BILLION DOLLAR SMILE

Mona Lisa

The world’s most famous painting is the Mona Lisa also known as La Giaconda. Many believe the woman shown in the painting is Lisa Gherardini, wife of a merchant named Francesco Del Giocondo, though this is not certain. 

It’s a half-length portrait of a woman painted in oil, on a wood panel by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci sometime between 1503 and 1519 when he was living in the town of Florence in Italy (he moved to France in 1516 and may have given finishing touches to the painting there). In those days, portraits showed people in stiff formal poses. Leonardo put soul and meaning in his work, giving a puzzling expression to the woman’s face and skilfully directing the viewer’s gaze to the mountainous and detailed scenery in the background. But the painting did not attract much attention during his lifetime or even for centuries afterwards. 

The world first took note of it in August 1911 when it was stolen from the walls of the Louvre Museum and media frenzy followed. People flocked to the Louvre to view the empty space where the painting had been hanging; when it was recovered and put back in place, people flocked to see the now famous painting. When they scrutinized it to try to discern why it was considered valuable, they were struck by the mysterious expression on the woman’s face: the half-smile and the look in her eyes seem to be inviting attention but at the same time there is a certain aloofness in her demeanour. The mysterious smile made people wonder. Was she really the wife of the silk merchant as reported or was she somebody else, somebody close to the artist? 

The Mona Lisa smile became a talking point and has remained so. The Louvre Museum attracts millions of visitors each year and most of them come to see the Mona Lisa. As a ticket to the Louvre costs 15 euros (1,180), it brings huge revenue to the museum. Art connoisseurs are reluctant to put a price on the painting, they say it is worth millions. Mona Lisa is truly a woman with a billion dollar smile!

FESTIVAL OF COLOURS

Holi 

     Often referred to as the festival of colours, Holi is a cheerful occasion characterised by family and friends daubing each other with coloured powders.

     A widespread belief is that its name is derived from Holika, the wicked sister of a demon king, Hiranyakashyapu who perished in a fire while trying to kill her nephew. On the night before Holi, community bonfires are lit to commemorate this folk tale. Another story pays tribute to Lord Krishna, who enjoyed teasing local milkmaids by showering them with coloured powders and water – this ritual is now recreated in homes across India.

     Holi marks the end of winter and beginning of spring. Symbolic offerings, such as wheat sheaves, are often thrown into the flames in gratitude for the harvest. The night of the bonfires has a religious element, but the next day is a raucous celebration of new beginnings and well-being.

     Traditionally, water would have been scented and dyed with flower petals, but these days, commercially prepared colours are used. Early risers arrange snacks on platters while children fill ‘pichkaris’ (water pistols) ready for action. The morning starts with an outdoor exchange of sweetmeats and powdered colours, and often culminates in being drenched in a deluge of water. After a few hours of drinking and snacking, lunch is served and revellers bathe and change into clean clothes, marking the end of exuberant activities. 

VEGAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENT

 Violin 

Musical instruments still use or once used material sourced from animals. For instance, piano keys were made of ivory or bone and drumheads, from goatskin or cowhide. The wooden components of string instruments are even now joined together with animal glue. Catgut, a tough cord derived from sheep intestines (not cats!), provides the strings. Horsehair is preferred for the bows.

Bucking the trend, an Irish violin maker, Padraig O’Dubhlaoidh, has made the world’s first vegan violin body with components such as steamed pear, berries and spring water! The customised instrument is the first to be registered with The Vegan Society.

O’Dubhlaoidh collected local spring water for the adhesive, which has no animal components. Steamed pear and wild berries were used to dye the inlay around the edge. 

Today, vegan violin strings and bows made from carbon fibre are widely available. The bone, leather and mother-of-pearl parts have been replaced with metal or a composite. However, chemical based glues are not yet popular, as they can damage the wood with too strong a bond, making it hard to repair or replace.

WHISTLING VILLAGE

                                     Kongthong

Kongthong is a remote village in Meghalaya's East Khasi hills. The village attained fame some years ago for its unique tradition of mothers giving newborns names that are composed of whistled tunes. Each villager grows up with three names: a regular name, a long melody and a shorter tune that resembles a nickname. 

Called 'jingrwai iawbei', it is a centuries-old tradition. The regular name is only for official purposes but everyone responds to the two other tunes lifelong! When they die, their tunes die with them, never to be repeated for anyone else. 

The tunes are considered an untaught and spontaneous expression of a mother's joy at the birth of her child. The tune names are usually 14 to 18 seconds long and distinct from each other. 

DO YOU KNOW

 How does the internet connect across continents?

     Through fibre optic cables that lie submerged on the ocean floor across the Earth. These cables allow us to quickly send our emails and videos, and connect our browsers to places in faraway lands.

     To put it simply, when we open an Australian website in Mumbai, our personal computer sends a signal through the submarine cable to the web server that is hosting that website and then receives the data of the website in return over the same cable. 

