Podcasts about Varanasi

Today we are thrilled to welcome back to the pod, the ladies of Ragamala Dance Company. Today we talk with company's founder and co-artistic director, Ranee Ramaswamy, and her daughter, co-artistic director Aparna Ramaswamy. We first had Ranee and Aparna on the podcast about a year ago, with Aparna's sister, Ashwini, in episode 275. If […] The post (330) Ragamala Dance Company in ‘Fires of Varanasi' with Performing Arts Houston appeared first on tendusunderapalmtree.com.

Í öngum mínum erlendis.. yrki ég skemmsta daginn.. Sveitamaðurinn í stóra landinu - himnaríki & helvíti. Bollywood, Varanasi, Bodh Gaya. 26. jan - 3. feb. 28. jan, 29. jan, 30. jan, 31. jan, 2. feb, 3. feb.

Joi Baba Felunath: The Elephant God: Movie Review from the Ray Taylor ShowShow topic: In this episode Ray reviews the movie “Joi Baba Felunath: The Elephant God”. "Joi Baba Felunath" is a 1979 Indian Bengali-language mystery film directed and written by Satyajit Ray. The film features an ensemble cast of Soumitra Chatterjee, Santosh Dutta, Siddartha Chatterjee, Utpal Dutt, among others. It is an adaptation of the eponymous Feluda novel and serves as the sequel to "Sonar Kella." The story follows private investigator, Pradosh C. Mitter (a.k.a. Feluda), his cousin Tapesh (a.k.a. Topshe) and thriller writer Lalmohan Ganguly (a.k.a. Jatayu) as they vacation in Varanasi during the Durga Puja and become embroiled in a mystery involving a valuable golden Ganesh statue and a wealthy Marwari businessman.JOIN Inspired Disorder +PLUS Today! InspiredDisorder.com/plus Membership Includes:Ray Taylor Show - Full Week Ad Free (Audio+Video)Live Painting ArchiveEarly Access to The Many FacesMember Only Discounts and DealsPodcast Back Catalogue (14 Shows - 618 Episodes)Ray Taylor's Personal BlogCreative WritingAsk Me AnythingDaily Podcast: Ray Taylor Show - InspiredDisorder.com/rts Daily Painting: The Many Faces - InspiredDisorder.com/tmf ALL links: InspiredDisorder.com/links Genres: Indian - Adventure - Crime

Almost every culture and religion around the world has some version of paradise. For some, it can be found in simple pleasures, while for others, paradise is elusive. Travel writer and essayist Pico Iyer has spent decades thinking and writing about the concept. He joins Piya Chattopadhyay to discuss his new book, The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise, which takes readers from the grand mosques of Iran to the empty streets of North Korea and the funeral pyres of Varanasi, India, all to better understand what paradise means to people, and to himself.

As a podcast guest, Dr. Swathi checks all the boxes.  My guests use their voices to advocate for something, educate in some way, or entertain.  Dr. Swathi does all three! ✅ She's an advocate for integrative health, preventative health, patient-centered shared decision-making, cannabis science and therapeutics, her beauty and wellness brand Elēment Apothēc, networking, entrepreneurship, personal development podcasts, and more. ✅  As an educator, she has created 3 online courses:  Integrative Health 101, Cannabis Science & Therapeutics for Pharmacists, and CBD for Health & Wellness (available from Elēment Apothēc in early 2023).  Plus, she has experience speaking at conferences.   ✅  As an entertainer, she has appeared on several podcasts and YouTube channels and authored a book.   Listen to this episode, and you will be inspired by the many ways in which Dr. Swathi uses her voice.   Connect with Dr. Swathi on LinkedIn.  Thank you for listening to episode 195 of The Pharmacist's Voice ® Podcast! To read the full show notes, visit https://www.thepharmacistsvoice.com.  Click on the podcast tab, and search for episode 195. Subscribe to or Follow The Pharmacist's Voice Podcast! Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon/Audible Bio– Dr. Swathi Varanasi, or Dr. Swathi for short, is a bilingual pharmacist specializing in integrative and preventative health. Dr. Swathi has paved the way for other healthcare professionals to pursue non-traditional career paths through creating postdoctoral residency training programs, industry internships, and online courses (Integrative Health 101 and Cannabis Science & Therapeutics for Pharmacists). She co-founded and serves as Chief Scientific Officer of the international award-winning clean beauty and wellness brand, Elēment Apothēc. As a healthcare disruptor, she looks for opportunities to break barriers and challenge her western-trained colleagues to think beyond the conventional scope of their practice. Through the many modalities of integrative medicine and patient-centered shared decision-making, she believes that health and wellness is achievable for everyone. Emphasizing an evidence-based approach, Dr. Swathi is passionate about educating practitioners, students, patients, and consumers, and strives to empower everyone to be the best, most authentic version of themselves. Dr. Swathi received her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) from the Medical University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy (Charleston, SC) and her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Carleton College (Northfield, MN). She is certified in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University. Dr. Swathi serves adjunct faculty and has lectured at colleges, universities, and conference stages worldwide. She has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals and has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Yahoo, Well+Good, and mindbodygreen. In her free time, she can be found listening to personal development podcasts, styling sustainable fashion pieces, taking long walks, paging through Architectural Digest, or planning her next trip (35 countries and counting!). Links from this episode Element Apothec's Webiste | www.elementapothec.com Element Apothec's YouTube channel Element Apothec's IG | @elementapothec Personal website for Swathi Varanasi, PharmD www.doctorswathi.com Personal Instagram for Swathi Varanasi, PharmD @doctorswathi Dr. Swathi Varanasi on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/swathi-varanasi  Integrative Health 101 | integrativehealth101.teachable.com Lsteners can use the code VOICE for 20% off. (Code is valid until 4/30/23) Cannabis Science & Therapeutics for Pharmacists | https://medicalcannabismentor.thinkific.com/courses/copy-of-cannabis-science-and-therapeutics-for-pharmacists-1?ref=fa803a This is the first-ever online course specifically written for pharmacists by a pharmacist on cannabis science and medicine. CBD for Health & Wellness (online course) will be available from Element Apothec in 2023. HARO https://www.helpareporter.com/  The Sacred Feminine by Swathi Varanasi et al Student National Pharmaceutical Association SNPhA https://snpha.org/  Carleton College  Medical University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy The University of Toledo's Cosmetic Science & Formulation Design Program 

Aditi Agrawal brings you the news from Delhi, Uttarakhand, Varanasi, and the US. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For 50 years, Pico Iyer has been traveling the globe, seeking out sacred sites from the hidden shrines of Tehran to the funeral pyres of Varanasi. Iyer believes that travel can help us confront questions that we tend to avoid or bypass when we're at home, forcing us out of our usual routines and bringing us into contact with the “crisscrossing of cultures.” In his latest book, "The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise," Iyer investigates how different cultures have understood the notion of paradise, recounting his travels to contested places including Jerusalem, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, and Ladakh. In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Tricycle's editor in chief, James Shaheen, sits down with Iyer to discuss the risks of the commercialization of paradise, the power of not knowing, and how we can find paradise in the midst of impermanence.

