Floating down the Ganges

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In the final part of the Helix of Hope art project the sculpture was ritually immersed in the full Hindu tradition of giving the sculpture to the Goddess Ganga. This Thursday we are taking a break from Calcutta and will be travelling to Darjeeling to watch the sunrise over the Himalayas. Paddy I'll bring you back a cup of tea! Beyond that I will let these pics speak for themselves. It's the journey from the school to the Ganges and the immersion; followed by my own immersion dressed in a longie.

Good luck until we do some tourist stuff in the Himalayas.

Immersion Malarkey

Hello Baberino
Glad you like it. You made a fair comment - 'What is all this immersion malarkey..' Maybe I assumed that everybody knew 'immersion.' After the idol makers produce all the images of Shiva and the other Gods of the Hindu religion, the communities or families who commissioned the models, build pandals, or public alters, place their idols on the pandal and have a Pooja (festival) in the vicinity of the idol model, which becomes the actual God by this point. After 10 days they take the God/idol/model to the Ganges and place it (immerse it) in the sacred river - thereby giving the sacred idol back to the mother goddess, Ganga. That is one reason why the images have to be made from clay, bamboo, jute, rice straw and water paint - although they do use nails here and there.

So my god idol will be immersed in the Ganges on Sunday, and it will float off and sink. This is a piece of installation art/performance art. Designed to reflect the spiritual nature of the Hindu people - but for me a positive image portraying a hopeful future for children. The Hindu gods are not known for their benevolence, but have more to do with the general force that defeats evil. Shiva the main chic has ten arms nine carry weapons the last carries something nice.

I paid a visit to the site of the immersion on the Ganges today. Sunday should be interesting. Will try to put a report up by Monday. Here is one of many sites of what are called 'roadside dwellers' inhabited by scores of children.
Until the, slan.
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The big heat

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The term 'I'm melting has suddenly taken on a whole new meaning! The temperature is up near forty somewhere and the humidity is high. We have started to use the local pool a lot more often, but even there you have to swim like a whale only coming up now and again for a breath of air. It's that warm that the pool water is warm. There are a number of other facilities in the club like a Jacuzzi, and wait for it - sauna and steam room. Over here you go into the sauna to cool off.

We had the launch of the sculpture on Sat. 21st. Sujata Sen the head of the British Council made the main speech and spoke very strongly about the work. We had a couple of musicians playing and Sister Cyril made a great speech. There was a good crowd at the launch, a very mixed bunch everything from dignitaries to those involved in radical organisations. There will be some new pics of that within the next few days. From tomorrow onwards my big problem is the process of immersing the work in the tributary of the Ganges.

Look at the images above and imagine in 40degrees. Some of the images of the sculpture arriving at the school.
Amongst others The Indian Express did a great article and pic, if you google Helix of Hope India it should come up.

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raymiewatson@yahoo.ie

DNA sculpture finished

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The last 3 weeks are upon us. Time here has flown in, with its ups and downs, this has been a great trip. I am sitting listening to the Lonesome Boatman on the computer - Good man Steven, your CD has been played many times.

Last week we traveled to Agra, Dehli and visited The Taj Mahal. An amazing place to visit, it took 22,000 people 20 odd years to build. Afterwards most of the trades men had their hands cut off so that they could never repeat the same job again. We would put a few images up only Dara deleted everything off the digital camera. An Indian fella took her photo on the sly and she seen him so in the process of her trying to delete that one pic we lost the lot. Such is life, but I have loads on the 35 ml, so all is not lost. One more trip out of Calcutta/Kolkata, we hope to free up a four or five days to travel to Darjeeling, and visit the Himalayas as real tourists before flying home...

The Sculpture
I delivered the big sculpture to Loreto Sealdah School yesterday, and today the kids painted pictures and wrote their hopes for the future underneath the paintings. These images will be hung from the bars joining the DNA spirals. This pic shows some of them posing with their pictures. We are having an official launch on Saturday 21st. at 2pm. We hope to make it a bit of an event. The Head of the British Council in East India will make the main speech, Sister Cyril will say a few words and some one from Khoj Arts Calcutta, will also be in attendance. A traditional Bengali group will play some live music. Hopefully some of the local press will turn up too.

There was a near disaster transporting it from the workshop to the school - the top caught in an overhead electric cable and nearly toppled it out of the Matador truck. The strands cracked and loads of the clay work chipped and broke off - which we then spend most of today repairing. How we are going to immerse this in the River Hoogli still remains a mystery even to me, but it should be an event! Nothing is easy here.