     Earlier communication satellites were used to transmit data but since optical fibres are capable of transmitting large volumes of data at a much faster speed, submarine cables now account for more than 99% of all international communications. 

     The first submarine communications cables were laid in the 1850s to send telegraphs. Modern cables use optical fibre technology to carry digital data. There is a massive network of submarine fibre optic cables that connect a large portion of the continents except Antarctica. 

FESTIVAL OF THIEVES

 Chorotsav 

     The spring festival is something to be experienced in villages across the length and breadth of Goa. It is the time of year when villagers settled elsewhere return to their roots to participate in the festive season. Many villages are known for some unique feature of their own and are identified by these singular festivals.

     Amongst the many festivals and rituals, Chorotsav, held during Shigmo or Holi in other parts of the country, is one that spreads joy to the villagers of Zarme in Mauxi, about 6 kms from Valpoi. Yet another place known for this festival is Caranzol in Savordem in Sattari taluka.

      The festival forms a chapter in the village’s history. The story revolves around some youths who were killed by the villagers as they were mistaken to be robbers (Chors), though no one knows the exact history of this age-old practice. 

The story goes that in the past, people commuted through the forest for work or to collect produce from nature’s bounty. They travelled from village to village from the foothills, climbing across the Western Ghats. During one such daily routine, youths from a neighbouring village who were suspected to have commited robbery were killed. The distraught families of the youth, in search of their loved ones, learn of the tragic fate that had befallen them. The villagers then understand their folly and in order not invite a curse on themselves, repent over their grave error. The villagers of these two places play out an act as punishment. The participating youths are called Chors. In all, eight youths participate in Zarme while a similar act is played by nine youths in Caranzol.

     It is quite a task before the actual event begins as the preparations take a while and the act folds up within 10 to 20 minutes in front of the Saptamatrika temple. In this risky operation performed on a full moon night and held at a sacred place called Chavatho, four youths are buried in a pit with only their heads above the surface. Four others have their heads buried below the ground with the rest of the body exposed on the surface with swords in their hands. A large audience gathers to witness this event with excitement as the drumbeats fall silent and the Chors are revealed to the enthusiastic crowd.

     These dramatics are best viewed at Caranzol in front of the Kuldevta temple where seven Chors are buried with one raised on a spear and another lying on a platform wearing a garland of leaves. The event begins after an invocation near a place called Wadakade (meaning ‘near a Banyan plant’).

     Chorotsav is a festival during Shigmo that reminds one of the ancestral practice of repentance and one which is never missed by the regulars. It is also a signature event in the historic village of Mauxi, also known for its rock art.

FOURTH LARGEST NATIONAL PARK IN INDIA

Namdapha National Park

The fourth largest national park in India is the Namdapha National Park in the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. Located in the Changlang district near the international border with Myanmar, the park is a diversity hotspot in the Eastern Himalayas. Spread out over an area of 1985 sq km, it is flanked by the Patkai hills to the south and south-east and the Himalayas to the north, and lies close to the Indo-Myanmar China trijunction.

The core area of the park stretches over 1808 sq km, making it the largest protected area in the Eastern Himalayas. The Noa-Dihing river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, flows westwards through the park. Numerous streams drain into the Noa-Dihing; forest pools and natural salt licks are abundant in the area.

The park, described as a botanist’s dream, is home to more than 150 tropical trees pecies, several of them exclusive to the region. These Natural Wonders of India include the Sumatran pine(Pinus mercusii) and the Delavay’s silver-fir (Abies delavayi), which cannot be found anywhere else in India. Among the rare plants found here is the Blue Vanda orchid (Vanda coerulea), a striking species with large purple-blue flowers that is native to the North-Eastern Himalayan region.

The inaccessibility of the greater part of the park has helped to preserve the forests in their pristine and virgin state. The lush green undergrowths are thick and intertwined cobweb-like with a vast range of vegetation, which changes with altitude. While the lower reaches of the park are sub-tropical, the landscape is replaced by subtropical pine forests, temperate forests, Alpine meadows, and perennial snow on the higher regions.

Namdapha is home to four major big cat species – the tiger, the leopard, the snow leopard, and the clouded leopard. Other carnivores found here include the Asian wild dog or dhole, the Asiatic black bear, the red fox, the spotted linsang, the common palm civet, the Oriental small clawed otter, and the fishing cat. The elephant, wild boar, musk deer, sambar, gaur, hog deer, stump-tailed macaque, slow loris, Hoolock gibbon, and rhesus macaque are some of the herbivores that inhabit the park.

The park has about 425 bird species, including five species of hornbills, numerous species of wren-babblers, the pied falconet, the blue-eared kingfisher, the laughing thrush, the white-winged wood duck, and the Himalayan wood-owl. 

Namdapha was declared a national park in 1983 and designated a tiger reserve the same year. It is also on the Tentative Lists of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India.