Am I an Artist ?

As a child I dreamed of being an Artist. My inspiration has always been my mother, from a young age I have enjoying painting alongside my mother. At around 12 years I started attending Art classes, my mother found one the best art teachers in Bangalore and I would travel far to attend the Art classes. I did not particularly enjoy the art classes, they were too technical for me. Soon I lost my dream of becoming an artist.

I continued to draw and paint occasionally but as a hobby. One summer when I was 16 years old my father introduced me to Zentangle. He showed me pictures on the internet. I spent that summer painting and drawing Zentangle and Madhubani by seeing pictures from the internet. I slowly became quite good at Zentangle but I did not consider myself an Artist. I thought an Artist is someone who an expert, who has gone through proper training and who can make amazing paintings of all techniques.

 As I explored Zentangle, I stated sharing the Art with people. I started making the Art on greeting cards and gifting them to people. This led to people asking me to share the technique of the art with them. I took a few sessions on how to do zentangle. I began to realize my connection with art. I then got an opportunity  to make zentangle designs on handmade diaries for an eco friendly shop and did that for a month. It was awesome to see my drawing being sold and earning money for it.This whole experience of reaching a level of skill in Zentangle and being able to bring my own flavors and style gave me confidence on my Art but I still did not think I am an Artist. I did not understand colour combinations or contrast so I could not be called an Artist.

Over few years I explored other art like wall painting, impasto painting, mandala painting, dot art and so on. I also began doing and learning craft like quilling, decoupage, mix media, key chain making, wire art, making things out of waste material and so on.

I am still not an expert, I am still learning and understanding technical things like colour combination and mixing colours but I realized I am an Artist ! I am an Artist not because of my technique or expertise but for the connection I feel with art and passion I feel towards it. The way I enjoy doing art, I feel at peace while I am doing art and the way I show my love to people by gifting some art made by me.


Now I am at a stage of making my Art sell-able. I am working on creating art and craft products myself which I can sell. I am excited to experience the process of selling and pushing my skills to create products.
Another thing I am doing to push myself and give myself confidence is that I started an Facebook page to share my art with people. Also having a FB page gives me commitment towards my art work.

So yes I am an Artist ! and a unique one !

How movies are shaping my mind

I see a movie for entertainment, to enjoy a fictional story, have a good laugh, maybe get some inspiration and simply pass my time.

I did not know that when I see a movie I am seeing notions of society. Whether its Sandalwood, Hollywood or Bollywood it doesn't really matter, I see things that I don't know are giving me a subtle message and are playing games with my mind.

I see a notion of love - I see a girl and a boy falling for each other, at times it's love at first sight. I see a boy paying for the dates, getting down to his knee. I see the movie telling me what is romantic. I see a boy eve teasing a girl, following her, despite her rejecting his proposal and then in the end I see the girl agreeing. I see that kissing and sex is the ultimate way to show love.

I see a notion of gender - I see gender roles and responsibilities. Girls are dramatic, demanding, emotional and sexy. Boys are cool, don't show emotion, have abs and show off. The movies objectify women, making them all about their bodies.

I see a notion of beauty - I see a muscular man, a slim girl. I see spotless and fair faces. I see tall people with perfectly waxed bodies wearing latest fashion clothing. I see long flowing hair and just perfect body image.

I see a standard of living - I see a luxurious car, top notch furniture, fancy carpets, latest auto-mobiles, flat screen television, people eating at expensive restaurants, owning the latest technology and of course you can’t forget the glamorous wedding and parties.

I see a notion of success - Money, sexy wife / husband, more money, fame, high reputation, and lots of stuff is the formula to success.

I see a notion of happiness - hanging out with my friend in a bar, going for a family vacation to foreign, going on a date with a beautiful women / handsome man or shopping.

I see what I need to be, look and buy so that I am loved, accepted and find happiness and success but I thought I was seeing a movie.

I see violence, the notion that adventure is cool, exaggerated action and drama, I see music and dance losing its essence and I see a fake life that many people aspire for.

Of course not all movies show this, there are many meaningful movies. I am not completely blaming the film industry, after all as consumers we see these movies and give approval to such movies but I feel sad to see the negative impacts standard modern movies are doing in our society

