Mayillattam Dance
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
The Mayillattam Dance derives its name from the Peacock, the celestial vehicle of Hindu Lord Subramania (son of Lord Shiva). Donning the costume of a Peacock, with painted faces, beak, headgear and wings of peacock feather, the dancers perform this ritualistic dance offering. As a ritual, it continues to be practised in the Travancore region. Continue reading
If You Happen To Be In Philadelphia
We are on a Prosek roll…Currently, through June in Wood Gallery 227 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, you can experience an exhibition dear to the heart of many members of Raxa Collective’s team in South Asia, and travelers from around the world, from the artist’s 2008 work:
The Peacock and the Cobra, a portfolio by artist and naturalist James Prosek (American, born 1975), forms the centerpiece of this exhibition. Also on view are a variety of painted pages and other objects from the Museum’s rich collection of art from India and Pakistan. While Prosek is not himself South Asian, the narratives that compose The Peacock and the Cobra invoke a range of ideas and images from the subcontinent. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Hudsonian Godwit nest (Beluga, Alaska)
Prosek’s “Wall Of Sillhouettes” Mural
James Prosek, who more than a year back we invited to Kerala, has completed the mural that the Cornell Lab of Ornithology commissioned:
Science meets art at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as the Lab moves toward its centennial celebration in 2015. Artist, writer and naturalist James Prosek’s “Wall of Silhouettes” mural spans the full length of the north wall in the Lab’s visitor center.
The mural of life-sized silhouettes acknowledges the importance of the culture of bird watching to the scientific study of birds, and celebrates the blurred lines between hard science and the intangible beauty of personal experience in the field. Continue reading
Flavours Of Kerala – Chiratta Puttu
Photo credits: Renjith
Chiratta Puttu is a variety of the Kerala Puttu that is steamed in a tube shaped vessel. The traditional method requires soaking the rice for about one hour. Next clean a half coconut shell and make a hole in the “eye” portion. Boil the water in the Puttu vessel. Continue reading
Make The Pledge by Nikki Miles
The day has come. Come! During the last month of food trials at 51, we were looking forward to the day–yesterday–when the doors officially opened and we could invite both vegetarian and non-vegetarian friends to dine, and in particular feast on a roasted vegetable dish rooted in Malabar Coast vegetables and Eastern European foodways. Thanks to another of the Young Creatives for this encouragement on getting non-vegetarians to pledge to add more vegetables to their diet–all it takes is better-tasting veggies, we think, and some creative promotion:
With this playful painting, illustrator Nikki Miles is urging us to make a pinky promise to go easy on the meat and its carbon consequences and enjoy some veg instead.
“I don’t eat a lot of meat but I’m not strictly a vegetarian either,” says Nikki. “I have tried being a vegetarian in the past but I found it to hard to give up the odd bacon sandwich or roast dinner with beef gravy. I only eat meat around once or twice a week because vegetables are yummy too! Eating more veg and less meat is a simple way to make a big difference to your health and the environment.” Continue reading
Climate Change Preparedness
Photograph by Ed Kashi/VII. On Monday, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report on the impacts of global warming, for which it says the world is ill prepared. Elizabeth Kolbert wrote about a leaked draft of the report in this piece, originally published on November 5, 2013.
Not everything we read pleases us. So not everything we post on this site, in spite of our overriding mission to report positive news about conservation wherever we can find it, is meant to draw a smile. Wouldn’t be prudent, as someone once said. Nor would it be prudent to assume someone, somewhere, or anyone anywhere, has taken appropriate measures to even catalogue ways in which we should be preparing for the consequences of climate change. Not if, as some greedy doubt-mongers want people to wonder, but when. Thanks to Elizabeth Kolbert, our favored dismalist on climate change, for this Comment on the New Yorker‘s website:
Late last week, a Web site that claims that there is no scientific consensus on global warming published a leaked draft report on the impacts of global warming. The leak was apparently intended to embarrass the authors of the report, which is the latest installment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. However, it seems mostly to have had the opposite effect: Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Blue-faced Malkoha (Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka)
Lunchtime, 51
As this post goes up, it is time to step in through the front door of 51. On Bazar Road, neighboring the spice merchants who have been plying their trade for centuries here in the Mattanchery neighborhood of Fort Kochi, you will see this sign on the left side of the road passing from the Brunton Ferry in the direction of the Dutch Palace.
Earth Hour 2014
Earth Hour
RAXA Collective properties joined the millions of people around the world celebrating Earth Hour on March 29th. Earth Hour is a voluntary movement with the goal to highlight global activism about energy consumption. One hour staggered in local time across the globe people come together and switch off all their electricity. Continue reading
Font Innovation, Greening Government
We like all the dots that can be connected in this story. First, for our friends at Thought Factory Design, another story about font innovations. Second, the fact that at 14 years old this fellow is thinking about waste reduction in such inventive ways means he may be a candidate for membership on the Young Creatives dream team. Third, a bit of home team pride for several hundred members of Raxa Collective, some of the stories that ran after CNN first reported this mention that Suvir is from a family of Indian origin:
(CNN) — An e. You can write it with one fluid swoop of a pen or one tap of the keyboard. The most commonly used letter in the English dictionary. Simple, right?
