Today, views of the world’s ancient architectural wonders are firmly based in their current state of ruin, leaving to visitors’ imaginations the original glory of structures like the Parthenon, Pyramid of the Sun, and Temple of Luxor. NeoMam, in a project for Expedia, has resurrected several ancient buildings through a series of gifs. In a matter of seconds, centuries of natural and intentional damage and decay are reversed to reveal a rare glimpse at what the original structures would have looked like. The creative contractors behind the labor-intensive renderings are Maja Wro?ska (previously) and her husband Przemek Sobiecki, who works as This Is Render. (via designboom)
Pyramid of the Sun, Mexico
Temple of Largo Argentina, Rome
Nohoch Mul Pyramid (Coba), Mexico
Temple of Luxor, Egypt
Temple of Jupiter, Italy
Hadrian’s Wall, England
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Evoking a bit of time-travel, NeoMam (previously) recently animated a series of gifs that restore impressive, human-made structures around the globe to pristine condition. Although the six landmarks are now in some form of decay and have made UNESCO’s list of endangered world heritage, the short clips digitally reconstruct the sites to show what they’d look like had they not faced the ravages of time
Included in this round of restoration are a remnant of Hatra, a large fortified city that was capital of the first Arab Kingdom, and the hundreds of islets that make up Nan Modol in Micronesia. UNESCO designated these landmarks in danger because of natural and human-generated threats like earthquakes, military conflict, and urbanization. Dig into the history behind the six restorations, which were completed in partnership with BudgetDirect and architect Jelena Popovic, in addition to other at-risk locations on UNESCO’s site.
Nan Madol, Temwen Island, Federated States of Micronesia
Leptis Magna, District of Khoms, Libya
Jerusalem, Israel
Palmyra, Tadmur, Homs Governorate, Syria
Fort San Lorenzo, Province of Colon, District of Cristobal, Panama
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PBS News:October
14-18.2019,How ‘Sesame Street’ is still supporting families, 50 years
after its debut, What Turkey’s assault on northern Syria means for civilians,
regional stability, How ‘Deep State’ book disputes accusations of Trump bias at
FBI, DOJ
WATCH: ‘History will haunt us’ if U.S. fails to act in
Syria, Sen. Blumenthal says
BBC: Turkey’s Erdogan vows to ‘crush heads’ of Kurdish
fighters
CNN: SE Cupp: Don’t be surprised if this is what
undoes Trump
The Kurds: The Most Famous Unknown People in the World
| Stephen Mansfield | TEDxNashville
Turkey, Kurds, Language: Nicholas Glastonbury at
TEDxGallatin
Kurdistan: Homeland of Diversity | Levi Clancy | TEDxDuhok
Bombs, mountains and an unlikely female voice | Dashni
Morad | TEDxErbil
Advocate for the Kurdish community: Tara Fatehi at
TEDxAdelaideChange
Communication in a mass communication society | Joakim
Medin | TEDxUppsalaUniversity
Friday on the NewsHour, the
battleground in northeastern Syria appears to be quieting, as a Turkish
operation there pauses to allow Kurdish fighters to leave. Also: Violence in
the Mexican state of Sinaloa, more questions about Boeing’s handling of the 737
MAX, former Gov. John Kasich on overcoming political divisions, Shields and
Brooks, the art of Native American women and a historic spacewalk. Stream your
PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Thursday on the NewsHour, U.S. and
Turkish officials agree that Turkey’s military offensive in northern Syria will
pause. Plus: Another U.S. diplomat testifies on Capitol Hill as President
Trump’s acting chief of staff disputes wrongdoing around U.S. aid to Ukraine,
remembering Rep. Elijah Cummings, a possible Brexit deal, resolution of the
General Motors strike and using big data creatively. WATCH TODAY’S SEGMENTS:
Turkish official denies Erdogan agreed to a ‘cease-fire’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOENn…
How impeachment inquiry and Senate trial could unfold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpY3k… News
Wrap: New England lashed by powerful nor’easter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEtD-…
Remembering lawmaker, civil rights advocate Elijah Cummings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSKwv…
The EU approved Johnson’s Brexit plan. Will Parliament? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ay9…
What tentative GM deal says about American organized labor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtU4f…
How customers’ big data is transforming creative commerce https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs7Cg…
A bipartisan group of senators
announced a bill to impose additional sanctions on Turkey in the wake of the
country’s invasion in Syria. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Chris Van Hollen, who
introduced the bill, were joined by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Richard Blumenthal
and Jeanne Shaheen. The lawmakers expressed concern about President Donald
Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. “History will haunt
us,” Blumenthal said. “We are going to be complicit in the ethnic
cleansing that occurs as a result of this absolutely abhorrent action.”
