Thrissur Pooram – Temple Festival
Photo credits: Jithin
Thrissur Pooram is the largest and the most famously colourful festival of Kerala, a stunning mixture of magnificence and spectacle celebrated every year during the Malayalam month of Medam, this year falling on May 9th. Called “the Poorams of all Poorams,” the festival is a grand assembly of Gods and Goddesses who make their visit to the Vadakkumnathan Temple premises on caparisoned elephants, together with majestic ensembles of chenda melam and panchavadyam. Continue reading
About Those Dancing Frogs
Thanks to National Geographic’s website for extending the details of this news we first shared here:
…The spectacular haul more than doubles the number of Indian dancing frogs, a family named for the bizarre courtship displays of their foot-waving males, to 24 species. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: House Sparrow (Tadoba National Park, Maharashtra)
Kamakshi Amman Temple – Tamil Nadu
Photo credits: Renuka Menon
Kamakshi Amman Temple is the one of the three important temples to the Goddess Parvathi (Lord Shiva’s wife) in India. The temple complex covers an area of four acres, and is constructed in the Pallava style. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Sapphire-vented Puffleg and Buff-winged Starfrontlet Hummingbirds
Yanacocha Reserve, Ecuador
Mythology of Waste
It’s been several months since Chinese conceptual artist Xu Bing orchestrated the monumental task of suspending a pair of 12 ton birds into the nave of one of New York City’s most famous cathedrals. Fashioned from salvaged construction debris from Beijing’s World Financial Center, the phoenix pair is reminiscent of the more 2-dimensional work of Brazilian artist Vik Muniz in both philosophy and meticulously layered execution.
Throughout China’s history, every dynasty has had its form of phoenixes. Representing luck, unity, power and prosperity, these mythological birds have, for the most part, been benevolent, gentle creatures. But this pair, fashioned from the materials of commercial development, reflect the grimmer and grittier face of China today.
“They bear countless scars,” Mr. Xu explained, having “lived through great hardship, but still have self-respect. In general, the phoenix expresses unrealized hopes and dreams.” Continue reading
Akshaya Tritiya
Photo credit: Jithin Vijay
Akshaya Tritiya is a very popular festival that Hindus and Jains celebrate every year. Based on the Lunar Calendar, this year it landed on May 2nd. The Hindu community considers it an auspicious day and believes that any venture will be more likely to succeed. Akshaya Tritiya is associated with gold and many people wait for that day to make investments in or purchases of gold.
Bird of the Day: White-browed Wagtail
Juvenile – Bhadra Tiger Reserve, Karnataka
Explaining Elephant Ears
Photo © Disney
When we look for scientific answers to interesting questions, the name Disney does not normally come to mind, but credit where due (thanks to Science Friday for this):
Why Are Elephant Ears So Big? And Other Pachyderm Questions
Joseph Soltis, a research scientist at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, recently chatted with SciFri about the “words” that African elephants use to communicate. Below, Soltis has addressed a few of your pachyderm questions:How do researchers keep bias towards human languages out of the study of elephant languages? Do a linguistics study as if the elephants were human?—@CyberResearchUSYou always have to be careful not to freely ascribe human-like capabilities to animals without evidence. For language, this is especially important. We [humans] can make a simple distinction between sentences with lots of words strung together following grammatical rules and a simple vocabulary of individual words.
Visualizing Carbon
Carbon, and what to do about it, has been a constant topic of interest to our readers since we began this site. The single most-read post, Carbon Emissions Series: Vacationers’ Diets is on this very topic. But how can we visualize carbon such that we care more about it? Thanks to the website of the magazine Conservation for this link, whose title says it all:
CARBON VISUALS: ANIMATING THE WORLD’S CARS
A short animated film from Carbon Visuals is being used to engage managers around the world about the fundamentals of sustainability, how sustainability is relevant to their role and its importance to business success.
Dwajasthambam – Temple Flag Pole
Photo credit: Ramesh Kidangoor
Dwajasthambam is the traditional Hindu temple flag pole placed between the temple gopuram (entrance) and the sanctum sanctorum. They are traditionally made of wood, copper sheets, and gold coating. A cloth flag with Hindus symbols, holy words and figures of Gods or Goddess is usually hoisted on the pole during temple festivals. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Northern Pintails
Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan
“It’s Like A Travel Book”
Music forms a type of universal memory the crosses cultures and continents, and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble that brings together musicians and composers from more than 20 countries is a lyrical example of what we hold dear at RAXA Collective. The 2,000 year old history of the Silk Road also coincides with the Spice Road, which is also a subject we take very personally.
The extent of exchange of art, ideas and innovations between cultural groups trading on the routes is illustrated by the eighth-century Shôsôin collection of artifacts. Culled by a Japanese emperor, it contains luxury goods from the Mediterranean, Persia, India, Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan…
Auto Rickshaw
Photo credits: Harish
Auto rickshaws are common all over India and provide cheap and efficient transportation. Also known as three wheeler vehicles, ricks and tuk-tuks, they are a convenient mode of transport for very short distance travel. It is economically viable and a means of livelihood for thousands of people all over Kerala. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Long-billed Vulture
Bandipur National Park, Karnataka
Big Living Things
It has been a while since we linked to Krulwich Wonders, which we have done too many times to link back to all previous posts, but now is as good a time as ever to do so again:
A Question Of Biggitude: What’s The Largest Creature On Earth
What’s the biggest living thing on earth? I can think of two. I’m not sure which is biggest, but neither of them is a blue whale. These are weirder. Much, much weirder.
One is a tree. The other eats trees.
This is the tree.
Andhakaranazhi Beach – Alappuzha
Photo credits: Ranjith
Andhakaranazhi is a beautiful beach located 5km from Mararikulam beach (one of the most famous beaches in Kerala) in the Alappuzha district, approximately 30km from Kochi International Airport. There is a lighthouse near the beach, and the place is a confluence of the backwaters and the Arabian Sea. It is particularly beautiful at sunset and sunrise. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Sanderlings (Westhampton, New York)
Fiji Shark Dive
Photo Credit: Martin Graf, Sharkdiver.com
In an earlier post I wrote about how more and more countries are waking up to the benefits of preserving natural capital, in recognition of the economic value that can be derived through ecotourism. I noted, in particular, the value that can be generated through ecotourism ventures focused on iconic species such as sharks, manta rays, and sea turtles. I cited a number of studies and calculations that demonstrate that the ecotourism value of these animals far outweighs their one-time economic value if harvested for food or body parts.
Earlier this week, I had an opportunity to experience one such venture first hand, via the famous Fiji Shark Dive. Over the course of two dives I was treated to the spectacle of 40+ Bull Sharks and dozens of Blacktip and White Tip Reef Sharks, up close and personal! What an amazing experience to see these magnificent animals – some upwards of 8 feet long –swimming only inches away. Click here for a video (check out the background music!) courtesy of Martin Graf, one of the pioneers of the Shark Diving industry, who just happened to be in Fiji this week and was along on my dives. Continue reading
Organikos 