Stree 2012 5th Annual All India Women Artist Art Exhibition

'Stree-12' is the 5th Annual All India Women Artist Art Exhibition organized by Bhiku Ram Jain Foundation & Art Mall. The art exhibition will be inaugurated by some noted senior eminent artists, art critics, art historians and other celebrities, as has been done in previous years. Art works of  women artists from  all over India will be on display and sale till 20th March 12. In this art exhibition, artists will have an interaction with eminent artists which would develop a better and long term relations to benefit all. Art Mall and the Foundation are working endlessly for the benefaction of the upcoming artists in India and are providing them an unparallel platform to display their art works on a regular basis in the gallery. On this event an annual art catalogue having work images of the participating women artists will also be released on the same day.

Time : 10th March : 6:00 pm - Opening

11th to 20th March : 11:00 am - 8:00 pm - Exhibition on View

Entry : Free

Place : Art Mall, 5, Shivaji Marg, Moti Nagar, N. G. Road, New Delhi - 15

Website : http://www.artmallonline.com/  | Nearest Metro Station(Green Line) - 'Satguru Ramsingh Marg' &'Ashok Park'

One of my paintings will also be displayed at the exhibition. So if you guys are in Delhi then please visit.

Cheers!!

Money Management

'Money Management' 'Household Budget' 'Expenses' 'Bills' 'Savings'... all these terms are troubling for me. I am not really the very 'spend your money carefully' kind of person. Until now, I and my husband would spend more and save almost nothing. It was just the two of us. We had already bought our house and that was the biggest saving that we did. Pretty much satisfied with it. I mean, who buys a house at 26 and that too in Bombay. How we bought it, makes a good story for another blog post, so more on that later.


But now that I am a mother, I have an added sense of responsibility . I have to save for my child, to make sure he gets a secured future. 


So to keep a track of our expenses and make sure we save something at the end of the month after investing, I came up with this excel sheet tracker. I intend to update it every week, so that would be about 4to5 times a month, which I think is fair. This will make my life so much easier.


The intention of making this tracker is not only to track the expense but to identify any 'unnecessary' spend and try to curb it the next time.


So here is the tracker for you all. Use it if it suits your lifestyle, amend it. Also, if you have any suggestions for changes or additions, please let me know.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjfGqaNj_aLddDh0X0NOMWlMLXlwcUM4RFVaTnA4X1E#gid=0

Please note: there are four categories where we could specify the expense weekly as you scroll down and i have added a formula where the weekly expense will be added in the main table.

Perception

I have received the below mail many a times before as well, however, every time it makes me think. Are we really missing out on the beauty around us. The small moments that make life and fill us with Joy. 


Today we are being bombarded by Brands and Media (I am a victim myself), have we stopped realizing and paying attention to whats available at no cost around. Things to ponder...

Perception

THE SITUATION

In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.


About 4 minutes later:


The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.


At 6 minutes:


A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.


At 10 minutes:
 A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.


At 45 minutes:


The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.


No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:

*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*If so, do we stop to appreciate it?

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?


One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . ..

How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

Akanksha Come Alive 2011

I will conduct a 2 hour art workshop with all the participants for Art. Below are the details of the event. Please join us and Come Alive!!!

Dear all,

It’s that time of the year when you can do the one thing you always wanted to do but never found the time, when you can connect with people you never thought you will meet, when you can set yourself free from the inhibitions you might have… It’s time to ‘Come Alive’ with Akanksha again!

The Akanksha Foundation invites you to kick start the ‘Joy of Giving Week’ with the annual event on Sunday, the 2^nd of October 2011.

For details and to sign up please refer to the attached document.

Looking forward to hearing from all of you.

Thanks and Regards,

Mansi Shah

Manager – Social Leadership Programme

The Akanksha Foundation

Email – mansi.shah@akanksha.org

Website – www.akanksha.org

Carryapoly Campaign

I read an article about a cleanup drive in Mumbai yesterday that was reported by Mumbai Mirror. The article started with something, that I have experienced many a times.