Now imagine it printed out millions of times on thousands of forms and documents. Then think of how much ink would be needed.
OK, so that may have been a first for you, but it came naturally to 14-year-old Suvir Mirchandani when he was trying to think of ways to cut waste and save money at his Pittsburgh-area middle school.
It all started as a science fair project. As a neophyte sixth-grader at Dorseyville Middle School, Suvir noticed he was getting a lot more handouts than he did in elementary school. Continue reading
If You Happen To Be In Kerala
We have been posting “If You Happen To Be In…” stories since March 30, 2012. They are, like many posts on this site, incidental stories about exhibitions, readings, and other events that we believe are of interest to travelers who relate well to Raxa Collective’s mission. Coincidentally, that was about the time when we first briefed a team of architects on our plan to restore and revitalize a property in Kerala’s historic harbor town, Fort Cochin. Today, the last day of the current fiscal year in India, a day before the Fools’ pranks of April, we considered to be an auspicious day to open our doors. So, after two years of recommending other places, openings and things to see around the world, today we welcome you to visit on our turf. It is a quiet opening. No fanfare, no parties; just genuine welcome and hospitality. Continue reading
The Lights Are On by Sylvia Moritz
As noted yesterday, we will continue highlighting the best of the Young Creatives for the Do The Green Thing campaign. Raxa Collective’s operations teams at various properties can relate to Sylvia’s challenge to all of us to collaborate on conservation of electricity, whether in the hospitality community, the traveler community, in our residential home community or wherever:
Graphic designer and illustrator Sylvia Moritz wants to spell an end to the stupidity of leaving lights on in empty rooms.
“Electricity is a daily comfort we take for granted,” says Sylvia. “It is our sun when it is night, it is our means of living out our modern daily lifestyles. To recklessly exhaust this energy source, to squander something so integral to our survival, is wasteful. I hope this illustrated idiom can switch people’s behaviour.” Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Snow Geese (Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, NY)
Photo credit: Benjamin Van Doren
Thanneermukkom Bund
Thanneermukkom Bund
Constructed in 1974 and functional since 1976, the Thanneermukkom Bund was build to prevent tidal action and intrusion of salt water into the low-lands and the backwaters of Vembanad Lake. One of the biggest lakes in Kerala, Vembanad is a famous tourist spot where house boats and local fishing practices are a common attraction. Continue reading
Still Counting On Do The Green Thing
Since we started highlighting these posters only during its final week or so, there are many other posters to highlight and we intend to do so in the coming days. Not all, since not all creative output is created equal. In this final campaign poster, about reduction of light pollution, the Young Creatives series concluded on a cosmic note:
The shining star of our 29 Posters for the Planet campaign is Rebecca Charlton, the winner of WWF and Do The Green Thing’s Young Creatives competition. With her intricate and dazzling illustration, she reminds every person in every building in every city that stars not bulbs are the best sources of light in the night.
Birds In A Coffee Shop
Thanks to the folks at this fun aggregator site, we learned of Piip Show, a collaborative initiative bright to us by several artists and Norwegian Radio that allows a community of animals to gather in a setting familiar to many in modern urban landscapes around the world:
The story of Piip-Show
When the internet was just a baby sleeping quietly in its cradle, NRK broadcasted live from a bird house decorated like a little dollhouse. The year is 2003, and the mastermind behind the project, freelance photographer Magne Klann, receives attention even from the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC.
Thrissur Pooram
There is a saying in Malayalam – Poorathil Pooram Thrissur Pooram, which means that amongst all festivals in Kerala, the Thrissur Pooram is considered the best and the most sought after. Pooram Day changes annually because it’s a star based on the Malayalam Calendar, but the festival is always held at the Vadakkunnathan Temple in Thrissur town.
Thrissur Pooram was the brain child of Raja Rama Varma aka Shakthan Thampuran, who was the Maharajah of Cochin from year 1790–1805. In 1798, he unified the 10 temples situated around the Vadakkunnathan Temple and organized the celebration of Pooram as a mass festival. He invited temples with their deities to Trissur to pay obeisance to Lord Vadakkunnathan, (Lord Shiva). Continue reading
Do The Green Thing Countdown 29/29
Today’s the day this series was designed for, and Shiv’s “Less Light” provides a fitting conclusion about doing the green thing this evening:
Illustrator and art director Shiv uses a blend of photography and computer trickery to create a bewitching image to get us warmed up for Earth Hour tomorrow evening. Her poster urges us to switch off, save energy and enjoy the the galaxies above. Shiv said:
“I moved out of London nearer the countryside a couple of years ago and what I love is how much of the sky at night i can see now. I think Earth Hour is a great opportunity to see the stars while the urban lights are down, and that everyone should take advantage of this.”
Why?
Organikos 