GLAMorous tales from Hindustan

G=Gallery. L-Library. A=Archive. M=Museum. The travails of a Wikipedian searching for his country's story.

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Treepie Time - Guest post by Karishma S.

Treepie Time – Guest post by Karishma S.

Henry Rufous Treepie

This is Henry, the young treepie I recently rescued after he fell down from his nest. I waited for his mom to come after the fall but when that never happened, I took him in. He was quite scared initially but later on adapted and used to mingle well with me. He never liked being in the cage so he used to sit upon my shoulder like a boss and keep observing keenly as I used to…

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I Glued Myself To A Crocodile

I Glued Myself To A Crocodile

I glued myself to a crocodile – (Image copyright Jim Jourdane. Used under Fair Use) I glued myself to a crocodile, It wasn’t what I wanted to do, As I fixed a radio transmitter, The croc shook, my tube shook, I was stuck with glue. John held the head with a rope, tied it to the pier rail, Elmo held the rope of the tail, tightly lest his grip fail. I shrieked to Maya for immediate aid, she kept…

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Bukbuk's Sleepytime Adventure

Bukbuk’s Sleepytime Adventure

Bukbuk was not sleepy. He lived in a burrow with his parents on a mountain meadow in the Ladakh Himalayas near a place called Dras. It was the first winter of his lfe. He had drunk lot of his Mamma’s milk and eaten crunchy greens, bulbs, roots and shoots and now he was fat, soft, round and furry. But he was not sleepy. Pa Buk and Ma Buk had told him all about it. That it would snow for many…

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Bukbuk's First Adventure

Bukbuk’s First Adventure

There never was a naughtier marmot than BukBuk. He lived in a flowery meadow high up in the Himalayas with his Pappa and Mamma! Bukbuk loved his home. It was under a large rock on the mountain and faced the South. A stream nearby gave them water to drink. Grasses and plants all around meant there was a lot of food for them. Best of all there was a flat rock just outside his burrow. BukBuk and his…

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Remembering Maiwand

The massacre of the 66th Foot at Maiwand! The year was 1880. The heat in the Afghan countryside was fierce. As the troops formed up the approaching Afghan hordes spanned the horizon – there were 25,000 Afghans and Ghazis while the small contingent of three battalions, one British, H.M. 66th Regiment, and two Indian – Jacob’s Rifles and Bombay Grenadiers took position and readied themselves. With…

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Rare plants need to be propagated to protect them!

Rare plants need to be propagated to protect them!

Guest post by Nandan Kalbag

Certain wild plants, native to India, need to be introduced in gardens. One such climber is Oxystelma esculentum. Its common names are Dudhani and Dugdhika(in Marathi) as well as Rosy milkweed vine (in English). It is a medium size climber with very dense foliage. Flowering occurs mainly in Summer & Monsoon.The common variety is with flowers having pink center.…

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"Ashwin Baindur" is off to outer space on the Orion mission in December 2014...

http://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/orion-first-flight/?action=getcert&e=1&cn=219728

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Cureton's Multanis

Did you know

 ... that the 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis), despite being a cavalry regiment fully manned by Muslim troops (officer pictured), used a Hindu salaam in place of a regulation military salute?"

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GLAMorous tales from Hindustan turned 2 today!

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Do it RIGHT!

DO IT RIGHT!

Agar Khuda na khasta ho jaye snake bite! We have a weapon for the good fight! Its not miracle, magic, faith or myth, The first aid is called DO IT RIGHT!

R is for Re-assure! Tell the patient you will be ok for sure! Because non-poisonous…

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100 Children (Nature song)

By Tom T. Hall (1970)

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DYK - The Bush Rat, the Indian National Congress & the Unreliable Servant

What connection could the following have?

Did you know…

 … that the Manipur Bush Rat (pictured) was…

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 A visit to a museum is a different experience for each child who walks through the front door despite the fact that they are all confronted with the same exhibits. As each child is different, the recall for particular objects or experience may be unique to each particular child. The experience of a child in a museum may depend on a number of factors, pre-trip preparation, presence of an interpreter, participation in a specific activity or use of a handout.

In Indian Museums, interdisciplinary handouts are prominent by virtue of their absence!

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STORY-TELLING

Story-telling can really enhance the museum experience. Stories can set the context of objects, embellish the knowledge about them and place the objects in perspective in the mythology of the culture that the objects belong to.

See how the Asian Art Museum Storyteller, Miriam Mills, tells an excerpt from The Ramayana (The Life of Rama) in the Southeast Asian galleries at the Asian Art Museum. This video features artworks from the Asian Art Museum's permanent collection.

This is one of the ways, value can be added to a visit to a museum.

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The Walters Collection on Wikimedia Commons

Image Title:"Battle with Raktavijaya".

Description: Devi, the goddess, assumes the terrifying black form of Kali, whose extended pink tongue laps up blood, as related in the sacred text known as the "Devimahatmya." The demon-king Shumbha's general, Raktavija, is shown twice. Above, supported by the goddess's extended tongue, he holds sword and shield, and his drops of blood produce clones of himself. Below, he has at last been conquered.

Url : http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indian_-_Battle_with_Raktavija_-_Walters_W864.jpg

The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Its permanent collection includes more than 22,000 objects ranging from ancient art from around the world including pieces from Egypt, Rome and India .

On February 2, 2012, the Walters Art Museum adopted the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license for all text and images published on their website art.thewalters.org and began working with Wikimedia Commons, and by March 26, uploaded about 20 thousand images.

This means that the images of Indian heritage on Wikimedia Commons has just received a valuable contribution.See the images pertaining to Indian heritage here.

Kudos to the Walters for their forward-thinking, vision and generous contribution. The next time you are in Baltimore, do visit the Walters!

Now if only some Indian Museum would follow in the foot-steps of the Walters...

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Harappa Excavation Reports 1986-1990

It is indeed a pleasure that vital excavation reports of expeditions to the Harappan civilisation, which is of great relevance to the history of the sub-continent, are released for public reading and not behind a paywall.

Makes you wonder why so few institutions in India offer open access of the public to their documents and artefacts.

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[errthng]

always reblog

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A metaphor for man's struggle with his environment? Is this the train of climate change?