Aparajito Movie Review - Ray Taylor Show (Satyajit Ray, Calcutta, 1950s)Subscribe: InspiredDisorder.com/rts Binge Ad Free: InspiredDisorder.com/plus Show topic: In this episode, Ray Taylor reviews the Bengali film Aparajiti, also known as The Unvanquished, directed by Satyajit Ray. A part of the Apu Trilogy, Aparajiti is the second film in the series and follows the life of Apu from childhood to adolescence as he and his family move from rural Bengal to Varanasi and then back to Bengal. The film was not well received locally upon its release due to its portrayal of the relationship between Apu and his mother, but received widespread critical acclaim internationally and won numerous awards, including the Golden Lion and Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival. Join Ray as he discusses the themes, characters, and technical aspects of Aparajiti and its place in the Apu Trilogy.JOIN Inspired Disorder +PLUS Today! InspiredDisorder.com/plus Membership Includes:Ray Taylor Show - Full Week Ad Free (Audio+Video)Live Painting ArchiveEarly Access to The Many FacesMember Only Discounts and DealsPodcast Back Catalogue (14 Shows - 618 Episodes)Ray Taylor's Personal BlogCreative WritingAsk Me AnythingDaily Podcast: Ray Taylor Show - InspiredDisorder.com/rts Daily Painting: The Many Faces - InspiredDisorder.com/tmf ALL links: InspiredDisorder.com/linksGenres: Drama - Indian

Hi! I'm so happy you're here! Today I'm interviewing my friend, Dr. Swathi Varanasi. Dr. Swathi Varanasi, or Dr. Swathi for short, is an award-winning bilingual pharmacist specializing in integrative health and botanical medicine. She is a plant-based wellness expert; a medical consultant for CBD, adaptogen, and health food brands; a published clinical researcher; an advocacy non-profit board of director; a multimedia content contributor; and a matcha enthusiast. Emphasizing an innovative and evidence-based approach, Dr. Swathi is passionate about educating practitioners, students, and patients on natural medicines and empowering everyone to be the best, most authentic version of themselves.Contact Dr. Swathi:IG: www.instagram.com/doctorswathiwww.doctorswathi.comPrevious Episodes with Dr. Swathi Veranasi: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coffee-and-tea-with-carrievee/id1514671446?i=1000516941097https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coffee-and-tea-with-carrievee/id1514671446?i=1000506749334GET YOUR CARRIEVEE SWAG! https://carrievee.myshopify.com/Book CarrieVee for a Speaking Engagement:  https://www.coachcarriev.com/contact-meThe Radical Empowerment Method 2.0 Online Course (no group coaching) Program OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT NOW!  https://www.coachcarriev.com/radicalempowermentmethod2Radical Empowerment Method Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Bdp2BCContact CarrieVee!IG: @iamcarrieveeLI and FB: Carrie Verrocchioemail: carriev@coachcarriev.com 

This week, The Musafir Stories speaks to a returning guest, Arjun Narayanan, as we talk about the popular Madras Music season aka Chennai Music festival aka December Music Season or Margazhi music season! Today's destination: Madras aka Chennai! Nearest Airport: Chennai International airport (MAA) Nearest Railway Station: Chennai Central Railway Station (MAS) Prerequisites -  N/A Packing - N/A Time of the year - Nov - Jan Length of the itinerary: 4-8 weeks    Itinerary Highlights:  This week, we have a very special episode that talks all about the popular Madras Music Season - a city wide celebration of Indian classical performing arts covering carnatic music, dance (bharatanatyam) and drama. The episode is unique as it focuses on an event, a phenomenon, rather than an itinerary.  We start off talking about the significance of month of Margazhi, it's importance in the Hindu religion as well as the history of the music festival starting in the early 1900s Arjun talks about the concept of Sabhas and kacheris as well as the popular sabhas in the city like Parthasarathy sabha, Brahma Gana Sabha, Narada Gana Sabha, Madras Music Academy, Mylapore Fine arts club, Triplicane fine arts society among others.  We also talk about the popular locations where the events are held - primarily T. Nagar, Triplicane, Mylapore, Adyar, the challenges in getting tickets and how to plan them as well as popular artists who are the crowd pullers  The events include carnatic music performances, bharatanatyam dance performances, drama and plays. The performances include both renowned artists as well as up and coming artists. In addition to the performances, there are also lecture series provided by experts. There are free concerts by up and coming artists (usually during the noon sessions), as well as ticketed events by more popular artists.  The instruments used in carnatic music include percussion instruments like mridangam, ghatam, violin, veena, mandolin etc. that are accompanied by vocalists.  We also discuss the popular sabha saapad or sabha canteens that are popular for their meals and filter coffee. Finally we wrap it with some places one can visit while covering the music season - these places include the popular temples in Triplicane like Parthasarthy temple, Wallajah mosque or big mosque of Triplicane, Kapaleshwar temple in Mylapore, Chepauk stadium and Chepauk palace, shopping for traditional jewellery and sarees among other things. Links: Arjun's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madraswallah/ Arjun's Instagram - Simply Stories Chennai - https://www.instagram.com/simplystorieschennai/ Arjun's Twitter: https://twitter.com/madraswallah Madraswallah podcast - https://madraswallah.com/category/podcasts-2/ Episode on Varanasi - https://themusafirstories.com/podcasts/varanasi-with-arjun-narayanan/ Episode on Thrissur - https://themusafirstories.com/podcasts/thrissur-with-arjun-narayanan/ Cover Photo by Ricky Singh - https://unsplash.com/photos/rTikKt6ir5g Follow the Musafir stories on: Twitter : https://twitter.com/musafirstories?lang=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themusafirstories/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musafirstoriespodcast/?hl=en website: www.themusafirstories.com email: themusafirstories@gmail.com You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featured Do follow IVM Podcasts on social media. We are @IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. https://twitter.com/IVMPodcasts https://www.instagram.com/ivmpodcasts/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/ivmpodcasts/ Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music Do share the word with you folks!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jude Weston brings you the news from Delhi, Bihar, Varanasi, Karnataka and Indonesia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Varanasi is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world and considered the spiritual capital of India. While also holy to Buddhists, Jains and many other sects, it is the most sacred city in Hinduism. Said to have been founded by Lord Shiva, for centuries Hindus have made the pilgrimage from all over the world to the banks of the Ganges River. For many of these pilgrims, they know this will be their last mortal journey. In Hindu tradition it is said that to die in Varanasi, one may attain Moksha – an end to the continual cycle of rebirth, and a place in paradise. These are the stories of those intimately involved in the unique culture of spirituality, death and funerals in the city. We hear from the manager of Mukti Bhawan, one of the so-called Death Hotels which host pilgrims in their final days on earth, alongside personal family accounts of those who have chosen this path and the stories of those who jobs are to cremate the roughly 100 bodies per day at the ancient Burning Ghats, before their remains enter the holy river to pass into the afterlife. (Photo: Panoramic view across the holy river Ganges on Munshi Ghat in the suburb of Godowlia. Credit: Frank Bienewald/Getty Images)

Dr. Swathi Varanasi is a bilingual pharmacist specializing in integrative and preventative health. Dr. Swathi has paved the way for other healthcare professionals to pursue non-traditional career paths through creating postdoctoral training programs, industry internships, and online courses focused on integrative medicine and patient-centered shared decision-making. She co-founded and serves as Chief Scientific Officer of the international award-winning clean beauty and wellness brand, Elēment Apothēc. We discuss: How Dr. Swathi found cannabis medicine How pharmacists can help cannabis patients with potential drug-to-drug interactions The lack of education about the endocannabinoid system for pharmacists The difficulty healthcare professionals have finding trusted sources of cannabis information Whether pharmacists should be accessible in cannabis dispensaries Canabimimetics, the things we do that improve our endocannabinoid tone  Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor: Medicine Women Health Medicine Women's team of specialists includes Medical Doctors, Naturopaths, Medical Cannabis Experts, Nutritionists and Alternative Health Practitioners. These integrative teams evaluate health issues and design targeted protocols to promote personal healing. Medicine Women's Protocols have successfully alleviated symptoms of Cancer, Auto-Immune Diseases and Neurological Conditions, as well as providing overall Health Rejuvenation. Learn more at www.medicinewomenhealth.com.  Additional Resources DrSwathi.comElēment Apothēc websitePatient Perceptions on the Efficacy and Safety of Cannabidiol Products and the Role of the Pharmacist: A Cross-Sectional Study [Peer-Reviewed Study]Submit an Abstract for CannMed 23Review the Podcast!CannMed ArchiveCannMed Community Board [Facebook Group]Healthcare Provider Medical Cannabis Research Study

Korey Riggs is the Executive Director of the El Dorado and Chileno Bay Foundations.   The Foundations were founded by two high-end golf course developments in Los Cabos, Mexico with the goal to connect their members to the local community. The Foundations help develop and fund community projects along with providing grants to local organizations.      Korey is a certified mediator and believes that any conflict can be solved if managed properly. He is passionate about helping others realize their full potential and understand their role as a global citizen.  His fluency in English and Spanish has allowed Riggs to be successful on the international speaking platform.  He has been featured in top media outlets including TV, radio, magazine and newspaper. Korey believes in continuous personal and spiritual development through training and travel including walking the Camino Frances in Spain, hiking to Ama Dablam Base Camp on the path to Mt. Everest in Nepal, and witnessing Hindu pilgrims bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi, India.  He is extremely active and has practiced and studied yoga extensively, receiving a 500-hour teaching certificate from the Nosara Yoga Institute in Costa Rica. 

