NEW YEAR AT FORT COCHIN I.
Supported by the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF), last year’s Pappanji was being made under the supervision of artists K. Reghunadhan and K.G. Anto, who were guiding about 20 workers and art students working day in and out to ready the massive figure.
Burning of Pappanji is a public celebration on the midnight of December 31 to usher in New Year’s festivities and carnival at Fort Kochi. “We’re being treated with much love and affection by the people living nearby; they even bring delicious home-made food for us while we are at work,” says Mr. Reghunadhan, who was a participating artist in the first edition of the Kochi Muziris Biennale.
Pappanji, Portuguese for ‘old man', is the effigy of a suited and booted, old man symbolising the passing of the old year, and is rooted in the Portuguese, Dutch and other European influences on Fort Kochi, says the KBF in a press release.
While the tradition started among the local people of Fort Kochi in the 1980s, the Biennale Foundation has undertaken the building of the Pappanji since the first edition of the art exhibition in 2012.
The construction of last year’s Pappanji, which started just five days back, was hold some surprises, says Mr. Reghunadhan. “It was challenging to make a huge Pappanji in less than 10 days,” says the artist. “And unlike the models from the earlier years, we are making a totally different Pappanji, one with an international appeal.”
The Pappanji stands on a strong base, five feet from the ground, with a steel frame stuffed with eco-friendly material, such as jute and cotton to enable the burning process.
Founder & Director of Ayurveda Trails, healing collection of (extra)ordinary people and their stories, whose experiences are transferred into various trails shared by travelers.
Seeks to invoke the cosmopolitan spirit of the modern metropolis of Kochi and its mythical past, Muziris, create a platform that introduce contemporary international visual art theory and practice to India.
Traveling from EU to India for Ayurveda
Foreign nationals as individual tourist will be able to travel to India from 15 November 2021. India has created air bubble arrangement for EU (Schengen area) with Germany, France and Netherland. Let us help you to find a way back to India.
At some point, everyone must encounter life, what we in India call ‘ayus’. My first experience with real life came from meeting with various spiritual teachers. After many years, I found out that the best piece of wisdom I had learnt was; “Do not hurt yourself…”
Narendranath is the guardian of a dying heritage. At his tiny shop in Fort Cochin, shrunken in the course of time, he reigns as the devoted practitioner of an age-old system of medicine, a rich and valuable legacy left with him by his forefathers.
Diwali is the festival of lights, it spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair. It is is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs and some Buddhists.
Cliff View Ayurveda Retreat is built in the Bauhaus style, which aims to reunite fine art and functional design, creating practical objects with the soul of artworks. The resort embrace the philosophy of traditional Ayurveda in modern style.
Fishermen Rituals In Kerala I.
Fisherfolk in Kerala come from three different religious groups, Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Each of the groups has its own social organisation and mostly occupies separate places in a typical fishing village, although they do share some commonalties.
From the interconnected backwaters, the forests of Wayanad, the beaches of Alleppey, the temples of Thrissur, and the streets of Kochi, Kerala is right the place with the right traditions to embody what we’ve come to know as Human by Nature.
01: Ayurveda in Travancore Kingdom
If you expect stories which starts: Once upon a time, there was a princess... stop reading. Her Highness Princess Gouri Parvathi Bayi of the Travancore Royal Family will introduce us very modern and open minded view on today's Kerala society and ayurveda.
Malayalam Actresses & Raja Ravi Varma's Paintings
In a befitting tribute to one of India’s greatest painters, Raja Ravi Varma, a Chennai-based photographer G. Venket Ram has recreated 12 of Varma’s iconic paintings into photographs, in line with the theme of celebrating the spirit of Indian Womanhood.
NAVARATRI
Festival of Nine Goddesses
Navaratri is a nine night festival that honors the Mother Goddess in all her manifestations. The worship, accompanied by fasting, takes place in the mornings. Evenings are for feasting and dancing. Each day has a different ritual associated with it.
A journey in to an ancient world of India, divided in 10 short-films. It was not only a journey to India but more a journey in to another world. For some reason I was literally falling in to an unknown world touched by all that beautiful things going on in this world.
Deities associated with sacred forests transformed and evolved according to different historical eras. It is believed that the main original forest deity was Mezguasche (Forest-lady). Mezguasche was responsible for the forest and fauna.
The human spirit has the extraordinary capacity to find positivity during hardships. Some have found it in reading, others in cooking or gardening. Dear Future Me, is a virtual time capsule on social media that lets us look back and remember the good.
Narendranath is the guardian of a dying heritage. At his tiny shop in Fort Cochin, shrunken in the course of time, he reigns as the devoted practitioner of an age-old system of medicine, a rich and valuable legacy left with him by his forefathers.
RISHIKESH: Breath Of Himalayas
Rishikesh, a town in the foothills of the himalayas. It's a pilgrimage place since thousands of years, where the yogi's gather before they continue their journey in to the mountains on their path to the ultimate liberation.
02: Circassian’s Belief System
Since time immemorial, the Circassian native tribes did not follow a script or a holy book, nor erected praying temples, but rather, they have formed an unwritten philosophy based on their collective outlook on life, and worshiped in the arms of nature.
