The Beats : Culture

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Sunday, May 5, 2019

Take a ride in a room

The Beats May 05, 2019 0

Ever dread the summer heat and just decide to stay home instead of exploring the city but at the same time also suffer from the FOMO (Feeling of Missing Out)?

You need not worry because Bambaiyaa VR is bringing you a virtual reality experience documenting the culture & heritage at Mumbai for the digital generation. Bambaiyya VR documents the unique spaces in Mumbai that have stood the test of time but are now fading away due to urbanisation.

Culture and traditions add richness and colour that is lacking in our society today. They aim to take you on a journey back to the future. They have documented three communities of Mumbai for this particular experience, Mill Worker Community, Koli Community, and Parsi Community.

In this visual experience, a cab driver takes us on a visual experience which shows us the different stories of each community. There are different elements spread across the scene you are in and as you lock eyes with it, our host will narrate the story to us.

Bambaiyya VR is funded by The Contemporary Take, Beyond Cultural Heritage Programme by the Prince Claus Fund and the British Council. They recently had a two-day visual experience camp at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum over the weekend. According to sources, it will be released to the public by the end of the year.

Patato - Potato

Culture

Helena Thres April 11, 2019 0

Image Credit: Learning India

When I was in school we were a group of 10 friends, 5 girls and 5 boys, it was the end of 10th standard and we all decided to have a potluck. Each of us came from a different background, some of us from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra while some from Gujarat and Punjab. We all came from different places, spoke different languages, ate different kinds of food so we decided to bring those variety for our private farewell party. There are so many people I meet on a daily basis and not everyone is a Tamil Christian like me.

India is a diverse nation in terms of language, tradition, caste, food, religion and much more. People live in peace and harmony despite of the vast diversity. According to the census 2011 data, 79.80% of the Indian population are Hindus, 14.23% of the population are Muslims and 2.3% of the population are Christians, 1.72% are Sikhs, 0.7% are Jains and 0.9% of people belong to other religion. Amidst such diversity if studied closely many of the traditions practiced in these religions are similar.

If we look at the Hindu mythology, one theory believes that Parvati, Lord Shiva’s wife did not give birth to Lord Ganesha but made him out of the sandalwood paste on her body so that he could guard the door while she was having a bath. Ganesha was determined to not allow anyone inside and upon Lord Shiva’s arrival when he asked Ganesha to move, he did not budge. Shiva was filled with anger and he cut Ganesha’s head. Parvati was distraught, seeing this Shiva sent his people to get another child’s head which was facing north. And promised Parvati to bring him back to life. This was the story of how Ganesha came into this world.

Now in Christianity, an angel named Gabriel came to Mary, a young woman from Nazareth who was engaged to Joseph at the time and told her that she will have a child and she should name him Jesus. Upon hearing this news, Joseph was very upset and angry. Angel Gabriel then visited him and told him that Mary will be having the Lords son and he will come into this world to save everyone from their sins.

If you closely observe, both the stories have many similarities. Both Ganesha and Jesus are sons of God and are born by divine intervention. Both the fathers are upset initially and then come to accept the sons as their own.

Ganesh Chaturti is the birthday of Ganesha and it is celebrated with colours, song, dance, food and much more. People bring Ganesha into their house and have a stapna pooja which is done to bless the idol for worship. A diya is always lit in front of the Ganesha idol from the time of stapna pooja till it is taken out for visarjan. An aarti is done twice a day. Many friends and family come to visit and even food is served in certain households. Ganesh Chaturthi, according to the almanac comes in the month of September. September 8th is the birthday of Mother Mary and Christians all over celebrate this day as a feast. Every church is divided into different zones and these zones are separated into different units. In the month of September, one statue of Mother Mary circulates around every house in the community(unit). This is considered as Mother Mary visiting every house like she visited her cousin Elizabeth. Many people from the community come to the house that Mother Mary is in and prayers are offered. The family who has Mary at home also say the Rosary throughout her stay with them in intervals. Many households serve a small snack or dinner, this differs from community to community and it is more of a personal choice.