What if setting up internet for your business could be as easy as switching on electricity? Anil Varanasi and his brother Sunil started Meter in 2015 to bring a full-stack approach to internet infrastructure. As people return to the office, our shared dependence on the internet has only increased. We cover where 5G and Starlink fit in, why Nicole Starosielski's The Undersea Network is required reading, and what role automation will play in the future.

This week the Infused Show welcomes Dr. Swathi Varanasi to discuss her career as a Integrative Health Pharmacist, as well as her work as an entrepreneur, advocate, author, speaker, and co-founder/Chief Science Officer of Element Apothec! Dr. Swasi joins the Infused team from Los Angeles, where she serves as Director of Science for NORML. Don't miss our conversation with Dr. Swathi on the latest Infused Show!For More Infused: A Cannabiz Talk Show visit: Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/c/InfusedShow Instagram:@theinfusedshowFacebook: @Infused:ACannabizTalkShowTwitter: @showinfused Subscribe to Infused on iTunes:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/infused-a-cannabiz-talk-show/id1535836627

TRACKLIST : Sraunus - Kamanai Processing Vessel & Aaron Demac - Something in our hearts (Real Kue Soul remix) Jay Oss - Static Jason Rault - Medieval Roy Hasson - Body rhythm Polloni - Free Poems Vele - Controlus Arkajo - Wow, acid Tropper - Any even sunday O.J.A - Before the birth of life Luciano - Luci neu house Ociya - Gravity knots (Magnetopause remix)

In this latest Hindi bulletin: Support rolled out for flood-affected communities as the rain stops but the rivers keep rising; South Korea ready to face ongoing threats from the North; In India, Varanasi court likely to deliver judgement on Gyanvapi carbon dating today and more news.

Dr. Karthik Varanasi is a post-doctoral researcher at the Salk Institute in San Diego, California and he joins me on this episode to discuss normal cell metabolism (how normal cells use nutrients to make energy), cancer metabolism and the million-dollar question of how to make normal cells behave one way while making cancer cells do something else, especially when they are both competing for the same nutrients. It's a fascinating conversation about diet and the role of fatty acids (fats) in cancer growth or suppression.Don't forget to rate and review the podcast!Show notes at reginatopelson.com

You flaunt one of the 70 million odd handsets in India that are 5G-enabled. You live in one of the select cities where 5G services have been launched. But, still you can't enjoy the ‘blazing-fast' data speed promised by the next-gen technology. Why is that the case? Well, it's because many 5G smartphone models currently lack the software updates needed to enable 5G services on them. But there are a few lucky users too. The India Cellular and Electronics Association indicates, over 150 5G phone models have already been enabled with a patch across operators. However, that doesn't include select Samsung handsets and all of Apple's 5G-enabled iPhones. 5G-enabled smartphones from OnePlus and Google also lack software support for the network. This has effectively left most Indian users with premium devices out of the 5G network.  On Wednesday, the Department of Telecommunications had summoned both telecom companies and mobile device makers. The agenda included enabling 5G services for in-use handsets and giving the early adoption of 5G a push. The meeting followed complaints from telcos that device-makers have not released their updated software patches, which will allow users with 5G-enabled devices to access the recently rolled-out service. Telcos allege customers are unable to access 5G services on their handset, even though the service is available in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Varanasi. A section of smartphone-makers, on the other hand, believe that telcos are being unfair to them. They say, even though telcos announced the launch of 5G services in the week of Dusshera, only a few 5G towers are currently operational.  According to device-makers, at least one telco in Delhi has only a handful of 5G towers with very limited coverage. Their argument: Without the minimum required number of towers in a circle, availability of 5G services will remain poor even after software upgrades. They say, sending over-the-air upgrades to all 5G handsets will take some time, because software patches need to be tested on various networks first.   However, there is some good news. Ahead of the DoT meeting, Apple said that the software update needed to enable 5G services in iPhones would start rolling out in December. The iPhone 14, iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 series, along with the third-generation iPhone SE, are compatible with 5G.  Hours after Apple's statement, Samsung also announced that it would roll out software updates needed to enable 5G services in its compatible-devices by mid-November.  Presently, only about 9 per cent of all smartphones in India are 5G-enabled. And their adoption is growing rapidly with shipments of 5G-enabled devices speeding up. According to Cybermedia Research, 27 million 5G-compatible devices were shipped in India in 2021, making up 16 per cent of all smartphone deliveries.  Between just April 2022 and August, 20 million 5G devices were shipped, accounting for 31 per cent of all smartphone deliveries. Within that period, Samsung came out as the top 5G-compatible brand in India with a 26 per cent market share. Xiaomi and OnePlus were second and third, respectively, with a minor difference in the number of units shipped by them. And there are other reasons why you may have difficulty finding 5G service. Reliance Jio's 5G service is available in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Varanasi. But, it is only available to users who have been invited.  Airtel 5G Plus has been launched in eight cities in a phased manner. Its customers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi will be among the first to experience the new technology. 

Hi! I'm so happy you're here! Today I'm interviewing my friend, Dr. Swathi Varanasi. Dr. Swathi Varanasi, or Dr. Swathi for short, is an award-winning bilingual pharmacist specializing in integrative health and botanical medicine. She is a plant-based wellness expert; a medical consultant for CBD, adaptogen, and health food brands; a published clinical researcher; an advocacy non-profit board of director; a multimedia content contributor; and a matcha enthusiast. Emphasizing an innovative and evidence-based approach, Dr. Swathi is passionate about educating practitioners, students, and patients on natural medicines and empowering everyone to be the best, most authentic version of themselves.Contact Dr. Swathi:IG: www.instagram.com/doctorswathiwww.doctorswathi.comPrevious Episodes with Dr. Swathi Veranasi: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coffee-and-tea-with-carrievee/id1514671446?i=1000516941097https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coffee-and-tea-with-carrievee/id1514671446?i=1000506749334The Radical Empowerment Method 2.0 Online Course and Group Coaching Program OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT NOW!  https://www.coachcarriev.com/radicalempowermentmethod2Book CarrieVee for a Speaking Engagement:  https://www.coachcarriev.com/contact-meRadical Empowerment Method Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Bdp2BCContact CarrieVee!IG: @iamcarrieveeLI and FB: Carrie Verrocchioemail: carriev@coachcarriev.com 

Dashashwamedh Ghat is the main ghat in Varanasi on the Ganga River. Ganga Aarti (ritual of offering prayer to the Ganges river) is held daily at dusk. Several priests perform this ritual by carrying deepam and moving it up and down in a rhythmic tune of bhajans. I visited the city in 2012 with 10 others on a journey to Kolkata for a friend's (huge) wedding we were due to perform at. Varanasi is a dizzying labyrinth like city that is both deeply spiritual (open cremation is commonly practiced by the riverbank) and overwhelming: colours, smells, sounds and characters leap out at you from every corner. Recorded by Mike Bingham. Part of the Well-Being Cities project, a unique collaboration between Cities and Memory and C40, a global network of mayors of nearly 100 world-leading cities collaborating to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis. The project was originally presented at the C40 Cities conference in Buenos Aires in 2022. Explore Well-Being Cities in full at https://citiesandmemory.com/wellbeing-cities/

"Amongst the wash of Varanasi's night bells I could hear the faintest melody from which I built my composition. I samples the bells in various ways to create most of the high-end of the track, my idea was to create a skyline of blips and chimes, an escape route from the bustle of city life below. "As many cities struggle to balance social and economic adequacy with the needs of growing populations, the desire and necessity for escapism increases, and perhaps so too does ignorance to the problems we face. This song is an ignorant song. It jumps upwards away from its problems and dances amongst the bells, for a small moment at least." Varanasi bells reimagined by Kid Kin. Part of the Well-Being Cities project, a unique collaboration between Cities and Memory and C40, a global network of mayors of nearly 100 world-leading cities collaborating to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis. The project was originally presented at the C40 Cities conference in Buenos Aires in 2022. Explore Well-Being Cities in full at https://citiesandmemory.com/wellbeing-cities/

Tune for a special guest podcast episode with Ramani Varanasi. Learn more about our special podcast guest:Ramani VaranasiBiopharma Executive, Board Member, CEO, Founder/Entrepreneur, Advocate, Optimist Don't forget to share your biggest takeaways with me and tag me on Instagram.  Take a screenshot and share your takeaways on Instagram @padmaali  www.padmaali.com   *********  Padma Ali is a coach and a guide helping evolved purpose-driven, executives like you to create impact by aligning with your highest potential For more information visit www.padmaali.com  ****Special Announcement****  I have just a few spots for one-on-one coaching in 2022, please Email padma@padmaali.com to request a call or schedule a one-time session here. Serious interest only.  ***************  If you've enjoyed this episode and felt inspired, we'd love to hear about it and know your takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your insta stories and tag me @padmaali.    OTHER RESOURCES FOR YOU Don't forget to leave a review on iTunes or Spotify!  InstagramLinked InYouTube ChannelFacebook

In this latest Hindi bulletin: Flags flying at half-mast for the victims of Thailand's deadly childcare centre attack; Unrelenting rain in much of eastern Australia; In India, the Varanasi court to pronounce its verdict on plea seeking carbon dating of the structure in Gyanvapi Mosque-Shringar Gauri case and more news.

