What would be your reason for volunteer work in India?

bjp

Radhe Radhe

If you've done anything that helps Yamuna, please accept my pranam.


From 2005 to 2008...there's so much more plastic, it seems like India's being swamped with that plastic.

alouise

I would volunteer to work in a museum, conservation or catalogue/photography section, because there is simply so much material yet to be published!!!! I'd like to help speed that process along a little....

edwardseco

Yep, that was what I wanted to see..

Paleface

Very nice - Radheshyam! With the plastic bags, well the reasonably clean ones, we wrap them around reeds, stitch and fashion strong baskets, waste bins that sort of thing, they're good and the profits help sustain work.

20 yrs ago we swam in Yamuna, nowadays i wouldn't go near it with a bargepole. What to do! We were successful in curtailing dead cows being dumped there, for that you just have to confront the dumper, with humans dumping their packages on the banks there is nothing to do except provide Sulabh Shauchalaya (toilet block), that was also done but theyr'e not very sightly in front of the red sandstone Haveli's on the ghats. Still not many care about Chattri's dating back to Akhbar's era which have been slowly crumbling. The scale of the problems always overwhelms the work that one can do - so importantly it's not the quantum of work but the frame of mind with which one does any work, getting internally frustrated or something is of no use whatsoever.

As a foreigner it's also no use in the long term propping up some entity unless it can be managed and sustained by locals for locals - fortunately our team is honest and endowed with the spirit of seva, which as you know is service to the Blue one. Krishna, crowned with a peacock feather was the ultimate environmentalist. Using the lila's of K as metaphor has helped so much in the practical aspects of exampling best practices to community.

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brishti

you definitely get a from me lousie!
went for an exhibition a while back to the JJ college of art and architecture in bombay.
they were displaying works of painters who're now gone or in their 80's-90's.
students were telling me - the amount of paintings that have been ruined because of improper storage and/or due to lack of restoration facilities were tragic.

yup - you get an A1 from me on thata suggestion.



:brishti
we must disagree on something soo

steven_ber

Same reason as everyone I think, to feel better about myself, except those who just want to enhance their CV.

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brishti

what exactly does that mean ?



:brishti

alouise

[quote=brishti;770332]you definitely get a from me lousie!
went for an exhibition a while back to the JJ college of art and architecture in bombay.
they were displaying works of painters who're now gone or in their 80's-90's.
students were telling me - the amount of paintings that have been ruined because of improper storage and/or due to lack of restoration facilities were tragic.

yup - you get an A1 from me on thata suggestion.



:brishti


Yes, we can disagree on some things. For example, I'd be more interested in the antiquities than "modern" works. But it's really sad the way ASI is so underfunded. Many of the ASI offices and museums I visited last time in India were so pleased but at the same time exasperated when I enquired about conservation of particular artefacts. I'm trained in Mediterranean archaeology (ie. greek, Roman, Persian, Egyptian), but compared to all that India is the absolute "lolly shop" when it comes to remains of the ancient past. So much is amazingly preserved but the archaeologists need a lot more government support with resources to conserve and publish the stupendously vast amounts of material they've salvaged from excavations.

I mean, it's great that India sets a world standard in online publishing all the Archaeology of India Reviews (ie. site summaries of finds from excavations) since 1949. But in many of the regional ASI offices throughout the country they don't even have computers to catalogue finds into data bases so as to allow scholarly analyses, much less photographic records of their museum pieces. And that's what I'm collecting at the moment, the photos. It's something at least, and I just wish I could afford time off work in Oz to be able to volunteer in the museums.

Paleface

It's a greeting, a farewell. Radhey, - to attract someone's attention, Jai Radhey - Thankyou, please and so on. Specifically used in the Braaj area, between Delhi and Agra and West to moreorless Jaipur - the deity in the City palace temple was once in Govind Dev at Vrindavan and was secreted there to avoid Aurangzeb's destruction.

Radha a Gopi of Braj, was Krishna's divine consort, in so far as her love was perfectly unconditional. Sri Radha enchants Him. Deeper Vaishnava reasoning would suggest that without Radha there is no meaning to Krishna and without Krishna there is no meaning to Radha Rani. Because of this, in the Vaishnava tradition respects are first to the Lord's internal energy in the form of Radha, and then to Krishna. Thus Radhe Radhe, or Sri Radhe, Radheshyam (Radha Krishna. In this way, Radha and Krishna are one...

brishti

thank you paleface - that was a lovely explanation.
much appreciated - sincerely.

a greeting akin to 'the lord be with you' ?
the poster's handle is 'bjp'.
hence my antenna was ziggyzagging.



:brishti

Paleface

Radhey Brishti! Gangotri valley greeting is mainly Hari Om, I miss Radha.

Whatever the current pathetic status quo is in Uttar Pradesh under Mayawati or the Singhs, Braj has that distinction of honoring the feminine first and foremost, hopefully it's not just lip service and more an oasis of equanimity. Vrindavan still retains amidst the marble and concrete a window into the world of Bhakti and culturally there is a huge amount to explore and experience, Architecture, Ghats, Temple arts, Dhrupad, Kirtan, Ras Lila and so on for the interested. Bye Radhey.

brishti

i only believe in the 'bartini paleface' [come again] as a fare-thee-well greeting
thanks for the post - many will appreciate it i'm sure.

:brishti

machadinha

I think that frankly my reason would be because I like to do it

(I would probably have to add that I don't see any difference between work and hobbyism and voluntary work. It's made me materially unsuccessful, but otherwise satisfied I guess.)

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Paleface

Ah there we are.. the nature of work! In so far as Thinking, that in which all activity has its root, is the real work, so nobody can escape working, even if you don't volunteer.

bjp

[Sorry about the delayed reply. Work, too hectic, and if I don't do these things right away, then more days go by.]

@Paleface: Yes, thanks for the nice explanation. I really should learn how to do that.
And nice to see the appreciation from brishti.

@brishti:

I don't understand.