Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Pulicat photo essay
A couple of years (I think) since I visited Pulicat. Sigh! In the meantime, I shall draw solace from wonderful collections like this.
Zenfolio | camerags | A visit to Pulicat with a 600mm/f4 telephoto lens
Zenfolio | camerags | A visit to Pulicat with a 600mm/f4 telephoto lens
Saturday, November 23, 2013
My mother's garden
My mother wrote this to me -
"25th July 2013 -
After my return from Bengaluru I have been hearing the call of a peacock periodically. I alerted your father about this unusual sound, but did not get any attention.
Today, he himself spotted a peahen on the rear lawn, it amazed him so much that he disturbed my yoga to call me to the sight. She had moved to the front and we were careful not to disturb her. She walked back to the rear lawn so fearlessly, majestically.
Such a perfect specimen, the colour, design and shape like in the books. Her neck moved in all direction continuously, not afraid of our whispers;
It then occured to us that we should photograph her. My camera as usual the battery was discharged, but your father decided to use his cellphone. He walked slowly to the open well for proximity, but she just flew to
our neighbour's wall, where we were successful in capturing a picture
of her.
Imagine our delight to boast of such a visitor! Such a surprise in the morning! And a stunning joy for us. The event has made your father tongue-tied and there is silence in Trishul."
The peahen was the talk of our family for a while, the grandchildren were blase, I was intrigued and my parents were really wonderstruck.
It has not been seen since.
30th Oct 2013
This time my mother was well-prepared with her camera. In her morning perambulations through the garden, she saw this fellow amidst the hibiscus flowers. She hurried back to her room and got the camera out, and took this picture to show me.
All through this, he sat still, fixing my mother with his beady stare.
A short horned grasshopper, but which one? There are some 10,000 types, and I wouldn't know which one this is.
But check out the camouflage. My mother sure was alert to spot this chap.
"25th July 2013 -
After my return from Bengaluru I have been hearing the call of a peacock periodically. I alerted your father about this unusual sound, but did not get any attention.
Today, he himself spotted a peahen on the rear lawn, it amazed him so much that he disturbed my yoga to call me to the sight. She had moved to the front and we were careful not to disturb her. She walked back to the rear lawn so fearlessly, majestically.
Such a perfect specimen, the colour, design and shape like in the books. Her neck moved in all direction continuously, not afraid of our whispers;
It then occured to us that we should photograph her. My camera as usual the battery was discharged, but your father decided to use his cellphone. He walked slowly to the open well for proximity, but she just flew to
our neighbour's wall, where we were successful in capturing a picture
of her.
Imagine our delight to boast of such a visitor! Such a surprise in the morning! And a stunning joy for us. The event has made your father tongue-tied and there is silence in Trishul."
The peahen was the talk of our family for a while, the grandchildren were blase, I was intrigued and my parents were really wonderstruck.
It has not been seen since.
30th Oct 2013
This time my mother was well-prepared with her camera. In her morning perambulations through the garden, she saw this fellow amidst the hibiscus flowers. She hurried back to her room and got the camera out, and took this picture to show me.
All through this, he sat still, fixing my mother with his beady stare.
A short horned grasshopper, but which one? There are some 10,000 types, and I wouldn't know which one this is.
But check out the camouflage. My mother sure was alert to spot this chap.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Technology and citizen science
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=8-apps-that-turn-citizens-into-scientists&page=4
What's Invasive: Invasive species often threaten native plants and animals, and experts need to know where to find them. That’s the main idea behind the What’s Invasive app, developed by the University of Georgia.
Price: Free
Platforms supported: iPhone, Android
How it works: The app displays local lists of invasive plants or animals that have been identified by the National Park Service and other management authorities. Users can help experts pinpoint invasive species by locating them and providing experts with GPS coordinates, accompanied by a photo and notes about the observation. The geotagged observations and photos are used to alert experts about the spread of habitat-destroying species. Users can also go online to whatsinvasive.com and set up their own site for invasive species data collection.
