photo.graph.art.design

  We have grown up hearing the ancient wisdom, "Water is life, and clean water is health." The recent water stress that cities all over the country, and very palpably Bengaluru, is facing indicates that our life and our health are at risk. At any time, in want of water, our electrocardiogram graph can go flat into a straight line.  The demand for water has exceeded the available amount of water. 1.2 billion people, one in every seven persons, across the globe spend their day searching or waiting for water. Can we bounce back? The answer is in building and maintaining a blue-green infrastructure. In a region, if the amount of renewable water per person is below 1,700 m3, the country is said to be experiencing water stress. If it is below 1,000 m3, it is said to be experiencing water scarcity. And if it is below 500 m3, it is experiencing absolute water scarcity. We are not yet at absolute water scarcity level; but indications are that our negligence, indifference and lack of i...

  In 2024 democracy will be tested
like never before. More than half the world’s population is going into their national elections, which includes, India, the United States of America, European Union, and many other countries in Africa and Asia. The remaining half of the population of the world, like the people of China, Russia, and others, pretty much have no power to exercise free and fair elections. Going by the political commentaries that we hear so loud and clear, the far right is making progress and might claim victory in major elections, we would
have national leaderships spanning
from majoritarian populists to fascist dictatorships, and many of our freedoms and institutions would be compromised; the world as we know would change; it will not be the same post 2024. The order of the world as we know since the end of World War II, or in the case of India, from the time of our independence might take a dangerous turn. Will democracy survive 2024 bumper elections? In spite of ha...

 Religiosity has no definition. Living for
 a truth to dying for a lie could all be religiosity. On the one hand, it is as clear as what we see happening at homes, in worship places, and on streets during festive days and nights; on the other hand, it is as hazy and ambiguous as what its effects are. And there is no better place to fish than in hazy waters. Hyperreligiosity is an extreme and disproportionate display of already very ambiguous religiosity, whereby psychologically, a person experiences intense religious beliefs
or episodes that interfere with normal personal and social functioning. Collective or group hyperreligiosity, looking at its manifestations, is hyperreligiosity multiplied by the population of India. Here in India mass religiosity is triggered by the vocal force of one or a few, to shocking propositions. Here people kill, or even are ready to die, which have nothing to do with truth or falsehood, or needs nothing in particular to kill or to die for. Our ego get...

 Signs are everywhere. Our dear lives and its inescapable surroundings are changing their course; or is it that big changes around us are affecting things that matter to
us the most. 2023 suggests that we are changing, politically, culturally, and technologically in a faster pace than ever before. We, like the unannounced eruption of a volcano or arrival of an earthquake, are pushed to a sudden leap into the unknown. A quantum leap or a disruptive upheaval? Only time will tell. We are a species that is good at adapting and fitting in–and that gives us hope. Moving beyond individual events, which are perceptible to our naked senses, what are the big drifts and developments that shaping our world? What is the big picture? We should not go about as if we have not seen them. It took humanity over two million years to progress from sharpened rocks to polished met- al for hunting and gathering. In modern times, humanity took over a hundred years to move from steam engines (1712) to elect...

 Do we need leaders in a utopian society? However utopian a society may be, if there are humans, they will obviously form into groups and organisations. According to the study of Peter Ferdinand Drucker, an American management consultant, educator and author, if we put a group of people together what
can naturally come out of them is friction, confusion, and underperformance; for anything more than this we need leaders. A group cannot self-direct itself. If we as
a group need order, peace, success, etc. we need leaders. Rightly so every community and nation has leaders. Watching leaders of various nations in recent times makes us realise that every community and nation who has leaders does not necessarily end up having peace or genuine success and prosperity. Why? Going Populist ‘I, me, and only myself’ approach is against democratic results. Narcissistic populist leaders make themselves into a cult of personality with ‘56-inch chest’ who occupy
a place above the institutions of a ...

 We in unison agree that media control people. But we seldom approve that media control us; because we are not able to give up media. Giving up media appears to be giving up our freedoms; but in truth it is media and their masters that hold us sway. We, for better or for worse, are products of media to a great extent. The images that we have of the world, the other, and even of ourselves are a lot from the media. We sit, in buses and trains, on transits, in office, even on our thrones, scrolling down on our screens. We get influenced, immersed, and lost in the content and form of the mass media. Plato’s 24-century-old allegory of the cave is so very true in the case of the social media today. The allegory portrays people as slavish, naïve receivers like sponges; knowing only
as much as they are told, whether it is true or not. Plato underlines that people consider reality to be just the visible world, when reality in truth is more
than what meets the eye. His allegory assumes that ...

 Gandhi is a man of paradoxes. It is easy to find mistakes and inaccuracies with Gandhi. His inconsistencies are part of his evolving and shifting self-concept, says a well-known Gandhian, Sunil P Ilayidom. He elucidates it with anecdotes and examples from the life of the Mahatma. Gandhi was against writing letters, for him it took away the human warmth of meeting someone personally; but Gandhi was someone who wrote thousands of letters in his life, numbers say that he wrote about 1,08,000 letters in his lifetime. Gandhi was against Railways, according to him trains would take away the serenity of Indian countryside and villages; but Gandhiji was a regular train traveler. He did not appreciate women participating in public life; but it was in his time women felt most comfortable to make their presence felt in public life and affairs. Gandhi kept shifting, changing, and evolving. Gandhi himself has said that if I have given different opinions about one thing in different times, take...

