from India!

I've been here two weeks and two days and loooving it as usual; there's more than a month till return and I'm already dreading it.

I spend my days mostly walking around, eating, shopping, reading and painting (not really that much painting). There are still a lot of foreign people around Besant Nagar; mostly Europeans, but there are a few Africans and East Asian people too. By now they've melted into the landscape and nobody even looks at them any more. I'm still baffled as to exactly what they do here. Work? Where? I just came from FabIndia where I saw these French girls... I'm still in raptures, and not just about their pretty speech. They were so elegant!  Especially one in a simple white kurtha with chikan embroidery (I think) and beige pants. I want. 

There are a few things which still irritate me... in fact seem to have worsened. One of them is the roads which are pathetic and potholed and not even straight. Then, the bed of dust that lines the road (aka sidewalk), is dotted by random piles of rubbish. It makes no sense to me at all that nobody does anything about them especially when they're fronting opulent, mansion-esque houses with otherwise impeccable gardens. My grandmother lives very near the actor Vikram (big in Tamil films, was also the bad guy in Raavan) and his house is absolutely massive. He seems to own around 15 cars and there are always a team of secucrity people at the front. Then a few metres away, a huge festering heap of rubbish. You'd think that at least the smell, pushed exactly in their direction by the sea breeze would propel them to do something?!

This brings me to another point, something that makes me very, very sad. The huge number of strays in the street that feed on this pile of rubbish. They live terrible, loveless lives trying to stay alive in the middle of thick traffic and are reviled by the general population who immediately assume that they're riddled with rabies or something. When they try to find food in the rubbish (which, apart from being unsuited to dogs, I'm sure it's gone off) they usually swallow the plastic that covers it, strangulating the gut and killing them slowly and painfully.

That aside, I've been watching movies: Tintin (not my thing, but cute) Bol (the best movie I've watched all year!) and 180 (again... for Siddharth). I've been reading books: Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore (excellent), 15 Amar Chitra Kathas, some P.G. Wodehouse book, a few Filmfare mazines, short stories by Premchand, Rumi's poetry. Most of these were within the first week, now because luggage space is limited I've restrained myself. But it's so hard to hold back when they are so cheeaaaaaaaap.

Then I went shopping! Mostly the usual places, bought some tops, jewellery, a kurtha and a sari in Nalli's :p and then this new shopping mall that's opened. It's massive! And more impressive than any single place I've ever seen in Sydney (including Westfield, Bondi) or Melbourne.It has Gloria Jeans, Cookie man, Forever New, Toni and Guy and Roxy. All Australian brands I think ... for a moment I was like, eh? But it irks me that, while this can be seen as a symbol of "progress", it sits so comfortably alongside outside filth and poverty. It's a striking image when you look out the window of the Burberry shop and see leathery old destitute women, beggars and children, practically rolling in the dust.

OK that capitalism post is on hold because I am tooootally not in a political economic frame of mind right now and it's a very difficult, vast topic.

Hello :)

hello, long time :) blame exams, not me. I've been itching to write on a particular topic for AGES but haven't had the chance. I still don't have quite enough time now- but I'll do it within a few days. After 2 years and 7 units of studying political economy, I think I've formed a pretty good idea about why capitalism is a bad idea; at least, in its current form.

 In the mean time, I found this:

 

And this:

If I could be anyone in the world, I'd be Audrey Tautou.

Manifestos

DASHA BLOGGED THIS

Art


To justify the artist’s professional, parasitic, and elite status
in society, 
he must demonstrate artist’s indispensibility and exclusiveness, 
he must demonstrate the dependability of audience upon
him, 
he must demonstrate that no one but the artist can do art.


Therefore, art must appear to be complex, pretentious,
profound, serious, intellectual, inspired, skillful, significant,
theatrical, It must appear to be valuable as commodity, so
as to provide the artist with an income.


To raise its value (artist’s income and patron’s profit), art is
made to appear rare, limited in quantity and therefore
obtainable and accessible only to the social elite and institutions.


 (Dusseldorf, 1963)


_______________________
In contrast, (Fluxus is an art event) 


Fluxus Art-Amusement

To establish the artist’s nonprofessional status in society, 
he must demonstrate the artist’s dispensibility and inclusiveness, 
he must demonstrate the self-sufficiency of the audience, 
he must demonstrate that anything can be art and anyone
can do it.

Therefore, art-amusement must be simple, amusing, unpretentious, concerned with insignificances, require no skill or
countless rehearsals, and have no commodity or institutional value.


The value of art-amusement must be lowered by making it
unlimited, massproduced, obtainable by all and eventually
pro-duced by all.


Fluxus art-amusement is the rear guard without any pretention or urge to participate in the competition of ‘oneupmanship’ with the avant-garde. It strives for the monostructural and nontheatrical qualities of a simple natural event, a game or a gag. It is the fusion of Spike Jones, Vaudeville, gag, children’s games and Duchamp.


(New York, 1965)
______________________________________
I think I actually understand art better now. 
On the other hand, I'm writing a manifesto on design/visual communication. 
Should it be successful(ly finished) I might post it up. :) 

Vegenathan

Vegetarianism is a heavy and difficult topic to cover for me without getting preachy. It’s one of the few subjects that I simply cannot see the “other side” of, no matter how hard I try. I suppose to an extent, the reason my feelings on this matter are so strong, has been largely coloured by the fact that, growing up in Australia, I have always been on the defensive end… outnumbered in the playground by a sceptical crowd with raised eyebrows as I attempted feebly to explain the concept of not eating animals. I think that if my parents hadn’t moved and I had grown up in India, I wouldn’t have even thought about it at all. I have been vegetarian all my life, being born into a pretty typical Tamil brahmin family. I’m not sure exactly when realisation dawned on me that my habits were different to most people around me, but it was hard to cope with. Young children can be so judgemental. In fact, the term "vegenathan" was coined by a friend who thought she was being derisive even though I thought (and still think) it was hilarious.

