David Stairs
Workers unloading a truck at night
America, land of gizmos and gadgets, began its history so labor poor that it accepted the evil of slavery for more than three centuries before its Civil War eliminated the scourge…. Continue Reading →
David Stairs
This article was suggested by Chris Stairs, who is also responsible for some of the photos
Urgent entreaties, Sankey Tank vicinity, Bangalore
Trees and diatoms, two of the things we most need to sequester CO2 and produce oxygen,… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
In the tea shambas of the Kanan Devan Hills Company, Munnar
When it comes to tea, the Indian place names roll off one’s tongue: Assam, Darjeerling, Ceylon. Tea is grown in many other places, but it is in India that it became a world-class cash crop,… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
“Oh Mother, today I remember the sindoor on your forehead, the red-bordered sari you used to wear, and your eyes—calm, serene, and deep.”
—spoken by Bimala in Home and the World, by Rabindranath Tagore
On the matter of women’s dress,… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
Sign for women’s washroom in Hindi, English, Urdu, and Bengali. The water is held by the right, or eating hand.
As goes its plumbing, so goes a nation; in this we do trust. The Romans supposedly poisoned themselves with lead piping,… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
Special thanks to ajantriks for help with this article.
Hindu temple, Chowdaiah Road, Bangalore
On the weekend The Avengers opened in Bangalore, one week prior to its release in America, theaters were jammed with middle class Indians flocking to view the latest exploits of some of their favorite heroes…. Continue Reading →
David Stairs
Adolf Hitler once referred to the British as “a nation of shopkeepers.” But the Brits had nothing on the Indians when it comes to small business. One needn’t look too far to notice the importance of commerce to India…. Continue Reading →
David Stairs
Madhya Pradesh, in north central India
When one thinks of France one automatically pictures the Eiffel Tower; New York and it’s the Statue of Liberty; India and 9 out of 10 people will say “Taj Mahal.” India is home to many other significant sites,… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
Train travel in India is popular. Is it any wonder? Domestic flights cost ten times as much as trains. In fact, train travel is SO popular here, that it’s hard to reserve a seat if not done well in advance…. Continue Reading →
David Stairs
The Ganges looking north
Benares. Varanasi in modern parlance. This is the holiest city of Hinduism. The Ganges runs through it like the rainbow bridge of Asgard, but it’s so much more useful to the common man…. Continue Reading →
David Stairs
Among the upper castes individuals might change their religion, but lower down the scale a particular caste in a locality, or almost an entire village would be converted. Thus their group life as well as their functions continued as before with only minor variations as regards worship,… Continue Reading →
The idea of planning and a planned society is accepted now in varying degrees by almost everyone. But planning by itself has little meaning and need not necessarily lead to good results… Does the plan aim definitely at the well-being and advancement of the people as a whole,… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
If you asked people to name the most durable material in the world, many would probably say steel. If you asked what is the most flexible they’d say plastic or rubber. If you asked them to describe the most economical they might say clay…. Continue Reading →
David Stairs
Auroville’s “symbol of the Divine’s answer to man’s aspiration for perfection,” the Matrimandir
Pondicherry, former French colony of India, has an interesting history. Like the former Portugese colony at Goa, now one of the most chic destinations in India,… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
The central idea of old Indian civilization, or Indo-Aryan culture, was that of, dharma, which was something much more than religion or creed: it was a conception of obligations, of the discharge of one’s duties to oneself and to others.… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
My Mother used to shop at five different places, less out of vendor loyalty, which disappeared in America in the ’60’s, than to get the best price. Most of her retailers had grown to large conglomerates; gone were the independent grocers,… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
“If the machinery craze grows in our country, it will become an unhappy land. It may be considered a heresy, but I am bound to say that it were better for us to send money to Manchester and to use flimsy Manchester cloth than to multiply mills in India.”… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
Motorcycles are the primary means of personal transportation in Bangalore. Every intersection is clogged with dozens of bikes and scooters impatiently waiting to break away when the light turns green, and when it does… off they roar like a swarm of angry hornets!… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
“The search for form demands an investigation into values and qualities that Indians hold important to a good life.” —Charles and Ray Eames, The India Report, 1958… Continue Reading →
An Xiao Mina
In "The Texting Culture of the Philippines," a recent article for Design Observer, I explored some of the design strategies centered around mobile phone culture in the Philippines. It’s a well-known fact to anyone who’s visited the country–… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
Febin standing by a pile of rope
I just returned from a week in Kerala. On Monday morning April 2nd I was passing through Alleppey when I noticed a coir mill, or rope-making factory. Remembering that this was a rope-making region,… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
“Indeed, staying silent on explicit religious topics while oozing a Jesus-y pheromone has allowed Invisible Children to tap an entire spectrum of Christian charities, philanthropists, and celebrities, from the most liberal to the most conservative.”
—Josh Kron,… Continue Reading →
David Stairs
“May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst. Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air…. Continue Reading →
David Stairs
Gone, but not forgotten (image courtesy of Deepa Mohan)
Although the idea of reincarnation may have arisen independently in several places, India is justly famous as the land that most fully embraced the concept. All of the major Indian religious traditions embrace some form of the idea…. Continue Reading →
David Stairs
I thought I knew trucks. After all, growing up in America, land of monster 56′ long behemoths, every boy wants to be a truck driver at some point. I vividly remember a trip along Interstate 80, the most intense truck route in the U.S.,… Continue Reading →
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