January 4. 2011

An interesting day to say the least, filled with tours.  However one was special.  We were given the chance to tour Laurie Baker's home.  While touring, we were surprised to see his wife, Mrs. Baker of 94 years sitting upright on her bed.  Her age surprised me, especially in a developing country.  It was quite an honor as she practiced medicine and opened clinics in the slums to serve the underpriveleged population.  If nothing else, we have met both outstanding scholars and genuine people who care about humanity.

It was unique to walk through his house and learn the reasoning behind his designs.  I should note, prior to attending his home and Merle Kindred's home, tradition is for the family to sleep in one room, and to succeed as the elsest move out.  Therefore Laurie Baker and his children all shared one room.  Touring the rest of the home, we were taken to the fourth floor, the top, and saw an amazing view of Kerala.  His home has been turned into COSTFORD offices and provides a studio for architects. 

Note the way Laurie Baker built AROUND the tree (and this is prevalent in many structures).

Artwork from stone imprinted in the wall.

Laurie Bakers bedroom.

The tour of Laurie Baker's home was followed by a tour of Merle Kindred's home.  She had a COSTFORD home built as well.  Merle is a scholar looking at energy issues solved by technology and communication.  She is now living six months in India, the other six in Canada, doing research and advocating for COSTFORD.  She presented a powerpoint on COSTFORD housing matching Ghandian ideals, particularly their utilization of natural resources.  She included in her powerpoint a quote from Ghandi that really stood out to me "The Earth is for every man's need, not every man's greed." and I believe COSTFORD models support that.  Ghandi believed building materials should come from a 5 mile radius, which COSTFORD also models by using local resources.  Ghandian ideals are incorporated by COSTFORD as they do not misuse natural resourcse which Ghandi considered violence against nature, and do not overconsume, which Ghandi considered violence against humanity.  Lastly, many COSTFORD structures contain benches which Ghandi (and Laurie Baker) deemed vital for successful personal relationships and social interactions.

Below you can see pictures from the Aryand Panchayat.  A Panchayat is similiar to a district in the States; a governing body for localities, and in India, the village.  However, it is run by the people, and provide services area specific, such as schools, diabetes clinics, co-operatives.

These pictures illustrates a co-operative running inside the village of Aryand, which cultivates and sells rice and bananas.  The co-operative consists of five women and their families who rent this land. The woman below responded to the call from the village Panchayat Bank to rent the land for two years becuase she knew agriculture.  These women are able to provide a supplemental income to their households and pass the trade of agriculture and food security to future generations.  Although they cannot own the land, they are encouraging women to partake in the local economy and demonstrating women can have control.

We also visited the school inside the Panchayat.  The children hadn't gone home yet, awaiting our arrival.  Notice my friend teaching the kids head, shoulders, knees and toes!

January 3. 2011

Originally I combined January 2 and 3 because I had limited words but after editing my pictures, these were too great to not share. 

We were in line by 7am to make the first ferry to  Vivekananda Kendra, the Hindu temple. 

As previously noted, these are the fisherman boats at shore.

The line for the ferry was separated by gender, and then women placed at the back of the boat, men at the front.

We visited the temple to the left.

They are dressed in black because of their Hindu religion, all on a one month break from everything but their spirtual journey.  They invited us foreigners into their picture!

The temple from a distance.

January 2. 2011

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel today, to venture further south to Tamilnadu and then Kanyakumari.  There we would visit the Palace in which the royal family of India resided, full of history. 

There were so many components to the Palace, all centered around the Queen Mother.  To describe the experience at the Palace, I am going to post pictures with captions as they serve the most justice.

The name of the Palace was Padmanabhapuram and below are pictures I will use to illustrate different rooms.

This was the room we entered first, after walking up wodden stairs.  The room was used a meeting area, to make judicial decisions, and discuss importat issues pertaining to the area.

Here you can see an opening in the floor which was filled with water to keep temperatues cool.  It was also used as a method to transcend fresh scents throughout the Palace by placing roses inside as well.

This was the King's bed. 

Here note where the women stayed.  The windows are designed so that they can see out, but cannot be seen.

 These two pictures were windows on the side of the house that provided ample space for the Royal Family to watch parades and activities on the street.  Note the size difference of the one to the right, as that was the King's space.  The photo below is a view of the streets today.

 These two illustrate a bench for kneeling and small windows in the wall used for women to watch events in the dance hall as they were not allowed to be seen by the public.  To the right, you can see the dance hall.


                                                                                               After touring the Palace, many people enjoyed sweet coconut water sipped from a fresh coconut. 

We arrived in Kanyakumari with time in the evening to explore, and decided to walk to "the beach."  As we walked to the beach, I was able to see an acutal informal settlement.  It was similiar to homelessness in the States as these individuals possessed few items and lived on the streets.  However, they camped in open, public spaces and they were not displaced (at least not the same day).  We also encountered beggars which I hadn't seen before in Kerala.  Not only had I not seen them before, but NEVER, even in the States have I seen children beg.  It was difficult for me to walk past, and I sense the children could tell because I allowed eye contact. 

