Speed Painting by Gopal Krishna from CHRISTEL HOUSE INDIA, Bangalore

Photoshop.com Album: Christel House India

Students earn trip to Youth Summit at Stanford

Two students and our art teacher from Christel House India have been selected to attend the first annual Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) Summit 2009 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. They are part of Christel House India's Animation & Short Film making team who are trained by professionals from AYV.AYV is an initiative sponsored by Adobe in association with America India Foundation with a vision to introduce young minds to the digital world. The Adobe Youth Voice Summit will bring together 100 global AYV participants who represent over 7,500 youth and 400 educators from more than 30 countries

Heroes never Die!

Heroes never Die! The methods of war may change.. But the aim of war will not .

- Velupillai Prabhakaran

Heroes never Die!

Heroes never Die! The methods of war may change.. But the aim of war will not .

- Velupillai Prabhakaran

"Look at this Godawful mess."

And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: "Look at this Godawful mess."

~Art Buchwald, 1970

New water color painting

Near ArtHub

Rain near Gulmohar

The Sacred Tree

Traditional people of Indian nations have interpreted the two roads that face the light-skinned race as the road to technology and the road to spirituality. We feel that the road to technology.... has led modern society to a damaged and seared earth. Could it be that the road to technology represents a rush to destruction, and that the road to spirituality represents the slower path that the traditional native people have traveled and are now seeking again? The earth is not scorched on this trail. The grass is still growing there."

-William Commanda, Mamiwinini, Canada, 1991

The Sacred Tree

Mangroves under threat in Kannur

Mangroves under threat in kannur

How Schools Kill Creativity

http://www.ted.com/ Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. TEDTalks is a daily video ...

World Theatre Day - International Message

Augusto Boal

All human societies are “spectacular” in their daily life and produce “spectacles” at special moments. They are “spectacular” as a form of social organization and produce “spectacles” like the one you have come to see. Even if one is unaware of it, human relationships are structured in a theatrical way. The use of space, body language, choice of words and voice modulation, the confrontation of ideas and passions, everything that we demonstrate on the stage, we live in our lives. We are theatre! Weddings and funerals are “spectacles”, but so, also, are daily rituals so familiar that we are not conscious of this. Occasions of pomp and circumstance, but also the morning coffee, the exchanged good-mornings, timid love and storms of passion, a senate session or a diplomatic meeting - all is theatre. One of the main functions of our art is to make people sensitive to the “spectacles” of daily life in which the actors are their own spectators, performances in which the stage and the stalls coincide. We are all artists. By doing theatre, we learn to see what is obvious but what we usually can’t see because we are only used to looking at it. What is familiar to us becomes unseen: doing theatre throws light on the stage of daily life. Last September, we were surprised by a theatrical revelation: we, who thought that we were living in a safe world, despite wars, genocide, slaughter and torture which certainly exist, but far from us in remote and wild places. We, who were living in security with our money invested in some respectable bank or in some honest trader’s hands in the stock exchange were told that this money did not exist, that it was virtual, a fictitious invention by some economists who were not fictitious at all and neither reliable nor respectable. Everything was just bad theatre, a dark plot in which a few people won a lot and many people lost all. Some politicians from rich countries held secret meetings in which they found some magic solutions. And we, the victims of their decisions, have remained spectators in the last row of the balcony. Twenty years ago, I staged Racine’s Phèdre in Rio de Janeiro. The stage setting was poor: cow skins on the ground, bamboos around. Before each presentation, I used to say to my actors: “The fiction we created day by day is over. When you cross those bamboos, none of you will have the right to lie. Theatre is the Hidden Truth”. When we look beyond appearances, we see oppressors and oppressed people, in all societies, ethnic groups, genders, social classes and casts; we see an unfair and cruel world. We have to create another world because we know it is possible. But it is up to us to build this other world with our hands and by acting on the stage and in our own life. Participate in the “spectacle” which is about to begin and once you are back home, with your friends act your own plays and look at what you were never able to see: that which is obvious. Theatre is not just an event; it is a way of life! We are all actors: being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it. Augusto Boal Click here to see the list of past WTD International Address writers. Boal is the inventor of Forum Theatre and Theatre for the Oppressed, and was recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Read his entire biography here.

Indian Pluralism: Jai Ho!