  We are entering the election year. We are entering the most vulnerable phase of our democracy. The most exposed and susceptible point of a democracy is during its elections. It is the time where money and power do their dirtiest jobs. It is the time when people, even MLAs and MPs are not spared, are bought and sold like slaves; and people allow themselves to be sold and bought like pigeons in the market. A country or an organisation becomes vulnerable during elections because it could become an exercise of demonstration of mindless tyranny of the majority. In Democracy Power Is a Fundamental Right There are many forms of governments, but only in modern democracy people hold power as a fundamental right. In every other form of government the ruled are at the mercy of the rulers. Monarchies are absolute; a republic is authoritarian with power in the hands of a few; in oligarchy power is held by a small group of powerful and wealthy people, often they are hidden from the people; a d...

 Put a hundred red ants and a hundred black ants in a bottle with sufficient facilities and provisions to live their lives. Nothing untoward happens, they would live peacefully, with their usual interactions, cooperation and conflicts that any living together would cause. But if someone shakes the bottle, the ants would start killing one another. Red ants would begin to believe that black ants are their enemies; black ants would begin to believe that red ants are their enemies. But in truth, the real enemy is the one who shook the bottle. In real time no ant realises or understands it. By the time ants realise it, if they ever realise, they both would have lost the battle and the bottle. A close reading of history would make it evident that this is the kind of social experiment many rulers and establishments of the past had put into motion before they forced people of a certain race or religion to leave an area or country, or drove people - who hitherto had lived amicably - in...

  A hungry girl child is the India’s poorest per- son. She suffers from hunger, inequality, and abuse, for no mistake of hers. Starting from one’s physical and mental disabilities to caste and illiteracy, there could be other relevant parameters of poverty, but a midway evaluation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Developmental Goals in India, done by NITI Aayog, highlights that these two goals, zero hunger and gender equality, have performed the least for the last
few years; and there are less indications of them getting better. This aught to be a cause for worry for a country that, according to the address of Narendra Modi at the US Congress in June 2023, boasts of being the fifth largest economy in the world; and claiming to be the third soon. According to a UNICEF study, globally girls have higher survival rates at birth, are more likely to be developmentally on track, and do better
in preschool, but India is the only large country where more girls die than boys; and more girl...

  We keep doing what we do, because we have no clue of the actual consequences of our everyday life. We think we know but we don’t. Do our actions and habits make life easier or harder? ‘Tough times create strong men, strong men create easy times, easy times create weak men, and weak men create tough times.’ These are lines from a post apocalyptic novel by G. Michael Hopf. Annotating these lines Aaron Mckie, a former professional basketball player and an American basketball coach, talks about a conversation he had with his friend about the future of their kids; his friend said, ‘My grandfather walked ten miles to work everyday, my father walked five, I’m driving a Cadillac, my son is in a Mercedes, and my grandson will be in a Ferrari. My great-grandson will be walking again.’ There are crucial lessons here for all of us. The climate lesson is this, my grandfather lived in want; my father grew vegetables, did not waste food, recycled and reused whatever possible; I take the planet ...

 Visual communication plays a powerful role in shaping our understanding of the world. Like written and spoken language, visuals employ a complex grammar and system of meaning. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) Visual language, elements, and grammar PDF At its core, visual grammar is comprised of fundamental elements like line, shape, colour, texture, space, and typography. These are the basic building blocks that visual creators assemble and organise using principles like emphasis, contrast, composition, size, proportion, balance, and lighting. Just as words are assembled following the syntactical rules of language, visuals are constructed by purposefully arranging and relating these elemental units. Lines, for instance, can convey a range of associations through their orientation and qualities. Horizontal lines suggest stability and calm, verticals impart a sense of strength and authority, while diagonals imbue dynamism and movement. The weight and curvature of lines fu...

 Left-wing, right-wing, and centre are terms used to describe different positions on the political spectrum. The terms left-wing and right-wing originated from the seating arrangements in the French National Assembly during the French Revolution (1789). Supporters of the King and the traditional social order sat on the president's right side. These were generally considered more conservative and resistant to change. Supporters of the revolution and those advocating for a more egalitarian society sat on the president's left side. These were seen as more progressive and willing to challenge the status quo. Over time, these seating positions became symbolic of broader political viewpoints. The terms "left" and "right" were eventually used to describe the entire spectrum of political ideologies, not just those present during the French Revolution. Left Wing focuses on equality, social justice, and reform. Left-wing ideologies generally believe in reducing econo...

  Visuals are images/collection of images that are  made to be  seen. There is a continuum of images in which people live; and visual is a paused/frozen moment from them. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) Visuals PDF People/artists/designers capture/construct/make images/visuals for others to see. Therefore we only see the image/visual/frame that is given to us to see. For John Berger, a visual is a sight which has been recreated or reproduced ... which has been detached from the place and time in which it first made its appearance. Art: Traditional art, the oldest form of visual expression, represents humanity's first attempts to interpret and document the world. From prehistoric cave paintings to Renaissance masterpieces and contemporary installations, art has evolved beyond mere representation to become a vehicle for emotional, philosophical, and social commentary. Artists manipulate colour, form, texture, and space to create works that challenge percept...