Later in the day, Vice President Mike Pence announced a 120-hour cease-fire
between Turkey and the Kurds. Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
November marks the 50th anniversary
of public television’s “Sesame Street,” a cultural landmark widely praised
for its approach to children’s programming. But beyond the songs and fun, “Sesame
Street” does some serious work for those in need, providing special
support and guidance for military families and addressing topics like autism
and addiction. Hari Sreenivasan reports. Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS
app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Turkey continued its military
assault into northern Syria on Thursday. Aid agencies warn that nearly half a
million people near the border are at risk from the violence, which is drawing
criticism from many U.S. officials. Amna Nawaz reports and talks to Sinam
Mohamad, U.S. representative for the Syrian Democratic Council, and Soner
Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Stream your PBS
favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
In a new book, Pulitzer winner James
B. Stewart explores two controversial recent investigations by the FBI and the
Justice Department: Probes into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server
when she was secretary of state and Russian interference in the 2016
presidential election. Stewart talks to William Brangham about how his research
contradicts President Trump’s “deep state” narrative. Stream your PBS
favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Image copyright Reuters Image
caption Up to 300,000 people are said to have fled the violence in northern
Syria
Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan says that Turkey will “crush the heads” of Kurdish fighters
if they do not withdraw from a planned safe zone area in northern Syria.
Turkey agreed on Thursday to suspend
an offensive for five days to allow the Kurds to retreat from the area.
But on Saturday both sides accused
the other of violating the ceasefire.
Ankara views the Kurdish forces as
terrorists and wants to create a “safe zone” buffer inside Syria.
Despite the temporary ceasefire,
some sporadic violence has continued – particularly around the border town of
Ras Al-Ain.
What
did Erdogan say?
Speaking at a televised event in the
central Turkish province of Kayseri on Saturday, President Erdogan said that if
Kurdish fighters did not withdraw by Tuesday evening – as agreed in the
ceasefire – “we will start where we left off and continue to crush the
terrorists’ heads”.
The Turkish leader is due to hold
talks next week with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. On Saturday he said
that if those talks did not produce a solution, Turkey would “implement
its own plans”.
Turkey’s defence ministry earlier
accused Kurdish forces of carrying out 14 “provocative” attacks in
the last 36 hours, mostly in Ras Al-Ain, but insisted Turkish forces were fully
abiding by the agreement.
However, the Kurdish-led Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF) accused Turkey of violating the ceasefire.
Image copyright Getty Images Image
caption Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are still active along the border
They also accuse Turkish troops of
failing to create a safe corridor for the evacuation of civilians and wounded
people from the besieged town.
On Saturday the SDF urged US
Vice-President Mike Pence, who helped to broker the temporary ceasefire, to
pressure Turkey to allow the passage of civilians.
“Despite the constant
communication with the American side and the promise made by them to solve this
problem, there has not been any tangible progress in this regard,” the SDF
said in a statement.
Turkish presidency spokesman Ibrahim
Kalin said they wanted the US to put pressure on Kurdish forces to withdraw.
“We have told our American
colleagues to use their leverage, their connections, to make sure that they
leave without any incidents,” he told AFP news agency.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights (SOHR) said deliveries of humanitarian aid had been prevented from
entering Ras Al-Ain.
The monitor group said on Friday
that the civilian death toll from the Turkish operation had now risen to 86.
Between 160,000 and 300,000 people
have reportedly fled their homes since the offensive started 10 days ago.