Similar apps: There are several apps of this kind tailored to citizen scientists living all over the country. IveGot1 is for identifying and reporting invasive plants and animals in Florida. SEEDN is an app for reporting invasive plants, insects and plant pathogens in the southeastern U.S., and is part an integrated invasive species reporting and outreach campaign. The Mid Atlantic Early Detection Network app is for those living in states that include Delaware, New York and Virginia as well as Washington, D.C. Observations submitted by citizen scientists using the app are uploaded to the Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System (EDDMapS), and e-mailed directly to local and state verifiers for review. EDDMapS West is a similar app for western states; and Outsmart Invasive Species is an app created for monitoring efforts specifically in Massachusetts.
What's Invasive: Invasive species often threaten native plants and animals, and experts need to know where to find them. That’s the main idea behind the What’s Invasive app, developed by the University of Georgia.
Price: Free
Platforms supported: iPhone, Android
How it works: The app displays local lists of invasive plants or animals that have been identified by the National Park Service and other management authorities. Users can help experts pinpoint invasive species by locating them and providing experts with GPS coordinates, accompanied by a photo and notes about the observation. The geotagged observations and photos are used to alert experts about the spread of habitat-destroying species. Users can also go online to whatsinvasive.com and set up their own site for invasive species data collection.
Similar apps: There are several apps of this kind tailored to citizen scientists living all over the country. IveGot1 is for identifying and reporting invasive plants and animals in Florida. SEEDN is an app for reporting invasive plants, insects and plant pathogens in the southeastern U.S., and is part an integrated invasive species reporting and outreach campaign. The Mid Atlantic Early Detection Network app is for those living in states that include Delaware, New York and Virginia as well as Washington, D.C. Observations submitted by citizen scientists using the app are uploaded to the Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System (EDDMapS), and e-mailed directly to local and state verifiers for review. EDDMapS West is a similar app for western states; and Outsmart Invasive Species is an app created for monitoring efforts specifically in Massachusetts.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Impressions of Xi'an - Terracotta Warriors and the Huaqing Hot Springs
Xian (known then as Chang-an) was the first capital of a
unified China. The gentleman who founded
the city was also the man who fought against, and consolidated in ten short
years, what were a group of squabbling kingdoms, creating the first unified
kingdom, the kernel of modern China. His
wasn't a dynasty that survived his death (210BC), but that first act of
consolidation is now considered seminal, and the country it gave birth to took
its name from that of his dynasty - Qin (pronounced Chin). He took the title Qin Shi Huang (The First
Sovereign Emperor of Qin) and is now referred to as the First Emperor: apart
from creating a united kingdom he built roads, consolidated the Great Wall,
created an administrative structure and gave China the script that lives on to
this day. He created a vast mausoleum
that he was eventually buried in and, in death, was guarded by a large army:
the Terracotta Warriors.
The burial site is some forty kilometres east of Xian and is
now easily accessed by an expressway.
After the collapse of the Qin dynasty, parts of the site were ravaged and set afire and then forgotten. In 1974, amidst a drought, six brothers started digging a well at what they thought was a promising spot below the Lin Mountain. As unexpected events go, this was a good one. The spot they picked turned out to be the southeastern corner of the site where the Warriors had been buried. A few feet further east or south and the warriors might have remained buried and the site would have been just another undulation in the Chinese countryside. There was more to the unexpected turn of events. The Cultural Revolution was still raging, remember, and archaeologists were not exactly thick on the ground. Those that remained were likely getting reeducated in revolutionary thought rather than practicing their profession. As luck would have it, there was an archaeologist in a nearby village called Lintong. Perhaps he was so far off the beaten track that the Cultural Revolution never caught up with him. In any event, he came to hear about the broken shards of terracotta, recognized their significance, and moved to protect the site.
The death of Mao in 1976 and the changes that followed meant
that excavating the site and reconstructing the warriors became a national
priority.
Today, visitors enter the site via a large granite paved
plaza. (Granite paving appears to be the
landscaping of choice for historical sites in Xian.) Manicured gardens, stands
of trees and landscaping mean that the original mound of dirt is a forgotten
memory. Lintong, five kilometres west,
is now a bustling town.