"In India when someone does a menial job, he isn't respected. But I'm so inspired by Jodie Underhill who founded Waste Warriors in Himachal Pradesh and is cleaning the mountains. We have to kill the ego to do such things. In all kinds of menial jobs, the caste system figures. I have always been fascinated by Varanasi but I have also always been afraid of dead bodies. It's almost impossible fora sane person to work at the cremation ghats burning 100 bodies in a day. You have to be high to forget what's happening around you; you need to be in a non-conscious state! I had the smell of burning flesh in my nostrils for a month after that," says Jubanashwa Mishra, author, 28 Jobs, 28 Weeks, 28 States, a fascinating memoir-travelogue. He talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast about his adventures doing everything from selling condoms in rural Bihar to working on a houseboat in Kerala, assisting at a Bullet workshop in Aizawl, and burning bodies in Varanasi

Nobody has seen the 'missing camels' in the last three weeks–not the villagers, or animal rights activists.----more----Read the article here: https://theprint.in/features/curious-case-of-the-missing-camels-trafficked-from-rajasthan-lost-in-varanasi-court-steps-in/1156176/

First, Indian Express' Associate Editor Shubhajit Roy joins host Utsa Sarmin to talk about recent debates between India and the United States regarding Russia and Pakistan and how these two countries' ties strengthened despite challenges in the last two decades. Second, Indian Express' Jagdeep Singh Deep tells us about the ongoing Chandigarh University video leak incident and how an army man became the main accused in the case. (15:05)And in the end, Indian Express' Asad Rehman discusses how a social media post about Navaratri by a Dalit lecturer at a Varanasi university led to his termination. (21:52)

A small group of us just returned from a glorious trip to Varanasi, Kolkata, and Serampore—all places known for their holiness, and filled with events sacred to our line of gurus. Everywhere we saw and experienced the joyful celebration of God in many things that is characteristic of life in India, a celebration not somber and serious, but filled with exuberance.

After a court allowed a petition to conduct daily worship in Varanasi's Gyanvapi mosque, advocate Shadan Farasat talks about how the verdict affects The Places of Worship Act and its future impact.

First, Indian Express' Apurva Vishwanath joins host Utsa Sarmin, to talk about the preliminary ruling by the Varanasi district court on the Gyanvapi Mosque case. Second, Indian Express' Rahul V Pisharody tell us about the fire that engulfed a hotel in Secunderabad killing eight people. And lastly, Indian Express' Avaneesh Mishra discusses how six people died after consuming hooch in Uttarakhand which was distributed to the villagers by a panchayat election candidate.

Order by District Judge, Varanasi in the Gyanvapi case in favour of Hindus has far reaching implications. All 3 principal arguments of the Muslim side regarding suits being barred by operation of Places of Worship Act, Waqf Act, and Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act were dismissed, and faith and pious purpose as the denominator for a temple deity upheld. Sanjay Dixit analyses he verdict.

Veronica Joseph brings you the news from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, New Delhi, and Ukraine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening inaugurated the revamped 3-km-long Central Vista Avenue, which extends from Rashtrapati Bhawan to the India Gate. The tree-lined space flanked by green spaces and water channels is one of the most visited tourist places in Delhi and is best known for the annual Republic Day parade.  PM Modi also unveiled the 28-feet black granite statue of Subhas Chandra Bose, which is placed under the India Gate canopy. The statue is hand-sculpted by a team led by renowned sculptor Arun Yogiraj from a single block of granite stone weighing 280 metric tonne. The block of stone was brought to Delhi from Telangana and it took two months to carve the statue of Bose from it. The avenue was named Kingsway by the British after King George V, who visited Delhi during the Delhi Durbar of 1911 and shifted the capital from Calcutta to the city. Post-Independence, it was renamed Rajpath. A road bisecting the Kingsway was named Queensway. It is now known as Janpath. Now Rajpath has once again been renamed as Kartavya Path, which translates to path of duty. This is the first project that has been completed under the Modi government's larger ambitious Central Vista redevelopment plan. The redevelopment project of the nation's power corridor envisages a new triangular Parliament building, 10 buildings of the Common Central Secretariat, revamping the Rajpath, a new prime minister's residence and office, a new vice-president's enclave, Central Conference Centre, Additional Buildings for National Archives, among others.  Conceived in September 2019, the planned redevelopment is estimated to cost Rs 20,000 crore and involves projects spread over 6 years till 2026.  The project for the New Parliament Building was awarded at an estimated cost of Rs 862 crore to Tata Projects. The project for rejuvenation of Central Vista Avenue was awarded at an estimated cost of Rs 477 crore to Shapoorji Pallonji Group. Larsen & Toubro bagged the contract for the construction and maintenance of the first three of the 10 buildings of the Common Central Secretariat. In October 2019, architect Bimal Patel's Gujarat-based firm HCP Design had won the consultancy bid for the Central Vista redevelopment.  The consultancy services include master plan, building designs, cost estimation, landscape and traffic integration plans and parking facilities. HCP has developed several projects including Sabarmati Riverfront Development, Central Vista and state secretariat in Gandhinagar, Mumbai Port Complex, redevelopment of Varanasi temple complex, IIM Ahmedabad's new campus and CII-SN Centre of Excellence Kolkata etc. Recently, Hyderabad-based DEC Infrastructure emerged as the lowest bidder for building the Executive Enclave that will house the PMO, the Cabinet Secretariat, the India House and the National Security Council Secretariat. It had quoted an amount of around Rs 1,189 crore. The government in August said that 70% of work on the new Parliament building project has been achieved and the targeted date of completion is November 2022. The new Rajya Sabha hall is being built with a capacity of 384 seats while the new Lok Sabha hall will have 770 seats, with an additional capacity of up to 1134 seats for hosting joint sessions. The Vice President's enclave is expected to be completed by January 2023.

While researching material for article on the presence of Sanatana Dharma in the Americas,I chanced upon an article which mentions Pyramid Temple at Benares, Varanasi.The temple was called Bidh Madhu. It seems to have been destroyed by the Mughals(?) In the seventh century AD. I am unable to get additional information on this. ( In the process I came across some new information about the temples destroyed by Mughals. I will be sharing it shortly.) I have been wondering about, 1. Though Hindus, Egyptians and People of Central America,Mayans worshipped Sun in the days,the temples dedicated to Sun differ in design. Temples in India may not look like Pyramids,they do resemble Pyramids. 2. Of twenty sacred sites around the world,seven are from Hinduism. ‘One such is the fact that twenty sites in the world lie in the same Latitude and the distance between them represent the Golden Means/ Fibonacci number..' One such is the fact that twenty sites in the world lie in the same Latitude and the distance between them represent the Golden Mean' https://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2016/03/09/twenty-world-spiritual-sites-same-latitude-seven-hinduism/ 2. Benares , Varanasi is the oldest continuously Lived City in the world. 3. Appropriate Bhagavad Gita Verse in Egyptian Pyramids. In one of the Pyramids, dating back to 3000 BC, a verse, from the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita was found inscribed. Here it is: https://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/appropriate-bhagavad-gita-verse-in-egyptian-pyramid/ 4.Shiva Linga design in Mexico city, Vatican City. https://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/shiva-lingam-design-teotihuacan-temple-mexico-vatican-city/ 5.Temples for Gadothgaja, Hanuman are found in Central America. 6 Chicken Itza temple resembled.Madurai Meenakshi Temple,India . https://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/shiva-lingam-design-teotihuacan-temple-mexico-vatican-city/ 7. The design of the top of Angkorvat has Sreechakra . The design of the temple A Hindu temple more inclined to be a Pyramid. 8.Meru ,used in the worship of Devi is a Pyramid. Would some reader throw light on the temple of Bid Madhu at Varanasi? The spelling of Bidh Madhu might not be correct. Mrs. Zelia Nuttal (1857 -1933) Archaeologist and ethnologist has said: “No country in the world can compare with India for the exposition of the pyramidal cross. the body of the great temple of Bidh Madhu (formerly the boast of the ancient city of Benares…demolished in the 7th century) was constructed in the figure of a colossal cross, with a lofty dome at the center, above which rose a massive structure of a pyramidal form. At the four extremities of the cross there were four other pyramids…A similar building existed at Mathura. By pyramidal towers placed crosswise, the Hindu also displayed the all-pervading sign of the cross. At the famous temple of Chidambaram, on the Coromandel coast, there were seven lofty walls, one within the other, round a central quadrangle, and as many pyramidal gateways in the midst of each side which forms the limbs of a vast cross https://ramanisblog.in/2019/01/07/pyramid-temple-varanasi/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ramanispodcast/message

