Transcultural Design India

The World According To Balvindra

My Driver’s Insights On Foreign Foods, Coughing, And My Chances On The Indian Wedding Market – a little story by Chris Ebbert

One person I spend much of my time with these days is Balvindra,
the eighteen year old driver of a silver Tata Indica Diesel with the plate
number “KA 01 AA 3961” by Balaji Taxi Company, Bangalore, Karnataka, kindly
call for appointment. He picks me up every morning at eight, and takes me to the
college in a faraway corner of Bangalore.

For two full hours every day, we sit together in this
tough little car, air conditioning doing its best to filter out archaic diesel
particles around us, battling potholes the size of garden ponds and speed bumps
designed to imprison Lamborghinis.

During that time, my driver makes a painstaking effort to
explain some basic truths of life to me. When my laptop’s battery charge has
expired, and I am closing the lid of my trusty Toshiba L750 to be recharged at
the earliest opportunity, there is no escaping the lectures of my driver.
Balvindra is a typical Bangalore resident, thin, tall, and dark skinned, speaking
Kannada-accented, Indian English when he isn’t interrupting his speeches in
order to nurse his iPhone, or to attend to a Jesus statue in danger of toppling
over on the dashboard, following a particularly deep pothole or an unusually
high speedbump.

“You seem to have a bit of a chronic cough going there, Balvindra,” I remarked one day, unable to contain my curiosity about the almost rehearsed, dignified little coughs he had been emitting every 42 seconds that day.

“Ah yes, Sir!” he responded cheerfully, evidently delighted to have found a subject of
mutual interest for the day. “Has been going on since my fourteenth birthday,
Sir. Very mysterious. My mother always take me to homeopathic doctor in other
city, Karnataka, very famous. He take me by the hair and pull me up like this
–“ (Balvindra grabs his own, black hair and pulls on it in the same fashion in
which cannibals in Papua Guinea tend to carry their trophy shrunken heads), “… until
my other tongue back in place.”

“Your… other tongue..?” I nodded with the gravity reserved for the terminally insane, not sure what he was talking about, but open for surprises.

“… Scientific evidence, Sir! Everybody have two tongues. One in mouth, one in throat. Invisible to layman. You pull up on hair like that, second tongue go back. No more cough. Many weeks.”

“It sounds like it’s time to be pulled by the hair again then, I presume…?” carefully
initiating the next stage of the conversation.

“Some time, hot food help a lot!” he continued after a short, but enthusiastic nod,
following an evasion maneuver and a honk aimed at a colorfully painted,
noxiously fuming truck straying into our path at the speed of a dying Helix
Pomatia, “My grandmother some time make Mattar Paneer with special chili from
North of India. You know Biryani, Sir? Next to my house big Biryani Centre. All
the coughing people from neighborhood come and buy. Is great medical
advancement, helping millions. One chili, never cough!”

We nodded at this insight in agreement and continued along the way, avoiding other vehicles in the peculiar way in which Indians
tend to share the road; the idea is basically to creep up close enough to another vehicle from behind to maximize the shock impact of the horn, use it, and start making passing motions, but ultimately staying beside and behind the other vehicle as if lacking the power to go past. Any slowing down of the vehicle in front must be penalized by vigorous horn honking, but passing is not an option, even if the road is as wide as the desert. Passengers with high blood pressure are advised to bring blindfolds. Must have something to do with the caste system.

“Do you like snake, Sir?” my driver asked, having vanquished a two-hundred year old
school bus with the Tata’s horn, now crawling toward a stop at a bus station
with several million waiting passengers, its spirit visibly broken by our
antics.

“Snake?”

“Beefsnake.”

“Ah, beefsteak! Yes, I do like it, but where I normally live, in China, I wouldn’t
touch it with a long stick. Too many creative ingredients, you never know what
that steak used to be before it ended up in a pan.”

“Could be snake?”

“Yes, why not. I have actually eaten snake, you know. In America. Not bad. A bit like
chicken, but tougher.”

“Like old chicken, right, Sir?”

“Yes, a very old chicken. Crocodile tastes a bit like that, too, coming to think of it.
I ate that once in Louisiana.”

