"Flood the plains, then build retaining levees and bridges"

I am in the process of reviewing all my research as I organize the Tara Books final paper.

This is all a bit overwhelming at this point! But I am trying to remain calm and trust that things will evolve and start to make sense as slog through the data, amassing notes and recording half-formed ideas that have been popping in and out of my head and my macbook for the better part of these last two years.

In fairness, slogging is really not an accurate description of this process: I am actually enjoying the research immensely  as it takes me down various rabbit holes going deeper and deeper, a bit like an explorer discovering an ancient civilization whose cities are buried beneath the jungle. It is such a sensual delight to page through these artful books and explore this fascinating organization.

Yet now I must move to the next phase. How to wade through it? How to sense-make of all I have experienced that I hold in my head and in my heart? I keep coming back to my earlier post about the difference between understanding and explaining this phenomenon we call a publishing house: this complex, living thing that keeps changing as I step toward and away from it.  It is not static nor is it simple. It is a group of committed people, whole beings that bring their energy to creating something worthwhile. All I create is a snapshot.


Yet I have to crystallize it and put it on the page, something that will change the very nature of my relation to it.

My advisor, Professor Mike Gismondi gave me this advice for this next phase: "flood the plains, then build retaining levees and bridges".
What a beautiful idea, that ideas can build something constructive out of the chaos of experience. I am living and breathing this metaphor in writing my research paper right now. This is especially a suitable metaphor as the Calgary floods are close in my memory and many dear friends, colleagues, and fellow students are still suffering the consequences of that devastation. Overwhelming.

But with his advice in hand,  I see that I must lay down the foundations to build, to make sense of a flood of data and ideas, swirling like currents inside of me. As I build I note themes and create links in my paper,  and these build structures to stand on and survey the scene.

And while I do all this surveying and meta-translation of a string of intimate moments,  I don't want to forget for one second the story in it, the joy in me, the connections I made, nor the happiness that is everywhere around me when I open myself in just the right way. This is my true education. To paraphrase what Ralph Ellison also said, my education itself is really all a matter of building bridges between ideas, between cultures, and between people.

An update on my research

Hi everyone I arrived home safely and happily at the end of December and have spent January preparing to write the final paper.

For this blog I want to take the time to thank you my supporters through this incredible time. I had 29 funders for my campaign, as well as receiving both a scholarship and research grant. I also received support in editing, idea generation, words of love and encouragement, and space and support to allow my life to be on hold for a month while I was away. The folks at Tara Books in India were warm and cooperative and the trip, including the volunteering, was one of the bravest and most astounding experiences I have ever had.

Those of you who helped to get me to India were amazing. This whole experience has been an act of vulnerability, trust, and gladness and I feel a unique connection to each and every person who helped me along this journey.

Here is a shout out to those of you who have pledged to allow me to name you:

Margot VS., who taught me to be vulnerable and brave
Ken B., who gave me the nerve to trust my writing and academic skills
Tamara G., who has given me many loving memories over our cherished 20 year friendship and I hope we have 20 more years as friends. She helped with both editing and a financial contribution
Robbin S., who has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met
Ruth L., who told me to go for it and do it right -and I did!
Leslie S. who has been a delight to work with in the book business, and I was honoured to have your support
Peter J. who has never once made me stop laughing
Ed M. whose good natured generosity is always present
Romita C. who was a open-minded yet rigorous mentor and support to me during these 5 long academic years
Stephanie W. who has been there through every idea and had to put up with my academic blatherings and some pretty tough bull fights, but nevertheless, I still have the honour to call my friend
Riana and Emily who are a well of deep joy and love for me in my life and whose contributions meant so much.
My dear and lovely friends Kerry, Kim H. and Christina who were all generous in their support and cheering me on from afar.
Ivan Z.who helped to make me a little more sane, or made my craziness a little more ok.
To my biggest supporters: my courageous mom, Ann Read, my close friend and sparkling Toni, and my loving husband Eric. I could not have done this without you. My mentor and professor Mike G. has  also been instrumental in this work. Thank you so much.

Others who didn't want a shout out but deserve it anyway: Joanne B. who carries a beautiful light within her always and I am lucky to have it spark a little light in me through our dance adventures; Don G. who respected me and helped me make the space to do this work; Patrick, Rodger & Pat whose support was magnificently generous, Nyk D. whose steadiness and strength helped me bounce ideas and see cracks in the whole plan; Joe W. who took the time to read this and give me awesome feedback; Cory M. who surprised me at the last moment. John B. a prince of a man whose travels are the envy of the book world, who immediately understood everything about this trip even if I didn't. Jill M. for whom I had an immediate connection the moment we met and I am grateful that we did and I hope she keeps on writing because she is wonderful at it. Leslie & Jen who I had only just met at the time and started working with, and who surprised and delighted me with their support and friendship from early days. Chyla who I first posed the idea to, and who was supportive from the get-go. JoAnn M. who is a great nurturer of talent and good work and I am lucky to know her as we all are in the book planet; and Anne G. who is an artist in her own right and delighted me with her support even as it was from afar. Bharathi, Collette, Evelyn and Connie were all female profs who paved the way for this work and supported and mentored me through this process. Kym and Leslie for all your advice on how to travel as a woman alone in one of the most mind boggling countries in the world.

