In this fast moving world, it is very hard to stay focused. We constantly need new things to keep us engaged.
The video was originally published by Batul Kapsi, a freelance film-maker here.
In Paris’s 17th arrondissement is a 10-story apartment building that’s so completely covered with potted plants that the building itself is invisible. Each flower pot is dense with foliage from rapidly growing bamboo plants. With 380 such irregularly spaced flower pots lining the balconies on three sides of the building, the entire apartment block appears to be a giant display of potted plants.
The building called “Flower Tower” was designed by Edouard François, who drew inspiration from Parisians who habitually cultivate even the most tiniest balcony, nurturing surprising greenery in this tightly packed, densely occupied city.
Photo credit: http://www.bambooki.com
The pots are fixed to the balconies and fed by an automatic watering system to ensure that the plants do not die during the long holidays and in the height of summer. Bamboo was chosen because it is a hardy and fast growing plant, but also because it makes a noise in the wind, “giving the impression to those inside that they are sleeping in a tree” explained Edouard François.
Photo credit: www.maxgerthel.se
Photo credit: Edouard François
Photo credit: Edouard François
Photo credit: Edouard François
Photo credit: Edouard François
Sources: Paris Invisible / The Guardian
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Source….www.ba-bamail.com
Natarajan
A Japanese engineer by the name of Shizuo Shinoda was digging with a bulldozer when he accidentally scraped some markings into a road with its claw. Later when he drove over the markings he realized that the vibration produced in his car can be heard as a tune. In 2007, a team of engineers from the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute refined Shinoda’s designs and built a number of “melody roads” in Japan. These roads have groves cut at very specific intervals along the road surface. Depending on how far apart the grooves are and how deep they are, a car moving over them will produce a series of high or low notes, enabling designers to create a distinct tune. The closer the grooves are, the higher the pitch of the sound. The critical ingredient in the mix is the speed of the car.
The Civic Musical Road in Lancaster, California. Photo credit: roadtrippers.com
There are four melody roads in Japan, one each in Hokkaido, Wakayama, Shizuoka and Gunma. They all play different tunes. They stretch between 175 to 250 meters, and are carved with thousands of groves. Aside from street signs, the roads are marked by colored musical notes painted on the surface of the road which alert motorists of the incoming musical interlude. The grooves are laid down on the side of the road near the curb and not in the middle, so drivers have the option to either go over them or avoid them. In order to hear the tunes, they need to keep the car windows closed and drive at 28mph keeping one wheel over the grooves . Drive too fast and it will sound like a tape on fast forward. Drive too slow and it will have the opposite effect.
The first musical road, however, was not Japanese. It was created in Gylling, Denmark, by two Danish artists Steen Krarup Jensen and Jakob Freud-Magnus, in October 1995. Called the Asphaltophone, the street is made from a series of raised pavement markers, spaced out at intermittent intervals so that as a vehicle drives over the markers, the vibrations caused by the wheels can be heard inside the car.
Grooves on a melody road in Japan. Photo credit: Yusuke Japan Blog
The idea of musical roads has caught engineers in several other countries. There is one “Singing Road” in South Korea close to Anyang in Gyeonggi. It plays the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. Unlike other melody roads, it was designed not to draw tourists but to help motorists stay alert and awake. The Singing Road is located on a particularly treacherous section of a highway where lots of accidents occur due to dozing and speeding. 68% of traffic accidents in South Korea are due to inattentive, sleeping or speeding drivers.
America got its first melody road in 2008. It was originally built on Avenue K in Lancaster, California, for a Honda commercial. The Civic Musical Road, named after Honda Civic, stretches for a quarter-mile and plays back a part of the Finale of the ‘William Tell Overture’. But the intervals are so far off that the melody bears only a slight resemblance to the original tune. Later, when residents complained that the grooves produced too much noise from nocturnal drivers, they relocated the strip to Avenue G.
Another musical road is located in the village of Tijeras, in New Mexico. Driving over the grooves at 45mph causes the car to play the famous song “America the Beautiful”. The project was funded by the National Geographic Society, and overseen by the New Mexico Department of Transportation who said that the real motive behind the musical road is to get drivers to slow down.
A sign ahead of the Civic Musical Road in Lancaster, California. Photo credit: roadtrippers.com
The Civic Musical Road in Lancaster, California. Photo credit: roadtrippers.com
Photo credit: Yusuke Japan Blog
The musical road in New Mexico.
Amazing Singing Road of Anyang
Melody Roads….Japan
Source….www.amusingplanet.com
Natarajan
A poem by Charlie Chaplin written on his 70th birthday on April 16, 1959.