What
prompted the offensive?
Turkish forces first launched their
assault on 9 October, following an announcement US troops would withdraw from
the Syria-Turkey border region.
Media captionThe BBC’s Martin
Patience explains what’s behind the conflict
The Turkish plan is to clear Kurdish
fighters from a buffer zone extending more than 30km (20 miles) into Syria. It
would run for about 440km along the border, President Erdogan said on Friday,
and be monitored from observation posts.
Turkey also plans to resettle up to
two million Syrian refugees, currently on its territory, in the buffer zone but
critics warned the move could trigger the ethnic cleansing of the local Kurdish
population.
The goal was to push back a Kurdish
militia group – the People’s Protection Units (YPG) – that Turkey views as a
terrorist organisation.
Since the offensive was launched,
President Donald Trump has been accused by some, including senior Republicans,
of abandoning a US ally. The SDF – a group dominated by the YPG – fought
alongside the US against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.
There has been growing international
concern about possible war crimes committed by Turkey and its allied militias
during the offensive.
Media captionMike Pence announces
Turkish ceasefire in Syria
Amnesty International says it has
gathered “damning evidence” of war crimes and other violations by
their side and the United Nations has called on Turkey to investigate the
allegations.
Unconfirmed reports have also
emerged that Turkish-allied forces have used white phosphorus, a chemical
weapon which causes bad burns, in Syria.
The Organisation for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it was aware of the claims and was gathering
evidence.
What
is the latest with the ceasefire?
The pause in hostilities followed
talks in the Turkish capital Ankara between Mr Erdogan and Mr Pence on
Thursday.
President Trump celebrated news of
the ceasefire and claimed the pause in hostilities would lead to “millions
of lives” being saved. He remained optimistic in comments made on Friday,
despite reports the ceasefire was failing to hold.
Media captionPresident Trump on
Turkish and Kurdish forces: “Sometimes you have to let them fight a little
bit”
SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali tweeted
on Friday morning to allege that Turkey was breaking the ceasefire near Ras
al-Ain.
“Despite the agreement to halt
the fighting, air and artillery attacks continue to target the positions of
fighters, civilian settlements and the hospital,” he wrote.
President Erdogan dismissed reports
of continuing clashes on Friday as “misinformation” but international
news media recorded explosions in Ras al-Ain during the morning.
The SOHR said Saturday that the SDF
had not yet started to pull back from the border region.
Local Kurdish media are reporting
that five civilians and 13 Kurdish fighters in Ras-al-Ain have been killed
since the ceasefire began, but the BBC has not been able to independently
confirm that.
For more information please visit
the following link:
SE Cupp says President Donald
Trump’s Syria policy is one of the only issues that has prompted swift
criticism from the Republican party, and argues it may be the one issue that
could put his presidency in danger.
The Kurds are an ancient and noble
people who are now the primary “boots on the ground” against ISIS in the Middle
East. They are 35 million strong worldwide, the largest people group on earth
without their own homeland. In this stirring talk, Stephen Mansfield tells the
story of the Kurds and does so, surprisingly, through the lives of three women.
Stephen Mansfield is a New York Times bestselling author who first rose to
global attention with his groundbreaking book, The Faith of George W. Bush, a
bestseller that Time magazine credited with helping to shape the 2004 U.S.
presidential election. He has written celebrated biographies of Barak Obama,
Booker T. Washington, George Whitefield, Winston Churchill, Pope Benedict XVI,
and Abraham Lincoln, among others. Mansfield’s latest book, The Miracle of the
Kurds, is a timely introduction to the Kurdish people that reached bookstores
just as Kurdish troops began standing heroically against the evils of ISIS in
the Middle East. The book has been named “Book of the Year” by Rudaw, the
leading Kurdish news service. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED
conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more
at https://ted.com/tedx
Nicholas Glastonbury is a graduate
of the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. His studies focused on the
intersections of human rights law, nationalism, anthropology, political
science, theories of representation, feminist theory and queer theory. About
New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study Creativity,
flexibility and rigor characterize the academic program of the Gallatin School
of Individualized Study. At Gallatin, students have the opportunity to combine
the best of a small college experience with the best of a large research
university. A Gallatin education is unique. The individualized structure of the
program and its relationship to the rest of NYU are part of what makes the
school so special. For more information visit gallatin.nyu.edu/ About TEDx, x =
independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a
program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a
TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine
to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local,
self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED
event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but
individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and
regulations) video produced by Charles Q. Drexler vfx animation by Michael J.