Ram Puniyani

India’s political and cultural mosaic has been a matter of multiple volumes by social scientists. In a very simple by profound way aspects of this fascinating phenomenon of Indian society also gets reflected in most of the expressions of Indian cultural expressions, including films. The currently popular Slumdog Millionaire is no exception. The film and the aspects associated with its making display the rich cultural canvass of our society. While the critics have been talking about the film showcasing India’s poverty to the World, it being right or wrong, the other interesting aspect of the film relates to on screen and behind the screen aspects of the film of the film showing India’s plural heritage and its continuation today. The film bagged three Oscars. And they have a lot of tale to tell. All the three recipients of the Oscars have Muslim names; one of them is a Sikh (Gulzar) who has assumed Muslim name to keep him reminded of the partition carnage of 1947, which he witnessed with great anguish and pain. The second one is a born Muslim, Resul Pokkuty and third one, Alla Rakhah Rahman, was a Hindu Dilip Kumar, who changed to Islam under the influence of a Sufi saint, a Pir. When Resul accepted the award he said it is a Shiv Ratri gift for him and that he is accepting it for his country, India. Allah Rakha Rehman converted to Islam when he came in contact with a Muslim Pir, during the period of sickness of his father. Rahman is not alone in this as in India most of the Muslims converted to Islam due to the humanistic teachings of Sufi Pirs. There is a popular perception that Islam spread in India due to the threat of Muslim Kings, who came with Koran in one hand and sword in the other. The best counter to this was put by none other than Swami Vivekananda, who points out that Islam was embraced by Shudras to escape the tyranny of Landlord-Brahmin combine. There must have been many other reasons for conversions to Islam, apart from this major reason of the caste oppression, but this anyway remained the major one. A good number adopted Islam due to social interaction, like navayats in Malabar Coast in Kerala and Mewats in Rajasthan region. As such in religious tradition there are many interactive ones’. There have been Bhakti saints who had following amongst Muslims and Hindus both, and there have been Sufi Pirs who had followers amongst Hindus and Muslims in equal measure. The saints like Ram Deo Baba Pir are amongst the most popular one’s amongst the poor and low caste, cutting across the religions. Contrary to the present perceptions that Hindus and Muslims were two hostile communities, there has been a natural amity and harmony amongst the religious communities. This gets reflected in all the aspects of our social lives, be it the arena of literature, music, architecture or any other, one can clearly see the influence of each on other. The culture was hardly dictated by religion alone, within same religion there are many cultures and in most of the cultures in India one can see the influence of different religions. Many a regional aspects of the culture have been thickly intertwined. While for Ustad Bismillah Khan life was unthinkable without the river Ganges and the Kashi Temples, Munshi Premchand could think only of Urdu as the medium of his writing when he began his career as a writer. Rahi Masum Raza can write the script for the most popular Hindi mega serial Mahabharata with effortlessly, and the likes of Javed Akhtar can write the best of Bhajans for the Hindi films. Even amongst kings the enmity was not around religious issues. We see the Hindu kings in the court of Muslim kings, Raja Todarmal and Birbal being the part of Akbar’s nine jewels, while Raja Mansing being his commander in chief. Aurangzeb, supposedly the most fanatic Muslim ruler had 33% of his officials from amongst Hindus and one of his important Generals was none other than Raja Jaisingh. Shivaji, the highly revered Maratha King had Maulana Haider Ali as his confidential secretary, Siddi Sambal as his commander and Rutam-e-Jaman as his body guard-spy in chief. He was the one who built the Dargah in honor of slain Muslim King Afzal Khan, whom he had killed for political reasons. The food habits also got mixed up, beef eating which was prevalent in Vedic times, had become a taboo later, as Cow came to be revered as mother. To defer to the sentiments of Hindus, to respect the feeling of their Hindu subjects, many a Muslim Emperors advised against the killing of Cows. It’s due to all this that, Dara Shikoh, wrote a book Majma ul Bahrain, elaborating in the book that India is a vast ocean made of two seas, Hinduism and Islam. One of the highlights of 1857 rebellion against the East India company rule was the coming together of Hindus and Muslims, at the level of Kings, soldiers and peasants. It was this intercommunity unity which gave a warning signal to the British and they intensified their policy of divide and rule, introducing communal historiography, which even to the day remains as a part of social common sense. It led to those policies which encouraged communal politics in the form of Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha-RSS. Indian pluralism has been unique in more sense than one. There has been a heavy interaction of religious communities, at the level of power (kings-Landlords), at the level of culture (Music, literature, customs, food, attire) and at the level of religion (Bhakti and Sufi traditions) It is the rise of communal politics post 1980 that the British initiated project of divisiveness has resurfaced, tried to narrow down all the politics at identity level and made the religious identities firm and deep. The fundamentalists of both religions are now looking down at the mixed traditions and pluralism, saying they are against ‘our’ religion. Slumdog while portraying the social reality, the impact of communal violence on society also highlights the deeper and most worthy interactive traditions. Tragically from last two decades the voices opposing the syncretism and plural cultural and life in India have become stronger, opposing Gazal concerts, destroying paintings, opposing those celebrating festivals like Valentine day, opposing inter-religious marriges and what have you. Hope we are at the end of the phase during which the communal politics created a hostile atmosphere against the plural ethos of our society.