When I started loving myself
I understood that I’m always and at any given opportunity
in the right place at the right time.
And I understood that all that happens is right –
from then on I could be calm.
Today I know: It’s called TRUST.
When I started to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody
When I tried to force my desires on this person,
even though I knew the time is not right and the person was not ready for it,
and even though this person was me.
Today I know: It’s called LETTING GO
When I started loving myself
I could recognize that emotional pain and grief
are just warnings for me to not live against my own truth.
Today I know: It’s called AUTHENTICALLY BEING.
When I started loving myself
I stopped longing for another life
and could see that everything around me was a request to grow.
Today I know: It’s called MATURITY.
When I started loving myself
I stopped depriving myself of my free time
and stopped sketching further magnificent projects for the future.
Today I only do what’s fun and joy for me,
what I love and what makes my heart laugh,
in my own way and in my tempo.
Today I know: it’s called HONESTY.
When I started loving myself
I escaped from all what wasn’t healthy for me,
from dishes, people, things, situations
and from everything pulling me down and away from myself.
In the beginning I called it“healthy egoism”,
but today I know: it’s called SELF-LOVE.
When I started loving myself
I stopped wanting to be always right
thus I’ve been less wrong.
Today I’ve recognized: it’s called HUMBLENESS.
When I started loving myself
I refused to live further in the past
and worry about my future.
Now I live only at this moment where EVERYTHING takes place,
like this I live every day and I call it CONSCIOUSNESS.
When I started loving myself
I recognized, that my thinking
can make me miserable and sick.
When I requested for my heart forces,
my mind got an important partner.
Today I call this connection HEART WISDOM.
We do not need to fear further discussions,
conflicts and problems with ourselves and others
since even stars sometimes bang on each other
and create new worlds.
Today I know: THIS IS LIFE!
Source…www.ba-bamail.com
Natarajan
Story Reading made simple for you……
1) She was very excited today, after all the school was re-opening after a long summer break.
Now, once again, she could start selling stationery at the traffic signal to feed her family.
2) She, a renowned artist and a strict mother, often scolded her 6-year-old son for he could never draw a line straight.
As he breathed slowly into the ventilator, she begged him to make one more crooked line on the ECG.
3) “Everyone goes with the flow¦ but the one who goes against it becomes someone remarkable.
Before I could explain this to the traffic police, the man issued me a Fine.
4) Their love was different; She was happy every time he kicked her in the stomach.
Every time he kicked she loved him more. She waited for the time she would hold her baby for the first time.
5) “Don’t go out now. It’s not safe. You don’t know how cruel men are, said the husband to his wife who was about to step out of the house.
She smiled, looked at him with a swollen black eye, his gift to her from the night before and asked,How much worse can they be ?”
6) Two men fought, we cheered.
They kissed, we jeered.
7) All my toys are yours,
read her brother’s death note.
9) I can’t believe my neighbor had the nerve to knock on my door at 3:30 AM in the morning.
Luckily for him, I was still playing my drums.
10) They took his father,
and only returned a flag.
11) Her step father pushed her after taking her to a height, despite her ceaseless pleading and requests.
The little girl enjoyed a swing for the first time.
12)He snatched my child from me and I cried that day.
But those were tears of joy that a mother would eventually shed one day!
13)He couldn’t believe his eyes, he had just won the lottery and could now repay the loans he took from those who threatened him in the morning.
As his eyes closed slowly, he wished he hadn’t taken poison an hour ago.
14) At 23, I became a mother of one; at 27 I became a mother of two; and today, at 55, I have become a mother of three!
My son got married today, and brought home his wife!
15) Born to rich parents, this boy is so lucky, exclaimed the neighbors!
Somewhere in heaven, three unborn sisters cried.
17) You ruined my career, I was supposed to be an executive director, she thought to herself.
The little angel held her finger tightly and she forgot everything; A mother was born.
18) Once a 5-year-old boy was standing barefoot in the shallow water of the ocean.
He was repeating the same sentence to the waves”Even if you touch my feet a thousand times, I won’t forgive you for taking my parents away.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston Churchill
Anjan Satheesh, a differently abled artist has proved that nothing can stop an ignited and strong mind.
Anjan is now making headlines for all the right reasons. He recently won a national award for Outstanding Creative Adult with Disabilities, instituted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment this year.
His various paintings and caricatures drawn over the last several years won him the prestigious award. He will receive a purse of Rs. 50,000 and citation, which will be presented to him at a function in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, on December 3.
A former student of Adarsh Special School, Tripunithura, Anjan has learnt 3D animation at Toons and now works as a computer teacher there. His other achievements include awards like Amrita Keerthy Puraskaaram (Amritanandamayi Math) at the age of 8, Rotary International Special Talent Award (2001), Medal in Art at the National Abylimpics, Chennai (2005).