Green opening music by Gabriel S. Beam Hyphenate Media www.hyphenatemedia.com
Levi Clancy shares his experience in
Kurdistan, the homeland of multi-cultures and many religions, showing the
co-existence and peace it has. Levi was born and grew up in 1990 in Los Angeles
in the United States. When he was still a kid, he started taking college
courses and when he was only 13 years old he transferred to the University of
California! At 15, he was abandoned by his family and had to leave university,
and started working in medical research as well as web development and graphic
arts in order to support himself and make it month to month. At 18, he received
a scholarship to return to university, and reconnected with his family. After
finishing his baccalaureate in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics
(MIMG) with a minor in Mesopotamian history, he moved to Erbil. Levi has worked
for University of California as a researcher in electron microscopy, oncology
and flow cytometry. He has also worked in marketing for clients including the
LA Lakers, NCAA, Verizon and AT&T. Currently, he works as a software
developer and as a freelance journalist. Levi has been featured on CBS News and
LA Times. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format
but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Imagine Iraq. Then imagine pop
music. Dashni Morad is now in her tenth year as the leading successful singer
of modern pop in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. From the little girl whom fled
Saddam Hussein’s tyranny to the strong woman whom challenged the status quo,
Dashni tells us her heartbreaking coming of age tale. Born in the city of
Sulaimanya, raised in Netherlands, lost between two cultures and struggling
between accomplishing dreams. Dashni Morad, a Kurdish/Dutch Pop singer and a TV
personality who was known for her show on Kurdistan TV “Bi Control”, flee
Kurdistan at the age of eleven to become a refugee in Netherlands due to the
unstable political situation in Iraq and Kurdistan. Since moving to the
Netherlands, Dashni, worked hard to accomplish being a musician and a TV
presenter to entertain the Kurdish audience since it was much needed at the
time in Kurdistan. Today, she is recognized as a national and international
artist who broke through the impossible to give the gift of modern music to
Kurdistan and presenting it outside of the Middle East region. Her songs
presented messages such as women empowerment, peace, and the love for
Kurdistan. She, however, didn’t stop at making music and TV presenting, she
also founded a small non-profit under the name “Green Kids” supporting
education to the kids of Kurdistan, as well as, raising funds for refugees and
IDPs in Kurdistan, and also many group and student participation to clean the
mountains of Kurdistan. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED
conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more
at https://ted.com/tedx
Tara comes from one of the oldest
living civilizations and indigenous people in the world, which today is under
constant oppression and war, her ultimate goal is to make sure the Kurdish
people don’t forget themselves so the world never forgets the Kurdish people.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local,
self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.
At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep
discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events
are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED
Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx
events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
Joakim Medim is a freelance
journalist who, among other things, documented the military coup in Honduras,
covered the political development in Central America, Hungary and Turkey and
specialized in the refugee crisis and the socio-political response in Lebanon.
Medin tells the stories that have been untold and fight for media where it has
been oppressed. In 2014, when he was covering the humanitarian crisis in Syria,
Medin was arrested by the Syrian government and was kept in isolation in a
3-by-6-foot cell. After heavy interrogation he was moved to Damascus for
further questioning. It was only after the intervention of Syrian Kurdish
officials that Medin and his translator were finally released. This talk was
given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently
organized by a local community. Learn more at https://ted.com/tedx
Sixteen years ago I wrote a book entitled “Remember Gandhi-The Man Of His Century” and the following is the beginning portion of my introduction:
“When I was young in Thailand, in early grade school we read a book about a man named Gandhi who was born in India. He was married at age thirteen. As a young man, Gandhi went to study in Britain and became a layer. He went to work in South Africa where he experienced discrimination. Because of this he devoted himself to fight for human equality. The lessons learned in this fight were carried with him to India where he led his country to freedom from British colonial rule thereby creating an independent Indian country.