We pondered this realization in mute appreciation while making our way through a heavy cloud of smoke billowing from acres of burning rubbish beside the motorway, street dogs blinded by the smoke waddling hither and thither between equally blinded cars and autorickshaws as we slalomed our way through the maze of potholes, speed bumps, overloaded trucks, and street vendors carrying huge baskets of coconuts.

“You reducing a lot, Sir!” he suddenly exclaimed, after a brief side glance, eyes
wide with terror, once we had exited the rubbish cloud. “Your weight become
very less!”

I looked at myself in a certain state of alarm – what had that cloud done to me? Then I realized he was speaking in general terms,
not as an immediate observation. It was true, I had been losing quite a bit of
weight since arriving in India.

“Now you can almost get married,” he added with a sense of approval. “Face and hair very
good. Only body still fat. Next time you come to India, I take you to MG Road.
Very good girls there, Sir! Hair and eyes and feet… premium quality.”

With that, he sank into contemplative revelry, dodging
scooters where possible and disciplining dopey fellow drivers through horn use.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to seeing girls
with hair and eyes and feet of high quality, and if I cough, I will remember to
pull myself by the hair to get that other tongue under control.

Watch out for honking Tatas driven by eighteen year olds, you may be driving too closely in front of them.

As part of transcultural program at Srishti School, we had to find a 3-month internship at a design agency. Manon and I are trainees at Restore Solutions, a retail design agency for the last month.

First, what is retail design ? Let me explain to you how future space designers and graphic designers find their respective interests in this field. Retail design is the interior design of commercial spaces where goods are sold to the public. It aims to make these commercial spaces more appealing and inviting to customers. Retail design combines suggestions regarding exterior and interior commercial design to create a welcoming retail environment. It involves assessing existing retail stores and performing consultations about new locations. Retail design services can vary depending on the needs of the proprietor and the nature of the retail store. If you want know more about what is the retail design :

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1904408.

Manon works in the space design department and I am affiliated with the graphic design department. My team works on branding, packaging, visual identity and advertising.

But I want talk more in detail about all that Restore Solutions do thanks to its complete and versatile team.

1. Store and space design :

The agency has primarily a space design department for retail spaces.

2. Fixtures and fit-outs :

Restore Solutions also designs installations, POP (Point-of-Purchase) advertising, display stands and shelves, ‪fixture and fix-outs‬.

3. Product design :

Restore Solutions likes to say “The product is a brand’s greatest spokesperson”. Thus they realize diverse and varied objects to help brands to communicate their products.

4. Visual merchandising :

The advertising communication is really important in a shop. So Restore Solutions also designs, among other things, poster presentation of products in points of sale. The purpose of such visual merchandising is to attract, engage and motivate the customer towards making a purchase.

5. Graphic design :

To communicate a brand, we need a logo, visual identity, brochures, posters, and other visual supports. Restore Solutions also design and realizes these.

6. Packaging :

The agency designs also the shape and graphic design of packagings so that the latter are correlated with the spirit of the brand.

7. Turnkey implementation :

Since 2009, Restore Solutions has the resources and capacities to execute what they design themselves.

I’m really enthusiastic and interested to work in this agency because I had never worked in this field. I hope to learn a lot about retail design and also that it will bring something extra in my training as a graphic designer.

Every morning and evening, I take the bus from Yelahanka NES to Palace Road. One month ago, I began my internship in a graphic agency called Kena Design. You can find it on Palace Road, 4th level of Sycon Polaris, above the shop Croma.

I am not a graphic designer, but I need to improve in this specialty and graphic design is a tool important to communicate all projects.

This agency is typicaly female. All my collegues are women, and are very nice and kind. There is a good ambiance and we talk a lot about the differences between our cultures. Each lunch they help me chose Indian food to discover.

My first project was about the graphics and illustrations for a calendar. They gave me some keywords for inspirations like: India, color, pattern… I began to do research about the colors used in India, patterns, textiles, the indian graphics… I must find a good theme for my calendar. I decided to try with the events in India. Since I arrived in India, each month, there is an event (the Independance Day, or Ganesh and Diwali). So I suggested to my mentor to work on Indan events. I researched what is happening each month in this country.