Thank you all. I could feel your support emanating across the miles as I made my way across 4 states in South India.

I will be working on this paper until the beginning of May, threading all the most important ideas from my research into some semblance of order. I look forward to the next phase as I travel down this metaphorical road until the end of the degree.
I will post a few more times through the spring as I dig deeper into this work.
In Gratitude,
Heather

Tara Books: the art

"The visual culture in India is more sophisticated than other cultures". This was one of the comments made when I was doing my research at Tara Books.  I can clearly see that Indians are comfortable with complex visual patterns. Take the gates with their intricate carvings for example.

Or the strange mix of human and animal in this monkey god statue of Hanuman (he is over 3 stories high  

Or the colour and design of the entrance to this small shrine.

Visually, there is no single "India" and this lends itself to a sophistication perhaps. This seems clear in the juxtapositioning of visual imagery in the streets as well as the art.

As a Canadian travelling in India, it took all my power not to stand gaping at every street corner, trying to take in the layered visual complexities and meanings surrounding me: cultural references, motifs, beautiful intricacies, colour and life, against a backdrop of activity, dirt roads, rubble, and lush greenery. There is consistency and inconsistency, young and old, tradition and modernity, languidly and the fast life, squalor and splendor, vast poverty and the promises of wealth. Everything is mashed up into a confusion of images and cultural references.  There appears to be no "one India" culturally or visually.

In the time I spent in the Tara Book Building, there was a consistent emphasis on the book form as the perfect form to represent these "different Indias". One tribe's traditional art will render the same phenomenon entirely differently from another. Tara is committed to using the book to best locate and give space for these perspectives.

The book Beasts of India is a great example of this. Different traditions interpret and yield any given creature entirely differently and illustrate a vast array of perspectives and references. For example the lion:

Within any art tradition, different individual artists can fold and stir several influences and styles into their work for a different outcome. For example, the Buffalo and Bulls below are both by Gond artists:

Tara is committed to reflecting this diversity. The book building provides the space and the publishing company provides the means and support for connecting to these various artists across space and cultures.

The art on the inner walls of the book building also reflects this commitment to diversity. It is seamlessly integrated into the space itself.

My descriptions and pictures here really do not do this justice at all. Any separation of art from interior space is purely of my artificial devising; As with Tara's values and processes, the art and colour flows here as seamlessly between spaces as sari silk billows on a soft zephyr

  The Snake (by Subhash Amiliyar and Gangu Nai) is a delightful treat for the eye.  In the Bhil tribal form, from Madhya Pradesh, it chases a rat up into the editorial space at the top of the stairs. 

  A wily use of the swirling spiral staircase.

The horse mural is also a playful use of space, while this particular form of art is one used as a form of worship.

  The vibrancy of the paint was one of my happy discoveries: detail of the horse. 

The piece de resistance for the book building might be considered to be the wall mural the Tree.  Reaching over 18 feet, this joyful art connects the liveliness and colour of birds to the peace and quiet industry found inside these walls. 

It evolved as the artist spent time, and required the artist to be in the space for its moment conception. It was the artist's magical response to the space itself. 

Artist: Bhajju Shyam (Nightlife of Trees). 

The tree's motifs continue through to liven up the architectural partitions.

Like all of the art here, through its presence the magic of that artistic birth moment lives on to weave its gorgeousness into the space for now and years to come.

All in all, a wonderful use of space, light, art and integration of Tara's vision with the artist's talents. Tara is such a unique and special publisher. The books themselves area also exquisite materializations of this vision, talent and skill.

Tara, the book building

The book building is such an incredible space that this post will focus on it. The art on the walls and floor warrant a separate posting in their own right and equally so the remarkable individuals and office culture

This past week has been a glimpse into this happy space that is the Tara book building. All clean whiteness and light, tall ceilings and gorgeous leafy trees tinkling outside the breezy space, it is designed to most effectively use a very small footprint in a unique way by a local Chennai architect Mahesh Radhakrishnan who likened the grilles on the windows to musical notes: "In music, the notes come and the pauses follow. Here the pauses come first, representing spaces and everything is build around these creative spaces". The design was done with as much collaboration as possible, like Tara Books itself. Book Building's function is multipurpose, serving as a gallery, community gathering space, event and workshop classroom, offices and bookstore. Each area has a distinct feel yet each space flows smoothly into the next. It is ecofriendly, as very little of it needs air conditioning as the fans and breeze keep it cool. The lights are off all day as it is bright enough without. And solar panels on the roof mostly power the computers

Fully modern with nods to traditional Indian indigenous  and folk art in the art in the paintings and splashes of colour this is a welcoming and inspiring space and I was loathe to leave it after my research was done!