I was very impressed with Mr. Gandhi’s fight for human rights. He helped his country gain independence from the British by nonviolent means without using weapons to achieve his goal.”
“NONVIOLENCE”, is a word that seems to have no meaning for a lot of countries around the world. It hurts so much to see the pictures of starving children and adults in Syria. What are you doing Syrian leaders? Both sides of Syrian political divide, the government and the opposition use the same tactics trying to win over the other side by cut off the food supply to the villages of their opponents. The pictures of these starving children and adult Syrians reminds me of pictures of Jewish people liberated from the concentration camps of Nazi Germany by American soldiers. Why are you so cruel? Do you all have hearts and feeling as decent human beings? Please!!! Please!!!———A million times please, I beg you on of both sides. Please stop fighting!!! Do you know what happiness is? Please have a peace talks. Both of your sides have destroyed so much. Your country is in ruins. Civilians work hard, only to have you buy weapons to kill them and ruin their livelihood. Both of your sides are not good leaders for your country. If you cannot make the country more prosperous and bring happiness to your citizens, what good is it to be leaders of your country? Please do not let your greediness rule over humanity. We all will be dead someday sooner or later, and history will record whatever you did. But you do not die yet; you still have a chance to make things better than the past. Please have peace talks and remember how Gandhi gained independence for his country by nonviolent means.
I produced 40 artworks for the book. The following pictures are four of my artworks of Gandhi that I used for the front and back covers of my book respectively. Two more are from the inside of the book:
Gandhi: Man Of Peace & Nonviolence 1
Artwork by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts 2000
Gandhi: Man Of Peace & Nonviolence 2
Artwork by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts 2000
Gandhi: Man Of Peace & Nonviolence 3
Artwork by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts 2000
Gandhi: Man Of Peace & Nonviolence 4
Artwork by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts 2000
I also did more artworks on the subject of Gandhi in 2010 that is shown below.
Gandhi: Man Of Peace & His Words
Artwork by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts 2010
Gandhi & Spinning Wheel Of Life
Artwork by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts 2010
Gandhi & Ing’s Poem, Peace Comes To You
Artwork by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts 2010
I was very thankful and glad to find an article from the BBC News on, “Rare pictures of the last 10 years of Gandhi’s life”. These are shown below:
Rare pictures of the last 10 years of Gandhi’s life
Here’s an anxious-looking Mahatma Gandhi making a telephone call from his office in Sevagram village in the western state of Maharashtra in 1938.
India’s greatest leader had moved to a village called Segaon two years earlier. He had renamed it Sevagram or a village of service. He built an ashram, a commune which was home to “many a fateful decision which affected the destiny of India”. Gandhi had moved in with his wife, Kasturba, and some followers. There was also a steady stream of guests.
Kanu Gandhi, a callow young man in his 20s and a grand nephew of the Mahatma, was also there. Armed with a Rolleiflex camera, he was taking pictures of the leader.
He had wanted to become a doctor, but his parents had goaded him to join Gandhi’s personal staff doing clerical work, looking after accounts and writing letters at the ashram.
Kanu Gandhi had developed an interest in photography, but Gandhi had told him there was no money to buy him a camera.
The nephew did not relent. Finally, Gandhi asked businessman Ghanshyam Das Birla to gift 100 rupees ($1.49; £1.00) to Kanu so that he could buy the camera and a roll of film.
But the leader imposed three conditions on the photographer: he forbade him from using flash and asking him to pose; and made it clear that the ashram would not pay for his photography.
Kanu made do with a stipend from a Gandhi acolyte who liked his work. He also began selling his pictures to newspapers.
Over the years and until Gandhi’s assassination in 1948, Kanu Gandhi shot some 2,000 pictures of the greatest leader of the Indian Independence movement. For decades, his pictures remained in obscurity, once surfacing with a German researcher who began compiling and selling them.