I rarely travel by train. But when I do, I have seen educated well dressed women litter, and I am talking of first class compartment. So essentially I am referring to educated career women. I am not limiting this behavior to train commuters. The other day I was traveling with this rather well to do, career woman in her car. We stopped to take some take away from McDonalds, finished our meal in her car while we traveled. To my utter horror, she very conveniently rolled down her window and threw her wrapper and paper cup on the road. I didn’t even get time to react and she was done with the waste. I then told her she was wrong in doing so. She was indifferent.

Whenever such offenders are told that they shouldn’t litter or what they are doing is wrong, I get scorned at. Well, at the risk of getting into arguments I have time and again chided people (known and otherwise also) against littering.

I personally, always carry a polythene bag in my purse to collect any liter, wrappers, waste papers etc.  Once at home or office I dispose off these in the dustbin.  I then started offering to collect others liter in this polythene and keep in my bag so it could be disposed off in the trash can. That is the basic way of handling this. I have realized that people follow action more than words. So maybe we need to show them what to do and do it for them to begin with and then hope that they follow.

So, here is my idea to start a campaign called #Carryapoly, where the participants can carry a polythene always, and when they see anyone about to litter, they may offer the same to collect such litter. Some of my friends suggested that we should use recyclable polythenes. That’s a good idea. We could do that. We can urge people to use and re-use the polythene bags that they get home for #carryapoly. We can use:

1.       Smaller garbage bags

2.       Zip bags

3.       Branded shopping bags

4.       Recyclable white polythene bags

Lets start small, then maybe this drive will grow big eventually and something may come out of it. Those who are interested in this campaign please use the #carryapoly hashtag in your tweets related to the campaign. Please give-in your suggestions. This is just a very nascent idea. We need to be together to make this work.

Ciao till the next update.

Sustainable Hopes

Below is the critique of "Windmills of Hope" by Art critic - Johny ML

Two things cannot be missed out while watching the latest painting series by Srushti Mandar Rao; the vibrancy of lines that reminds anyone of the rhythmic fusion of body, movement, music and light created by a dancer and a heightened awareness of environmental issues. Srushti being a trained painter, dancer and a serious trekker, this pronounced fusion of concerns in her works comes quite naturally and the style that she has developed over a period of time has a characteristic of its own and has got strong art historical affinities with the American Optical Art experiments of 1960s. The new series titled, ‘Windmills of Hope’ brings forth the artist’s idea about a future, which should depend on sustainable development and environmental protection.

The distinct style of painting, which Srushti fondly qualifies as ‘Line-ism’ explores the possibilities of lines and their tonal gradations on a pictorial surface. The planar division of the surface through vertical, horizontal and zigzag lines, as well as through the specific distribution of tonal intensities generates at once the feel of a colorful spectrum and the illusion of a solid image. Srushti invests her energies in the creation of abstract values of colors and lines as a musician focuses on ragas. The works demand the viewer to make physical adjustments so that they could enjoy both the abstract and figurative elements embedded in them.

The present series, ‘Windmills of Hope’ took shape when Srushti visited Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, where she witnessed a series of windmills erected for the generation of alternative power/energy. Windmills, despite their economic and investment values, within their physical appearance and purpose carry an aesthetical appeal (seeing them against the horizon or along the roads that you travel is a thought provoking as well as meditative experience) and a futuristic vision. As an alternative energy resource, windmills, to certain extent assure the preservation of environment in its actual state. Windmills, aesthetically speaking, represent an alternative icon of contemporary times. These icons of our times embody human dignity, mobility and freedom; one could feel it along with the artist.

Interestingly, Srushti in a very subconscious way connects her new series with the way the Impressionists of the late 19th century France had painted their surroundings. It is not just that the Impressionists had painted windmills and today Srushti does the same, but Srushti too like the Impressionists captures the mood of the windmills as per the change of light and time. Windmills are identical with one another. However, in Srushti’s works each one of them carries a distinct personality and a deeper look would reveal that Srushti gives attention in producing the effect the ‘time’ through the selection of particular lights of the day; for instance she sees them like persons walking towards you, or someone seen under moonlight or a cloudy sky. She captures the speed of the rotating blades the way a minimalist like Brancusi would produce the effect of movement in his sculptures.

