Nature is known to inspire and influence human being’s
creative mind since time immemorial. The interlocking disc design of the museum
by Jean Nouvel is inspired by the desert rose.
Desert rose is the colloquial name given to rose-like
formations of crystal clusters of gypsum or baryte which include abundant sand
grains. [Wikipedia] The flattened
crystals has a great resemblance to petals of rose.
Holding in her hands
Last weekend me and my daughter went to the museum gift shop
and bought a sizable piece of this desert beauty. We were quite excited with the new
toy and had a quick photo session to treasure the
moments forever.
Posing with a yellow rose
The desert rose may also be known by the names: sand rose,
rose rock, selenite rose, gypsum rose and baryte (barite) rose.
Napoleon had cautioned long ago that "Mankind's worst enemy is fear of work". But centuries have passed but the fear of work doesn't seems to go away.
One of my ex-colleague used to question "why we need to complete this today while we could do it tomorrow?" Another one's philosophy was to leave office early if you happen to reach for work late. "one should not be late twice in the same day" he used to advice.
But the winner is one who left office in the morning because his boss wished him "have a great day!" Obviously he had figured it out that he could not be in the office and have good time.
I looked high and low all these days to find a word that would describe this attitude towards work. On the 6th of March 2018, I got this word sent to me and I am glad to share with all who were not aware of it.
Everyone would unanimously agree today that the
need for saving water is no longer an option, it's our responsibility towards
the generations scheduled to arrive in our planet in the future. When we say
generations, it is not limited to a specific race, species or lifeform. The
earth belongs to all.
Life is a balance between what we can control
and what we cannot. There is however, another dimension to this old sayings…Life
is also a balance between what we should try to control and what we shouldn’t.
While any idea to conserve water, #CuttingPani, is potentially a noble
initiative, we should interrogate it with all seriousness to make sure that it
would not send wrong signal. Inadequate consumption of water will have negative
implications leaving the world with a generation of dehydrated people, quite
similar to the anorexic population of today.
Our bodies are made up of about 60% water, more
or less and constantly loses water through its excretory system. This needs to
be compensated and the commonly recommended quantity is eight 8-ounce glasses
per day amounting to about 2 liters. Not many of us reach this target on regular
basis and some health gurus are of the opinion that majority of the population
are on the brink of dehydration.
The other extreme of this spectrum is “water
intoxication”, which occurs due to excessive water intake resulting into
abnormal brain function and could be fatal in extreme cases. Although not as common,
when it takes place, the excess water dilutes blood sodium levels and causes
fluids to move inside cells, which then swell producing potentially
life-threatening effects.
I believe, the message transmitted upfront need
to focus on drinking more water while the appeal for “drinking water
conservation” remains subtle. Restaurants and businesses could start using
smaller glasses allowing people to ask for a second helping if they are very
thirsty. That way we do not propagate the message of “Drink less and Save
more”.
Few odd ideas for conservation of water usage
from various aspects of our daily chores could be as follows. All of these
without touching the drinking water segment and avoiding a wrong psychological
message:
There has been no significant development in the
way we wash our clothes ever since washing of clothes has been in practice.
Making washing machine more water efficient is
one way but there could also be machines that washes using microwave
technology. One need to take on the mighty soap lobby to succeed though.
We could also develop clothes that doesn't catch
dirt. We should be able to brush it clean like most animals does. After all our
apparels are supposed to be second skin.
Could we not develop utensils that repels grease
so that it needs little or no water to clean them?
Can we not make grease trap mandatory in our
houses and not limit those to restaurant kitchens.
Our bathtubs could come with dedicated meters
built into its body that would measure every time it was filled and charge us
at a higher rate.
Why can we not make the tap water potable and
ensure that the plumbing network is sanitized regularly so that we do not
hesitate before drinking.
We can also make technology less expensive so
that we could use pneumatic waste clearance technology in our WC so that the
demand of water is minimized.
We need to plant more trees as this is the only
way to produce more water.
Let’s have #cuttingpaani with a pinch of salt.
Hello,
I just signed the petition, “#CuttingPaani” initiated by #Livpure. I think this is important us and the coming generations. Will you sign it too?
We form a cusp generation, as we
started treading the cyber path after we graduated from a teenager. Not too
late, but it was not too early either.
Long distance calls were
exorbitantly expensive and the known way of communication was through letters. Phones
were meant to be used in case of emergency or to deliver short messages like …
“I reached hostel safely.”
Message was not the only interesting
aspect of letters, it was the entire Jing bang. The pen pals, the paper, ink color,
handwriting and not to forget the precious little things on the cover… the coveted
postage stamps. I enjoyed every aspect of this process and it’s not only stamps
I collected, I also treasured many a letter.
An artist friend managed to remain untouched
by computers creating an opportunity to communicate through lengthy personal
letters. Not frequent, but immensely satisfactory feeling, nevertheless. An
email announcing the receipt of my letter last year brought down the last
bastion of letter writing.
On a train to London in December,
we witnessed travelers writing festive cards like our olden times. Like London
city, many traditions remained preserved, I explained to my daughter.
We decided to send our personalized
cards around the world. A first time experience for our daughter to buy stamps,
affix those before dropping them off.
No one chose to send back a card. But
undeterred, I shall trying again to revive this old tradition.
A painting sold for a stupendous price of $72.84 million at
an auction at the Sotheby, New York on May 16, 2007. I was introduced to this
bit of information while watching an old Documentary. We generally accept that art can be very
expensive but this work by Rothko baffled me completely.
Name of the Artwork: White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender
on Rose)
Dimensions: 6’- 9” X 4’ – 8”
Painted in: 1950
Style: Color field –Abstract Expressionism
Name of Artist: Mark Rothko (Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz)
An American painter of Russian Jewish descent. 25 September 1903 to 25 February
1970.
I gathered these information but miserably failed to equate the
product with its price tag and decided to dig deeper.
Expressionism was an artistic movement of the mid-twentieth
century where the artists were at the liberty to convey attitudes and emotions
through nontraditional and usually non representation means(Merriam Webster).
Tate org further elaborates that this new forms of abstract art was developed
by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning
during the 1940s & 1950s. It is often characterized by gestural
brush-strokes or mark-making and the impression of spontaneity. They were
inspired by the surrealist idea that art should come from the unconscious mind
and by the automatism of artist.
They were broadly classified into two groups:
Action painter – they attacked their canvases with
expressive brush strokes. (Jackson Pollock & Willem Kooning.)
Color field painters – filled their canvases with large
areas of a single color. (Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman & Clyfford Still)
Now I have a description for our painting. A "color field abstract
expressionism" with “superposed color bands of
uneven size with blurry edges”.
But I still had my puzzle unresolved. After more deliberation, I found an answer that was somewhat
acceptable.
“Value is not the only link to quality” and there are other factors
that influences the value.
In this market where high value art are traded, name of its
former owner is as important as the artist and his/her piece of work. The provenance is important.
This particular work of art has been glamorized by its provenance.
It was part of the collection of David and Peggy Rockefeller. Part of one of the most powerful family if not the most powerful family in the history of
the United States.
The bottom line therefore is "billionaires love to own property of fellow
billionaires".
Since then, there were two more similar works by Rothko sold in auctions. Both could be attributed to the "color field - Abstract Expressionism" school.
Orange, Red, Yellow
Sold at Christie on 8 May 2012 for $ 86.88 million
Painting No 1 (Royal Red and Blue)
Sold at Sotheby on November 2012 for $ 75.1 million
All images has been downloaded from Wikipedia. In case your are interested to glance at the list of Most Expensive Paintings please click the link.
