Lord Ayyappa
Sabarimala Temple is one of the most important pilgrim centres in India. Every year, lakhs of devotees throng this holy shrine situated amidst the thick forest of Periyar Tiger Reserve. Pilgrims have to undertake 41 days vritham (penance) consisting of strict celibacy. Females between the age of 10 and 50 are not permitted in the shrine. Continue reading
NYTimes reporter Jennifer 8. Lee talks about her culinary mission for the origins of familiar Chinese-American dishes, that in many cases aren’t really either one and in others have combined to form a new cuisine.
Let me present the question to you: If our benchmark for Americanness is apple pie, you should ask yourself, how often do you eat apple pie, versus how often do you eat Chinese food..If you think about it, a lot of the foods that Americans think of as Chinese food are barely recognizable to Chinese. For example, I took a whole bunch of fortune cookies back to China, gave them to Chinese to see how they would react. Continue reading
Whether wild or domesticated, cats are unique in their ability to compel. If you are a cat person, you know that to be true. If you are not a cat person, you probably also know it to be true. Here in the Western Ghats region of south India, we take cats to be among our most important beneficiaries of whatever tangible outcomes we can generate through our entrepreneurial conservation initiatives. Mainly we are focused on initiatives with the Periyar Tiger Reserve, but on the lookout constantly for more opportunities. Earlier this year we started tracking Panthera because of these interests. Their website (click the logo to the left), and the mission as stated here, are worth revisiting from time to time:
Panthera’s mission is to ensure the future of wild cats through scientific leadership and global conservation action. Continue reading
Zwirner at home, with a painting by Raymond Pettibon. “Nobody’s selling expensive stuff like we do with the frequency we do,” Zwirner said. “This is an industry in its golden age.” Photograph by Pari Dukovic.
Art as industry? Say it ain’t so! But if it is, then better to say so clearly, unambiguously:
Very important people line up differently from you and me. They don’t want to stand behind anyone else, or to acknowledge wanting something that can’t immediately be had. If there’s a door they’re eager to pass through, and hundreds of equally or even more important people are there, too, they get as close to the door as they can, claim a patch of available space as though it had been reserved for them, and maintain enough distance to pretend that they are not in a line. Continue reading
Ipomoea nil
Native to India Blue Dawn Glory is a hairy stemmed, annual twiner seen commonly during the latter half of the monsoon along roads and hedges. The flowers open around sunrise and fade by noon. The seeds of the plant is used in traditional medicine. Continue reading
Jim Wilson/The New York Times
The New York Times reports from the sea some happy news:
MONTEREY JOURNAL
Sea Creatures Gather for Extra Anchovies Continue reading
Endo Valley, CO
Image Courtesy: http://Magnuscarlsen.com
In textbook fashion (and I can’t stress this enough), 22-year-old chess juggernaut (and this is probably an understatement) Magnus Carlsen of Norway has just recently dethroned 5-time world champion Viswanathan Anand in such an epic clash that one could imagine a very, very dramatic film produced from the whole debacle.
The following paper has been influential since its publication more than two and a half years ago, and seems destined to have a lengthy shelf life, which we hope to contribute to. It is not only interesting theoretically, but gets at practical questions we consider existential at the level of our enterprise. If consumers (in our case travelers) are willing to pay a fair premium for building and operating a business that is more sensitive to environmental and social responsibility, we can afford to engage in fair trade; if they are not really willing, uh oh…
We are more than happy to share our empirical evidence, but for now let’s take a look at some scientifically-derived evidence:
Consumer Demand for the Fair Trade Label: Evidence from a Field Experiment
Jens Hainmueller
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – Department of Political Science
Michael J. Hiscox
Harvard University
Sandra Sequeira
London School of Economics
April 1, 2011
MIT Political Science Department Research Paper No. 2011-9B
Abstract:
A majority of surveyed consumers claim to prefer ethically certified products over non-certified alternatives, and to be willing to pay a price premium for such products. There is no clear evidence, however, that people actually seek out such ethically certified goods and pay a premium for them when shopping. We provide new evidence on consumer behavior from experiments conducted in a major U.S. grocery store chain. Continue reading
Ipomoea hederifolia
Native to Mexico and naturalised in India, Red Star Glory is an annual twiner with its bright scarlet flowers and appears towards the end of monsoon. These plants are commonly seen between 500 meters and 1000 meters. Flowering season is from October to January, the most likely time to see them within Cardamom County and the surrounding hill station ecosystem. Continue reading
Courtesy of Karnataka Mahila Yakshagana. A scene from Yakshagana performed by female artists in Bangalore, Karnataka, in January.
