Project Haat Blog

I will continue to post about my project and the process I am following on my project blog...

http://projecthaat.blogspot.com/

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Gaurav Bhushan
Information Design 07 - 09

Project Haat

The Haat: Present, Past and Future

The contemporary urban haats in India are seen as a cultural oasis where craftsmen, artisans, merchants and artists from all over the country assemble.

The haat gives them an opportunity to directly market their wares. You can see jewellery, handicrafts, lampshades, pottery, ceramics... the mehendi artist, the micro calligrapher who'll write your name on a grain of rice, the magician, astrologers... and spices!

It is a cultural extravaganza because visitors get to see the diversity in India, witness spectacular performances and also savour Indian Food.
While contemporary haats stay at some defined urban locations and spaces, and the craftspeople change from time to time, the traditional haat orginated as an impermanent village market that is either set up on certain days or moves from one place to another.

The traditional haats were thus reinvented quite successfully to set up contemporary haats, so village goods find their way to a more urban and global market while at the same time prevent exploitation in this exchange.

The Delhi Haat in New Delhi and Swabhumi in Calcutta are examples of such spaces that offer a kaleidoscopic view of Indian Culture through its Arts, Crafts, etc.

My Brief

To study examples of both the contemporary urban haats and the traditional haats, understand and represent these models visually, assimilating information from various perspectives as follows:

1. Social and Cultural Perspective

2. Business and Sales Perspective

3. Environment and Exhibition Spaces

In effect, through all this I want to define the problems and opportunity areas around the concept of HAAT.

Gaurav Bhushan.

Portraying Bengali culture through its cuisine

     Being from the state where British colonialism lead itself, the state of West Bengal, my birthplace serves as a platter for exquisite cuisine. Unique to its rich & traditional Bengali culture, land of maachh (fish) and bhaat (rice), rasogolla and sondesh imparts flavours that are originally available in this region of the globe. 
Bengali food is a mixture of sweet and spicy flavours. A true Bengali considers his meal incomplete without fish. Brinjals & potatoes fried in batter, too make up a great combination with the main meal. 
     During celebrations in Bengal, food plays a big role as an inspiration towards further celebrations whether its Bengali marriages or the worship of goddess Durga as in the famous Durga Puja or even if there is an intent to spread the flavours across the globe in setting up a food chain. 
Five essential spices such as - mustard, aniseed, fenugreek seed, cumin seed and black cumin seed constitute to make up a perfect mix in bringing out the flavours of the Bengali cuisine.

     As an information design point of view, I would be focussing on the bigger picture that includes these:
           o Bengali cuisine portraying its traditional culture through taste
           o Durga Puja celebrations and cuisine in and around Bengal
           o An insight, for setting up a food chain, globally

With relations to neighbouring regions or states, how Bengali cuisine in terms of its culture plays an effective role, whether in terms of trade practices in the its spices or in preserving the original taste of this region.

Sweet dishes like chutney’s & sweet curd are usually served as everlasting sweeteners to the main meal, as in the form of deserts. 
    One's own sensitive fingers - is the actual way in which an usual Bengali would enjoy to eat his food.
Among the Indians living abroad, several Bengali occasions are also celebrated and here is where a whole new dining experience with setting up a Bengali food chain could arise.
Kolkata, the heart of Bengal serves as the epicentre for delicious and authentic Bengali food. We would also have some sight into how the city has made a name for itself with the cuisine of this state, on a global perspective.

INDIAN TRADITIONAL MEDICINES

My aim would be the study of Indian traditional medicines, how did they evolve during the times and the current scenario.

Whenever we talk about Indian traditional medicines the first thing that comes to our mind is Ayurveda which originated in India and which has inspired the various home remedies which are normally used.

Besides this in Indian culture the food habits are also influenced by the solar and lunar calendar, for e.g. many people don’t eat non-vegetarian food on Saturdays. So this would also be an interesting field to focus on.

So I would be mainly focussing on the Indian traditional medicines including Ayurveda and also on the eating habits related to the solar and lunar calendar. The final goal would be to gather data of the above fields and to present it in the most accessible form.

A relook at the Hindi Lunar Calendar

Present Hindu calendar or Hindi calendar is based on the movement of moon. It is a lunisolar calendar that means its months are lunar but the whole year in the calendar is made equal to one solar year that is why sometimes days are manipulated in it. All the festivals in the Hindu religion fall on a fixed tithi, days in lunar calendar are referred to as a tithi, a tithi is the period between the moon rise and moon set. But as a tithi is different from a day in solar calendar so every festival fall on different date in Gregorian calendar(Solar calendar). Also different phases of the moon are connected to holy/unholy period, and anyone looking at the moon can recognize its phase easily, but don’t know which period is going on.