Ajahn Brahmavamso discusses Sutta 56.11 of the Samyutta Nikaya, the collection of linked discourses: Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta - Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dhamma. "The famous first discourse, taught at Varanasi to the group of five ascetics. It begins by rejecting the extremes of asceticism and indulgence and recommends the middle way of the eightfold path. Then it defines the four noble truths and analyzes them in twelve aspects. It ends with Venerable Kondañña becoming the first person apart from the Buddha to realize the Dhamma." Sutta Central.  Read SN 56.11 on Sutta Central here. Please support the BSWA in making teachings available for free online via Patreon. To find and download more precious Dhamma teachings, visit the BSWA teachings page: https://bswa.org/teachings/, choose the teaching you want and click on the audio to open it up on Podbean.

As a western society, we have more and more visibility to how whole body health and whole choice health is critical to our individual and community health. Today's guest, Dr. Swathi Varanasi, is an Integrative Health Pharmacist committed to leveling up how we take care of ourselves and how we think about health care solutions. Additionally she's an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and a woman who is constantly asking, can we do this better and why not me? In her roles as Chief Scientific Officer at Element Apothec, Medical Communications at Everly Health, and Director of Science at Los Angeles NORML. 

Hi! I'm so happy you're here! Today I'm interviewing my friend, Dr. Swathi Varanasi. Dr. Swathi Varanasi, or Dr. Swathi for short, is an award-winning bilingual pharmacist specializing in integrative health and botanical medicine. She is a plant-based wellness expert; a medical consultant for CBD, adaptogen, and health food brands; a published clinical researcher; an advocacy non-profit board of director; a multimedia content contributor; and a matcha enthusiast. Emphasizing an innovative and evidence-based approach, Dr. Swathi is passionate about educating practitioners, students, and patients on natural medicines, and empowering everyone to be the best, most authentic version of themselves.Contact Dr. Swathi:IG: www.instagram.com/doctorswathiwww.doctorswathi.comPrevious Episodes with Dr. Swathi Veranasi: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coffee-and-tea-with-carrievee/id1514671446?i=1000516941097https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coffee-and-tea-with-carrievee/id1514671446?i=1000506749334Book CarrieVee for a Speaking Engagement: https://www.coachcarriev.com/contact-meRadical Empowerment Method Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Bdp2BCContact CarrieVee!IG: @iamcarrieveeLI and FB: Carrie Verrocchioemail: carriev@coachcarriev.com

Powered by: ReFi Jobs - ReFi jobs curates the best new regenerative finance jobs at leading companies and startups - Learn more ---> Check out the Causeartist Partners here.---> Subscribe to the Causeartist Newsletter here.In this episode of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, I speak with Jake Orak, founder of Ethnotek on his decade long journey in social entrepreneurship and creating jobs across multiple continents.Ethnotek's mission is to keep culture alive by creating high-quality laptop and travel bags that feature ethically sourced handmade textiles.Your purchase sustains employment for the art of hand printing, weaving, and embroidery with partnering artisan villages in Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Ethnotek is so much more than just a bag! It's a celebration of culture, it's a community, it's a global movement!The one thing all of the Ethnotek weavers and artisans have in common is the fact that their craft is disappearing. Every year they see less and less local demand for their fabrics due to low yield and long lead times.Traditional techniques are quickly being replaced by machines and factory labor in major cities, drastically reducing the number of jobs and industry in the regions where it is needed most.By creating new demand for these traditional handcraft practices, the brand and its customers are in a sense forging an effort to keep them alive and well and in the same villages from which they came.The last and most important part of the mission is to spread the idea that we should all celebrate each other's differences more often. The only way culture can stay alive is if we keep it that way.Culture runs deep; from the tribes of Yunnan Province to the Subways of New York City. From the Ghats of Varanasi to the Cafes of Paris. To ensure the survival of these incredibly interesting differences we must learn about them and retell their story. This is why we see our bags as a flag. A flag that you wave which says, "I care"​.Check out Ethnotek's Sourcing Roadmap: This is an article to describe Ethnotek's internal ethical guidelines for working with artisans and is to provide suggestions to designers & business owners who are looking to practice Cultural Inclusion in their supply chain."We in no way claim to be experts in this department and are still learning, but we do have over 10 years of first-hand experience and not only does our system work well, everyone is happy and having fun in the process!"Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Powered by: ReFi Jobs - ReFi jobs curates the best new regenerative finance jobs at leading companies and startups - Learn more---> Check out the Causeartist Partners here.---> Subscribe to the Causeartist Newsletter here.Listen to more Causeartist podcast shows hereFollow Grant on Twitter and LinkedInFollow Causeartist on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram

Temple-mosque disputes have been flooding Indian courts in recent years. The current Gyanvapi mosque dispute stokes fear that violence could once again erupt between Hindus and Muslims over claims to the contested site.

The hearing in the Civil Suit demanding Right to Worship at the Gyanvapi Mosque and the new found Shivalingam has resumed in Varanasi. Vishnu Shankar Jain jons Sanjay Dixit to tell us the progress made in the case and how Muslim side is trying to delay matters.

Death is the common denominator — no matter our skin color, our age, our religion. But across cultures, there are differences in traditions surrounding death and how it's marked and respected … from Tibetan sky burials, to the Pyres of Varanasi, to Ghana's fantasy coffins. Dean Foster is the founder of DFA Intercultural Global Solutions […] The post Common Death, Uncommon Cultures: Dean Foster appeared first on Plaza Jewish Community Chapel.

