Residential Project at a Spiritual Retreat

Mridul Upadhyay, Open Award Participant attended SPIC MACAY International Convention for his Residential Project. Mridul is presenting here a report on his Residential Project.

The 3rd International Convention of SPIC MACAY was held from 31 May to 6 June at IIT-Mumbai. SPIC MACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth) is a voluntary movement that organizes events (over 5000 annually) of classical music and dance, folk arts, crafts etc. in educational institutions through the world. The annual conventions of SPIC MACAY, with more than 300 chapters in India and abroad and thousands of volunteers working selflessly, is a Mahakumbh or a spiritual retreat. The annual convention has acquired international status from the past three years, when delegates from other countries also joined hands. 

The International convention focusses on providing a unique atmosphere to delegates with an emphasis on the Guru-Shishya model. The convention aims to provide a holistic experience in line with classical Indian tradition and participants follows certain rules and regulations like consumption of holistic food, not using mobile/camera and early morning wakeup etc. The convention aims to bring the lesser known and often underappreciated art forms, and the associated artists back into the spotlight. Arts forms like Paper Mache, Puppetry, Kudiyattam and more are probably not as famous as others but they are without a doubt equally significant in the amount of skill and hard work that goes into them. The convention serves as a great stage for these artists to earn the respect and appreciation they deserve while attracting people towards these lost art forms. 

The unique experience of the week-long "Aashram-Vaas" for nearly 1,800 participants from home and abroad was unforgettable, where the normal day started at 4 am with Naad-Yoga, the practice of music; Hatha Yoga, the Yogic exercises; and Dhyaan Yoga, or practising meditation; followed by "Shram-Daan" or cleaning up the surroundings. After it the most unique feature of the convention: the 3 hour long intensive workshops every day by renowned Gurus of classical music and dance, folk theatre, painting, handicrafts and much more. Based on what we learnt during this period we got a chance to perform in front of everyone on the last day. 

On various days, the afternoon sessions and lecture demonstrations had Qawwali by Warsi brothers, Sattriya dance performance by Guru Ghanakant Bora and his talented disciple Anvesha Mahanta, Odissi by Sujata Mahapatra, Bharatanatyam by Praveen Kumar, Kathak by Prerana Shrimali, Mayurbhanj Chhau by Ileana Citaristi, classical Hindustani music by Pt Vinayak Torvi, screening of Malayalam film Kathapurushan followed by interaction with 16 times National Award winning film director Adoor Gopalakrishnan, an illustrated lecture with Puppet show by Dadi Padamji and an inspiring talk by the renowned painter Akbar Padamsi.

Another unique feature of this convention was the overnight music concert which started on the night of June 5, 2015 from 8 pm and go till 6 am in the morning of June 6, 2015. Renowned artistes like Balamurali Krishna, Aswani Bhide Deshpande, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Wasifuddin Dagar performed during the overnight concert. On the last day, the participants were taken on tours to different heritage sites in the city like the Kanheri Caves, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and many more.

All in all, the week-long convention facilitated hundreds of participants not only the awareness of our classical art and culture but also its ethos, the deeper and subtler meaning and values, inspiring them to become better human beings. Click her for pictures

Photography has developed my sense of colour balancing

Mridul Upadhyay, Gold Award participant from the Open Award Centre is sharing his experience as he learns photography for his Skills section

I was introduced to the Award programme during my visit to Sri Lanka to cover the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. I applied as Open Award Participants for Gold Level and set my goals, which I have completed now. 

Photography was my goal for the Skill section. I was interested in photography because of my artist friends, who helped me develop a sense of colour balancing and framing. Previously, I was able to take average frames from a point-and-shoot camera but DSLR camera opened more opportunities with 'Manual' mode.

When I first started photography, I was very puzzled about aperture (A), shutter speed (S) and ISO. I call this the "Illuminati triangle of confusion" because they're all linked to each other and I couldn't differentiate the effects between them by reading.

But one thing made it easy for me. Eyes! Our eyes pretty much work the same way as a camera. The light passes through our pupil, via the hole of the iris, and focuses it on the retina.

