Thippagondanahalli Reservoir, Karnataka
Our Gang, Thevara, (Team Spirit)
It is that time of the year. The place where the cow is often roaming, or otherwise is just pleasant open space, becomes energentic-kid-space about now. Soon it will be school break time and the kids are thinking about what they will do with all that free time. So today, as two of Raxa Collective’s team members were walking through the neighborhood the kids stopped them and asked: Want to be on our team?
Education As Social Enterprise
Everyone in modern market economies accepts that companies need to make a buck (rupee, yen, peso or what have you), and generally no one grudges them the opportunity to do so, as long as they do so responsibly. Grudging can follow a company’s bold commitment to “do no evil” when that company is discovered to have done something less than awesome. This raises the stakes for social enterprises, who from the outset claim to do something other than for pure profit motivation. Daphne Koller, Co-Founder of Coursera, makes a compelling case for having risen to the occasion in this podcast interview:
Coursera was launched in 2012 and reached its first one million users faster than Facebook or Twitter. Coursera is one of a number of companies offering massive open online courses– or MOOCs– to address a growing global population and the rising costs of on-campus higher education.
Yellow Dahlia
Yellow Dahlias are the most common member of the species found in Kerala’s hill range gardens. These wonderful, spectacular flowers love locations that are sunny but not too hot. They also thrive in open areas where they can develop undisturbed.
Capturing Falling Waters
During my recent trip to Chikmagalur, I visited this small waterfall in Jerry estate which offered a good opportunity to try out various compositions. Unfortunately I wasn’t carrying my vario ND filter so couldn’t get a slower shutter speed than this, but since I’ll be going back there in December I’ll know to be better prepared.
In many circumstances people say that “location is everything”, and that definitely was the case with this waterfall. The maximum depth of the pool at it’s base was probably 2 ft, so we could walk around and check various angles to shoot from with very little risk. The fact that there was no heavy current allowed us to easily stand in the flowing water to get low-level shots. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Squirrel Cuckoo (Los Cedros Reserve, Ecuador)
Igor Siwanowicz Photography
Prepare to have your mind completely blown by award-winning insect photographer Igor Siwanowicz. No artist captures the details like Igor Siwanowicz does with his distinct form of microscopic photography. Every little bump and crack is accentuated, and every color shines brighter in Siwanowicz’s pictures — Fittingly, this style seems catered to capturing the strange exotic insects that inhabit the world. Siwanowicz is not limited to just insects though, his portfolio is complimented by equally as impressive stills of reptiles, mammals, and even people. One should especially note how often symmetry comes to play in the photographs.
Al Fresco Ayurveda
Brass Uruli
At Cardamom County we make every effort to ensure the uniqueness of our guests’ experience. One way is to invite them to watch our Ayura staff along with Dr. Pameela, our in-house Ayurvedic doctor, prepare the traditional herbal oils used in Ayurvedic massage. They first harvested the special herbs in our gardens. The herbs are then soaked in water overnight to extract a concentrate that by morning turns into a rich concoction called kashaya. This mixture is then brought to a boil in a large brass vessel called an uruli. Continue reading
Dear Dr. Rodrigues, Thank You From The Western Ghats
The research of Dr. Ana Rodrigues and her colleagues, much appreciated by our team here in the Western Ghats (no hard feelings, of course, that Colombia has a hotspot considered greater in terms of irreplaceability), is featured in a story in today’s Guardian:
…”This beautiful mountain, which is not far from cities and towns, is being colonised by rich people building second homes,” said Dr Ana Rodrigues, a researcher at the CEFE-CNRS institute in France, who led the new study. The team’s analysis of the world’s 173,000 nature reserves identified 138 that were “exceptionally irreplaceable.”
Bird of the Day: Cinnamon Becard
Gamboa, Panama
Fine Arts at Cardamom County
Artisan at Work
At Cardamom County we’ve been supporting the fine arts in our community and beyond for many years. For the past few seasons we’ve invited a young man from Odisha to showcase his workmanship at the entrance to our restaurant All Spice. His handicrafts are amazingly detailed drawings carved onto palm leaves and then painted. Continue reading
Cricket, Worship
We have mentioned cricket on more than one occasion, because of its place of importance in the Indian culture. If you are not from here, or at least here, in India, it may be difficult to understand this importance. Now is as good a time as any to begin understanding it. Tunku Varadarajan, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, provides some helpful hints and lessons about the sport, and the country, in an OpEd in today’s New York Times about the one man who has been practically deified in recent times:
India, Where the Gods Live On … and On
…Tendulkar, whom everyone calls Sachin, is the most revered cricketer in India…In fact, it would be entirely accurate to describe him as the most revered contemporary Indian, or even, with only a pinch of hyperbole, the most revered Indian since Mahatma Gandhi held the nation in thrall… Continue reading
From Behind the Wheel: Art Shack
Mattanchery
Wendell Berry Sharing His Wisdom, With Gandhian Revolutionary Overtones
You have heard his name enough times to recognize it, but you may not be sure what for. If this guy is in the room to listen, it is likely to be interesting. Thanks to Bill Moyers for sharing this:
Wendell Berry, a quiet and humble man, has become an outspoken advocate for revolution. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Indian Roller
Bangalore, Karnataka
Pedal Powered Ecotourism
Pedal Power! photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
At Raxa Collective we believe in conservation and what better example than Cardamom County, a plastic-free resort with rich gardens where we harvest fruits, vegetables and even eggs. Kerala is a beautiful state with many places to discover and there’s no better way to experience our neighborhood than with zero carbon transport.
Thank You, Britain
A headline in today’s Hindu that catches our attention:
British businesses in India to contribute £100 million annually towards CSR
British companies are expected to contribute around £100 million per annum to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in India with new amendments to the Indian Companies Act.
Continue reading
Appam at Home
Yesterday, Jake and I were kindly invited by our Assistant Manager Salim to dinner with his clients and family. His wife cooked us beef stew, fish fries, tapioca, appam, and many other things. The other dishes were mouthwatering and flavorful, but everyone was so amazed by her soft, fluffy, sweet and delicious appam! Continue reading
Art Versus Commerce
Photograph: Christie’s LTD
Since we are not a site for art criticism, we have not found the words to say so, elegantly, but we see a worthy distinction between art and commerce. In a blog post called “The Circus” we have found a one minute reading assignment to recommend:
A hundred and forty-two million dollars and change is a lot of money, or is it? What would the former possessor have done with the wad if he or she—or a corporate it—hadn’t splurged, at Christie’s in New York, yesterday, on the triptych “Three Studies of Lucian Freud,” by Francis Bacon? Nothing as interesting, certainly. Far larger amounts of money move around the world—numbers falling on one balance sheet, rising on another—night and day, and few notice. Most entail commodities (stuffs, like oil or wheat, sold by metric measure) or abstractions (stocks and bonds, financial instruments). When a tangible, useless object is the occasion, in public, there’s drama, though the stakes are relatively trifling. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Mexican Sheartail Hummingbird on nest
Las Coloradas, Mexico
Organikos 