We make it to the non existent beach which consisted of a small portion of sand filled with fishing boats.  However, this trip wasn't completely unsuccessful.  Friends and I had seashells engraved!  It was actually a neat process.  The shells were painted and then dipped in a hydro-chloric acid which made the shell erode, but the surface under the paint remained.  Here are two pictures but the final product is a gift and an element of surprise must remain!

January 1. 2011

Happpyy New Year!  I enjoyed writing the date today.  1.1.11.  Today was a humbling day where I felt honored to be here.  (Well everyday I am, but today because of the people we met).  I am posting a wonderful, wonderful video I encourage everyone to watch.  If you don't read anything else, listen to that (it's about 17 minutes long but worth every bit). 

Another busy day, another long blog.  The agenda consisted of visiting the Laurie Baker Center, a paper making place, and IISE which stands for the International Institue for Social Entrepreneurs and is  aschool for the blind.  I had no idea we would also be experiencing a three course traditional Keralan meal; I didn't take enough pictures because my hands became messy but my descriptives will serve justice.

The road leading to the LBC and the first building we approached.  Also a picture that sums up the dymanics of our group.

The Laurie Baker Center was constructed meticulously and beautifully from brick, clay and cement.  His designs were artwork and displayed by not only the shape, but mango decoratives and use of natural resources.  We attended lecture at the top floor which was used for that purpose, and below a dormitory for people attending LBC to be trained as masons and such.

Note the recycled bottles used to create shapes in the wall, along with cement.

Lecture was presented by Padmakumar, informing us of the technology and various techniques used to construct these structures.  He described how the process included more than architecture, but making the right choices based on need, while incorporating environmental and social costs.  The construction process begins with excavation, and is preceeded by foundation, structure, finishes (wall, roofs, flooring), electrification, plumbing, sanitaiton and external touches (boundary and landscaping).  He also described the usefulness of bamboo, which is used to replace some properties of steel, and to also provide a foundation.  Below soil level, bamboo will remain intact, but can only be used in water log or clay conditions.

After lecture, and learning about ways to manipulate stone, shifting soils, damp roofing, mud walls and flooring, we were able to tour the entire Laurie Baker Center.  I observed the same circular patterns, providing many 3 dimensional shapes. Laurie Bakers philosohies aslo transpired into his designs, as you can see with the mago but also below in this symbol made from stone.

The bathroom inside the dormitory.

Padmakumar shown from the outside looking up.....

And the view from the top, looking out and down.

The tour was concluded with a brief narrative from Keith Saldanha, who had the pleasure of befriending Laurie Baker, and now lives at the Center.  He describe Laurie as an architect who designed by nothing that could be gained from textbooks, but with pure creativity and thought.  He took an interest in his clients with a sense of wonder, and never compromised his values.  I appreciated his use of local resources, and also his way of incorporating the clients personality into the structure built. 

Keith was wonderful enough to join us for lunch and we were all so gracious.  He taught us the proper etiquette when eating a traditional Keralan meal.  I will begin by saying the chefs at LBC began prepearing this meal in the morning, to ensure spices and currys were well made; a lot of effort was put into this meal.  We were served rice and curry, as you can see below, and began eating.  It was delicious, and my best meal in India.  I particularly enjoyed eating with my hands and the banana leaf was quite efficient.  We also learned from Keith at the end of the meal, after folding it upwards, it would be given to the cows.  I had eaten all of my food, plus a friends picklem minus the yogurt when more rice came.  I was almost full but considering the effortss of the meal and this was a Kerala tradition for only special occasions, I acepted the rice, followed by more curry.  Words can't describe all the flavors, from coconut to spice, to tangy.  To our surprise, out came a desert dish which Keith instructed us not to eat until finishing both curry dishes, and only after peeling and mashing the banana and pouring it on top.  Deserts I have found to be too sweet, but the banana made it wonderful. I thought, finished, that was great!  But no.  Out came more rice!  Keith informed us of the third course that would soon be coming, but before that, we were served 2 soups which we slurpped from our hands.  The third rice was preceeded by one last curry, and we did our best to eat it all.  After eating as much as possible, I folded my banana leaf forward and had multiple conversations before preparing to witness paper being made by hand.

We walked down the road, to meet several women working with SEWA (Self Employed Womens Association).  These women advocate for the employment of women as it is important they work.  As told by Sajan, and even described in Joys of Motherhood as a trend in Lagos, many times the money earned by men used for the needs of the family but to other things such as alcohol.  Many of us were impressed with their work ranging from hand made pens, to cards, to staionary and bought many of their products.

The products used to make the paper.

Our last destination today was IISE, which as stated was a school designed for the blind, by COSTFORD.  The school illustrates every aspect of sustainability from the solar water heater to their reuse of human waste for biogas to the water channels around the dormitorys to prevent bus from getting inside.  The school is for blind students from all over the world, and during the last semester, 22 countries were represented.  It was at IISE that I heard the most inspiring and motivating words from the minds of the creaters of IISE and Blind without Borders.  Here my words cannot truly potray his, and therefore I recorded them.  His words were very enriching, so if you have the time, please listen. 

The logo for Blind Without Borders, placed in their auditorim stage in stone, similiar to the mango work.