Entering Pit 1 of the Warriors' site |
Restored Pit 1. An amazing sight! |
The warriors, each one unique, now stand in proud rows, having lost only their coats of paint and their weapons to the centuries. The site has been only partly excavated. The vast majority of the warriors still lie buried, awaiting improvements in archaeological and restoration techniques. What we see today is a live archaeological site. The warriors themselves, large ranks going back many rows, are impressive. Even more impressive is the way the dig has been displayed. We see how the columns have been excavated, the packed earthen walls that separate the columns, the indentations made by the wooden beams that once provided a roof for the warriors, and much else.
The floors were rammed with earth and paved with bricks. |
A sign shows us the spot of that 1974 well. |
Parts of three pits have been excavated, and walkways surrounded
the pits. Crowds (almost all Chinese:
there were only a handful of foreigners) walked around gaping, photographing,
chattering: people were friendly and orderly and there was no pushing and
shoving.
Pit 3 was completely different in layout, and was the command centre for the rest of the army. |
Yet to be excavated. Imprints of the fiber mats | that were part of the roof |
A museum stood off to one side. The exhibits were well displayed and labeled:
originals, replicas, items loaned to, or borrowed from other museums.
A high ranking officer |
Cavalryman with his horse |
Emerging out, we were greeted by this long kite in the sky |
We left the campus with mixed feelings of awe and regret: history usually remembers only tyrants. |
Huaqing hot springs
The way back to Xian took us through Lintong. Our driver, like all the drivers we met in
China, was uncommunicative. Perhaps,
like the rest, he spoke no English.
Perhaps Chinese drivers, unlike their Indian counterparts, prefer
silence. In any event, he pulled into a
parking lot in Lintong and silently pointed us down the road. For some reason: the weather, the topography
with undulations and the mountains to our left, the roads themselves, this
place reminded me of La Canada Flintridge in distant California. Perhaps I was just a bit tired.
The Huaqing Hot Springs site is an odd agglomeration. The hot spring still exists, bubbling into a fountain of sorts, and there were plenty of people splashing the water onto their faces and arms. There is a rather nice garden and lake. We posed for pictures, and an excited Chinese gentleman came running up and wanted his photograph taken with us. So there we were, a Chinese, a Russian and an Indian, arms around each other, smiling under a clear early Chinese summer sky.
The hot springs bubbling up |
An excavated site, now enclosed, includes the Tang dynasty
baths. The surrounding walls carried a
series of drawing depicting the great love affair of Emperor Xuanzong and his
consort Yang Guifei. As I saw it, the
lovers, having overcome assorted obstacles and objections, eventually became
swans (it could have been storks) and, together to the very end, flew off to
heaven. Sorry to say, it didn't bring a
tear to my eye. Perhaps I am too cynical
for these romantic tales.
The crabapple pool |
The most interesting part of the site was a set of buildings
where Chiang Kai Shek had his headquarters in the 1930s. His office, bedroom and the room where an
assassination attempt took place (bullet marks on the wall!) are all well
preserved. Chiang is everywhere referred
to by his full title: Generalissimo.
Chiang and Mao were sworn enemies.
The communists defeated Chiang's Kuomintang in the late 1940s to take
power, and Chiang fled to Taiwan, taking with him a host of treasures from the
Forbidden City. Chiang was enemy number
one, in other words. Yet here was
Chiang, titled, and his history well preserved and far from airbrushed out of
existence. I suppose it was Chinese
pragmatism once more: there are plenty of tourists from Taiwan these days and
what better way to get their attention than an exhibit featuring the old
Generalissimo. I wonder what Mao would
have made of all this.
Airports, and the roads that take you into the city, are not
merely gateways. One's first impressions
of a country and a city are coloured by them, and first impressions leave their
taint on everything that follows.
Our final hours in China took us past the old city walls,
through suburbs, and onto the highway leading to the airport. The suburbs were striking: a standing army of
identikit 20-30 floor apartment blocks, most complete and, as far as we could
see, unoccupied. They looked well
planned, with broad access roads, provision for shopping areas and large
gardens. American suburbia, scaled up
vertically, lacking nothing but residents.