This wee series of images show the final piece of clay work going onto the base. Dara doing a bit of painting when she claimed to have a sore stomach to get off school. The hands on the base painted up. The children in the school painting up images and finally posing with them. That's Dara on bottom right holding her painting in front of her face. Toraigh had run off at this point.
The two girls and Shona are all keeping well. Although Toraigh and Dara are always checking their email addresses for news from relatives and friends and any stories from home - hint hint.. We all hope to see every one soon.

Key time - big plans - last month

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As we speed towards our last month in the weird, wonderful, wacky and warm city of Kolkata and west Bengal, we are approaching a number of key moments. Sculptures are coming to key stages, projects are nearing completion, we have a number of trips planned, Calcutta children are keen tin whistlers and our two are starting to love their school.

1. The big sculpture will get its first coat of paint on Tues 3 April. The total design work is complete, I think. For the interests of Sheamie and of course every one else, I have two quotes that spread around the four sides of the base.

One is the perhaps most positive quote to be stated by any Irish man this last 30 odd years, Bobby Sands, 'Our revenge will be the laughter of our children'. A quote that looks forward to a happier time for the next generation. We had some crack translating those sentiments into Bengali. See pic. Every man and his Bengali dog had there own take on how it should be written, even after it was modeled in clay I was convinced that I had to take it off and change it. The English version is on one side and the Bengali on the other. It is impossible to photo the English version yet because the workshop is too narrow. But for anybody that wants to learn Bengali I have included a pic of the Bengali version (still in its raw clay state).

The second quote is from Rabindranath Tagore, 'On the shores of the oceans of the world, children frolic'. Originally written in Bengali it was translated by Prof. Tukki from Seagull. Tagore was/is Bengals father of art and literature, Nobel Laureate, who was awarded a knighthood but later returned the award in protest at the Julianwalabag massacre (over 400 innocent Indians) by British Soldiers.

I was invited to the Santiniketan University, established by Tagore, and toured round Tagore's house. The ethos of the entire site is about learning in and from nature. Some of the class room seating is arranged in the shade of large trees, there is a forest nearby and generally it is an outstanding spot and the most uplifting spiritual experience I have had since coming here. See pics.

While at the Uni I was also taken on a tour of some of the tribal villages, met a local tribal sculptor and drank a load of sweet spring water from a traditional well. The tribals still build their homes (huts) from clay and use rice straw thatch, and dress differently. The village felt much cleaner and healthier than anything in Calcutta, but there is probably more poverty. Still one of my most amazing weekends since arriving in India.

The sculpture will be located in Loreto Sealdah School after completion, where the children will paint on A4 boards and write their hopes for the future. These boards will then be hung on the struts between the strands of the helix.

Toraigh and Dara are progressing well in this challenging school. Where there are now a number of Kolkata children who can play tunes on the tin whistle. We hope to somehow engage a music teacher to continue the music classes after we leave. Many of the teachers have acknowledged the fact that these children never get the opportunity to play/experience music or own instruments. We will be leaving approx 28 tin whistles with the school in the hope that the small beginning that we have introduced will grow. This is a much longer term project that we have not figured out yet.

Brenda, from Conway Mill, if you or any one else is reading this, thanks for the help via the phone in setting up the projection system in Santiniketan. The students and lecturers were a bit blown away by the fact that people from Belfast were in live contact in an effort to sort out there technical problems; so a big Slainte.

We are off to Dehli on Wednesday evening to meet up with some friends, be tourists for a few days and hope to take a day trip from there to the Taj Mahal. More on that when we return next week. Shona will be putting a report up soon about her projects etc and Toraigh is currently writing a blog for her class in St Patricks and St Brigits in Ballycastle. Both Toariagh and Dara say a big hello to every one, schoolmates and friends and relatives.

Saint Patrick's Day and no Slemish

In serious Mourning for St Paddy's

We are in mourning for St Paddy's! Especially me! There were a couple of local visitors in the Apartment tonight and we were showing them images of home - amongst those images were the Slemish pics of a few years in a row. Toraigh and Dara were asking if they could go up the next time - unfortunately that will have to be 2008. No Irish Stew, Guinness, music, honey roasted ham... Aidan Short falling out of his wheel chair and Sheamy Murph talking the leg off the table - Marty Max doing Ti Chee, and Micheal and Vinny talking real sense. Ah man! What I would give for the prospect of a St Paddy's hangover! Anyhow, I hope the sun shines and the uisce beatha flows in equal measure. Hope to hear how it all went

Hello Sheamey, good to see you are still out there. I have decided not to use a Ghandi quote as it is too easy. Beyond that, Ghandi is not very popular in Bengal and Kolkatta. A legacy of the whole partition issues with Bangladesh former East Pakistan. I am using the Bobby Sands quote, 'Our victory will be the laughter of our children'. It will be written in English and Bengali. I will accompany this with a quote from a local Bengali poet possibly Rabinandrath Tagore. Have not decided which quote to use yet but I will let you know.