As you come from the noise and busyness of the street, the clean lines are  a beacon for serenity 

The first thing you experience is the delightful bookstore proudly displaying  one copy of each book (don't worry , you get a copy from their overstock when you make a purchase) 

There is a bright little nook for children overcome with creativity to draw whatever fills their imaginations 

My working space was the marvellous  two story courtyard gathering area with the beautiful tree art by the artist of Nightlife of Trees

Upstairs the offices lend themselves to collaboration  and openness with a sunny yellow kitchen space where staff share food and conversation and a lovely open central conversation hub  that invites the breeze to share and mingle with the voices 

The accounting and sales offices are open to the courtyard below. Design and editorial are in the loft at the very top of a swirl of spiral stairs

There are no walls separating the design and editors and this mirrors Tara's philosophy policy that the  book form is the perfect marriage of the design and language

All in all it is a happy place, the space is consistent with the values. There is no hidden curriculum  denoting power or exaggerating status differences between employees, the openness accessibility and clean design combining modern and traditional fully reflect Tara's  values as shown through its books. No wonder the employees all live coming to work everyday! As did I during my short stint here

Postcards from India

In the last few days when I have not been at Tara Books I have been exploring the area in Chennai around my hotel. Called Adyar it is a residential district just off the main thoroughfare, low key, relaxed and safe - hard to comprehend in a city of 30 million 

Here are a few scenes from those experiences 

Rickshaws: like riding a roller coaster at street level. They are a three wheeled motorbike with a roof and a backseat for passengers. These have brought out the adrenaline thrillseeker in me and are a highlight so far

Women decorate entryways with rice flour or chalk. The Kolam is meant to decorate invitingly, while the rice traditionally gave ants something to feast on outside the home. Each evening before sunset Hindu women wash off the previos decoration and start afresh. Each loop and knot is folkloric and rich with  meaning. Used in Tamil Nado state and in many others in India, these Kolam are a pragmatic and symbolic nod to the inter connectivity of all life forms

Tara Books had a a motif borrowed from the Kolam tradition painted on the tiles in their offices 

D signifies the direction of the design offices

Vibrant colour is everywhere. My Iphone is pitiful in trying to capture it. Against the mud and dirt coloured backdrop, happy shades of pomegranate, fuscia, nutmeg, saffron, teal, and ochre pop out and arrest the senses 

The food is another means by which to take my appreciation of the colours to a whole new level

The array of colour and variety of diahes is staggering, and it plus all strictly vegetarian

Here was my simple hotel breakfast yesterday 

I have falling in love with idlees the white rice dumplings shown and sambar the mild roasted lentil based stews spiced with with coriander seeds, fenugreek, whole red chilis, curry and coriander leaves, flavoured with tamarind.  The hotel cook has been preparing my meals with increasing spice so perhaps there are hot ones as well that I have not tried

Also delicious are the chutneys and fantastic tea prepared black or with milk and ginger as what we know as chai

Yum

More postcards to come

Two years in the making

This morning I am off for my first round of fieldwork with Tara Books. This an exciting moment for me, two years in the making. I have been taking classes and designing research papers to give me the background to conduct this work for years, from a class on English and Globalization In a Critical Context, to Indian Social Movements. From English language publishing in India, the role of the Social Economy for change, Community Development to a course on Transformative Education for social action. 

How to wind all this into a cohesive narrative that understands the people practices and mission behind Tara will be my work going forward. I have no doubt what I witness now will be daunting to grasp. Are publishing offices here very different from Canadian ones? How would my colleagues feel about an Indian scholar wandering through my offices at home in BC? If I were not white educated and employed /funded, would I be allowed this opportunity? I am acutely aware of my race and class here as the minority. If you want to feel rich just come to India

So the time has come for me to pull a thread of sense from these vast readings and weave a path. Ironic that all this sensible planning now cumulates into the very first action: stepping into the chaos of the road in an autorickshaw! 

Here I go, world. Ready as I will ever be

On awakening this morning

I arrived I'm Chennai last night at two am. Unlike everything you expect my arrival was efficient and speedy 

I set my alarm for this morning but I didn't need it: the cacophony outside at 6 am would wake a hibernating bear. But it wasn't car horns that greeted my slumber, lumbering hot along a slow road. Instead it was the joyful clatter of tropical birds vying for their mates. This is tropical India not the one so many of us see in tourist photos for the Taj Mahal. I feel I have landed in Belize or Tahiti. Palm fronds grace the maze of pink and green residences outside. The horns will come later no doubt.