We had seen something similar in the far outskirts of Beijing and this
was perhaps confirmation that at least some of China's recent growth was
actually a real estate bubble.
The highway to the airport was as impressive as the one in
Beijing and the airport itself had three modern terminals. The quick efficiency of Beijing was missing,
though. We had to wait a while for the
check-in counter to open. The impatient
queue that waited for the counter to open was more India than Singapore, and
the time it took for the immigration formalities suggested that while the
hardware was in place, the processes and people - the software - had some
catching up to do.
Our transit in Hong Kong was further confirmation that China
was still a work in progress. Not that
that was any consolation. Anna International Terminal in Chennai and the
potholed and dimly lit highway outside confirmed that we cannot take even small
pleasure in China's inadequacies.
Impressions of Xi'an - Xiaoyan and the Muslim Quarter
First sightings - Xiaoyan pagoda. Built around 710 AD. |
The Little Wild Goose Pagoda isn't small by any means: the
'little' is relative. Unlike its larger
brother, this pagoda stands in a much more natural setting amidst a sprawling
garden. No granite and fountains here,
only shady paths, trees and plenty of birdsong.
It was a haven amidst the bustle of the city and we just sat, stretched
our legs and relaxed.
In 1487, the 15-storey pagoda was split by an earthquake/ Appears that it was glued together in the '60s. |
Early portraits
Next door was a small lake with a more manicured
garden. Geese strutted around waiting to
be fed. Dustbins dotted the garden
expanse and they were being used. There
was very little litter, something that struck us again and again in China. Better civic sense? The threat of fines? More efficient cleanup? Convenient dustbins? All of the above? Whatever it was, it seemed to work. Even the most crowded places we visited were much
cleaner than their Indian counterparts.
The Xian museum did not rate any special mention in the
guidebooks. We wandered in for a quick
look-see and some air-conditioning (entry was free!). We ended up spending the better part of an
hour walking around. Apart from the model
of tenth century Xian, there were exhibits of items excavated from the vicinity
going back some 3000 years. A profusion
of Buddhist relics from the Tang dynasty accompanied remnants of pottery,
building materials and other artifacts unearthed as the foundations were laid
for today's Xian. As with other museums
we visited in China, everything was neatly laid out and labeled. Sadly, the contrast with Indian museums was
only too evident.
Gilded Bodhisattva from the Tang period |
"Gold traced and painted statue of Avalokiteswara". Northern Zhou dynasty |
A stele with Buddhas on all four sides - from the 4th century |
The little lake beside the museum |
The pagoda, with modern Xi'an behind |
We were making our way out of the grounds and almost missed
the small building off to one side.
Exhibition on the Cultural Revolution, said a banner. My wife's curiosity overcame my reluctance and
we went in to take a look. The exhibits
- photographs, a few articles and commentary (in English!) - occupied the
corner of a room. The unequivocal
message was this: Chairman Mao was a great man who unified the country and
helped drive out the Japanese, but his Cultural Revolution was a big
mistake.
Reformers led by Deng Xiaoping
learned from the social and economic chaos caused by the Revolution and
initiated the reforms that set China on the path to growth and prosperity. So there it was in black and white: official
acknowledgement that Mao had erred, that Maoism had outlived its usefulness,
and that it was time to move on. Perhaps
we need to send Indian Maoists and Marxists to China for some re-education.
Apart from his ubiquitous presence on currency notes and his
portrait and mausoleum in Tiananmen Square, Mao was absent in China. There was plenty of history and culture being
resurrected and burnished wherever we went. It appeared to me, though, that the nominally
communist ruling party was gradually airbrushing its communist past out of its
history.