Now, 92 of those rare pictures of Gandhi during the last decade of his life have been published in an exquisitely produced cloth-bound monograph by the Delhi-based Nazar Foundation, a non-profit trust founded by two of India’s most well-known photographers Prashant Panjiar and Dinesh Khanna.
This is possibly my most favourite image from the book. Here Gandhi is standing on a weighing scale at the Birla House in Bombay (what is now Mumbai) in 1945.
For a man who undertook more than a dozen fasts during the freedom movement as a part of his non-violent protests – to bring peace, demand Muslim rights or to shame rioting mobs – the picture is telling.
“This is a picture of a man keeping an eye on his weight, testing himself all the time. It tells you a lot about the man,” says leading photographer Sanjeev Saith who went through more than 1,000 images and helped curate the monograph.
Here, Gandhi is seen in front of his office hut at Sevagram ashram in 1940. A pillow covers his head as protection against the severe heat.
It is, at once, an intimate and remote image.
Which is one of the reasons, many say, that made Kanu Gandhi’s pictures of the Mahatma so special.
“Although he had incredible access to the icon, we are always struck at the way Kanu, perhaps because he was in awe of Gandhi always kept a respectful distance, and yet managed to convey a sense of intimacy and proximity,” says Panjiar.
“And because he kept a certain distance, Kanu intuitively found a more modern language of photography than what was prevalent in those times in India, framing many of his images with an interesting and unconventional use of the foreground, breaking many of the accepted rules of composition”.
Kanu Gandhi travelled far and wide with the leader.
Here’s his image of a van carrying Gandhi being pushed by Pathans and Congress workers over some rough terrain in the North West Frontier Provinces in October 1938.
This is a picture of Gandhi, and his wife Kasturba, in Abottabad in November, 1938.
Kanu Gandhi’s first-ever book of photographs chronicles the leader’s political and personal journey in his last decade in vivid detail. There are pictures of Gandhi in his many moods – brooding, joyous, pensive, grieving – and with his supporters.
Here Gandhi is being massaged by a relative and his elder sister Raliatbehn during a three-day fast in Gujarat’s Rajkot city in March 1939.
“These images may be old, but they are not old-fashioned. They are not straightforward, beautifully shot and carefully framed, neat pictures which were popular then,” says Panjiar.
“It possibly helped that Kanu was not a trained photographer because many of his images would have been rejected by his contemporaries on account of being blurred, slightly out of focus or double exposed. But these find pride of place, lovingly pasted by own hands in albums.”
Gandhi and his wife Kasturba are seen here at a wedding of a Christian man and an untouchable woman in Sevagram ashram, 1940.
Sanjeev Saith says the picture of a dying Kasturba Gandhi lying on a bed at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune in 1944 a few months before her death counts among his favourites. A broken shaft of light is streaming in through a window behind her.
“Here is this austere woman lying regally on this stately bed, she is about to die. This picture just shakes me up,” he says.
And then there is this historic 1938 picture of Gandhi in a convivial mood with freedom hero and radical nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose. In the background, Kasturba Gandhi is drawing her sari, and looking into the distance.
This was the high noon of Bose’s political life: he had been elected as president of the Congress party. Gandhi had overruled objections from independence hero Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who had objected to Bose’s appointment.
The two leaders had shared a complex relationship and fell out later over differences.
“This is an amazing picture,” says Saith. “It contains two of India’s greatest heroes in one frame. Bose is young, cherubic, almost looking at Gandhi in admiration. Gandhi has his characteristic toothless grin. It is a nice, warm moment.”
Here’s Gandhi and Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, in February 1940, a study of two great men in meditation.
“Look at the bottom of the picture. It is an accidental double exposure [a technique which combined two different images into a single image]. It’s rather inventive. Kanu Gandhi knew it was a good picture, and he didn’t throw away the negative,” says Saith.
There’s a series of pictures of Gandhi collecting donations for a fund for the untouchables during a three-month long train journey that took him to Bengal, Assam and southern India in 1945-46.