Thanks to India Ink for bringing to our attention this article by Kavitha Rao:
BANGALORE — In a quiet Bangalore home, a group of middle-aged women are learning to walk, talk and dance like men. Continue reading
If you are a fan of big welding projects that appear to result from an artisan ethos, and a fan of Bob Dylan, and find yourself in London in the coming weeks, this show called Mood Swings may be for you:
“I’ve been around iron all my life ever since I was a kid. I was born and raised in iron ore country – where you could breathe it and smell it every day. And I’ve always worked with it in one form or another. Continue reading
Pawan Kumar/Reuters
Those of us living in India, who are not from India, are on a quest to understand our new home. We share these stories from time to time, taken from mainstream publications in India and elsewhere, about what we are learning. With a photo like this, we could not resist such an explanatory story, in the form of an editorial from this week’s Sunday Review section of the New York Times: Continue reading
Mysore, Karnataka
As of this week, the latest Celebrate Urban Birds challenge is up and running! Called Fascinating Feathers, this multi-media competition is designed to get you thinking about the most defining feature of birds — their plumage.
Whether you’re out shooting video of a Herring Gull at the beach getting disheveled by a buffeting wind, taking a photo of puffed-up chickadees at the bird-feeder from your porch, writing/recording a poem or story about the down that keeps you warm in the winter, or painting plumes floating in the ether, we want to see what you can say about feathers from the world around you!
With categories for Best Camouflaged, Best Dressed, Most Bizarre, and Most Functional, you’ll have different ways to frame your work and share it with us and other participants; on January 15, 2014 we’ll close the contest and begin reviewing submissions to select award-winners. Prizes include Opticron binoculars, Pennington bird feeders, bird sound CDs, waterproof bird foldout guides, and more!
Check out the challenge homepage
or
Read the Lab of Ornithology’s press release on the challenge
Photo credits: Binu Kumar
Gangaikondacholapuram temple is situated near the city of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, King Rajendra Chozlan built the temple 1020 -29 AD. The main Mandapa is two storied structure and dotted with pillars with exquisite carvings. There are many beautiful sculptures on the walls of the temple and its enclosures. A huge Nandhi (Shiva’s bull) made of brick and mortar presides in front of the main edifice. Continue reading
Oil, coal and gas companies are contributing to most carbon emissions, causing climate change and some are also funding denial campaigns. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters
It bears repeating:
The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.
The companies range from investor-owned firms – household names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP – to state-owned and government-run firms.
The analysis, which was welcomed by the former vice-president Al Gore as a “crucial step forward” found that the vast majority of the firms were in the business of producing oil, gas or coal, found the analysis, which has been published in the journal Climatic Change. Continue reading
Photo credit: Ramesh Kidangoor
Revered by both Hindus and Muslims, the town of Erumely is famous for the Vavar Mosque as well as the Sastha Temple. The Ritual of Petta Thullal during the annual Sabarimala pilgrimage is a unique feature of this place. Pilgrims who visit the temple consider it their sacred duty to offer donation to a representative of the Vavar Mosque. The reason for this devotion is that Vavar was considered to be a contemporary and friend of Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity of Sabarimala Temple. Continue reading
Organikos 