Monday 1 February 2016

Experiencing Matrimandir, Auroville.

Reflection: Matirmandir


 This experience was too much for words to describe but I will try my level best to do it justice. Being one of the fortunate seven in our group I got to visit Matirmandir, the Soul of the City, Auroville. Our journey began with a short film at the visitor’s center on Auroville and its Dream. We were then given individual passes to go to the inner chamber of the Matrimandir. We all went by bus to the Mandir. During the journey all I could think about is if I would find divine consciousness and if I would be able to concentrate. We were then led in a single file to drop off our bags and belongings that made me think of how I was letting go of the material world and starting a new journey.
 We then sat in silence on a few benches that overlooked the Mandir and waited for everyone to assemble. A man came and introduced himself as tour guide and he gave us a little brief on the Matrimandir. The Matrimandir was wanted by the Mother as a place to trigger the divine consciousness in those who visit it. He also told us to keep an open mind and let the Mother work her energy in us.
 We were all then led by him on a path and the path began with a wooden plank that we had to cross over this felt like a threshold, obstacle that I crossed over into a different space and time. It felt like we were taken into a new dimension and everything seemed to be all harmonious and peaceful.
 The path then led us to one of the twelve petals of the Mandir where we took off our footwear and walked down a slope into the petal of Generosity. Inside the petal I saw a small meditation room with glass doors that was beautifully lit in purple light. To me the colour purple has always symbolized a sense of royalty. Inside the room sat a man with his back facing the glass door and a gold oval panel in front of him. This sight looked like I saw a real life person attaining Nirvana. His body language was very peaceful and at confident. We then walked out through the other door of the petal and down another small slope that lead below the main ball of the Mandir. In the center was a small crystal ball with twenty-four concentric circles of white marble petals.  We sat around it in a circle and maintained silence for about ten to fifteen minutes. Initially it was difficult to concentrate due the diversity of people and after a while I was able to do so. The only thing I could think of was that ray of sunlight on the crystal ball. This made me think metaphorically of how we as individuals need to be a ray of hope like the ray of light and make this world a better place. A while later we heard a bell and our guide signaled us with his hands to follow him.
 We then walked back through the petal of generosity and up a flight of stairs into the dome of the Mandir. We then were given white socks to put over our pants and then we were led to a higher level.
 This level was really exquisite and had a spiral white carpeted ramp leading to the inner chamber. It was lit up beautifully in a light pastel pink light and it had water trickles on four sides of the dome. This felt like I was taking the stairway to heaven.
 We then went into the inner chamber and what I felt was transcendental. The chamber was completely white with twelve pillars surrounding the large crystal ball in the centre. The ceiling had a skylight through which a ray of sunlight comes and shines on the crystal ball. This light illuminates the whole room and every time the clouds cover the sun the light in the room dims and then beams again. The reflection of the clouds moving gave the crystal a very mystical look. We sat on cushions in two concentric circles around the crystal ball in complete silence. I was overwhelmed with the whole experience. I was finally able to shut out all the clouded thoughts in my head and just concentrate. This was the first time I was really able to connect with my inner self and fully understood what Gopi had told us at Navadarshanam. I then thought that the mother had connected to me through the peaceful energy around. This experience was beyond words and I wanted to sit there forever. A flash of light then occurred in the room and it was time to go. I didn’t want to leave but I had to. We went out in silence and down the spiral ramp again,and then removed our socks. We then went out and down the stairs again, through the petal of generosity to where we had left our shoes. The discomfort of physical existence hit me and I felt like I was back to reality again. I had truly found my inner self and felt a power greater than me.
 We then put on our shoes and went in a line to see the amphitheater where the earn of soils of different nations was. We then went to the center of Auroville, the big Banyan Tree and sat around. The tree was beautiful, strong and humungous it made me think of so many metaphorical things. We need to learn to grow and expand but stay grounded and stick to our roots. Many people were hugging and touching the tree as a way of coping and comfort. It was beautiful to sit in silence and listen to the sounds and feel the wind pass by. We then walked back to from where we started to get our belongings.

 This experience was definitely something i'll remember for a lifetime. It left me with so many things to think about and a trigger to connect to my inner self. It is definitely one of the main reasons I would go back to Auroville.

Sunday 30 August 2015

Finishing of the HoveBub

HoveBub

We finished creating the prototype of our hovebub. (Images of the making below)




The Hover Bubble, or HoveBub is a 5-foot diameter spherical, man-sized, personal air vehicle, which serves as a means of aviation. It's features include a comfortable seat with a safety belt, controls on the arms of the chair, speakers on the side, a screen displaying map, camera live feeds from various angles outside, ventilation mechanism, storage unit, engines (nitrogen-cooled super conducting magnets perhaps), highly mechanized motion sensors, voice navigation GPS and auto pilot. (engineer drawing in image below)

We then exhibited our prototype and got some great and useful feedback.




This project taught us so many things especially even if the idea seems highly advanced and over-hopeful at first, almost insane, sometimes these great ideas start with the smallest of steps. Perhaps it may be a reality in the future.