Like we bring Ganesha into our homes for a period of time likewise we also bring Mother Mary into our house and this becomes a time for the loved ones and members of the community to take time off from their busy lives and come together. Like in Hinduism, a diya is lit throughout for Ganesha, a candle is lit in Christianity for Mother Mary.

There are so many stories, traditions and rituals that are interlinked throughout religions. We do not know the origin of these traditions but are aware of what is passed down to us from generation to generation. Every tradition is slightly changed as per convenience and acceptance of the period. We are all just humans worshiping a superior power.

Zürich’s Big B, forecasting the summer since 1525

Culture

The Beats April 11, 2019 0

Image Source: Twitter

By Vallari Shah.

During winter, I almost never step out of the house, for literally anything. So the few times that I do, have to be totally worth all the time and effort of dressing up in layers of warm clothing, the chilling winds blowing in my face, my fingertips freezing and hurting from all the cold and the enduring of the undeniable wearing down effect of the winter on my body.

But there’s little you can do to evade the call of the magnificent Sechseläuten and the great Böögg! A long standing Zürich tradition, the Sechseläuten (translates to - the six o clock ringing of the bells) or the Spring Festival, is one of the most spectacular festivals of the city. It is marked by an elaborate parade of more than 3500 members (some on horseback) of Zürich’s erstwhile merchant guilds and the burning of the Böögg (Snowman / Bogeyman) is the highlight of this day long celebration.

There was an air of excitement and revelry that I felt in the train, which was flooded with a lot more people than one would usually see otherwise. Of course, everyone was heading to the Sechseläutenplatz, like I was, eager to know the weather prediction of the Böögg - the amount of time it takes to burn completely decides how good or bad the summer that year will be. There was also a legitimate online betting competition that had been going on since a few weeks, inviting people to guess the number of minutes and seconds it would take for the big B to burn this year.

As I got off at the Stadelhofen station, the world of Zürich for that winter day seemed to have turned upside down. The otherwise peaceful walkway to the Sechseläutenplatz was now swarmed with food stalls of all sorts – Bratwurst (sausage), Soft Eis (softy), Zuckerwatte (cotton candy), Heliumballons (helium balloons), Spielzeuge (toys), Brötchen (small breads), Bier (beer) and Kuchen (cakes). All trams on that route had been cancelled for the day and the people who otherwise walked no where else except on footpaths, were now spread all over the road. People were talking animatedly in Swiss German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Tigrinya, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Sinhala, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Turkish. The nip in the air had been replaced by the sheer warmth of diversity and I couldn’t help but feel a little too excited myself. As I waded through the crowd and reached the outside of the enclosure, I saw the marvelous 11ft tall Böögg, perched on a 33ft high bonfire!

Senior citizens, families, groups of college students, couples, tourists, all were thronging the barricades and were standing on rooftops and balconies of adjoining buildings. A helicopter and a drone camera were hovering in the air above the Platz.

As the clock ticked closer to 6pm, the crowds began cheering, the drums were beating, the guilds resumed parading around the bonfire and finally the fire was lit. A hundred, and probably even thousand, hands were up in the air with their cellphones recording the spectacle. A couple of minutes into the burning and suddenly a firecracker within the Böögg burst and blew off his hat that sent the crowd into an applause. The Böögg is usually fitted with a few firecrackers to speed up the burning and create drama when they go off unannounced! The big B was bursting up in vigorous flames and within 20 minutes he was scorched. Specks of his ash were swirling about, resting on people’s hair, clothes, bags, food.

What amused me a great deal is its striking similarity to the popular Hindu tradition of Holika Dahan which marks the decline of Winter and ushering of Spring, as does the burning of the Böögg. The practice of on-lookers roasting their sausages on the dying embers of the Böögg is the same as that of roasting Jau (barley) in the fire of Holika. There is equal festivity, music and community gathering during both festivals.

On my way back home, as I passed crowds of people of all colours, tongues and faiths, I couldn’t help but wonder how alike we all were in our celebrations and traditions, despite being divided by lands and oceans and mountains and valleys. There is no political boundary that can stand in the way we unite as people with common shared experiences of community, humanity and joy.

(Vallari Shah: She doesn't waste her time looking if a glass is half full or half empty. She's the who pours into the glass)