If You Happen To Be In Kerala

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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

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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 →

Thanneermukkom Bund

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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

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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.

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Birds In A Coffee Shop

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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.

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Thrissur Pooram

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Thrissur Pooram Kerala Festival Photo Images - 11

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

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29 Posters Final Template

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?

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51 Salutes Switchel

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We first heard of them, and heard them, on one of our favorite Public Radio (listener- and taxpayer-funded, thank you citizens of the USA) podcasts here:

Up with Switchel, Herman Melville’s Energy Drink

When we heard, at the end of the conversation with these entrepreneurs, that Melville was a switchel drinker, or at least that he mentions it in one of his books, we started thinking about a new 51 signature beverage. Melville, of course, knew a thing or two about sailors. And 51 is located within the property of Spice Harbour which, in a previous lifetime, was a “chummery” for ship captains coming in to Fort Cochin harbor.

Chummery, in Indian English from an earlier era, is akin to saying “boarding house for chums (male friends, buddies, guys what have you)” so it seems plausible that a captain who knew the drink switchel from a Caribbean or North American port of call might have once introduced this drink in the biggest harbor on the Malabar Coast. Even if none did, we will. In doing so, we salute our fellow entrepreneurs, and Melville, and the sailors. Also, we like what we read About them (the Vermont guys):

Continue reading →

Sights of Kerala

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Photo credits: Christoph Hurni

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Photographs more than words are often able to capture the true essence of a place, and Kerala is no exception. The backwaters are an iconic example of the region. The rivers and canals that flow silently only kilometers from the coast, sometimes acting as a carrier for boats and people serving as means of transportation and leisure, and an ecosystem where fishermen make their livelihoods.  Continue reading →

Do The Green Thing Countdown 28/29

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“Let’s Ride” is a cool, clean visual that says it all, whether you are already a member of the biking community, or yet to become one:

Josh Higgins built and led the design team behind Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign and is now Communication Design Manager for Facebook. Using fresh colours and geometrical shapes, his poster rallies the world to do more bike riding and less driving.

“I have always loved cycling and rode a bike since age 6 because it is fun,” says Josh. “Now I am a bit older I realize it is so much more. Riding a bike is a proven stress releaser. It is great for our environment and whether you are riding purely for pleasure or to get from point A to point B, you will arrive feeling relaxed, energized and happier about the world.”

Why?

Continue reading →

Add Cello To The Trinity Of C-Words

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Welcome To Yo-Yo’s Playhouse…Watch the superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma and many of his close friends from all over the world in action at a theatrical props warehouse in Brooklyn.

Ever on the lookout for stories that have one or more connections to our primary interests–community, collaboration, conservation–we are particularly fond of bifectas and trifectas, double-dips and triple plays. Versatility and eclecticism are signatures of Yo-Yo Ma, so no surprise that today we see a bit of all our interests combined in this story on the National Public Radio (a USA radio network funded by listeners, corporate/foundation donors, and taxpayers) website:

by ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS

When you’re lucky enough to have cellist Yo-Yo Ma and members of the Silk Road Ensemble, some of the world’s premiere instrumentalists and composers, gather for an afternoon of offstage music making, you’ve got to think long and hard about where to put them. And we decided that the perfect match would be ACME Studio, a theatrical props warehouse in Brooklyn.

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A Monkey Story

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monkeyI love monkeys like I love elephants. I can sit and watch them for hours, they’re so interesting and intelligent. If you get a chance, you should try it some time!

Here’s a story about an experience I had with monkeys in my home town of Nilambur:

The city of Nilambur had lots of monkeys roaming around. They used to come into the city and our houses in search of food. This might sound sinister, but actually the way they came around was hilarious: they’d form a line and march towards the city gate, cross it, and then enter neighborhoods as a group. The problem was, they created havoc! They destroyed all the crops and stole objects that took their fancy,  making a mess of the whole place. My grandmother lost many of her blouses, and since she got very upset, my grandpa decided to keep a dog, named Tommy, just to scare the monkeys away.

I didn’t see the following incident personally, but the way Grandpa told the story, we used to laugh out loud and ask to hear the story over and over again. Continue reading →

If You Happen To Be At Yale

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Vincent van Gogh, Le café de nuit (The Night Café) (1888). Photo: courtesy Yale University Art Gallery.

 

The intersection of these three names–one, a painter who is known to have influenced a community of influential fellow-painters during his own brief lifetime (not to mention since); one, a community of revolutionaries; and the other (how many ways can we categorize Yale according to the communities it represents?)–is as oddly appealing as the painting in question:

Van Gogh Painting Seized by Bolsheviks Will Stay at Yale

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Do The Green Thing Countdown 27/29

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“Better By Bike” speaks again on the topic of bicycle power, in the interest of Earth Hour as promoted by WWF and which Raxa Collective’s community will be participating in:

Today we are delighted to present a poster from a man who needs no introduction, but that won’t stop us from introducing him anyway. Sir Paul Smith is one of the most admired figures in the world of fashion: a style guru, a gentleman and a mad keen cyclist. He has created a piece of heartfelt pro-pedal propaganda featuring one of his own cycles and a message in his own writing: “it’s better by bike”. We agree.

Why?  Continue reading →

The Importance of Flowers

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Photo credits: Christoph Hurni

Photo credits: Christoph Hurni

Flowers are quite important in Indian culture. They are needed in the temples to adorn the gods, as well as for other decorations, be it for a wedding or for any other function.

If you walk through a street which is close to a temple, you will see lots of flower vendors. Since it’s said that there are up to thirty-three million gods in Hinduism (isn’t that amazing?!), India clearly needs lots of flowers. Of course, many people don’t actually know all the millions of gods (including me), but luckily there aren’t many restrictions on what flowers can be used to adorn any given god!

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Do The Green Thing Countdown 26/29

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Today’s is a dark one, darker than our normal post content but in the spirit of going with the flow we link out to this poster appropriately called Extermination Workshop:

Step forward Michael Wallis, a left-field thinker and co-founder of branding agency Corke Wallis. In this satirical poster-cum-drama set in the future, he speculates on the totally ridiculous idea of standby mode, and makes us ask ourselves: “why on earth would humanity come up with such a hopeless invention?”

Michael says: “I’m supporting Green Thing and Earth Hour so that when the apocalypse comes it is at the hands of something really epic like aliens or cyborgs or giant reptiles from another dimension, not DVD players.”

Why?

 

Continue reading →