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Holiday

I woke up at 2 am to catch my flight to port Blair and thus began an exciting family vacation to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Facts I found interesting of the islands : Andaman's is part of India but is 1350 km away from India but jut 600 km away from Burma and Thailand. There are 572 islands and Of these, about 38 are permanently inhabited. Andaman and Nicobar island is home aboriginal indigenous tribes, some who are disconnected with the so called civilized world. The primary language spoken among the local people of Andaman's is Hindi and it was so pleasant to have people talk Hindi around me.
The first sight of the beautiful islands from the aeroplane was breathtaking. Lush green islands, white sand beaches, clear blue water and an endless open sky with fluffy clouds and millions of stars at night. Such beauty engulfed my time at Andaman's. After landing at Port Blair we took a 90 minutes ferry to Havelock island, where we were to spend the next 5 days.
Havelock Island is named after a British general, Sir Henry Havelock, who served in India. Havelock is a small island of the area 92 sq km and width of the island is 8 km and length is 18 km.
While the main activity on the Island is Scuba diving, which my brother and father indulged in, I spent my time relaxing, swimming in the ocean and snorkeling. We stayed at Dive India, in cute little bamboo cabanas.
  Snorkeling : Such prepossessing marine life exists in the clear waters of the ocean, so many colours, so many types of fishes and a whole different world. Just the simple tool of a snorkel mask and pipe enabled me to see so much and enjoy my time. At Nemo reef there was no instructor, we were by ourselves. The unknown territory of the ocean is scary yet so inviting. My fears did not allow me to go too deep but there lots to see even in the shallow waters. We also visited Elephant Beach, however this place is more touristy, where you can only go into the snorkel site with an guide. We saw lots of things but the snorkel trip was too short in time and I did not get to immerse in the wildlife.

Swimming in the ocean : I love the beach and I love playing in the crashing waves and swimming in the waters. I was little dissapointed with the super calm, almost nil wave beach in front of our resort but that is what Andaman beaches are famous for, clear blue calm beaches just perfect for a swim. Interestingly in low tide, the water retrieves into the ocean, leaving a long stretch of ankle deep water for you to stroll in, among the rocks and soft ocean floor. I enjoyed the waters but I was thrilled when we went to Radhanagar Beach where we playing in the crashing waves,
Oh what fun!

Everyday we tried a new restaurant for dinner, I ate some delicious sea food. If you are going to Andaman I recommend Full moon cafe for breakfast, Green imperial resort has some yummy fish sizzler and prawn soup and salt water cafe has some good salads and fish n chips. We also had good juicy fruits at Andaman's, including refreshing.
Surprising myself, I did some clothes shopping at shops near the jetty, clothes imported from Thailand. I actually enjoyed the shopping. Interestingly I met a street vendor selling gulab jamun on the roadside.
After 5 days of relaxation, we went to Port Blair.

The ferry back to Port Blair was horrible,I felt claustrophobic, motion sick and uncomfortable on the ferry, the loud disco songs and dancing did not help the situation.
In Port Blair we visited the cellular jail, the history was interesting but I did not find anything very great. We ate dinner at Golden Dragon a Chinese restaurant run by a old Chinese couple, it was some yummy seafood Chinese food.

With tribesmen, we went for a Bird watching trip in the forest of Andaman's. Such a beautiful forest, with huge trees, dense greenery and so much peace. We saw some beautiful birds and had a wonderful birding trip at the chidiya tapu forest.

The trip was also a time for me to spend time with my family, connect with them. We spent  time sharing and listening to each other, which otherwise doesn't happen in the busy life. After many years my brother and I shared a room and I enjoyed the fights and conversations we had.
How much ever I enjoyed the trip, I was glad to be back home and tired of the travel. It was a memorable and beautiful trip.

Life beyond development workshop

Life beyond development workshop was a three day workshop to question the current system and lifestyle and look at things with the lenses of environmental sustainability and social justice. This workshop was a prototype, an experiment and the first time we were doing this. This meant facing a lot of challenges and lots of learnings.

The first thing was managing the registrations and number of participants, with last minute cancellations I was getting apprehensive if we would have enough participants in the workshop. I was also nervous about the whole thing because I was going to be facilitating people older to me. I was taking care of the overall workshop, the logistics, doing content development and was co-facilitating the workshop, so much work was exciting yet stressing at the same time. So much I was engrossed in making the workshop perfect that i neglected to care for my body and I felt sick during the workshop, and that was and because I couldn’t give my 100% to the workshop but still things worked out.

What I really enjoyed was preparing for the workshop along with the team, sitting together, brainstorming and discussing about things that make us feel alive. It did not feel like work.

The workshop began with questing the definition of development, questioning the system and the how the different players in the system are involved in the development game. We talked about one of the biggest roles we play in our life – consumer. How we have fallen trap to a culture of consumerism.We explored the true cost and hidden impacts of our everyday things like mobile phone, clothes, plastic, petrol, water and electricity. We also experienced water privatization and water inequality through a game. We spend time in nature, reconnecting to the trees and grass. We played in the earth to reconnect with the mother. Spending time in silence with nature helped rebuild the relationship that gets lost in cities and busy lives. So many problems, so much destruction makes one feel hopeless and depressed, to bring hope, inspiration and motivation to go on a path of change, we explored solutions. Its time we change the system at a whole, redefine happiness, success and development. We experienced this by planting trees and getting our hands dirty.