Beyond that bring me back a rock from the top of Slemish or I'll put a curse on yous that'll make the potato famine look like a Sunday Regatta.

The images are of the clay base on the double helix sculpture, with the first faces being sculpted. Also a craftsman at work plus a wee boy who wants to be on TV.

There has been a city wide strike over here after the police shot dead 15 farm workers and wounded loads more. The entire city came to a complete stop in protest. The Naxalits (could be spelt wrong) a Maoist group attacked a police station in central India and shot dead at least 50 police men in a completely unconnected incident. They don't mess around in this place. Will be in touch soon. Good luck , Raymie.

A big sculpture in a medieval workshop

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Hello any one.. Despite everything I am working full speed ahead on my DNA Double Helix God! This first pic shows Aloke Paul, middle, and Gorum, two of the Durga craftsmen that I am working alongside. It is Aloke's workshop, about 6 ft wide and 30ft or more long and dark. These people work in circumstances that feel like they have not changed in a thousand years. Aloke and his family live in this workshop in basic conditions. They cook over an amazing primitive open fire set up half way up the workshop. On my first day I asked where the toilet was which created a ripple of amusement. Since meeting them all I can say is that they are great. Anyhow after a few days of meetings, talks and work on designs and models, and gathering raw materials (through and interpreter) we began the real hands on work a few days ago. Tomorrow (Sun) after work I am invited for dinner; I know chicken was mentioned, really looking forward to it. In this place there is no fridge and there is only one way to keep meat fresh until it is required.

Gorum comes to assist with certain elements of the work - his main speciality is the construction of the skeletal bamboo and rice straw interior of the Durga models. So he was key in the initial stages of building the strands of the Helix shape (see next image). Above we are sitting on the base. It will be completed last - Does any one know a quote from Ghandi about treasuring children? I will be inscribing quotes with those sentiments on the base.

The sculpture will be ten feet high and will be finished with clay and painted. As we work I am getting a great insight into how they construct the Gods for the Pooja (holy festivals) and what all the rituals are. My plan was to utilise the same construction methods but make something totally different and slitghly subversive - I am thankful that Aloke seems to totally get the goals of the project. Although I must say that the work is getting some curious attention from his fellow craftsmen in adjoining workshops.

The next main challenges are.. well you judge.


It has to be made.

After that I plan to get the young people at Loreto Sealdah to make artistic images to decorate the links between the strands of the Helix. Images that tie in with the theme.

I plan to sculpt the clay of the strands into faces of children and children's games.
After the whole thing is sculpted it will then be colourfullypainted.

Then it will go to the Nehru Children's Museum for a number of days and be decorated.

After this the final fling will be to take it to a tributary of the Ganges for a ceremonial immersion (as this is what happens to the Idols). The ones pictured here a fairly small scale and unpainted. When completed they will have black hair and be extremely colourful. The main God is Shiva (I think) with ten arms - nine of them will be finished carrying weapons and the tenth hand gives a blessing!

Oh yea, I forgot one other thing, I am trying to get three white fellas, to help me pull the finished sculpture through a number of street of Kolkata (Calcutta for Rajaphiles) on one of the traditional carts that seem to keep this city running. We will all be wearing 'longies', Aloke is wearing one in the first pic. It is the dress of the labouring classes.

A view from outside my new home for the next lot of weeks. That's my interpreter taking it easy. So for now, Shubar Rattri. (Good night in Bengali)

So what next for each of us

Shona's update, projects I have planned for India:

1. Setting up a Youth Leadership programme with Seagull
2. Helping to focus the Seagull Peaceworks project across schools in India
3. Presentation of my work in NI with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation
4. Heading to Singapore to work with Kentake, my Nesta co-fellow

Project 1: The Nesta placement at Seagull with Naveen Kishore. My work is always harder to explain than Raymie's but here goes. I spend my time between two of the Seagull Foundation centres. One is a publishing house where they publish an amazing selection of books, beautifully produced and on all kinds of subject matter, from art, poetry and literature to film, history, social science and politics. A fascinating range of people come through the place to discuss book projects, films, animations and there is a great creative energy. Books are edited and designed from this space so I can see the whole process. The team have made me more than welcome and there's always a great supply of coffee and chocolate. The project that I am developing with Naveen and the team in this space is a youth leadership programme. India, like everywhere else in the world right now, puts an enormous pressure on school going young people to achieve. Don't forget there are still mind boggling statistics of young people without access to any education. Parental pressure to achieve and work your way to a good paying corporate job is enormous.

