarantine that had been placed around Faulkner Hospital (including the Arboretum) after the discovery of infested trees there in 2010.
Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer
Harvard Gazette reports on this collaborative effort to deal with a determined pest that has ravaged forests in recent years:
“The whole country knows about Boston. When a challenge presents itself, the entire community here comes together. The eradication of the Asian longhorned beetle is a great example of that,” said Gary Woodward, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s deputy undersecretary of marketing and regulatory programs.
Ganeshgudi, Karnataka
Screen capture from Google’s Street View Grand Canyon
We have not been sourcing from Harper’s, one of the great magazines covering topics of interest to Raxa Collective. We will mend our ways starting now:
Grand Plan
Why has Google added the Grand Canyon to Street View? By Jeremy Miller
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
The lotus is India’s national flower, and one of the eight auspicious signs of Buddhism and Hinduism. As a holy symbol in Indian culture and a sacred symbol of Hinduism, the lotus is found throughout the Hindu scriptures. In many spiritual traditions, lotus flowers are especially sacred as an offering to the divine. Continue reading
Above: A rendering of City Slicker Farms’ plans for a farm and park in West Oakland. Image courtesy City Slicker Farms.
In interesting juxtaposition to the article on urban farming we linked to yesterday, a post on the New Yorker‘s website covers a related topic from a completely unexpected angle:
In 2012, Linnette Edwards, a Bay Area real-estate agent, produced a video promotingNOBE, a name conjured up by developers for an area covering parts of Oakland, Berkeley, and the town of Emeryville. She posted it on NOBE Neighborhood, a Web site she created to drum up buzz among potential home buyers. The video includes interviews with enthusiastic young residents, a local cupcake maker, a bartender at a new watering hole, and with Edwards herself. It also features a local, volunteer-run enterprise called the Golden Gate Community Garden. “We’re super psyched that there’s a community garden across the street—it’s definitely a bonus to this block,” a new homeowner says, over footage of greenery. “The fabulous edible garden movement is in full swing,” the NOBEWeb site notes. “It’s not uncommon to find neighbors crop swapping their homegrown edibles and frequenting the local Farmer’s Markets.” The site listed several neighborhood community-gardening programs, including one run by a nonprofit called Phat Beets Produce. Continue reading
Thattekad, Kerala
Plas Newydd National Trust property in Wales, where a new marine pump has been installed. Photograph: National Trust
Thanks to the Guardian for its environmental coverage (which used to be more abundantly interesting, but credit still due for its commitment to coverage), and this story in particular:
A 300-year-old country mansion is to get environmentally-friendly heating from the ocean with the UK’s biggest marine source heat pump, the National Trust said. Continue reading
A converted Minnesota brewery now combines hydroponics and fish farming Urban Organics
While the article opens with some hairy, crunchy stereotypes of organicistas (left out here because of their tedium) we nonetheless are happy to see an old school publication like Newsweek paying attention to such important issues more often left to specialist publications:
…It’s a huge, airy space, completely climate-controlled, filled with racks of vegetables that reach up to the ceiling. There’s no dirt—plant roots are suspended in water that flows through the racks like a gentle river. On the far wall past the vegetables, large, circular, windowed tanks of fish reside on raised platforms four feet off the ground. The platforms look like big decks, and pipes connect the fish tanks to the racks of plants. Bugs? Not a one—but if workers do find one with their Integrated Pest Management system, it’s dealt with sans pesticide, in compliance with organic guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Haider and co-founders Fred Haberman, Chris Ames and Kristen Koontz Haider ask visitors to clean their feet at the door so as not to track in anything unsavory. Continue reading
Photo credits: Nobi Pauls
Tapioca is traditionally used in all Kerala cuisine, almost three to four days weekly, usually as breakfast or dinner. The root is prepared in a wide variety of ways. Boiled tapioca and green chili with onion chutney is one method; another is boiled tapioca mixed with grated coconut, chili, turmeric and salt. Continue reading
Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan
Organikos 