Photo:- Joshi Manjummel
The Tiger Dance is an art form of Kerala in which painted men imitate a tiger and its action. Pulikali is said to have originated in the 18th century when the soldiers belonging to the army of Sakthan Thamburan, who was the King of Cochin, first performed it.
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Guest Author: Carl Zainaldin
A few weekends ago I visited the Golden Temple at Amritsar, a city located in the state of Punjab, located about 30 km from the India-Pakistan border.
The Golden Temple was first conceived in the 16th century by Guru Raam Das., and was completed in 1604. In 1830, the Temple was renovated and plated with gold, and in 1993 a prominent Sikh sponsored its renovation and subsequent revival.
Bentsen State Park, TX
Pi, Greek letter (
), is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The area of a circle is calculated using Pi and the radius of the circle.
In honor of this perfect proportion, math enthusiasts around the world celebrate Pi Day on March 14th. Pi = 3.1415926535…
Multiple ancient civilizations including Egypt, Greece and Iron-Age India have stunning examples of the use of Pi; think “Great Pyramids” and you get the idea. Continue reading
For a school not widely known outside its region and professional focus, it is interesting to note a bit about the man who founded a school in upstate New York in the 19th Century that has recently been quietly celebrated for things that we care deeply about on this site:
The Carnegie Foundation awarded Oswego State a prestigious Community Engagement Classification in January 2011… Then in May 2011, Oswego was named to the U.S. President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll “with Distinction,” an equally distinguished recognition for the college’s commitment to volunteerism, service learning and civic engagement.
Sligo Grasslands, PA
It’s big. It’s green. Its growth is rapid. And even before it actually blooms it easily brings “Audrey”, the plant from The Little Shop of Horrors to mind. An extremely rare titan arum, also called the corpse plant, is expected to bloom at the Kenneth Post Lab Greenhouses at Cornell University this week.
Titan arum, also known as Amorphophallus titanum, is a plant that grows in the wild only in the rainforests of Sumatra and rarely blooms in cultivation. Many universities and botanical gardens have specimens, but there have been approximately only 140 such cultivated blooms in recorded history. Continue reading
Today we happened to meet Mr. & Mrs. Daya who stayed at Cardamom County from the US. They were happy to share their experience of safari at Periyar Tiger Reserve.
We were very pleased & happy to see the animals at Periyar Tiger Reserve. We had very good sighting of the gentle giant (Elephant), but were a little disappointed due to the distance. We could not spot them very nearly. We’ll go back again and hopefully we’ll see more before we leave tomorrow. We really enjoyed our experience in the Periyar Tiger Reserve.- Mr. Daya
There’s something about Indian men above the age of fifty. Their features seem to lend themselves to being photographed. When they have beards, they are twice as photogenic, and when they crack a smile, it’s twice as radiant as that of a man half their age. One of my favorite aspects of the British colonial residue (or perhaps the Indian custom rubbed off on the Brits!) is the extravagant facial hair exhibited by many Indian men of a certain age – Keralites with enormous mustaches are not as common as in Tamil Nadu, but when they do it, they do it with class.
I appreciate the sentiment, if not all the implications, of the professor who commented for this amazing story in today’s New York Times story (in the “N.Y. /Region” section, for reasons you need to click through to understand): Continue reading
Point Pelee, Ontario
Mr. & Mrs. Kash, our guests at Cardamom County, have shared photos from their jeep safari excursion to Gavi- a widlife sanctuary at the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
We stayed at Cardamom County, Thekkady in Kerala planning to spend our day inside the forest. The staff suggested we go to Gavi. The three hours of open jeep safari along the path situated between the mountains was so exciting. During the jeep safari we had some good mountain views & the driver showed & explained the depth and height of the mountains. Then we trekked inside the forest along with a forest guide. We didn’t have much luck spotting animals but saw some black monkeys (Niligiri Langur), Malabar giant squirrel & some birds. It was a wonderful & unique experience to be in Gavi, one of the beautiful settings of the Western Ghats. – Mr. Kash
Who knew that evolutionary biology might surprise us with more examples of fathers playing an important role in the rearing of offspring? Most of the time, for most species, we think of the mother being invested with all the reasons to be the “responsible” parent.
Fort De Soto, FL
Mr. Remack & his family (from France but originally from the US) were guests at Cardamom County and shared their moments in the Periyar Tiger Reserve with us.
During our stay at Cardamom County my family and I visited the Periyar Tiger Reserve. Because the sun seemed quite hot we didn’t expect that we would spot many animals. But we were very lucky to spot the wild dogs ready to hunt sambar deer, an elephant and some of the wild boars. We spotted some birds too. We were really pleased to have such wonderful sighting. – Mr. Remack
“We see a huge market for food,” Hu “Tiger” Tao, a postdoc at Tufts University told Co.Exist. “People are always looking forward to some kind of sensor that’s easy to use and gives you information about spoilage.”
Ms. Rita & her colleagues (our current guests at Cardamom County) from Malaysia have shared some of their photos taken during the Nature Walk at Periyar Tiger Reserve.
I have visited Kerala every year for the past few years with my colleagues. This time we stayed at Cardamom County, where we scheduled a Nature Walk in the Periyar Tiger Reserve. We had some good sightings of birds and animals. It was an excellent journey being in the forest with just the four of us and our forest guide. The guide seemed to be very experienced, giving information all along the path which we followed in Periyar Tiger Reserve. We also spotted little tadpoles. The guide informed us that it is the current breeding season for them. We enjoyed it a lot and hope for the same in future. – Ms. Rita
Throughout Kerala, colorful trucks unload tons of produce and commodities every morning. Wholesalers, warehouses, and markets all maintain a steady flow of goods – and the cycle begins anew each morning. I occasionally venture into central Cochin’s main market (Broadway) to photograph the process, and the colorful people that are washed about by the endless tide of fruits and vegetables, fish and fowl.
In India, the migration from rural to urban areas is one of the most dynamic changes to the economy, the environment, the landscapes, the urbanscapes (just as in China and other rapidly developing agrarian economies) so it is refreshing to see and hear the stories that writer and photographer Lisa Hamilton shares on this site (click the image to go to one of those stories):
In February/March 2012, an ad-art campaign on trains throughout the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system will feature select portraits of people and places from rural California. In fall 2012, photographs from Real Rural will comprise a show at the California Historical Society Museum, and there will be a concurrent ad-art campaign on billboards in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Continue reading
Organikos 