With Shaona

Shaona Sen | Bengali–American designer. Boston raised, Brooklyn trained. I live in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Here is mostly when I'm not on the computer. The other one: www.myndbloc.tumblr.com *All photos and words are my own, unless otherwise noted or quoted var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-17862083-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[withshaona-blog]

B'LORECREATE second recycled art experiment. Dissecting casettes.

[withshaona-blog]

“There is no written African American history for specific reasons, all the way through the Civil War... All the stories were oral or through gospel singing. It was always an underground thing... Bengali immigrants couldn’t integrate with the White community either; they had the same restrictions as the Blacks because of their appearance. Consequently, stories about Bengalis or Mexicans or French coming into the community were never written,” she said.

It was only a month ago that Fatima, who is from the Creole Seventh Ward in New Orleans, discovered a second African American Bengali within that group."

Do read the full article!

[withshaona-blog]

The lane I live on is full of children.

[withshaona-blog]

A house, long time bear-hugging a tree.

[withshaona-blog]

Got stuck in a Mawlid An-Nabi procession after football coaching in Doddananagar holiday eve. All young-to-mid-aged women in full black, while I was on the back of a scooter, that shouldn't have cut through that road, in a T-shirt, bright sneakers and my sweats rolled up. Overwhelming few minutes of slight humor and slight shock.

[withshaona-blog]

Auspicious-Hindu-marking and I-spy-Basquiat's-E, in one train of thought.

[withshaona-blog]

B'LORECREATE Holiday season palm tree experimenting.

[withshaona-blog]

B'lore stray dog ears

Most dogs, throughout Bangalore city, have a little bite missing off either one or two of their ears.

An auntie who lives near by enlightened me on the clipping of street dogs' ears under the Bruhat Bangalore/Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Commonly known as BBMP), the government, for an animal birth control (ABC) intitiative, in which different animal welfare organizations/societies (AWO/S) partner in stray dog management. Recently, a friend mentioned ongoing discussion in the past year about the controversy in the money spent on 'sterilizing' dogs of the city (given the dangers in random dog-human attacks and issues such as rabies) and how humane the marking process is. Voice of Stray Dogs is dedicated to the livelihood of stray dogs in Bangalore, and throughout India. Reports state, "(We knew it was bad, but not this bad.) There is a stray dog for every 37 persons in Bangalore city, according to a study by NGO Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy". The same article even questions 1:25 human to dog ratio. That's a lot of dogs...! Mid-2012, about 7,000 stray dogs were being operated on per month.

A tie up of finances, population control, animal rights/cruelty, and safety. 

Upon reaching B'lore, I'd thought the tip of stray dogs' ears missing in Bangalore was simply from territorial street fights or some sort of family gang initiation ritual amongst the dogs themselves. The three-stray-dogs-family on my street took a month or two to accept me, being a newbie at the time. By accepting me I mean letting me cross their paths on my lane without approaching me with bullying barks, stares and trailing my path. But not once did I feel physically threatened by them, as they kept a distance (unless food bag was somewhat apparent) and as one neighbor showed, flinched at the touch of a little drop of water, haha. It's easy to call them my/our dogs. The three stay on my street, they are fed by neighbors and keep close watch of strangers passing through. On the main road perpendicular, there's another family of dogs who are treated by their sub-locale the same. Passing through foreign neighborhoods could definitely be intimidating at times. Once, friends and I had to take a detour because stray dogs in that neighborhood were extremely aggressive and risk what could happen just wasn't worth it. Stray dogs in Bangalore have a massive community presence, very territorial, almost bodyguards to neighbors they know. And they're entertaining, how boldly they cross the street, how they trot off quickly just to sit down some feet away, not so much at night when groups are howling, like mandatory spiritual chanting.

[withshaona-blog]

People watching: Hair

The Koramangala Sony Signal intersection in Bangalore is known for it's lengthy waiting time, nearly nine minutes during certain times of the day. Once, I'd walked into Gangothri, a sagar at the intersection, finished my idli and sambar meal and walked out with the traffic having not moved at all. The other day, I was waiting along the main road's divider, completely entertained by a guy combing his hair then his mustache, making full use of his motor bike's rear view mirror. Hair culture is India is a beauty in itself. Very certain many men spend more time caring (even freely in public space) for their 1-5 inch long hair than I do, for my now 13-14 inch long hair.

[withshaona-blog]

Join us! = )

[withshaona-blog]

Babu Bagan, pandal making in the neighborhood my father grew up in.

Durga Puja, Kolkata 2012

[withshaona-blog]

Warm and fuzzy feelings. Bit strange without the cold and snow, this time around. Happy, happy holidays all = )

[myndbloc-blog]

Entered my first online giveaway, ever, today!

Vitamix’s blender. Fingers crossed! = )

[withshaona-blog]

Custard apple season is over.

One of my favorite smoothie fruits! A sweet fruit, perfect with the addition of milk. No processed sugar necessary. Til next season,

[withshaona-blog]

She roams and chills on my lane everyday. Today, graced in fresh flowers from a morning puja. She lives right around the corner, with a few other cow and bull friends. I'm always drawn to the heart in the middle of her forehead and he little hat of hair.

[withshaona-blog]

New neighbors moving in.

[myndbloc-blog]

Takeaways from Bangalore’s recent Thinkathon, on habits of present-day, technology influenced living: goo.gl/hUQQn ”These so-called habits have direct implications on how young people learn and engage with conditions of knowledge production. That which we think of as a natural response within the networked worlds is often a habit that disguises the complex mechanics of control, containment, societal pressures and expectations, and systems of reward and punishment which all get flattened as we rethink what it means to be human in the digital worlds. Looking at the infrastructure, the interface, the processes of training, the threshold of critical competence and the incessant personal investment that is actually labour but is disguised as a habit within the networks of learning, makes us more conscious of the fact that the young users are not ‘born digital’ and nor are they going to become experts left to their own devices. It brings back to the surface the question of the role of technology in education, and the form and function of new knowledge actors in our systems of learning.”  (via The Centre for Internet and Society)