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Mind Some Method in the Madness?

Mitra:

Greetings from LILA!

On this New Year, even as we open this third quarter of Inter-Actions themed MIND, we wonder if Kerala, the most literate state in our country, has completely lost its mind. More than 125 years ago, Swami Vivekananda insightfully noted that this coastal strip had a visible lunatic streak. It was not its casteism—prevalent all over India at that time—which prompted him to make that observation, but the curious fact that this tiny part of the world, which had a unique millennia-long history of amalgamating many a world culture and negating rigid formations of identity, was still perpetuating ugly discriminations based on caste.

As you read this, we are witnessing the formation of a 600-km long Women’s Wall stretching from the state’s northern district of Kasargod to the southern-most district of Thiruvananthapuram “to demonstrate the secular and progressive mindset of Kerala,” while an arguably longer line of lamps called Ayyappa Jyoti was already constructed from Manjeshwaram in north Kerala to Parassala in the south on the night of 26th Dec to pose an advance counter to the WW, and to “save the sanctity of the temple”.

In this quarter, BRP Bhaskar, one of the most eminent journalists the state has produced, puts things in perspective, analysing the Sabarimala issue historically as well as politically. He juxtaposes August 2018 when the Malayalis through their remarkable response to the worst floods in living memory proved their state to be what Sri Naryayana Guru envisaged: “a model place where all live as brothers without caste differences and religious hatred”, with the current madness over Sabarimala—immediately after! Indeed, Sabarimala is baring Kerala’s socio-political paradox  yet again, as the State’s learned people, with unmatched deftness, divide themselves using lights and turn themselves into walls. And, we are faced with the same old puzzle—why has Kerala’s learning and enlightenment experience not been able to help it surmount its smallness?  BRP’s essay in this quarter’s Perspectives is undoubtedly one of the most balanced and studied contemporary writings attempting to answer that. We can only hope it makes an impact!

That brings us to  Nobel Peace Prize co-winner Jerry White, our featured personality in the Lilaight segment who works towards helping people find “clarity in this complex world”! One of the key leaders in the movement to ban landmines worldwide, Jerry talks about the wisdom, strategies, and collaboration needed to convince the world to do the right thing, and we gather from our conversation with him, a set of values that could serve as milestones in an individual’s journey from personal choice to universal impact!

Basic Conversations this quarter focusses on Mental Health/Illness. We have an evocative entry into the subject with Malayalam poet K Satchidanandan reading his celebrated poem “The Mad”— well-timed, we would say, considering the happenings in Kerala! The segment gains further gravitas as Clinical Psychologist Nupur Dhakephalar guides us through the minds of adolescents to help us see what we can do to address the ever-growing cases of mental illness amongst the youth. Academician Tissy Mariam Thomas calls for a rediscovery of public health networks in India and invest them with a combination of knowledge resources to create a culturally relevant governance system for mental health care.

Our Renaissance Person this quarter is Theatre Artiste Arti Prashar, a pioneer in non-verbal performance-therapy for dementia. Having had both her parents suffer from this condition,  she speaks of creating a space and practice to help patients as well as their caregivers and loved ones.

In the Reflections segment, Mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik asks if  the legal system in India is only now recognising something that has already been discussed and accepted in Indian mythology—the ways to transcend the animal mind; Tech-thinker B.R Amruth emphasises the need to reimagine our social systems in a way that would our mind from exploitation and conditioning by a handful of powerful companies, governments and individuals; Life Coach and Neurolinguistic Programmer Dr. A Abraham examines how our language influences our success; Philosopher Nilanjan Bhowmick explores the epistemology of the mind and wonders if we have any credible theory of the mind;  Arab Spring revolutionary and academic Dalia Wahdan takes us through the mind (or lack thereof) of urban infrastructure management in a post-revolution country; and Mathematician Thomas J. MacFarlane unpacks conceptual frameworks at the intersections of philosophy, spirituality and mathematics to understand the deepest nature of reality.

In Rubaru, poet Arundhahti Subramaniam  explores how poetry and spirituality give us the ability to recognise and appreciate gaps in our understanding of life; Artist Bryan Lewis Saunders takes us through his processes of using self-torture to mind-altering drugs to explore his self and mind every day, and of  translating his insights into self-portraits; Filmmaker par excellence, Kumar Shahani reveals what it means to bear the mind of an aesthete in our times; and Property Rights correspondent Rina Chandran critiques the #MeToo movement in India from the perspective of millions of people in the country who have no rights or autonomy over their own bodies, minds and lands.