Sunday 23 August 2015

Kite Runner

Kite Runner


  Kite Runner is a beautiful film we watched in class about a boy named Amir from Kabul. His best friend was Hassan, his fathers servants son. Hassan is a successful "kite runner" for Amir who wins a kite flying tournament. The movie is based on the guilt that Amir feels when he fails to prevent an act of violence against Hassan. He then later redeems himself when he learns that Hassan died and he was his own brother by attempts to rescue Hassans son, Sohrab from Assef who previously violated Hassan.

 Through the movie we recognised how we respect the people we fear. Violence is seen as one of the only ways to contain the human body. It shows us the connections between the body and mind. We are not always in control of what happens to our bodies. We must respect others bodies to get respect ourselves. It taught me how everything in the universe is centered around our bodies.

Context & Cognitive and conceptual mapping of imagination

Context

 There are many types of experiences like emotional, intellectual, experiential, spiritual, sensorial, and contextual.  We live in todays world for context.  For example the 4 factors of religion : education, birth death and marriage control us by context.
  Why do we use squares to denote context? Because humans prefer squares in comparison to circles for many reasons:
·      They are rigid
·      They have defined edges and corners
·      Because humans are so used to boxes from the time we were born. Eg: We were born in rooms aka squares
·      We humans prefer defined than flowing like all the natural forms around us
·      We humans created squares 

Squares and lines help us formulate our designs. In design everything is creating an experience. It all has to have an intellectual edge. It has to have an emotional flow an it must be in context. This is a reflective practice. The real form of design is based on assumptions.

Cognitive and conceptual mapping of imagination

  After a discussion we learnt how to use these tools. Any design has a process and to bring out all our ideas is part of this process. We broke down our thoughts into simpler ones to help us understand our own ideas better.   
  Cognitive and conceptual mapping of imagination involves plotting a graph with conceptual elements on the y axis and cognitive elements on the x axis. We then plotted ever single word that came to our minds when we thought about our project (in my case the hovebub). After this connections are made for every word on the graph. The number of connections between the words are listed down and some words turn out to have more connections than the others.  Then the first 5-15 words with the most connections are used to articulate a hypothesis about the design. This hypothesis should be in context to the design.
Eg : with body as my context love, death, appeal, machine and frame were the words with the most connections. The hypothesis – My body is an appealing machine that loves unconditionally but is ultimately framed by death.   

I then made a cognitive map based on all my ideas of the hovebub.




A product must satisfy the main aspects of – Experiences, Context, Intellect and Emotion. The drawing below justifies this balance. 


If you use this tool of  Cognitive and conceptual mapping of imagination and are able to map effectively your idea can be put into effective action.


HoveBub in the making

HoveBub

 We furthered our idea of the air bubble that can hover and fly in the air as a mode of transportation for the blind, Physically challenged, children and elderly. We designed it in such a way that it can contract, squeeze and expand through buildings and trees. It will have an advanced GPS system and it can be put on autopilot mode for the blind and handicapped people. These bubbles get launched into the air by an technologically advanced gigantic catapult.
  We took our idea to the next level by then sketching it out . We then did some research on various things like the newly invented hover boards, the giant inflatable ball, aerodynamics and other things that related to our project. We then made a rough model of the hovebub with chart paper and a balloon as in the picture below.


  We then decided to scale it up and make a prototype of the hovebub. We explored and thought of various materials to use for this prototype.

Materials used & cost:
Rexine- one and a half meters=Rs.300 (@ Rs. 200 per meter)
Araldite- Rs. 170 for 180ml
Bamboo strips- Scrap
Other stationary – Rs. 250
Total cost = Rs. 720

For the chair inside the bubble we decided to use rexine as we wanted to fill it with air to make it light. We made markings on the rexine where the folds of the chair were supposed to come and then we sealed the rexine with araldite. This was left overnight under heavy weights to dry.  We then inserted a nozzles  into each compartment of the chair to fill the air.
For the framework we explored the pros and cons of wire, paper mâché, rope and bamboo. We decided used split bamboo strips, tape and string to make a spherical framework of the bubble.

                                    

 Each bamboo strip (16ft approximately) was bent into circular rings and taped. Four such rings were made. Then we used string and tape to intertwine the rings and make a spherical structure.
We will insert and fix the inflated chair into the bamboo structure and then make an outer covering of the bubble with transparent paper and leave space to attach a door. The GPS system and joystick will be inserted within the bubble and the engine will be fixed to the bottom of the structure.
The finishing of the prototype is still in progress and will be updated as soon as it is finished.

Reflections:

Teamwork is an integral part of any project. Co-operation and co-ordination is an absolute necessary part for a project to be pulled off. Even though sometimes your idea may be the best you may have to sacrifice it. From this project I learned that small insane ideas help make a massive product that can bring change to the world. It was interesting to learn how much we could stretch our minds and explore new possibilities that we never thought we could achieve. This experience has taught me many valuable things. Mainly think insane to create something amazing!