Between the Rain and the Mind…,Or It is Mind Raining…

Between the Rain and the Mind…,Or It is Mind Raining… Dhanaraj Keezhara presents his new painting series, titled – “I SHALL DIE IN A HEAVY RAIN” For Dhanaraj, the medium of painting is a tool to express his feelings, imaginations and philosophy of life. In the exibition in 2006 - Truth from the Margin he visualized the marginalized communities. The current series captures the emotions associated with rain and is also a critical commentary on destruction to the environment. As a study of the politics of water, Dhanaraj’s work explores related issues such as global warming, land-mining and consumerism. These frames are a stark contrast to scenes from his own village that describe the land in rainy seasons – scenes that depict vibrant life.Titles Manasu Peyyunnu or ‘mind raining’, these frames offer a live visual experience of rain in the village. It takes the viewer from blue swirling winds and black clouds of gloom to shafts of light and liveliness, and to rain-drenched green fields of happiness. Yet what is impossible to translate into words is the artist’s ‘real time’ experiences. What it is possible to feel is the intricate weaving of several strands of thought and feeling. Nostalgic imagination, ideological perspective, economic and political commentary and ethnic insight all weave themselves together. Finally, it is these merging streams of artistic intuition and current reality that draws in the viewer. Dhanaraj’s Keezhara’s title “I Shall Die in a Heavy Rain” suggests a mind trying to register his anxiety and protest. These frames of nostalgic rainy landscape and rhythmic mystic rain provide a context for deep meditation or reflection within the discursive structure of society. The painter explicitly points out the innumerable environmental hazards created by men, and an increasing human estrangement from nature, of which we have become a silent witness. Jalasamadhi, for instance, dedicated to Plachimada movement, unveils the strategic plots behind the emerging economy of bottled water culture. Representations of politics and nostalgia are juxtaposed with the diverse melodies of raining, drizzling, and pouring, which the artist depicts using bright and thick colours. Further, the paintings describe that in between the emotions and politics, in between the drizzles and raindrops, there is a moment of silence. It is in this silent space one can meditate and search oneself, and hence the name “mind raining”. Dhanaraj Keezhara’s work emerges from the negotiations of people with their society and environment. Fired by a belief in art's ability to heal and renew a world torn asunder by violence and strife, he has continuously involved himself in community initiatives and education. From his student days at the College of Fine Arts, Kannur, through his ten year stint at various NGO’s and his present work at CHRISTEL HOUSE INDIA Bangalore, art has always been a means of connecting with people and sharing his emotions and experiences. He has lived and worked with several indigenous communities including the tribal communities of Wayanad in Kerala, the Lambani community of Bidar, bordering Karnataka and Maharashtra as well as the Narmada valley community during the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Campaign). These experiences and dialogues continue to enrich his work.

Dr. Sujith Parayil

thepinkchaddicampaign

Women send pink underwear to Pramod Mutalik But will it suit him, do you think? By Subhankar Kundu Indian youths have found a unique way to express their anger against what they see as moral bullying from Sri Ram Sena and its leader Pramod Mutalik. In a fitting reply to Pramod Mutalik’s disturbing anti-Valentine’s day remarks, the blog http://thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com/ is urging people to gift them with cartloads of pink underwear. The Pink Chaddi Campaign was kicked off on 5 February to protest against the Sena’s warning against celebrating Valentine’s Day and the attacks on women in Mangalore. It started off online among members of a social networking group but now, people out on the streets are joining in. A "consortium of pub-going, loose and forward women", still seething from Pramod Mutalik’s lecture, will collect chaddis from across the country and courier them to the Sri Rama Sena’s Bangalore office by V-Day. This is the revenge of the urban woman, the pink undergarment her symbol of annoyance. A magazine journalist, Nisha Susan, started the blog with the idea that it could be a forum for people to express their anger over the group’s notorious activities. Nisha said, "On Thursday, I had an impulse that we should do something. I planned this campaign and posted it on the blog." Nisha claims that there are around 1,700 posts from every corner of the world, including small towns and Indian metros. These posts came in across all age groups, from six-year-old to senior citizens, and a lot of men too. Nisha says, "They are not fools. They are political manipulators and we should give them what they deserve." She fears that if Ram Sena’s activities are ignored, more political groups will hijack the issue and try to control women’s freedom. The campaigners do not specify if the undergarment should be new, but people interested can drop ‘pink chaddis’ at the collection box. The blog says, "Look in your closet or buy them cheap. Dirt-cheap. Make sure they are PINK. Send them off to the Sena."

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theyyam

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we are by your side

please click more about our new Child Right film" we are by with you" : http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=y9YG9Vg8lDk

Underprivileged kids film picked for Naples fest: IBNLive.com > Videos

Underprivileged kids film picked for Naples fest: IBNLive.com > Videos