Rhythmic movements and changing moods of light and time are palpable in the works of Srushti. Though she does not attempt at the actual representation of the landscapes within which these windmills are distributed, through the creation of textural fields and suggestive minimal symbolism Srushti Mandar Rao vivifies not only the physical values of the windmills but also of the landscapes.

JohnyML
art critic, writer, curator
May 2011
New Delhi

And the NGO is - Ishaan Foundation

It was a humongous task to identify and finalize the NGO that I would support from the sale of my paintings through the exhibition "Windmills of Hope". 


The idea was to have an NGO that works in the field of education for under-privileged children. Alongside me fire-fighting with preparation for my exhibition I was deliberating on which NGO to support. 


I had this huge support of Chandni Parekh (@Fundacause) for this task. She not only would answer all my annoying queries right from what should we do? to how can we finalize now? but also went through each and every application that we received for this and added her experienced comments to it. Chandni, a huge thanks to you for your support.


There were essential 3 criteria that I used for selecting the NGO

1. The NGO shouldn't be a very big one - Larger organisations get a lot of support from corporates and other businesses, my minuscule contribution would not have made much difference to their existing revenues (although it might have added I am sure).
2. The NGO needs to be working in Children's education - You can read my reasons for this on my previous blog here.
3. The NGO needs to be in or around Malad - I wanted more involvement than just giving money one time. I wanted to be able to visit the place and have a more human involvement. It is not a short term relationship that I am looking at with the NGO. It shall be longer, i want to see what more I could do with the NGO and be involved in a deeper manner.

One NGO that fulfilled all these criteria is ISHAAN HOPE Foundation for Education & Training (Social benefit & non—profit organization). 

A little about their Project that I have decided to support - 

Educational help to Orphanage: I am in touch with Dr Hema Kulkarni of the Ishaan Hope Foundation who is looking after the project, an orphanage situated in Mudh Island which houses about 65 children varying from 3yrs to 17 yrs. This orphanage does not have government aid as it does not have enough space as well as other infrastructure. Last year 11 students were enrolled in a nearby school. From June 2011, 9 more will be enrolled. The annual fees per student is Rs, 7000/-. This does not include uniforms & textbooks. In fact, Mrs. Buthello (who runs this orphanage) wishes to send 10 more children to school. Although they were unable to undertake this responsibility because of lack of funds.

Until now the children were getting education through National Open School system. However there were no regular trained teachers to educate them. Dr Hema Kulkarni visted the orphanage in 2009 and suggested that it was better for these children to go to nearby regular school. This will not only help them get regular education & training, but also have an opportunity to meet & interact with children from society. This suggestion was accepted by the president of the orphanage. In June 2010 they enrolled 9 young students in Sir J. P. School, Malad (West) as the school principal insisted that the children should have proper documentation. Three other older students were enrolled on Holy Mother English School in Malawani as they did not insist on documentation. Annual fees per year per student is Rs. 7000/- (Seven thousand) which includes bus fare, but not uniforms & text books. 

Eight other students were sponsored by donors from the neighborhood, but they backed out after six months & the foundation had to support these eight students as well for last 6 months. The total expenditure last year on this project was 112000/- (One Lakh twelve thousand). From June 2011, the foundation has to support all 20 students & fees expenditure would be Rs. 140,000/- (One Lakh forty thousand). The principals of the schools have accepted our request that we will pay the fees on quarterly basis. There are more students in the orphanage who need to go to school but because of pausity of funds are unable to. 

The foundation also wishes to help them by providing uniforms & text books but have not been able to do so till now. Mrs. Buthello who runs the orphanage has got permission to start pre-primary school. She wishes that the foundation help her establish this project too. 

In addtion to above, Mrs. Buthollo wishes that more than 10 students who have passed 10th std need to undergo vocational training so that they become financially independent & may be able to move out of the orphanage.

I do hope that I am able to pitch in a substantial amount to help this Orphanage.

I also urge my readers to please see if some more funds can be collected for this orphanage. 

My only endeavor is to make a small difference through my exhibition "Windmills of Hope" and give hope to these children by giving them the gift of education.

Invite to my Exhibition