A group of 12 participants, all deeply connected with this topic, eager to learn and discuss. Their questions, curiosity and yearn to understand things really helped the workshop to go deep and to really create meaningful content.

The overall experience was very nice and I feel great to have held a successful workshop on life beyond development. To have ignited some spark in a few people to start this journey of sustainability in their own ways. Of course there were lots of mistakes and lots of room for improvement, that is the beauty of reflection and feedback, we can do a better workshop next time.

Money was a big challenge for me and I messed up big time, owing us to go almost in loss. Asking money, deciding the workshop fees and putting monetary value to the work we are doing yet not exploiting anyone was a challenge and I have learnt not to compromise around money.

A Degree Free Life

I proudly say that I have no degree and as of now plan to live so.
A frequent question I am asked is, "If you have no degree then how will you get a job and how will you stand on your own feet?"

I don't want to boast but I want to share this to tell you that their is a possibility of life without a degree.

You may feel " starting something on your own is possible without a degree but getting a job is not"

At the age of 19 yrs I have been offered jobs. I have been offered a job to do train the trainers for school teachers, to facilitate people much older in age. People have asked me collaborate with them. I have worked as a artist designing diary covers. I have given advice to people designing workshop for kids.
People consider me worthy because they see my passion to work. They see my responsibility and maturity. My experience in life makes me who I am today. 

In my personal opinion I don't understand the life where for the first 20 years of a life, I am to only work towards creating a "future". Studying and working so that I can earn money some day. But the train doesn't stop when I start earning. I am to then work toward earning money for my child's future.
Well what about today. My question is why should I waste my life on creating a future when I can live a life where I can create a present. .

Also personally at the age of 15 I had felt it was is too early for me  to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life. I needed time to explore and discover. To try, fail and learn, to experience multiple things and gain perspectives before I start thinking which field I want to go deep or what work I want to do to earn my bread and butter. I personally felt instead of wasting time in studying for my 10th exam I would rather do, learn and experience.

Of course you may say that these jobs aren't very high paying.
To me standing on my own feet not only means financially independence but also discovering my own identity for myself and to be able to discover my own values and believes. Giving time to exploring and gaining perspectives have helped me in the journey to form my own understanding and values. 

I have been able to discover that lots of money or luxury is not what I want from life. I want to lead a simple and sustainable life which means I don't need too much money and also I have been able to experience that there are things beyond money.

Environment sustainability and a simple lifestyle are very strong values for me. Recently in a job recruitment process for a facilitator at an organization,  I felt the job I was being offered was going against my value system and I was able to freely express that.

All this clarity doesn't mean I don't have doubts at times, I do feel scared about what will happen or worry how will I earn for myself in the future but these doubts don't come because I don't have a degree, they come because being financially independence is an unknown territory and it will require me to go beyond who I am today.  Even people with degree get doubts or feel anxious for their future but the difference is that even though with doubts I am dependent on myself not on a system which tells the world who I am through a piece of paper. I am confident in my capability to learn, to do whatever I need to lead my life.

You may ask what I am doing now, well my journey of exploration and learning has not ended yet and that is what I am doing, enjoying life, doing projects, trying out things, following my passion, travelling and letting life be my guide and teacher. Mainly exploring my interest of environmental sustainability and alternative education ( working with children and youth ).

I dream of a society where people are earning their bread and butter from work that makes them feel alive. They are not getting jobs because of their piece of paper but because of their passion to work. People are not living life to earn but rather to live. I am extremely grateful to be able to lead this kind of life.

Open learning for rural children

Aarohi O-campus is a rich campus with lots of resources and facilities, creating lots of possibilities and opportunities for learning. In the wish to make these resources available for the neighboring people we are beginning some outreach programs.

I decided to get involved in the outreach program. I enjoy working with children and youth, never really worked with rural children. I am not doing this in the perspective of social service but rather as a contribution to the people who have warmly welcomed us to co – exist in their village. In my perspective I don’t look as this outreach program as a medium to create change in children’s lives but rather to create space for them to come, enjoy and add some value in their life journeys. Simple things like the resources to play sports or do art is a precious thing for these children and if I can create a space for them to benefit from these amenities then why not!

This month we began the interesting process to plan, advertise and implement the outreach program. It was nice to see the enthusiastic response of the headmasters we met at different government schools and parents in the village. Interestingly the main need of the parents is to teach English to the children, it is sad to see the high status that our society gives to English though nothing wrong with learning the language.

Its exciting and challenging. One major challenge I face is the language, I do not know any local language but it might also work as a plus point for me and kids to exchange the learning of languages.