SHUTTER SPEED

The pupillary light reflex is the reflex that controls the diameter of the pupil, in response to the intensity of light that falls on the retina of the eye. In other words, when you stare at something bright, our iris shrinks and the pupil becomes smaller, so less light penetrates through. 

"So shutter speed is the time for which you want to keep your stutter open to allow the light to pass through to the camera sensor." The higher the shutter speed, the more light is allowed through. When you are taking a picture in a place that's terribly bright (like directly under the Sun), then your picture would be overexposed (way too bright). So don't forget to reduce your shutter speed.

APERTURE

Stare at the room around you for a while. Slowly focus on an object in front of you. Keep doing it. Now, do you realize how everything around the object is blurred (the object becomes more prominent). But when you want to see a group/crowd/landscape, the same eye allows you to see everything clearly. That's exactly how aperture works.

Basically, aperture controls the depth of field in focus. When the aperture is greater, the depth of field of an image is shorter. In other words, the object in front of you is clear and the background is blurred out.

Aperture also controls the amount of light that reaches the image plane because aperture acts as the entrance of our eyes. Like our eyes, the pupil is the hole that allows light through in our eyes. 

"So aperture is the shutter size which you want to keep open for a particular time (shutter speed)." 

Aperture is calculated in stops (the size of the hole that allows light in). Same as the pupil of our eyes, the bigger the hole, greater the aperture, and more the light that passes. But here's the confusing part: aperture is measured with f/numbers on the camera. The smaller the f/number on your camera, greater the aperture: the more light that reaches the image plane, making the image brighter and more blurred background (less depth of field).

ISO

It is the measure of how sensitive your camera is to light. Basically, the image sensor, the one that controls the ISO, is the component that changes the camera's sensitivity and transforms the light into an image.

The higher the ISO, the more sensitive it is to light. Therefore, the camera sensor can capture images in a low-light surrounding without a flash when using a higher ISO number. But you need to give something if you want something. Higher sensitivity adds "noise" (grain) to your picture. The fine dots that make the picture look pretty bad.

So, my advice is to always stick to the lowest ISO number of your sensor. Basically, it produces an image with the highest quality and minimal noise! It also retains the most details of an image.

Also there are a set of rules for composition like rule of third, golden triangles and spirals, leading lines and leaving space etc. But photography is also more than rules.

So in a nutshell, shutter speed controls the amount of light; aperture controls the depth of field, and amount of light; ISO allows you to take pictures in dark areas without a flash, but it creates noise. Photography is all about balance of these three.

Don't worry if you still haven't gotten the hang of these three. Play around with your camera and you'll soon see how easy it is. It worked for me!  Click for few more pictures

Special Project -- Adventurous Journey Camp

A report on the Silver level Special Projects Adventurous Journey camp, organised at Inside Passage campsite situated in the lower Himalayas, from 29th March to 1st April 2015.

A group comprising 43 Award aspirants from NAZ foundation (33 girls + 7 boys) and Open Award Centre (2 boys + 1 girl) along with five escorts and mentors, took part in an Adventurous Journey held on 29th March to 1st April 2015, at Inside Passage Camp at Maldevta Village, Dehra Dun. The team left Delhi by bus on 28th March for Dehra Dun and reached the campsite on 29th morning.  The camp activities started after breakfast with a session by Bivujit Mukhtoy, Programme Manager, IAYP. The campers took part in different types of activities during the four days. The instructors of ICNL and Inside passage took theoretical and practical classes on mountain ethics, camp manners, mountain hazards and their solutions, rock climbing, rappelling, shelter-making, survival, jungle walk, cave exploration, river crossing, trekking, fire making, Spider Web, knot-making and the use of different mountain gear and equipment. Under the guidance of instructors, the participants completed all the practical sessions successfully. The participants also received training on Bird Watching with the Award Participants of Welham Boys' School, Dehra Dun, who were participating in the State Bird Watching Camp for their Residential Project.  A campfire was organized on 31st March evening. The camp experience helped the Special Project Adventurous Journey participants enhance their self-confidence,  self-reliance, leadership skills, and ability to work as part of a team. They gained the appropriate knowledge and skills to make an Adventurous Journey successful and improved their investigating, reviewing, planning and presentational skills.  Click for pictures