My list was:

January : Sankranti

Sankranti is a event with kites. Mainly in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. There are 3 days of very colorful festival is the Feast of the Tamil harvest.

February: Shivaratri

Solemn prayer for the Hindu deity Shiva. Day of tales and songs specially dedicated to Chidambaram, Kalahasti, Khajuraho, Varanasi and Bombay.

March: Holi

Mainly in the north. Popularly called the festival of colors announcing the start of spring. Lively festival where people throw water and colored powders.

April : Baishakhi

In northern India, Punjab, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, Hindu calendar New Year. Many folk dances. Women wear yellow saris.

May : Bouddha Purnima

Buddha Purnima is one of the most important Buddhist festivals. It celebrates the birth, enlightenment and attainment of Nirvana Buddha.

June: Rath Yatra

Mainly in Orissa. The biggest festival around the temples in honor of the god Jagannath (God of the Universe). Three huge trucks pulled by thousands of pilgrims from the temple of Puri. The same festival in a smaller scale took place at Ramnagar (near Varanasi), Serampore (near Calcutta) and Jagannathpur (near Ranchi).

July: Raksha Bandhan

In northern and western India, ancient tradition which is to attach cords or symbolically ォ RAKHI サ a feeling of brotherhood. This symbolic act is the confirmation of a mutual protection order (between siblings and between friends). These Rakhis Talismen or colored cords that are attached each other around the wrist, the people making these vows of mutual brotherhood.

August: Onam

Harvest festival in Kerala, snake boat race in the lagoons of the coastal state in southern India.

September : Ganesh Chaturthi:

Mainly Pune and Mumbai in Maharashtra but also in Orissa and Madras. Dedicated to the elephant god Ganesh. Giant representation of the deity procession ending with the disposal of it. Festival very colorful, especially the day of immersion Bombay.

October: Dussehra

National holiday, one of the most popular Indian festival, celebrated in different ways depending on the region. In the north, particularly in Delhi (where the festival is known as Ram Lila) games and songs recall the life of the god Ram. A Kulu it is also very colorful and well-known and also Mysore. In Bengal and eastern regions, it is known as Durga Pudja, south as the Navarat.

November: Diwali

National holiday, one of the most lively and colorful Indian festival. In some parts of India this is the beginning of the Hindu calendar. In the eastern states, the goddess Kali is particularly celebrated. In other parts, is the goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity that is worshiped. Throughout India is a festival of fireworks and firecrackers.

December: Christmas day

National Day. Celebration of Christmas Day, Day very exuberant and colorful, especially in Bombay, Goa and Kerala.

It was very interesting to discover some things about India, the cultutre and these events. I learned a lot about patterns, the importance of the details… And there was Puja Day.

I had difficulty finding the graphism for the project so my mentor advised me choose one event. I chose  to work on the Diwali Festival. I did some drawings, some simple and others detailed. I choose the simple one and I created a card for Diwali. It was a little card for friends, and my collegues said «Oh it’s cute!». During this project, I coded a website, and helped code the flash (Action Script 3) for animations.

Currently, I’m working on Hindi or Kanada typography. I went to the city to photograph each font I saw and I didn’t understand. I classified it and try some iterations. The goal of this project is to create a poster. This Project is always a work in progress.

To be continued…!!!

Claire AUGER

We went to Mysore for three days. It is the second important city of the state of Karnataka. It is an ancient principality established in 1399 and is managed by the family Odeyâr. Mysore is situated to 146 km in the southwest of Bangalore. Its name comes from Mahishasura, who is a devil of the Indian mythology killed by the goddess Chamundeshwari Chamundi at the top of a hill near Mysore.

The palace:

This magnificent palace was built in 1912  on vestige of an ancient palace burned down in a fire fifteen years before. Inside rooms are connected to each other and we attended a parade of colors, paintings, gilts, sculptured woodworks, mosaics which made no turn our heads. Each Sunday evening the palace lit by a thousand bulbs.

The church:

Built around 1930, by a French architect in the neogothic style, it is the largest church of India.