 

A major problem is the inability for people to make connections between the meal on their plate and actual animals, or the death. A mention of this aspect will invariably draw the response, “oh I’d rather not think about it in that way”, or “eugh you’re putting me off my meal”. But that is cold reality! It is the reality of every single time you sit down to eat your chicken wings or whatever, that they once came from a squawking chicken. For your moment’s pleasure, is it not too great a sacrifice of another creature that owes nothing to you? I simply can't understand this. In my opinion, life is God’s alone to give or take.

In their defence, some claim nutritional reasons. Meat gives you iron, protein, etc. Those beef ads on TV even claimed that eating meat was the reason for human evolution. Well, as I mentioned previously, I have been vegetarian all my life. So too have my parents. So too have their ancestors, going back, let’s say, five millennia? Though I understand it may be small on the evolutional scale, but if something was wrong here over such a span it would show. I hardly ever get sick, am a reasonably healthy size (a bit too “healthy”?) and maybe I’m flattering myself… but I don’t think I’m stupid :) Plus, vegetarians are proven to be friendlier and live seven years longer, but then again, I suppose this may also be based on the shaky "science" that claimed the evolution thing =p

I've heard people say WAY too many times that they don't feel bad eating animals because that is the natural order of things. You really think humans were meant to eat meat? Fine, I'd like to see you cut a  cow open and eat it. Go ahead. Without the cooking process that makes it digestible...

This said, certain concessions have to be defined. It is ok for animals to eat other flesh because that is what they MUST do to live. Same applies for tribal people who would otherwise perish. Survival is one’s first responsibility. However for the large majority of us (and presumably 100% of those reading this) who do not fit into this group, the advent of agrarian societies/civilisation has afforded us the ability to survive and flourish without resorting to such things. What is crucial is a shift from the popular understanding of humans as being a set of folk that live ON the world, to one where they live IN it, as part of a system, without divine right over the rest of the planet. Might does not necessarily mean right.

I welcome myself to the world of blogging :)

There doesn’t seem to be an extensive “about me” section on blogspot, so let’s begin with introductions. My name is Anjali and I’m a nineteen year old second year student (unless you’re reading this next year. heh) studying Political Economic and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney, with Hons in political economy, most probably. No, it isn’t a double degree and no, I am NOT going to be a politician. Most people who know me would readily agree that is the most ridiculous idea in the universe.

A lot of people ask me what I plan to do with my degree. Generally when one studies, say, medicine, you have a reasonable degree of assurance that you will become a doctor, or commerce, a corporate clown with no soul (JOKES GUYS!*). but Political, Economic and Social Sciences? I picked it on impulse after watching 3 Idiots at the end of year 12 (don’t judge me)  and I don’t really know myself… but hey I’ve never really known where I was going… though I’ve always ended up somewhere :) The only burning ambition I’ve ever had was to become an author, from the age of 7 till at least 15 or 16. That was my idea of a glamorous, distinguished life :p Unfortunately somewhere at this point came the crushing realisation that this will never happen; I never actually had any talent in, or even liked writing stories much.

I like painting and stuff but it’s just something I dabble in in the holidays when I have a lot of time. Sometimes I wish I could do something more with it, but, umm, I’m Indian so no :p I also love reading; my ambition is to finish all the books on the classics table of Basement Books before I graduate. Only 10 to go! On the side, I like watching movies; usually either European/”world” cinema or Indian films. I even watched a few Iranian ones, and they were actually amazing! I particularly loved one called Baran (2001) which blew my mind. In recent times, though there are many exceptions, I’ve discovered that Hollywood does not seem to appeal to me much any more. They have the biggest budgets, I suppose, but are generally emotionally insipid.


I recently bought a Canon eos 650, a 1987 slr film camera (on ebay for $17!!), which I’m pretty excited about. According to the internet it’s one of the best cameras Canon ever put out. I’m not really in to serious photography or anything; I just like the idea of being able to flick through a solid, tangible photo album, as opposed to clicking through (likely modified and photoshopped) images on facebook or twitter. It has personality. I also like the fact that I won’t be able to see the pictures until they are developed and the element of anticipation and surprise it entails… the rawness of the whole thing generally appeals to me.

I suppose a small note about the point of this blog would be pertinent here… well, I don’t really like facebook and have fiiiinally managed to succesfully wean myself off it. Facebook is just weird and distorts natural human relations. you find out too much too easily about people you’ve barely met and care very little about; then spend hours wasting time stalking their random “likes” and inane crap about their daily lives. A quick witticism on somebody’s photo or status does not really amount to ’friendship’, and has nothing on a proper face to face conversation. I understand that this is really dependent on how you personally choose to use and see it… but overall I found that I was becoming creeped out by my own activity, sobconsciously turning into an exhibitionist and now I only check for a minute or so every few days :) I tried tumblr as well and I like it a little even if it's SO FREAKING PRETENTIOUS! Blogs do not fit into the "social networking" zone at all and I find them filled with many interesting things :)
*not really