Leelatoonist Unny sums up our concerns during this quarter in a master cartoon on ‘mindless spots’, while Inter-Actions Executive Editor Shivani Karmarkar’s column  connects the Azande tribe in Upper Nile and a few neo-literate domestic workers from a Delhi slum in an attempt to recover the act of thinking for all.

WordActions features the remarkable internet artists from Korea, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries for the first time in an Indian publication. We hold that the uniquely significant potential of YHCHI as contemporary thinkers has not yet been recognised fully, and recommend deeper studies on their work that may lead our gizmo-addicted generation towards a saner mode of living. And, for those who want to take a look, they are at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale right now! ArtActions showcases a newsmaking young illustrator from the UK, Kirsty Latoya, who talks about how art has helped her battle depression while at the same time acted as a vent for her expressive self.

This quarter’s Trailblazers are Karan Singh  Magic, the Mentalist, and a Village of Mathematics. We invite you to explore these mind-spaces for yourself. In Perspectives, apart from BRP, we also have UN humanitarian Aid Worker and fiction writer Ruth Mukwana - On fiction and humanitarian affairs (R) who helps us see how fiction often tells us a greater truth than humanitarian reports. And as usual, we have a few Revisits to the Inter-Actions archives that further illumine this issue on MIND.

Our cover this time leads us into the heart of a twilight--a sandhya--where those celebrated opposites--nature and imagination--meet. Evoking the devil of a time in the ad world, it points to the possibilities of a mind formed in the middle of life. Hence, despite a range of concerns that occupy our minds at LILA right now—from Sabarimala and #MeToo in India to the rumblings of volcano and the tsumani alert in Indonesia, and the public risk involved in a no-deal Brexit—we still hold on to our Impact-expert Jerry White’s words, and urge our leaders to give some good mindspace to “the art and science of creating power for strategy, coalition across sectors.” And, on that futuristic note, we wish all of you a truly interactive New Year!

Heartily

Rizio

For Team Inter-Actions

Lilaight of the Season

Nobel Peace Prize co-winner Jerry White lilaights us with his acclaimed global impact strategies for an enhanced experience of humanity.

Jerry White

“Finding Clarity in a Complex World”

Team Interactions

Pictures of Impact: A Gallery

rizio

The Cyclical Adventure of Choice-Making

Basic Conversations

A poet, an academic and a clinical psychologist explore the imaginary, theory and practice of 'sanity' in our speed-infected times

K Satchidanandan

THE MAD: A Poem

Nupur Dhakephalkar

Mental Health Issues Among the Youth

Tissy Thomas

Towards a Public Turn in Mental Health

Aesthetics of Conflict

Column by Shivani

Shivani Karmarkar

Witchcraft to Watchfulness: Recognising the Thinking Act

The idea that rationality does not change with caste, class, sex, culture, etc.was proven across sciences almost a century ago. Then why do we still act like it does?

Leelatoon by Unny

Cartoon

Renaissance Person

A critical reclamation of the creative individual whose multidynamic praxis is our hope for a New Renaissance


Arti Prashar
Theatre artiste, Performance Therapy Expert
Team Interactions

Arti Prashar: Pioneer of Non-Verbal Performance-Therapy for Dementia, Ageing and Spirituality

Theatre Artiste Arti Prashar has created a space and practice to help dementia patients as well as their caregivers and loved ones

Arti Prashar

Forgetting the Self but Remembering to Live: A Conversation with Arti Prashar

Theatre and Performance Arts do more than help play fictional characters – they can also bring our identities alive

Dolonchampa Chakraborty

Theatre, Spirituality and Dementia: The Soul Still Knows Who They Are

We write about how Arti Prashar uses theatre and performance art to discover the new individual born out of dementia

Reflections

Different disciplinary takes on the theme of the quarter towards evolving an inter-linked methodology of thought

Thomas J. McFarlane

Mathematics and Spiritual Philosophy: Exploring the True Nature of Reality

Mathematician Thomas J. McFarlane unpacks conceptual frameworks to understand the deepest nature of reality

A. Abraham

Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Empowering the Self by Knowing the Self

How does the language we think in influence our behavior? Can this understanding help us achieve success?

