সংখ্য চকর গদা পদ্য

#Flowerfun #godsowndesign

A photo posted by Shreya Bhattacharya (@shreya.blabbers) on Jul 22, 2015 at 9:53pm PDT

সংখ্য চকর গদা পদ্য 

sanko chakro goda poddo. A conch shell, the Vishnu chakra, the mighty Indian Mace and the pious lotus , that is how my Grand mother would explain this  flower everyday as we walked back from school.

Reading into history, one finds that the flower seems to have gather a lot of folklore and mystic charms across cultures, religions and continents. Weather or not the claims of the flower's magical powers to bring peace to troubles in the home as well as to attract friends and popularity, be true or not it definitely has attracted a lot of stories woven around the sweet fragrance & elaborate form.

It is also called the Kaurav - Pandav flower in many parts of India, named after the hundred Kauravas & five Pandavs from the mythological pages of the Mahabharata, not miss with Draupadi at the center. Some consider it the war scene with the mighty Krishna (probably associated due to the blue colour of hi aura and hence called Krishna Kamala in many sourthern regions) at the center guiding the five pandavas against hundreds of the opposing kauravas.

Oh also Passionflower is the official wildflower of Tennessee. 

The Christian signify it with the crucifixion of Christ.  The ten petals and sepals, to the Spanish, represented ten disciples present at the crucifixion. The three stigma represented three nails on the cross, the five anthers the five wounds of Christ. The many fringes represented the crown of thorns in the passion story. Bosio counted 72 fringes or filaments, which according to tradition, writes Vanderplank, is the number of thorns in the crown of thorns. Interpretations vary in literature. The passion flower, he writes, was a witness at the crucifixion.

The Passion Plant that grows in North America is called Maypops. If you step on the fruit which is the size of a golf ball, it would make a loud popping sound, therefore the name.

Outside the Christian heartland, the elaborate flowers have reminded people of the face of a clock. In Israel they are known as clock-flower and so in Greece as. In  Japan too, they are known as tokeisō aka  the clock plant 

For centuries artists have been drawn to draw this exotic plant resulting in amazing pieces of work. 

The most significant of these is Joos van Cleve's  "maddona & child" again an embarkation of numerous folklores on Christ & passion.

Maud "There has Fallen a splendid Tear From the Passion Flower at the Gate"

The Pink Coach

“I am Strong … I am invincible… I am woman”

On the rush hours of 9 30 in the morning, on board the delhi metro express train to Gurgaon I bless DMRC for the pink coach. Laden with ladies of all sorts with the common underlining factor : most of them are headed to the office. When you look at the sheer number of corporate faced laptop loaded women of the city (and not compare the figure to the one of the opposite sex in the eight other similar coaches) you feel proud to live in the times when we have come such a long way from behind our purdahs and prathas, out in the open, yes still fighting the gravity pulling us down under but we are putting up a good show. I wonder why still in the far flung areas of our country men & women are not happy to see their children grow. It ought to be a proud feeling to see your daughter or sister brave the world n win its many challenges, true she would be doing n number of things to make the neighbor aunty raise her painted eyebrows. But times have moved on and we need to look beyond the neighbor aunty, hear more than what her gossip has to say, and think beyond the worries of what the uncle next door would think of us.

Pic: Live Mint

Pic: The Hindu

So inside the pink coach looking at the pretty faces of different ages, different professions: I see stories. The dreamy eyes of the chura clad newly weds, the tired story of experience of the aunty contemplating the demand of the senior citizen seat, the nervous looks before the interviews of the one with many files in hand, the forlorn look of the sindoorless young girl, the strong look of the crafty professional, the intimidated new n town girls, the getting late corporate, the skimpy clothed aide, the sari clad bhabiji, the sleepy n tired fresher, the habitual working mother, the rebel runaway daughter, the dotting wife, the responsible mother, the smart home maker…

Too many roles too many faces, too many stories all moving forward in the pink coach!

Pic: DMRC Footage

Heritage Handlooms

Retrospection of the various craft projects, development activities and  design development of crafts in India I have gone from appreciating them to loving them to fighting to preserve them. 

Crafts are not just about pretty,  handmade,  mostly eco friendly products.  It's about hope and smiles for the millions making them.  It's about a sustainable solution to economic disparity and strengthening of national resources.  The decline of crafts is a step towards killing of the folk economy.  It is the reason for Migration and the impending rather race people face. 

Encouragement of the traditional cottage industries is the only step towards sustainable growth and economic harmony and equality. 

While the sun shines

Been browsing through the numerous unattended drafts on my dashboard (there are actually more unfinished ones than the finished posts believe me.) So a piece dated 2010 caught my eye. Briefly it was dedicated to the development crisis in the nation and questioned how shining is India Inc... It focused on the paradox of a society where the streets around a five star hotel is littered with hungry kids feeding off dustbins. (True we dont see them around anymore thanks to common wealth beautification drive). An economy which has people failing to spend rs 25 on one square meal a day to people who spend 25000 on dinner alone.

The paradox remains and as sociologists say, it always will. But what has changed is the feeling of hopelessness. The pulse of the nation which read " Is desh ka kuch nei ho sakta" is finally seen to turn to the greens. There is hope, while the sun shines.  Thanks to a number of eminent personalities, a general consciousness seems to have developed. People talk of change, people talk of making the society a better place and some even dream of bringing out the change. And that in itself is such an encouraging prospect. "India Shining" ... maybe, " India Changing" Definately!!!!