Illiterate, is he unskilled too? A promising street singer

Then, we met Salim, a young boy, cheery-eyed, spontaneous, bright and with an amazing voice. About four years ago, his mother broke her leg and had to go under the knife. They had to arrange for more than twenty five thousand rupees. He dropped out of school to help his family. He can paint, make patterns in radium stickers but when you hear him sing, you are spellbound. He learnt it from his elder brother who used to go with the band of Qawwals. When we asked him how did he learn to sing so well? Salim said, “Mir hoon to aayega na”. Continue reading →

This is not jugaad – C. Mallesham’s LAXMI ASU MACHINE

Photo Credit : http://www.inktalks.com Before weaving various patterns on the loom, a hand winding process of yarn is required in the traditional ‘Tie & Dye’ Pochampalli silk saree tradition (GS). This is a very tedious and cumbersome process and involves back and forth moving of the hand nine thousand times in a span of four to … Continue reading →

World Indigenous Network Conference 2013, Darwin, Australia

More than 1200 activists, professionals, community representatives, elders, herders, academics and students from 55 countries got together in Darwin, part of Larrakia Country, to exchange, explore and embed their concern about the cultural erosion of knowledge of elders and about how to tap the curiosity of young people to preserve and persist with what should … Continue reading →

Signs of hope

Many things have begun to change in the aftermath of the recent European economic crisis. One of that is enhanced openness to look around, learn from unexpected quarters and see beyond the conventional boundaries for signs of hope. I was invited to share the insights from the Honey Bee Network precisely for such a purpose … Continue reading →

Hyacinth artisans

Abdur Mukit Bin Rouf, a small entrepreneur from a village more than hundred kilometres away from Guwahati observed the huge resource of water hyacinth floating over the nearby lakes and wondered if it could be put to better use. He succeeded in developing lamp shades, ladies bags and dozens of other products. He goes from door to door in … Continue reading →