There are few people who can write so brilliantly, about so many subjects, all at once, as Geoff Dyer. The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings could be his most wide ranging to date. It's about tennis—as the title suggests—and specifically about the curtain dropping on the career of one of the most successful, and most technically beautiful players, ever. But it's also about endings of so many other kinds: the significance, or otherwise, of an artist's last work; mental and intellectual decline; finishing and not finishing books; and why, perhaps, deep down, we really just long for everything to come to be over with...*SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR BONUS EPISODESLooking for Friends of Shakespeare and Company read Ulysses? https://podfollow.com/sandcoulyssesIf you want to spend even more time at Shakespeare and Company, you can now subscribe for regular bonus episodes and early access to Friends of Shakespeare and Company read Ulysses.Subscribe on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/sandcoSubscribe on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/shakespeare-and-company-writers-books-and-paris/id1040121937?l=enAll money raised goes to supporting “Friends of Shakespeare and Company” the bookshop's non-profit, created to fund our noncommercial activities—from the upstairs reading library, to the writers-in-residence program, to our charitable collaborations, and our free events.*Geoff Dyer is the author of Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi and three previous novels, as well as nine non-fiction books. Dyer has won the Somerset Maugham Prize, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, a Lannan Literary Award, the International Center of Photography's 2006 Infinity Award for writing on photography and the American Academy of Arts and Letters' E.M. Forster Award. In 2009 he was named GQ's Writer of the Year. He won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2012 and was a finalist in 1998. In 2015 he received a Windham Campbell Prize for non-fiction. His books have been translated into twenty-four languages. He currently lives in Los Angeles where he is Writer in Residence at the University of Southern California.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. Buy a signed copy of his novel FEEDING TIME here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/S/9781910296684/feeding-timeListen to Alex Freiman's Play It Gentle here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gfkDcG32HYlXnBqI0xgQX?si=mf0Vw-kuRS-ai15aL9kLNA&dl_branch=1 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to the FuturePerfect Podcast where we talk with compelling people breaking new ground in art, media, and entertainment. This podcast is produced by FuturePerfect Studio, an extended reality studio creating immersive experiences for global audiences. Episodes are released every two weeks, visit our website futureperfect.studio for more details.The text version of this interview has been edited for length and clarity. Find the full audio version above or in your favorite podcast app.For episode 005, Wayne Ashley interviews Nick Fortugno, co-founder of the New York-based game studio Playmatics and designer of numerous digital and non-digital projects, including board games, collectible card games, large-scale social games, and theater.INTRODUCTION AND ROLEPLAYINGHey Nick, thanks for joining us. I'm really excited to dig into some of your background, ideas, projects, and particularly your alternative vision for a future of theater. I see you as a catalyst, a kind of cultural interlocutor making links across different forms of knowledge and practice, and the work you've done really attests to this. You've designed video and board games as well as outdoor public games. You're the co-founder of Playmatics, a New York game studio and the lead designer on many theater works, including Frankenstein AI and The Raven. And of course, one of the lead creators of the blockbuster mobile game Diner Dash. But first I want to go back a bit. Your cousin introduced you to roleplaying when you were quite young and you ran your first game of Dungeons and Dragons at six years old. Is it too much to assume that roleplaying is one of the most critical activities for you, if not a central organizing practice leaking into everything you do? Give us a sense of how roleplaying has activated much of your thinking and practice.Nick Fortugno: I think a central organizing principle is like a good way of thinking about it. It doesn't inform all of my work in a literal sense, but it's the heart of how I think about aesthetics. In Dungeons and Dragons, essentially what you do is you tell stories with other people and you use a rule system to adjudicate disagreement. You have a lot of “I hit you”—“no you didn't” stuff in roleplaying so you need rules to deal with that. When you're storytelling in that system and you're the person responsible for making the story, you don't story-tell the way you do in other forms where you have an idea of the story in your head and you're figuring out how to implement it in a way that will affect the audience. Instead, the players or the protagonists are interacting with you and they're changing it constantly. And so you don't know where the story is going. You have ideas of where you could go, you have ideas of what you might want to happen, but you're really in this collaborative process. And so this idea of improvising and using systems to generate things and being responsive to the interactions of other people is very much at the heart of my work. It's how I teach, how I think about storytelling centrally, and it informs a lot of my aesthetics. So yeah I would not be the person I was today if my cousin Joey didn't teach me D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.DESIGN THINKINGYou're also a prolific researcher, not only of games, but of literature, theme parks, new technologies, and performance. I'm thinking about a previous discussion we had where in one breath you mentioned cultural forms that most people would never bring together in the same conversation. The list is long, but indulge me here: the British theater company Gob Squad, Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland, Harry Potter hotel, the theater collective The Wooster Group, the blockbuster event Sleep No More, the novels of Joyce and Pynchon, Evermore Park in Utah, and the epic video game Elden Ring. This cluster excites me because it's how we think as well, across these kinds of groupings. You also use this concept of affordances to enable you to think systematically across all these activities. Can you say more about that?NF: Affordance is a concept from design thinking, Donald Norman really popularized it. It's the idea that a form has features about it that lead to certain kinds of use. There are things that are intuitive in a way, or natural in a way, that come from a form. If I put a handle in a certain place, you hold the handle and that changes your use of the device. That idea that the forms start speaking to certain kinds of use cases is very central to thinking about interactive design. Because when you're a designer in those spaces you make the affordances. You don't tell users what to do. You give them something and you have them do it. That's why it's interactive. It's not like a roller coaster where I strap myself in and I just ride the rails that were put out in front of me. It's more like a theme park where there's just a bunch of stuff. But I don't go wandering off into the most boring part of the theme park. I go towards the lights, I go towards the sound, I go towards the interactive things. The design of those things that attract me, the things that challenge me, the obstacles and the rewards, all of that stuff moves me around in those spaces. This is central to the way I think about my practice.LITERATURE, PLAY AND AMBIGUITYYou have a BA in graduate study and literature. In our previous conversation, you noted an overlapping relationship between post-war American literature and the kinds of interactive narratives found in gaming. Do I have that right?In our other podcasts I've been really interested in what brings disparate people to these emerging hybrid media spaces. They come from film, dance, theater, visual art, and gaming. I think you're the first person in our podcast series making connections between Pynchon and James Joyce with interactive gaming structures. I'm curious about how you came to make these connections.NF: When I got interested in literature I was drawn to postwar postmodernist approaches to writing, like I'm thinking fifties, sixties, and seventies. But really you could stretch it from a Borgesian and Joycean and Steinean space up through the modern day. There's still authors like Ali Smith doing stuff like this. But when you look at like things like Pynchon and Nabokov in particular, their works start becoming a little bit obsessed with interpretation. Interpretation becomes the center of the novel. The novels become games about interpretations. There are other authors in that space who are really breaking down the sense of what you're supposed to consume from the story because they are, in a meta way, thinking about the fact that you're interpreting them. Whether it's Crying of Lot 49 asking you to think about what communication systems are and then challenging you on how we interpret conspiracies. And that's also all over Foucault's Pendulum. Or a book like Lolita, which is basically laughing in your face about your attempts to understand it. Or Pale Fire for that matter, which I think is an even deeper experiment. What you see over and over again is this idea that the novel is a game that the reader is playing with the novelist. It's not a puzzle. You're not going to get the answer out of it. That's not the point. And certainly postmodern poetry and people like Asbury would argue that if you got one meaning out of a poem, you didn't really read the poem anyway. The work becomes something that you as the audience have some ownership of because it is open to you and because it's an ambiguous object that you have to work with. That's what got me. I was already, just from roleplaying, very used to the idea that I participate in stories and that they come from this relationship with me and the text.So I don't like talking about interactive narrative. I think that's a bad phrase because I I'm always interacting with story. That's not new, what's new is the types of affordances of interaction that I get from stories, and what the possibilities for changing those stories are, and how much the story is a fixed thing that I encounter, and how much the story is flexible to my input. To me, the literature study was partly just giving me an outlet for stories and a place where stories can actually be quite experimental because when you just write it's cheap to make crazy worlds. It's the same amount of ink to write a crazy world as it is to write a realistic one. You can go very far with literature in a way that would be harder to do in film because you have to shoot all that stuff. The drive of novels from the modernist period on has been a drive towards more and more stylistic experimentation and that has been really engaging to me because you start seeing it as almost a formal thing. You can look at it like a structure and then you can see that the structure is doing something. Joyce's Ulysses is an excellent example of that. Each chapter is written stylistically and formally different. There are chapters that are dialogues, there are chapters where the stream of consciousness changes radically, there are chapters that drift, and that's part of the narrative. If you go back to the Oulipo experimentation that Calvino and other French and Italian authors were doing, they were literally creating that whole idea of branching trees. You start to see that there are patterns of structures of story that we can start to establish.That's the approach I take to this question of rhetoric. Exploration is a set of tropes, and branching is a set of tropes. It's similar, whether you're branching in a YouTube video or branching in a choose your own adventure, or branching in a game like Until Dawn. The branching is similar, it has similar tropes. So we can look at it structurally and say, well, what does the structure do? How do the choices in the design of the structure change things independent of content. And then what is the intersection between the content and the structure?DYNAMIC STRUCTURES AND GAMESIt's interesting to note how the strategies found in avant-garde and experimental literature have leaked into, or have become one of the dominant ways of constructing narrative within popular culture, video games, and even marketing. What was on the periphery has, in a sense, moved to the center and become part of the entertainment industry.NF: I think so because as you start moving into more dynamic and particularly digitally dynamic work it starts to have to be structural. Although that spills back into the analog, especially as internet of things (IOT) becomes very reduced in size and cost and technology starts coming back into the real world. You start seeing this there too.I'm riffing a lot on arguments in a book called Expressive Processing by Noah Wardrip-Fruin. If I make a piece of work that changes with every user and produces a different outcome, then the output of that work is not really an analysis of that work. If the work has a hundred thousand possibilities, one possibility is such a small segment of what it could be. That it gives me information as a user, but I can't really critique the work from that perspective. I have to look at the structure because it's procedural, it's not predetermined. And I think as we start moving into works that are like that, and since computers enable us to do that, that's what computers are good at is that kind of dynamic procedural, then we start to see that structural analysis and system design become more and more important. As it does, and we see the affordances that has, we can start pulling those affordances into other forms where we see similar audience relationships. So I don't think: does theater need this? Does film need this? Does installation need this? No, It doesn't need it. You can make good art without it, and obviously we have made thousands of years of good art without it, but the possibilities of the art change when you start seeing those things. That's why I think it's starting to permeate. Digital games are a very big industry and there's been a lot of really interesting storytelling in them. I don't think all people who study this stuff know that because it's locked a bit behind barriers of picking up a PlayStation 4 controller and trying to get through it. Shadow of Colossus, for example, is one of the most important digital works ever made. But not many people experience it because it's a really hard digital game. And it has to be hard. That's part of its aesthetic. But I think that the people who have bridged this are starting to see that you can inherit things from those forms into these other spaces. That's just changing the way we think and then you start to see work in the world that is just more procedural. Work that does just become more dynamic in its nature. Then you end up with stuff like LARP (Live action role-playing) where, you can't make LARP the way you make theater because I don't know what the players are gonna do. So my scripts in LARP can't be like a theater script, it doesn't make sense. I need a structure that will support 40 people running around doing random things.PARTICIPATORY EXPERIENCES DRIVEN BY TECHNOLOGYThis brings me to theater, particularly two participatory theatrical installations that you co-created. First, Frankenstein AI: a monster made by many which was an AI powered immersive experience that premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. And The Raven, which was performed as part of the Lincoln Center's New York Film Festival in 2019. Tell us what audiences might have experienced when they participated in Frankenstein AI and what was the genesis of that work?NF: Frankenstein AI has had a couple of different forms. Its original form was a small audience immersive experience where you came into a room and you interacted with another audience member at a surface computer that was like built into a table. It was formulated as an artificial intelligence asking you questions about what it was like to be human and you're sort of marking values on the table using a physical computing device that looked like an ouija board. That information was sent to an actual AI that was in a cloud which was used as the seed to determine a mood that the AI had. And then when you finished that exercise, you were brought into a room that was mapped with projections and IOT procedurally played drums and you would have a chance to talk to the artificial intelligence. The artificial intelligence would generate a question and then it would be delivered in text to speech to the audience in the room. And then the audience in the room would direct the docent to type a question into a typewriter and that would be sent back to the