Devdutt Pattanaik

Between Eros and Thanatos: Transcending the Animal Mind!

Is the legal system in India only now recognising something that has already been discussed and accepted in Indian mythology?

Nilanjan Bhowmick

Mind Talk: The Confluence of Thought and Action

Do we even have a credible theory about the existence and identity of the mind?

Amruth B R

Do We Truly Own our Own Minds?

On the need to reimagine social systems that protects our mind from conditioning by a handful of powerful entities

Dalia Wahdan

El Kharaba: Manufacturing Ruins in a Cairo Historic Quarter

Arab spring revolutionary and academic Dalia Wahdan takes us through the mind (or lack thereof) of urban planning in a post-revolution country

Rubaru

In-depth thematic conversations with practitioners from various streams of knowledge and creativity

Rina Chandran

We only Hear from Women who have Agency

In the Context of #MeToo, Property Rights Correspondent Rina Chandran talks about the sections of society that often skip our mind

Kumar Shahani

Walk in Between: A Cinematographer Reflects

Filmmaker Kumar Shahani talks about form, curiosity, continuity and the evolving technology of cinema

Arundhathi Subramaniam

Emptiness Leads to Extraordinary Discoveries: Poetry and Spirituality

Author and Poet Arundhathi Subramaniam talks about her experience of engaging with poetry and spirituality

Bryan Lewis Saunders

Drugs, Torture and Insight: Exploring the Self through Portraits

From torture devices to drugs, Artist Bryan Lewis Saunders has been exploring his self and mind everyday since 1995

Wordactions

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries Presents

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, are a web-based artist-duo based in Seoul

Matter and Irony in Young-Hae Chang and Marc Voge

Inter-Actions presents Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries and their understated but profoundly impactful action through words on the world wide web!

These Underspoken Heavy Industries

Here are a few select videos for the Inter-Actions readers to familiarise themselves with their highly provocative work

Artactions

Kirsty Latoya

‘Reflections of Me’: An Image Gallery

Kirsty Latoya is a path-breaking young artist based in South London

An Empowering Touch

Artist Malavika Rajnarayan writes about Artist Kirsty Latoya’s evocative work on cultural diversity and mental health

Creating a voice for the Culturally Overlooked

An upcoming illustrator from the UK, Kirsty Latoya, talks about how art has helped her battle depression while at the same time acted as a vent for her expressive self

Trailblazers

Introducing innovators who dare to experiment and change the world

Dolonchampa Chakraborty

Mathematics Village of Ali Nesin: An Evolving Communion of Nature and Science

Ali Nesin has created a novel space for the study and practice of mathematics which reveals the organic connects the subject to the natural world around us

Karan Singh Magic

The Logic Behind the Magic

Psychological Illusionist Karan Singh talks to Inter-Actions about the insights his practice can give into the human mind. Watch his interview and performance here

Perspectives

Critical and creative viewpoints on and responses to topical and philosophical issues

B.R.P. Bhaskar

Sabarimala Bares Kerala’s Socio-Political Paradox

To understand the true nature of the Sabrimala issue, Journalist B.R.P. Bhaskar presents a detailed historical account of the politics of religion and the sabotaged renaissance in Kerala

Ruth Mukwana

Humanitarian Crisis And Fiction: The Complete Truth Must be Told

Humanitarian reports help us get the facts and figures needed for policy and action, but fiction helps us connect and empathise with survivors, says UN humanitarian Aid Worker and fiction writer, Ruth Mukwana

Revisits

Our Earlier 'MIND RELATED' Inter-actions

Team LILA

3 March 2014 “Identities are the names we give to the different ways we are

Team LILA

31 March 2014 Our time, as New Media theorist Dan Gillmor points out, is witnessing

Team LILA

12 September 2014 ‘Only a thorn can remove a thorn.’ Recently, one event echoed the old

Team LILA

26 December 2014 “And then he told them, ‘Go into all the world and preach

Team LILA

30 January 2015 The festivities, hopes and resolutions of the New Year’s eve were soon

Team LILA

20 March 2015 On the fast track, still, there are moments when an intimation or

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