The Tibetan village of bylakuppe:

In the Karnataka’s state there is a Tibetan village, Bylakuppe. These refugees arrived in India around 1960 due to the Chinese invasion in the Tibet. We can find the spectacular Golden Temple there which is a major tourist attraction of the region.

Manon Foucraut.

This Dutch design exhibition was in Bangalore from July 19^th to July 31^st in Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, college of fine art of bangalore. It is a travelling exhibition. It first begin in Ahmedabad, then went to Mumbai and Bangalore. After it will go to China.

During this exhibition there was a workshop ‘Re-Cycling Cycling’ to promote and popularize cycling in Bangalore. This workshop was directed by Janak Mistry (Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology), Murali H.R. (Namma Cycle) and Ed van Hinte (Premsela). People from India and The Netherlands have both worked together to make the workshop.

The exhibition contained 30 projects from all different designers from both India and The Netherlands. The 30 projects are really different. Some were very abstract and other were very concrete projects ranging from architectural design to fashion design.

I like that each project has a short text to explain but also drawing that explains sometimes better than words. The drawing explains how the product is made, it’s instructions for use.

http://www.dutchdfa.com/india/connecting-concepts

Within the framework of Wedding Project, I got interested in the tale of a traditional wedding sari, wanted to know how it was manufactured. I tracked its manufacture process, from its weaving to when it is worn by the bride at her wedding.

First, there are traditional dyers. They are responsible for processing and dyeing silk before being woven to make a sari. I learned how they treat the silk by boiling it in water and bleaching it with acid. Then the silk can be dyed with different colors in large vats before rinsing and drying to fix the color. These dyers have no fixed salary and work in very poor conditions. Then work all day in the heat, inhaling dangerous chemicals to treat and dye the silk.

After that, I met Pavithra Muddaya, a sari designer. By talking with her, I understood there is an intermediary between the weaver and the seller. The fabrics, shapes and patterns are created and designed by her. She showed me several of her patterns and drawings and explained to me how each small circle on the paper represents a weaving’s stitch for the weaver.

Then I met two kinds of weavers : traditional weaver who uses a hand loom and contemporary weavers who use a power loom. I saw how they weave silk to make saris. The traditional weaver operates his own hand loom and produces between 3 and 4 saris per week. He is paid 250 rupees per sari. The weaver who uses power loom produces an average of two saris per day, and the salary is 200 rupees per sari.
So the competition is really stiff between manual weavers and power looms. Many have to stop their occupation. I think it’s really sad to see traditional crafts that may disappear.

Once wedding saris are manufactured, they are sold in several kinds of specialized sari shops . I met sellers in inexpensive shops, and other vendors of high quality shops. In lower-end shops we can find saris not very expensive because they are not generally woven with gold. Employees of these stores earn between 5,000 and 10,000 rupees and the manager earns between 10,000 and 20,000 rupees per month.
On the other hand in high-end stores can sell saris up to 44,000 rupees for the most luxurious. Employees of these stores earn between 10,000 and 20,000 rupees and the manager can earn up to 50,000 rupees per month.

I interviewed the women in these stores about their purchases of saris. I learned that women want to buy sari with gold, but not necessarily red or mustard as it is done traditionally. And the three women whom I asked, would spend between 10,000 and 20,000 rupees for their wedding sari. And here I realize that one seller earns the same amount per month as a woman wants to spend for one sari ! There is such a huge profit margin.

And to finish, I met two young brides to talk about their respective marriages and how they have experienced this important day in their saris. I learned they had spent between 50,000 and 60,000 rupees for their wedding saris. In general they have two saris, one for the ceremony and one for the reception. The first is often red, green or mustard, very traditional. And the second is more modern, a color that the bride wishes. The most striking fact is that they don’t know anything about how their saris are made, where they come from and especially the worries and working conditions faced by silk workers.

By doing research about the steps in the manufacture of a sari, I have discovered a lot of contrasts of living and working in different social classes in India.
When I chose this topic, I had no idea of all these social problems. I was just interested in how a sari is made. The reality was striking when I went to see the weaver after the designer. And when I saw the price of a wedding sari after seeing the conditions in which dyers lived. So there are real inequalities within a same production line.