AI. This was all formulated where there's this AI that's been created, it has escaped into the internet and it is trying to understand what it is and what humanity is. And it's using the narrative of Frankenstein as this thing that was created that doesn't understand its role as a seed to understand where it's going. The whole thing was essentially a meditation on two things. One is this question of what is AI and what should we be worried about AI? These were the conversations that I had with Lance Weiler and Rachel Eve Ginsburg who were the co-creators of that project. My big argument was that everyone worries about Terminator, but what we should really be worried about is Kafka. AI is not a monster that takes us over. AI is a thing that doesn't understand us and then just acts procedurally in ways we don't understand.This is around the time that Microsoft had released an AI that became wildly racist and we were thinking about what it meant that we're teaching AI and how could we make a piece that gets people to reflect on the idea that we're engaged with artificial intelligence in the world? We are training it and we are going to teach the AI what it does. So if that's the case, what is our responsibility? The whole piece was kind of a meditation on that process. I did the creative technology design on that and some of the interactive narrative design of the sequencing of it. I'm very proud of that piece personally, because it was the first piece of creative technology that I ever actually showed in an exhibit. I worked on the technology that connected all of devices. So it meant that when the AI changed mood, the projections changed, and the drums changed and it pulled the AI's response and then fed that into the speech to text and delivered it into the room. So I basically did the technology that connected the surface tables to the AI, to the projectors, and to the drums. This was a topic of research I've had for a long time about how technology could be used to create these like kind of seamless connections between things. You didn't see anything happen, you just asked a question and suddenly the projections and drums changed. I call that seamless technology—technology that doesn't have clear lines where it connects. I think that could be a kind of magic and that was important to me. What did you learn from producing Frankenstein AI that changed your approaches when you then began to develop The Raven? How does The Raven work as an experience that grew from or built upon your previous work?NF: The Raven was an immersive performance where we allowed an audience into The American Irish Historical Society where they experienced a magically real story of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. The center of the technology of the piece was that every user had a lantern that they carried around with them. The lantern was an IOT device that was reading beacons in the space and connected to a central system. The audience also had a set of headphones that were playing audio for them. So most of the audio that was present in the piece came from the headset that was being played based on where they were and based on a character they picked at the beginning of the piece. Everyone was sort of playing a performer in the piece. The performer Ava Lee Scott, who was playing Poe and co-wrote the piece, was moving through the space as Poe meditating with these characters. But you, as the audience, were one of the people that Poe knew from his life or his creations. What Lance Weiler and I carried from Frankenstein AI was this idea that we could create a central technology system that was guiding all these users without having to have actors on top of those users moving them around. And that the storytelling could really be based on their decisions, because it was in part based on where you went and what you encountered. The other thing that Frankenstein AI taught me, in a real sense, was that these technologies could be stable. The work had a server system, that's how it ran, it was a server that was running on a small piece of technology called the Raspberry Pi. We turned it on and on the first day when we were running it we just didn't turn it off. We wanted to see if it would stay up overnight. And then we didn't turn it off for two full weeks. It just ran nonstop for two weeks and it never broke. We never had to restart it. So that taught me these things can be made battle ready. We brought a similar kind of technology to The Raven. There were obviously different technical constraints to The Raven and there were different bugs we were facing, but we went through a similar process of creating a central system that guided the narrative. If we do that right and we have the right affordances to connect to the audience that can take the place of a bunch of docents, a bunch of rules, a bunch of structures, and people can just explore. Then through that exploration they can find story. I should say that we worked with pretty robust technologies on that project. We were in partnership with Microsoft and we were using pretty heavy Azure servers and things like that, but it was not for heavy lifting stuff. It was for reliability of the delivery of the material. And then we built this gigantic XML file that was the branching script of the entire piece so that we knew where people were. We could time lights and sound cues and things like that.THE LIMITS OF THEATERWhat I find compelling about both of these projects is their capacity to posit alternative models for theater's future. They either directly or implicitly suggest that theater needs to be remediated or fixed. For the purposes of this discussion, can I make that assertion?NF: Yeah, I will also defend traditional theater, but… [laughs]That's good [laughs], but what is it about certain kinds of theater that need to be remediated and how are your explorations accomplishing this? I'm very careful to say alternative models and I'm not asking you to generalize. I think from our audience's perspective, people are going to ask: what's wrong with the kind of theater that I do? And why do I need these other systems? Why do I need to even consider these technologies? All these kinds of questions are implied, for better or worse, in the kind of work that you're proposing and the kind of exciting research that you're carrying out.NF: First of all, there's just aesthetic possibilities that are very hard to create in a linear format like theater. Guilt is hard to create in an audience. Triumph is hard to create in an audience because they don't do anything. You can get to shame, but there's types of shame you can't get to. So there's aesthetics that become possible just when someone is culpable and when someone has the ability to achieve. That becomes kind of interesting. Games have lots of emotions attached to victory and failure that can be leveraged in all sorts of interesting and weird ways. There are pieces like The Privilege of Escape, which was an escape room that was a meditation on systemic bias. That's an interesting example of a piece where the designer was trying to use the affordances of games to demonstrate a problem in the world. And games typically do that. There's just pure emotions that are inaccessible to linear media. I think because there aren't affordances for the audience to access them, despite the diversity of emotions that these forms can create. The second possibility is, it's a question of how you want to engage with your audience. As an artist, I don't really like telling people stories, that doesn't really engage me.You're the second person we've interviewed who has talked disparagingly about stories and storytelling. Say more about that.NF: I don't mind being blunt about this. I'm not that interested in my biology. I'm not that interested in my history. I don't find those things that interesting. I don't think I have a vision of storytelling that's so powerful that some muse came to me uniquely and now the word of heaven is coming through my body or something. And this isn't to knock people who do that, there are geniuses who make that work, but that's not how I create and that's not what I do. What I want is to play with you. I want to be able to engage with you and you know, catch the ball you throw and throw it back. And this isn't altruistic just to be really clear, I mean I like doing that with people, but it's also really fun to catch a bunch of balls coming at you in crazy directions and keep the whole thing on track. There's an artistry to that. That's what running an RPG is, it's like throwing track in front of a moving train. So I think that's really powerful and you get things that you would never get otherwise. Similarly, if you jam you get something that you would never get when you compose. The improvisation and the participation of other people leads you to create something new and you can do that with audiences. And you can do that with audiences in ways that don't make crappy, thin, gray, over-democratized work. Because I'm not saying that's not a problem, if you just let everybody come in and cook in the kitchen then you get no food or you get bland food or inedible stuff. Structures make it possible for people to participate in ways that are meaningful, but controlled, that fit within the aesthetic. So people understand what kinds of creations are possible in this space. And that is a whole set of techniques that then allows audiences to come in completely ignorant of what you're doing and then tell a story that they helped make that is still in the aesthetic you wanted. There's a magic to that that I think is really powerful. It opens up whole new kinds of forms and it's a different way of engaging with the world for the audience and I think that's powerful because we haven't really seen it before. There are some experiences like that, but they tend to be very high demand on the creativity or they tend to be gate-kept or they're high skill-based. And what immersive theater can do that I think is unique and independent of digital games and LARPs, is that they can be approachable. I can show up and not really know much and still participate. And I think that's a space that's really powerful. And then the third beat that I just have to mention all the time is that tickets are very expensive to these things. They charge a lot of money to get people into those things. I think that there's opportunity, from a business perspective, if you can figure out the scaling. You're seeing pieces like Particle Ink in Las Vegas which is a piece with projection mapping and dance where they're starting to figure out how to grow the audiences in ways that don't hurt the piece. You start looking at genuine business models for keeping those things up. What are other business models that can keep dancers, actors, and set designers involved? Because none of those people are going away in immersive theater, we need all of those people. We need them the same way we need them in other forms. It's a parallel skill if not an identical skill right. So we're not telling actors they're out of work. We had actors in The Raven, the actor was the center of The Raven in a lot of ways, but the actor was supplemented by all of these other things to create a new form where people can explore and make choices and feel directly engaged.NEW FORMS OF PEDAGOGYGiven this technologically seamless environment within which performance might take place, do you see the training of actors taking a different path? Or different ways for how writers produce scripts? Do we need new kinds of training for scenographers, sound and lighting designers that will accommodate and respond to these ideas and new approaches to performance? NF: Well acting, for example, in these kinds of cases, has a lot more improvisation in it. It's much more deeply based in that kind of improvisation, but it's also a lot about vulnerability. This is something that I'm just going to riff off of a writer and actor that I know Char Simpson would talk about. Char was part of the Blackout Haunted House for many years and talks very much about how they created vulnerability and that the creation of vulnerability was really important. That becomes a different way of thinking about acting. But also the idea that an audience member might ask you your favorite color and you need an answer that seems natural. That's a more roleplaying kind of acting than I think some actors are trained in, of course some actors are good at that. You don't know what's going to happen so you can't write a script the way you would normally write a script. It has to have some variation in it. You have to think about it more like story, like world building. I think directing changes because I don't know when we're gonna hit a specific moment or I don't know what perspective I'm gonna be coming from in a specific moment. So I have to think differently about that too. And you see that in digital games which will sometimes have cut scenes that are very film-like, but they'll also have scenes where users can walk around and watch what's happening. Which is why when we talk about VR we talk more about immersive theater because the viewpoint is not singular, it is a multiple viewpoint environment. So I'm thinking about it more from that perspective. Theater in the round is also relevant here. Again, that's not a new form, but it solved this problem. So maybe VR should look at theater in the round and then learn some lessons for how you keep an audience's attention in a broad space. And in fact, we're getting that big, we could think about station-based theater where people are really just drifting over a whole plaza and engaged in an experience. Are these forms going to change acting, writing, directing and set design? Sure, of course they are because the affordances of the audience are going be different and that's going to lead to different outputs. But it's not like we made up all this stuff just because the technology came along. We had happenings, we had station-based theater, we had rituals.I'm thinking about the Ramlila which I participated in India many decades ago in Varanasi. This is a month-long event that is played out over the entire city in which the inhabitants take on all the various roles. The city performs and becomes an immersive ritual and religious space. So there are absolutely precedences that are centuries old that we can draw upon. I'm thinking about how the pedagogical needs of theater will continue to change in response to these new forms that are becoming more and more central to our lives.NF: Yeah I teach immersive and dynamic narrative and I teach it in the way that we've been talking about. I teach it in this very broad, cut-across-media way. Media does not matter for the purpose of the class, that's not what it's about. It's about the tropes that the media use and how those things relate. And then you see this in disciplines like narratology where people are really coming at narrative from lots of different directions and trying to figure out how stories get told.Another point that's just very important to me is in the intersection of these forms. Because you're not going to get immersive theater from theater alone. There's a bunch of pieces that theater doesn't really know about like interaction design and a sort of multiple viewpoint about the pacing for that kind of stuff. Games understand that, but games don't understand what theater's good at. Games don't understand how you create scenes or understand how you create dramatic power, and games don't understand the value of liveness, frankly. Some of that we can get from LARPs, but LARPs aren't theater either. So it really is in the intersection of all of these fields.I think more of this is happening. You're seeing escape rooms get more theatrical. I think it's too slow, like way too slow. We could have gotten to where we are five years ago and we could be five years ahead of where we are right now. But you're starting to see some of that thinking happen. You're starting to see immersive pieces that are bringing some game elements into them. You can have conversations with people about VR where you talk about digital games and they don't scoff. This focuses again on the ideas of interaction and affordance and how those relate to storytelling that changes the orbit of everything. And then the skills that people have been learning, like the acting, writing, directing, set design, costuming, they all have a place. They're all going to be there, they're just going to circle around a different sun. And that sun is this audience member who can change what you do. That's different.Nick, thanks for all of the conversations we've had. I look forward to working with you. I think you're a really important thinker and maker, and your experiments and research bring a lot of insight into the future of performance.NF: Thank you, I appreciate that there are people like you that are thinking about these problems and working in these problems. Like with your own wonderful work and that podcasts like this exist to have these conversations. I look forward to a really bright future because there's other people like you in it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit futureperfect.substack.com