In some he’s stretching his arm from a carriage for money; in others he’s surrounded by people and collecting the money in a slender basket.
“He’s an old man, but he looks agile. He’s almost begging for alms, and he’s serious about picking up every bit of money for a good cause. He understands money,” says Saith.
“I am a bania and there is no limit to my greed,” Gandhi once said, alluding to his Indian caste comprising mainly of moneylenders.
Being the only person who was allowed to take Gandhi’s photographs at any time, Kanu Gandhi was shooting every day.
Sometimes Gandhi intervened: one such moment was when Kasturba, lay dying in his lap at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune.
The nephew, however, was allowed to shoot this image of the leader, draped in a shawl, looking at Kasturba after she passed away in February 1944.
According to several accounts, Gandhi kept a vigil for hours, sitting by her side, praying.
“After sixty years of constant companionship,” he said later that night. “I cannot imagine life without her.”
Ironically, for a man who followed Gandhi like a shadow, Kanu Gandhi was away in Noakhali in east Bengal when his leader was killed in 1948.
“Gandhi’s death had a profound effect on Kanu and his wife, Abha’s life. For Kanu, photography was no longer as important as the need to convey his leader’s message,” says Panjiar.
Kanu Gandhi died after a heart attack while on a pilgrimage in northern India in February 1986.
The Following are some pictures, information and links on The Destruction of Syria.
KOBANE, Syria — A heap of dust is all that remains of the house where Alan Kurdi was born and raised, before war sent his family fleeing and he drowned on the short sea crossing between Turkey and Greece.
The image of the toddler’s lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach turned him into an instant symbol of the suffering of Syrians so desperate to reach Europe that they are prepared to risk their lives making the dangerous journey.
His flattened home, destroyed in an American airstrike in the landmark battle for control of the Syrian town of Kobane last year, has not been so widely seen. It is just one of thousands of buildings leveled, among hundreds of thousands more that have been obliterated in Syria during the four-year-old war.
As the conflict drags into a fifth year with no end in sight, little heed is being paid to the enormity of the havoc being wreaked on the country. Some 2.1 million homes, half the country’s hospitals and more than 7,000 schools have been destroyed, according to the United Nations.
The cost of the damage so far is estimated at a staggering $270 billion — and rebuilding could run to more than $300 billion, according to Abdallah al-Dardari, a former Syrian government minister who heads the National Agenda for Syria program at the U.N.’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. That’s more than 10 times the amount spent by the United States on reconstruction in Iraq, with few discernible results.
When a Turkish soldier picked up the body of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi in September, it became an instant symbol of Syrian refugees’ suffering and desperation. Alan was the son of Abdullah Kurdi, a native of Kobane, who lost his wife and two sons when their dinghy sank off the coast of Turkey. | Graves hold the remains of Kurdi’s family members.
If or when the war ends, any government will find itself “ruling over a pile of rubble,” Dardari said. “I don’t know who will fund this.”
The immense human toll is a far more immediate and obvious concern. As many as 250,000 people are dead, 1 million have been wounded, 7.6 million are displaced within Syria and 4 million have fled across the borders, according to the U.N.
The numbers rise daily with each new airstrike and each new offensive launched, as Russian planes join Syrian and American ones in bombing the country and the various factions sustain their relentless attacks on one another with rockets, mortars and artillery.
So, too, does the damage, compounding the tragedy in small and unseen ways that also kill people or drive them to seek new lives elsewhere. The more buildings are flattened, the more homes, shops and businesses are lost, the greater the incentive to flee the country — and the less people will have to return to whenever the war finally ends.
“We’re allowing a level of destruction we will never have the means to address,” said Peter Harling of the International Crisis Group. “They’re wiping one city after another off the map.”
Kobane stands as a small reminder of how much is being lost.
Abdullah Kurdi had fled to Turkey to work, but he chose to make the dangerous trip to Greece because he didn’t make enough money to live in Istanbul. His home was leveled in the battle for Kobane.
