'Holi'day - Colour my day glorious!
E183: The Flora Project and Holi
I could write more. But I’m on ‘Holi’day!
Faced with these little faces full of smiles and ice-cream (on a day when I am honestly melting) I'm opting to send you a few photos of pure frivolity!
Holi
Holi is a “Festival of Colours” signifying the triumph of good over evil, the arrival of spring, and the celebration of love and unity. While it originated as a Hindu festival, you see Indians of all faiths leaning into this message of hope.
“Strike a pose”
I stood by the roadside and just kept snapping photos! Colour is usually applied with the permission of the receiver, and with a blessing from the person giving it. This young lady applied mine after I asked her for permission to take a portrait:
I guess there are a lot of washing machines doing double duty today!
Families that play together …
And a well-earned double-scoop tropical taste cone (mango and tender coconut) with my sister after all our hard work under the unrelenting sun:
The Flora Project - the pringle evolves into our diamond
Many of you may recall the “Flora Project”, a sustainability project my son and sister were executing last year. They painstakingly knotted and double-knotted coir (rope make of coconut husk) over bamboo to create what we called the Flora Project Pringle. (Photos and story here E118: Our Bamboo-flavoured Pringle)
After a year of monsoons, trucks and—most importantly—a family of cows and bulls that graze here at 5pm each day, the pringle was lying on its side. The side anchored closer to the brush and the river was still intact. But the bamboo had been pushed over on the side closer to the camera (the rubble build still stands solid, for anyone interested in ancient mortar techniques). My nephew and sister “math’d” the solution and we figured we could turn it into a diamond. So six more bamboo props later …
We are now re-purposing the pringle into a diamond in preparation for “Our Rivers, Our Future” an event in support of International Day of Action for Rivers. If you are in Goa, please visit between 4-6pm on Sunday March 16, 2025.
Leave no trace - a design challenge
Yet again, we did cleanup on the site today in preparation for the event. Because it is a rare open space with access to the river, it has become a gathering space for local cricket matches, romantic trysts, inter-state truck stop … in short anyone who wants to “varem gettum” as the locals say in konkanni in Goa. Meaning “catching the wind” it loosely translates as sitting in the breeze, under the shade of a tree, out of the heat of the sun.
If ever you have wondered about the cooling properties of a tree — however sparse its branches — please visit our site. The temperature differential in the shade is significant.
But here is this week’s challenge for Tribe Tilt: For the umpteenth time in a row, I was clearing the space of the disposable cups, bottles, plastic bags, cigarette cartons, McDonald wrappers etc that people leave behind.
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The challenge: If you have to pick up trash from a site, what would you be inspired to design differently? Leave your comment below. [This works best when many people crowd-source ideas, so I hope you will play along!]
My pet peeve yesterday, as my hair escaped its tethers, sweat dripped its way in steady rivulets down my spine and my shorts stuck to the backs of my legs, was BOTTLE CAPS. The cups and plastic bottles, though annoying, were larger to pick up and put into trash bags. The bottle caps, however?! After this experience last year, I happily noticed a new design of tethered bottle caps in Europe, part of their single use plastic directive.
What c/would you design differently?
Thank you for joining Tribe Tilt. You have self-selected into a powerful, wonderful group. We believe we can make a difference to the people and places that are precious to us - with fun, hope and agency in our lives. We believe the best ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. No idea is implausible (like male seahorses giving birth!) Please add your voice and join our conversations.
Stay healthy. From there all else becomes possible.
Until next week …
Karena
Lovely Holi photos! I would say any tool that allows you to pick up trash without having to bend over would be a nice solution. The act of “bending over and getting up” is quite tiresome and requires a lot of work (in a physics sense). The challenge is exacerbated by hot temperatures, uneven surfaces, and the average distance between each piece of trash. Perhaps a pair of long plastic snatchers would minimize the pain of picking up litter.
Holi is so fun! I’d love to be in India one year for that.