Geetanjali Krishna takes us to the narrow lanes leading to the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi to investigate how best they can hold on to their heritage. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Devatma Dubey leads by example, dedicating his life to Sanskrit and the protection of the Vedas and Indian traditions. He left his MBA and important management position with a bank to co-found the International Chandramauli Charitable Trust and Yoga Mission. Dr. Devatma and his colleagues run a primary school, an after school program and a residential education program for the neediest children in the Varanasi area in India. He has a Phd. In Sanskrit Literature and Mimamsa Philosophy and gives regular lectures throughout the country of India. https://yogamission.uk/ https://www.chandramauli.org/abouts.html https://www.kashiyogafestival.org/dr-devatma-dubey  

Host Nidhi Suresh is joined by Aishwarya Iyer of Scroll who talks about her series on the Hindutva campaign around the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. In her series, Aishwarya talks about the five Hindu women whose petitions demanding permission to pray at the mosque have propelled the campaign. She examines their links with a former Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Sohan Lal Arya who had filed a similar plea in 1995. “One common point for these women was their desire to attend prayers together in the premises,” Aishwarya says, “Their petition did not have anything regarding the Shivling but now it has motivated them to go deeper into the case.”Nidhi and Aishwarya also discuss the sociocultural fallout of the communal campaign against Gyanvapi. “Only a person born and brought up in Varanasi can understand the loss of its beautiful culture,” Aishwarya argues while explaining how the targeting of the mosque has caused unease among the city's Muslims. This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn't, and what shouldn't have.Tune in.Contribute to our NL Sena projects Bulldozing a New Image in MP and The Yogi Who Has It All.Timecodes00:00:00 - Introduction00:00:36 - Gyanvapi mosque00:17:10 - Sociocultural fallout00:43:25 - RecommendationsRecommendationsAishwaryaLovesickTour of Duty model could add to majoritarian violence and affect army efficiencyNidhiThe Worst Person in the WorldEducatedProduced and recorded by Tehreem Roshan, edited by Satish Kumar. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.