The journey began today with four children coming to campus and playing with puzzles and blocks. I was expecting more children to turn up, so I did feel a little dissapointed. Hope to slowly slowly move ahead and reach out to our neighbors and make them apart of the campus and learning journey.

x

Simple Alternatives to chemical personal care products

Simple Alternatives to chemical personal care products.

Toothpaste

Use Datoon ( tree twig)  - Neem, Meswak, jamun, Babul, Mango,

Use natural toothpowders

Use salt water

Make paste of guava leaves and brush

Soap : It’s a myth that we need to use soap everyday.

Bajra flour with sesame seeds oil or coconut oil

Multani mitti

Grandmother's recipe - malai and gram flour

Cream : If you use a soap that doesn't remove your natural oil, you don't quite need a lotion.

Oil - Doing a oil massage before bathing and then having a warm water bath without soap and rubbing yourself gently. Or massage yourself before sleep

Malai : scrubbing malai and little milk and then letting it dry and rubbing it off before bathing.

Alovera gel is amazing for your skin

Using fresh Alovera gel on your skin is the best

Cream recipe: Mix 50 per cent aloe vera gel with 25t per cent glycerine and 25 per cent coconut oil and use as a moisturising cream for skin. If you use natural aloe gel, then it can also be used as a hair pack. Wash off with some natural shampoo after an hour. You can make a regular use cream with packaged gel also. Use it at night, because glycerine makes it sticky -- not very suitable for daytime outdoors. For day time, apply liberally and wash off after some time, then wear plain aloe gel. - Credits of recipe - APARNA PALLAVI

Shampoo: For shampoo, one can use many combinations to wash hair.

Combine an ingredient that removes oil and an ingredient that enriches it.

Oil removing: Shikakai, Reetha and Multani Mitti

Enriching: Amla, Hibiscus leaves and flower, Aloe Vera, Henna, curry leaves, rice water, curd, lemon juice

Simple way is get the herbs fresh and grind in you mixie and add reetha liquid or shikakai powder.

Anti dandruff and lice : Neem, Aloevera, Vinegar, Onion juice, Sitaphal seeds, fenugreek seeds powder

Most common combination: Amla, reetha and shikakai

• https://sulfatefreeshampoos.org/ayurvedic-shampoo/ -
• http://www.lorebay.com/multani-mitti/multani-mitti-for-hair-loss-growth-pack-straightening-dandruff
• http://www.hairbuddha.net/

Lip balm : Ghee, malai or oil

Beeswax

Or any organic or natural lip balm.

Hair oil: Use pure oil - Summers coconut. In winters til, amla, almond. Even if you buy parachute oil, don't buy the ones scented. At home boil curry leaves in coconut oil, strain and store

Make up: Simple solution do not use:).

Kajal can be made at home. In a diya burn coconut oil. Above the diya place a steel plate. Let the flame be just above but not touching. Scrap off the black from the dish, mix little ghee or coconut oil to solidify.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_cZQ4YCr6g - homemade kajal

Perfume: Use essential oils, rose water. Boil dried flowers in distilled water or coconut/almond oil.

• https://happyholistichealth.com/2014/07/01/chemical-free-natural-perfume-alternatives/

Laundry : Aritha

Washing machine:In a muslin white cloth put 4-6 reetha seeds and put in machine along with clothes.

Hand wash: Soak clothes in warm water and 8 to 10 aritha seeds. Soak for at least 2hrs

Or make a reetha liquid and soak clothes. Note: Do not soak white and light clothes in reetha. Soak clothes in warm water and later use 1:1 water and reetha liquid to wash.

One can also purchase desi clothes washing bars from the local market.

To remove stains: soak clothes in 1/3 cup of lemon juice and 2/3 cup of water.

To make aritha liquid, Either pressure cook reetha seeds in water for 1 whistle or soak the seeds in boiling water over night and crush seeds and filter.

Washing vessels: Reetha liquid, shikakai powder, Ash, red mud, lemon, tamarind, dried orange peel powder

Washing bathrooms and homes: Reetha liquid, shikakai powder,

Bio enzymes - Replace all cleaners and washing powders:

• https://wellnessmama.com/7553/soap-nuts-laundry-care/ - Laundry
• https://ccccchange.wordpress.com/tag/benefits-of-reetha/ - Reetha
• http://wellnessunlimited.in/posts/earth-care-fruit-peel-bio-enzyme/ - Bio cleaners

• https://india.curejoy.com/content/best-fruits-for-glowing-skin-eat-apply-repeat-04-2017/  - frutis and skin
• https://india.curejoy.com/content/beauty/ -
• http://www.femina.in/beauty/skin/8-routine-changes-to-improve-your-skin-35890.html - habits and skin
• http://naturalbeautytips.co/ - Natural beauty tips