The drum tower |
Old Chinese cities marked the beginning and end of the day
with the chiming of bells and the beating of drums. (Earlier still, battles were fought only at
specified times, and the bells and drums marked the beginning and end of each
day's battle: the custom survived the era of wars.) The well preserved (or well restored) Bell
Tower of Xian sits at the heart of the walled city, encircled by a never-ending
stream of traffic and surrounded by monumental Soviet style buildings dating
from the 1950s. A short distance away,
adjacent to buildings housing McDonalds, Starbucks and Haagen Dazs outlets,
sits the (equally well preserved/restored) Drum Tower. These are large, impressive, structures and
hold their own even in their twenty first century surroundings.
Exploring the Muslim QuarterWalk a little further, turn right past a large mall, and you find yourself in a narrow alleyway, dodging scooters and motorized rickshaws. This is the Muslim Quarter of Xian, another remnant of the time when the city was the terminus of the silk route. The looks and sounds of the modern city are completely absent here. We felt we were in some Middle Eastern bazaar. Shops and restaurants spilt out onto the street. Mounds of dried fruits and dates filled open sacks. Skewered kababs awaited their turn in the oven, as did circles of unleavened bread.
The obsessive tidiness of the main thoroughfares was absent
here. The Chinese street signs were the
only indication of where we actually were.
The alleyway was too narrow for traffic, but that didn't stop the laden
scooters and rickshaws attempting to make their way through the pedestrian
crowds.
We came to a junction and turned into another crowded
alleyway moving, we hoped, towards the Great Mosque. There was no sign of any large mosque (or any
large structure) anywhere. More of the
same shops, passageways leading to small habitations, bicycles and scooters,
the odd tree, but no mosque. We looked
at our map. It had to be here somewhere,
except that there was absolutely nothing anywhere resembling a large green
space with a mosque. We finally stopped
and asked for directions. Sign language
and much pointing at the map, in case you were wondering. As in the rest of Xian, English is limited to
the road signs.
We were pointed down an even narrower covered alley, its
shops filled with tourist bric-a-brac. T-shirts
featuring Obama and Mao, playing cards with Saddam Hussein's smiling face, the
Little Red Book translated into the most unexpected languages, mugs, mats,
scarves and much else. There was none of
the competitive hustle and bustle of a true middle-eastern bazaar. Negotiations were civilized. If we only wanted to look, no one bothered
us.
We then came to a gate with a polite gentleman wanting to know where we were from. He seemed pleased to hear that we were from India. And, quite unexpectedly, there we were, in the first (of three) courtyard of the Great Mosque.
The mosque dates from the eight century, but as with
everything else in China, it is difficult to tell what has been restored, added
or repaired or whether even any part of the original structure still survives. That apart, this is a mosque like no
other. This is very Chinese set of
buildings and even what passes for a minaret is a Chinese tower. Arabic calligraphy here and there is the only
indication of its purpose.
It was quiet and restful inside, with plenty of trees
providing shade. The sounds of the
bazaar and the larger city are absent.
The chatter of birds and the distant sound of prayer were the only
sounds.
I couldn't help thinking that this place was a kind of
terminus. Islam came this far but,
running up against more ancient beliefs, didn't go any further. These buildings with their syncretism of
Chinese styles and Islamic calligraphy marked an outpost. Today, we are told, there are only about
20,000 Muslims in Xian. Judging from the
white caps and headscarves we saw near the mosque and their absence elsewhere
in the city, it looks as though most of them live and do business in this
crowded jumble of streets.
It was past six, the sunlight slowly softening and painting the Bell Tower in mellow hues. Across, in a large 1950s era edifice, was the post office. We wanted to send a few postcards and wondered if we were too late. We needn't have worried. As elsewhere, pragmatism ruled. There were others sending parcels, posting letters and sticking stamps on postcards. People needed to use the post office at this hour, and it was open as a result. No protests in the People's Republic about long working hours. (Interestingly, the postcards we sent to the US reached in a week. The postcards to India took three months. I wonder why.)
The Xi'an People's Hotel - a communist relic, now under renovation in private hands |
To be sure, life is far from perfect in China, but by and
large there is a sense that the government's job is to do something for its
citizens. We walked back to our hotel
along broad, tree-lined sidewalks, and couldn't help thinking that this small
pleasure, a quiet evening stroll, was impossible in our native Chennai.
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