Article written by Juliane Denogent.

Since I was young, I have loved food, to cook and gastronomy. I have grown up in a kitchen with my father. He taught me so many things and he teaches me again and again. It’s a really passion for him and we share that passion. He gave me a big dictionary of cooking, called “Le Larousse de la Cuisine”.

Before I came to India, I was so excited to discover Indian food and to learn to cook Indian food, because I didn’t know anything about it. Some of differences from French food surprised me. For example, Indian food is much spicier than French food. When I arrived in India, I couldn’t eat Indian food, I only ate rice, idly and chapati. The best chapati I have ever eaten is at Hegde’s Fast Food, made by Uncle. It’s a little restaurant in SFS Colony in Yelahanka. At the beginning, it was the only place where I could eat spicy food.

For me spicy food is good, but it is also frustrating because, in France, I am used to finding all the flavours of the ingredients in the meal. When it is so spicy, I can’t feel flavour because my mouth is burning.

However, I recently tried Pav Bhaji and Masala Dosa. They were both so good! I really love Masala Dosa.

Another difference is that Indian food has extreme flavors. For instance, when it is fatty, it is too much fat, and often it is the same with sugar. Moreover, generally Indian people eat chicken and fish, but no beef! It makes me sad, because is my favorite meat. But each day, I discover new recipes and typical Indian meals that I like!

In addition, a majority of Indian people are vegetarian, many more people than in France. Here in India, there is a symbol for vegetarian food–the green square with a green circle. It is very useful to see the symbol with the color when you buy food and ingredients.

The meal is different too. You eat on metal or plastic dishes and with your fingers and there is no dessert… Oh my God, no dessert! In France the dessert is so important because it finishes the meal. Sometimes it is served with a black coffee or simple tea (with milk and sugar), but here I like to drink chai.

To conclude, I miss the French food and the French cooking. It was difficult at the beginning, but I like to discover Indian cooking, and I like to eat it too!

So, let’s a MASALA DOSA!!!!!

My name is Gauthier Raguin and I am 24 years old. I will be studying for two years in India, and more specifically in the Srishti School in Yelahanka.  Yelahanka is a  northern town in Bengaluru where I have been living for one month.

I am a student of product design and am working towards becoming a product designer one day. You may be wondering what kind of product design I am interested in. According to me, a good designer is someone who is in a position to rethink, imagine, and innovate any object. But I won’t hide from you my liking for furniture design.

So why did I come to India where the Indian culture is different from mine ? That is the day’s question ! I wished to come here because I am thirsty for knowledge. I want to constantly learn new things, and especially improve my English language.

I love travelling around the world. Therefore I have to improve my foreign communication skills. Also as I am partially hearing impaired, I take it as a deep personal challenge… And when I seriously want something, I make every effort to get it !

Hello everyone,

It’s difficult to talk about oneself.

Let’s begin!!

My name is Claire, I’m 21 years old, I have all my teeth, I’m crazy and I sing atrociously (like a dish).

More seriously!!

I was born in Bordeaux, in south-west of France. I moved around everytime in France (to the west, to the center…) I like to move. It’s why I love to travel.

My interests are various. I adore and play music (guitar & synthesizer & percussion). I like cinema, photography, monitoring high-tech and new technologies, video games… I’m a GEEK!!!! (a little !!). I am an Interaction Designer.

One of my hobbies is cooking and gastronomy… I’m greedy and fond of good food. I love to taste and to try many things…

Like I said before, I love travel.

For me, to travel and to discover the world, cultures and people  is a great opportunity to develop my creativity and broaden my horizons and knowledge. That is a good way and the source of ideas. I enjoy it!! It’s one of the reasons why I came in India to finish my Master’s Degree.

Why did I choose INDIA?? That’s a good question!!

I am fascinated by its culture, your identity, the way of life and origins which are totally different from the European culture. It is a chance to compare the methods of work and different points of view and personalities.

To resume about me, I’M CURIOUS and I’VE A STRONG DESIRE TO DISCOVER THE WORLD.

Ps:

If you want to follow me in my trip, my blog is  Smile in India

If you want to see my website (the update is happening!), it’s  www.claireauger.com