Anjan’s most memorable moment is his meeting with the former president Late APJ Abdul Kalam, who appreciated his work in 2005 during his visit to Adarsh. In fact, a photo featuring Dr. Kalam and Anjan became part of the book titled ‘Turning Points: A Journey Through Challenges’. He also organized an exhibition of his work at Kerala High Court in 2009, becoming the first artist to hold an exhibition inside the High Court and to get a Full Court Honour.
“Disability cannot defeat me ..straining to reach there for which I am made for..aiming to become a legend with what I have in me,” he wrote on his blog.
Check out his website to know more about his work.
Source….Shreya Pareek in http://www.the betterindia.com
natarajan
| Each night before I sleep, I repeat these affirmations to myself, to help ease and relax my soul. They remind me that I am safe, and they prepare me for a new day and all the gifts that it will bring. After repeating these to myself, I feel a deep sense of peace, enabling me to fall asleep effortlessly.
I hope that after reading through these affirmations, you too will sleep soundly, leaving all the troubles of the day behind.
Source….www.ba-bamail.com Natarajan |
Born in 1469 A.D., Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru, started the practice of community singing (bhajans). This gathered momentum over the years and the great Saint-composer Tyagaraja (in 1700s) invested Bhajans with raga and tala(musical form and rhythm). Since then bhajans have acquired national vogue in all parts of India. All major religions also emphasize the importance of community prayers for the wellbeing of the individual and the world. Bhajans are intended to harmonise the feelings, the singing, and the rhythmic beats of the participants so that they experience in unison the oneness of the Divine. Devotion(Bhakti) should be given the first and foremost place in Bhajans. Such bhajans are spiritually efficacious. Hence, let your songs be surcharged with love and let the intense love for the Lord and pure devotion flow through every song that is sung.
Did you know that practicing Surya Namaskar daily can make you look younger?
Fitness is not only about refining the body, but also reviving the soul.
A healthy body and mind is the best fashion statement… and to achieve this, you should indulge in Sun salutation, popularly known as ‘Surya Namaskar’ every morning.
It is a versatile Yoga posture that has, in recent times, gained popularity among fitness enthusiasts.
Surya Namaskar is considered as a highly beneficial exercise for the body and the mind and most celebrities swear by it.
We take a look at 10 awesome benefits of practicing this popular exercise every morning.
1. Shed those extra kilos
First and foremost Surya Namaskar helps you keep your weight in check.
It sheds the extra kilos to keep your body toned and fit.
With just one round of Surya Namaskar, you lose close to 13.9 calories!
2. Improves digestion
Due to stretching and compressing, your digestive system is strengthened and you can bid goodbye to indigestion and dyspepsia forever.
Think of that!
3. Cleanses your breathing organs
One of the biggest benefits is that, due to the rhythmic breathing the exercise involves, it cleanses your breathing tract and lungs.
It also detoxifies your body, helping you to get rid of harmful gases that might have entered your system.
4. Strengthens your back
Recurring backache is often caused by lack of movement of the muscles and joints.
By making you stretch and bend, Surya Namaskar keeps your joints and spine in good condition.
It also strengthens the overall skeletal system.
5. Makes you look younger
As cliched as that sounds Surya Namaskar actually does this… how?
By increasing and maintaining healthy blood flow in the body.
It brings glow to your skin and also helps prevent wrinkles for a long time.
6. Childbirth goes easy on you
Girls, irrespective of the faith you belong to, this exercise will help you strengthen your immune system and regularize periods.
It also has a positive effect on childbirth and keeps complications at bay.
7. Gives you a ‘Goodnight’
Surya Namaskar helps you get your proper quota of sleep everyday and keeps anxiety at a distance.
When your body stays strong, you tend to keep away from bodily and mental dysfunctions.
8. Tones your look
Surya Namaskar broadens your chest and makes your waist flexible on the whole, making you an easy mover and also helps you look fit!
9. Easy to remember stuff
You can also improve your neural system by practising Surya Namaskar… and it also helps in improving your memory.
That means you will not forget that easily and retrieval of memories will also be bettered.
10. Suits your pace
Now-a-days, it’s difficult for most working people to follow an exhaustive exercise routine.
Surya Namaskar fits the demand and helps you fit the regime within the restricted time frame by choosing the number of namaskars you want to or can do.
It’s a slick routine that is fast, yet effective.
Lead image used for representational purposes only. Image: Mikaku/Creative Commons
Source….www.rediff.com
Natarajan
Take off with Natarajan 