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Horror of the starving Syrians cut off from the world: People living in three towns under siege from Assad forces and rebels are forced to eat cats, dogs and grass as food supplies are unable to reach them
Madaya near Damascus has been under siege by Assad’s troops since July
Activists say desperate residents have resorted to eating domestic animals
Some have been killed by snipers or landmines while scavenging for food
Foua and Kfarya have been under attack from rebels for more than a year
Victims also forced to have surgery without anesthetic due to lack of drugs
Destruction: Parts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo have been destroyed during the bitter civil war. The aftermath of a separate assault by the Syrian regime on the city is pictured
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Turkey has warned
it may reopen the route for Syrian refugees to enter Europe if it does not get
more international support for creating a safe zone in northern Syria.
President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan called for “logistical support” to establish a safe
zone in Syria’s north-east.
“Either
this happens, or we will be forced to open the gates,” he said.
Turkey is
hosting more than 3.6 million Syrians who have fled the civil war. The US backs
the “safe zone” plan.
But the plan is
controversial, because Syrian Kurdish forces are wary of Turkey moving many
Syrians into the north-east who are not originally from that area.
The ethnic
Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), seen by Turkey as a terrorist group,
do not want to make way for Turkish forces in that area.
The US military
has backed the YPG against so-called Islamic State (IS) fighters, whose
territory is now much diminished.
“Our goal
is for at least one million of our Syrian brothers to return to the safe zone
we will form along our 450km [280-mile] border,” Mr Erdogan said in a
speech in Ankara.
“Give us
logistical support and we can go and build housing at 30km depth in northern
Syria.”
Exodus from Idlib
Turkey wants US
forces to jointly patrol the safe zone, and Mr Erdogan said Turkey was
“determined to set it up by the last week of September”.
Turkish
officials also fear that heavy fighting in the north-western province of Idlib
could push more refugees into Turkey.
Syrian
government forces backed by Russian aircraft are pounding rebel and jihadist
forces in Idlib. Turkey backs some of the rebel groups there.
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To All Syrians
from the Golden Swallowtail Butterfly
Beautiful
Golden Swallowtail Butterfly
Summersaults in
the sky
Drinking sweet
nectar
For the
beautiful wings to fly
The golden
wings span out
Showing the
black accented lines
A highlight for
your beautiful wings
Two perfect
tails you have
But a broken
wing
Knowing how far
you came from
Do you pass by
Syria lately?
No! No one
cultivates the gardens
They are busy
fighting with each other
No trees, no
plants
No flowers
giving me the nectar to drink
They are running
away
From their
homes and their land
One million
children are refugees now
What are you
doing Syrian people?
Everybody stops
fighting Please come!
Plant your
trees for butterflies and bees
Show your
children how nice butterflies can be
They help to fertilize
your plants
Producing fruits
for your children to enjoy
Syrian people
you have a long culture
Your arts and
your country are beautiful
Do not ruin
your ancestors’ good reputation
Preserve your
culture for your children to grow
Show your
children your fruitful gardens
And the beautiful
Golden Butterfly will visit you
The butterfly
says,
You will see no
tears
No fear on your
children faces
But the sound
of your children’s laughter
The joy of
seeing my beautiful wings
Everybody stops
using weapons Please come!
To enjoy your
tasty food Your dance, your music, your arts
And your
ancient civilization
We want to
visit you
Show us how
civilized Syrian Society can be
Ing-On
Vibulbhan-Watts, Friday, August 23, 2013, 9:45 pm
The Golden
Swallowtail Butterfly was captured by me on Saturday, August 17, 2013 at our
backyard garden in downtown Newark, New Jersey. I would like to dedicate this
video to all the children in Syria.
Parthenon, Greece
Pyramid of the Sun, Mexico
Temple of Largo Argentina, Rome
Nohoch Mul Pyramid (Coba), Mexico
Temple of Luxor, Egypt
Hadrian’s Wall, England
Hatra, Al-Jaz?rah, Iraq
Leptis Magna, District of Khoms, Libya
Jerusalem, Israel
Palmyra, Tadmur, Homs Governorate, Syria
Fort San Lorenzo, Province of Colon, District of Cristobal, Panama