So I am tasked with developing a programme that gives young graduates and post graduates a chance to pursue other options before they make their minds up about their futures. Seagull have come up with an idea called Choice funded by the Ford Foundation and I am developing it as a programme to place graduate students into internships of anything between 3 months and one year, all of the placements will be with organisations who are in some way working in the development sector to create better quality of lives for their fellow human beings.

Right now I am meeting with NGOs, organisations working in health, disability, child poverty, trafficking, women's rights, education, arts, and more to get a sense of what kind of young person, with what kind of skills, working on what kind of project, would be of benefit to them. Later I will do a call for young people (18-25 yr olds) who are interested in interning, and the real task will be to ensure the right fit so that both the hosting organisations and the young people going to work with them have a mutually beneficial experience. Ultimately it may even result in some of the brightest young people setting up their own social enterprises...
It is a great project to be working on and much needed to develop new young leaders for India's future, but much is still to be done so it's a busy time.

Project 2: I spend the other half of my time at another of Seagull's Centres. An Arts and Media resource centre with an excellent archive of books, films, music, photographs and artworks. It also houses a gallery with a new exhibition each month. From here the team run arts and education programmes in schools. One of their major initiatives called Peaceworks arose as a response to the Gujarat genocide in 2002, where almost 3,000 Muslim people were murdered by Hindu nationalists. India prides itself on being a secular society and the shock of what happened in Gujarat provoked many into a proactive response. At Seagull they embarked on an ambitious programme to try and raise awareness and interactive activities that underline the core values of living in peace in schools across the subcontinent. Many interesting initiatives and resources have been developed through this programme with artists, theatre groups, film-makers working with young people in schools. They have published a book of young people's peace poems, embarked on major kites for peace project, conducted visits to Pakistan and now a call for peace stories for a new publication.

With continuing conflicts on many of its internal borders, as well as the ongoing violent conflict with Pakistan, and secularism in India under constant threat, this is a vitally important project.
As with any risk-taking project with such a huge ambition Peaceworks has had its successes, but also been fraught with difficulties in terms of its reach and impact.
It has a great team and excellent resources and my task is to work with them to develop a long-term and developmental plan for the project that can be delivered in the short and long-term. No small task, but we begin in earnest this Monday by coming together as a team to start to map out a plan. It has a long way to go, but from humble beginnings.......

Project 3:
One of the things I do at home, along with business partner Frances Macklin through our company Rubyblue, is find good projects for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to fund. Over the last 4 years we have supported many excellent projects in rural and urban areas that give young people the chance to develop through innovative arts activities. This week I had the real privilege of seeing presentations on all the work that the Paul Hamlyn Foundation fund in India, from improving the rights of rag pickers in Delhi to supporting the impoverished children of migrant workers and prosititutes; women's empowerment programmes in Rajasthan and peace building programmes in Gujarat. In turn I presented on PHF's work in NI with young people in a post-conflict society. Although the context and focus is different, it was really interesting to see how many of the same issues emerge. A struggle for governmental recognition for this kind of voluntary sector work, always a battle for funding, uncertainties about the future, concerns about whether any of it really makes a difference.
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation have asked me to carry out research for them during my time here so I will be involved in an ongoing exchange with organisations across India looking at creative approaches to helping young people who are excluded from access to basic human rights. You can only be humbled by both the dedication and the scale of the difficulties people working in this area face here in India, I have no doubt that I have more to learn than offer. It will be a real challenge to draw together useful research in a short time frame but I am passionate about the task, will encounter amazing people and projects along the way.........

Project 4:
As part of the Nesta fellowship we are each assigned a co-mentor or fellow. I am delighted to be working with Kentake Chinyelu Hope who has completed her placement at the Science Centre in Singapore. We are all committed to doing a presentation of our findings in the host country once the placement is completed. Kentake is doing hers next week in Singapore, so I'm off on Monday to Singapore for a different adventure and can't wait to hear about the work she has been doing, in an area that is unfamiliar turf for me. So I will come back from that experience with a story to tell......

Holi before and after

The photographs should give you a real sense of what happens at the Holi festival. I know, not pretty, Raymie and the girls definitely decided to target me. Family loyalty eh? Here we are before and after: For a better view you can enlarge any of the pics by clicking on the photo.