The main objective is to make the entire system easier for a person to understand with no prior knowledge of the hindu calendar, involving the study and analyze the entire hindu calendar, how dates/tithis in the calendar are calculated and how corresponding days of Georgian calendar are found and identify all the festivals with their respective tithis in lunar calendar and what different phases of the moon means. And will then structure all this gathered information in a proper way so that it is easier to understand and design graphics to visualize this information easier understanding of the hindu calendar.

Origin and Meaning of Symbols in Hindu Culture

Project Synopsis

In the history, nothing is born without meaning but many meanings are forgotten over times and what's left is only the subject will little or no reverence.

Symbols are integral part of any religion and same goes for Hinduism, one of the oldest and third most followed religion in the world. But with time much of these symbols were forgotten and those who survived had lost their origin and true meaning to the world.

Even those who have survived this long have started suffocating in the absence of their true meaning and origin. People have started questioning their relevance and discarding them in absence of any satisfactory explanation.

Today much of the knowledge on the subject either resides with few eminent in the field or lie trapped in books at libraries rarely visited.

The basic objective of the project will be to collect these knowledge, organize and map them in such a way that it becomes relevant to questioning minds and answer their queries.

Storytelling in different states of India

Storytelling in India is a tradition that has been developed and modified over the years while maintaining the originality of the stories and the methods to tell these stories. Some human experiences—joy, sorrow, longing, despair—are universal and hence stories that grow out of such experiences can appeal to many people. The names and places can be diverse and spread around the various states of India, but the story itself can happen anywhere. Such stories, from people in all places and times, are part of the heritage of every storyteller and every story. In India each region has developed its own style and tradition of story telling in various regional languages. Epics such as the Ramayana & Mahabharata, the Panchtantras, Puranas - tales ancient stories of wisdom in Sanskrit and various other folk are the common story material for all or most of the regions of India. Many old traditions storytelling is synonymous with song, chant, music, or epic poetry, especially when it comes to Indian storytelling traditions. Stories may be chanted or sung, along with musical accompaniment on a certain instrument. Other forms of storytelling include illustrations which often have hymns sung along with it. The medium used for these illustrations range from clothes to palm leaves to earthenware. The colours used are usually natural colours and hence are limited. The fascinating aspect of these storytelling methods in India is that they are often restricted to a particular community of people in these states. They follow their age old traditions for the way they tell their stories and have stories of their own about their origin. With time, as the stories have changed, not only ancient epics and Sanskrit folk tales, but also modern and contemporary stories have been found to become a part of Indian traditional storytelling. For my project I intend to study these methods that are followed by the various storyteller communities of India. Using a story that is narrated in these diverse ways throughout India, I want to present the style and method used by these communities so as any one who is unaware of these storytelling traditions gets an overview. Their study and representation should be such that a person viewing the same story in various styles should be instantly able to make a comparison between the various styles and understands the nuances and minute differences between them which not only lie in the way they are illustrated but also in the choice of colours, difference in symbols used to represent the same thing, the medium used for these illustrations and the way in which the same story is narrated in various ways.

Classroom Project - Semester II

Working towards Sensitive Living

Traditionally, natural materials like earthenware and bamboo have been used for everyday purpose and over time, have evolved into objects that have optimised the property of the material and provided a unique way of life. Similarly spaces have also been used to create a better experience. For instance, having a courtyard with a tulsi plant in the centre and several houses with a central courtyard which enhance community living.

Drawing on tacit knowledge and common sense, the constraints involved are drawing a line between tradition and superstition and also categorising between the functional and the decorative use of those materials.

This project will suggest ways in which these findings may be incorporated it into the fast-paced urban lifestyle generating a wholesome experience.

Medium: Sketches and Illustrations

Sources: Visits to villages and guidance from Architectural experts.

Inspiration: http://www.kumbham.in/aboutus.html

http://www.kumbham.in/philosophy.html

The Cradle of Democracy and Governance

Gram Panchayats, the local government bodies at the village level in India is the foundation of the Panchayat System - a decentralized form of Government where each village is responsible for its own affairs.

Some of the research would include finding out more about the history of the Panchayat System with reference to Mahatma Gandhi’s advocation of the same and its inclusion in the constitution of independent India.

The local level of self-governance is unique to deserve a closer look. Issues such as Decision-making, Gender, Age, Traditional knowledge, Transparency and the type of cases considered will play an active role.

At the end of the project, depending on the findings, a solution may be devised that could be a product/service or a proposal for a revised system.

Medium: Storytelling through moving images

Sources: Visits to villages and interviews