Originally posted on Lakes of India:
An ode to the community of care-givers. By Sushmitta Renganathan A representation -based on material by Tamil Nadu Tourism- of the coracle rides in the Hogenakkal Falls, an important recreational waterbody in India. For time-immemorial, natural waterbodies and the landscapes around them have been mankind’s reliable sources of recreation.…
Traces of the lost waterbodies
Originally posted on Lakes of India:
City of Chennai and the legend of the vanishing waterbodies By Sushmitta Renganathan Historically, waterbodies have marked the beginnings of many important civilizations. From the mentions of Mylapore as a great Pallava port, our pre colonial history as a fishing village, to the recently proposed archeological excavations on the?Eastern…
Lost, but hopeful.
Originally posted on Lakes of India:
Buckingham Canal, Chennai. By Sushmitta Renganathan Buckingham Canal in 1921. Source: commons.wikimedia.org Buckingham Canal in Mylapore, Chennai, in 2017. Photo by: Sushmitta Renganathan The story of Chennai’s resilience and survival, has time and again, proved to be a reflection of mankind’s role in the existing natural and man-made physiographic…
Memories of a “thodu”
Originally posted on Lakes of India:
Of a childhood around a stream from the Manimala River in Kottayam, Kerala. By Sushmitta Renganathan Conceptual representation based on data from Google Earth, of a small segment of the Manimala River flowing through Kottayam. What must it be like to live in a place where our lives don’t…
PARIS 2070 – A fictional take on the future of the city.
In 2070, Paris continues to sprawl creating new edges; while the center, becomes the bridge between the past and the present — A fictional take on the future of the city.
The Blanks Under NYC’s Skyline
Living under New York City’s unyielding yet glorious skyline; surrounded by a tidal wave of luxurious apartments and chain stores; hiding behind the city’s image as a smooth, sleek and expensive giant, are the flat roof tops that are contained in the context of ‘small scale’ and ‘local identity’ and made to draw the line at just housing the famous wooden water-towers.
The Journey Of Four Decades In The Urban Realm: An Interview With Michael Sorkin
During my brief stay in New York in June, I had the opportunity to interview Architect Michael Sorkin. Penning this interview was a profound experience for me as I walked through 45 years of his journey as an Architect, Urban Planner, and Theorist.
The Little Palanquin
Girls around the world are subjected to various injustices, and child marriage is one such. ‘The Little Palanquin’, like this picture of a girl looking at the teary eye, is a short story that aims at emphasising the importance of empowerment that will help our girls to look back at this injustice as a defunct thing of the past.
Bedimmed
For anyone visiting Pune today, Shinde Chhatri is a beautiful memorial that embodies the glorious legend of Mahadji Shinde. But a few years ago, it was a dilapidated and abandoned monument like its many counterparts, some of which are still waiting for their revival. Some how, the more we overlook this callousness, the more strongly it spreads its roots on these invaluable pieces of history.
Reflection
Shinde Chhatri, in Pune, is a memorial dedicated to the 18th century military leader Mahadji Shinde who was one of the three pillars of Maratha Resurrection in India. This note is about the interaction between the archway and window in the picture, that reflect the defiance and strength of memory against mortality.
An Occluded Portal
A tedious 400′ climb from the village of Bhaja takes the interested few to the magnificent Bhaja Caves that were sculpted in the 2nd century. Although they were created in a time that might have a seemingly insignificant impact on the present, the cave effortlessly opens the mind of the explorer to the magic of a period they might not be able to visit otherwise.
Cinderella Stole My Slippers
Every girl who is made to measure herself against the standards set by the society, is put in a painful place where she seems insufficient to herself. Consequently, her uniqueness becomes a burden that she’d hope will someday disappear. The protagonist of the story, ‘Balamani’ whose name translates to ‘Little Girl’ in Sanskrit, might be any child whose happiness is threatened by the set standards. Regardless of who she is or where she is from, it is our collective responsibility as a society to break those standards and pave way for a healthy body image.
‘Cinderella Stole My Slippers’ is a tribute to all the little girls, who were trapped in this fallacy but found the strength to escape it and embrace their uniqueness.
DIARY DAYS 