Last weekend we had the Sapporo International Night and along with it a lot of group discussions on world heritage sites, nature etc. Our group discussed on nature, culture and civilization and how they can co-exist. I am not getting into all details of coexistence but just a single point.

Technology & happiness. Human civilization and technology has grown in a fast pace but are we happy? Some of the members said they feel life is more comfortable. Nobody said that life has become happier. We found that technology which has been developed to make life easier has in fact made life complicated and busier. One of the members said that unlike the past, now he can travel from place to place in few minutes/hours but life has become busier. Communication has improved, internet, mobile phones, have taken place in our lives but effective communication between people have decreased. We were all alarmed to face this fact that better technology doesn’t mean happiness. So is technology, instead of liberating us, holding us back?

Does it look like a painting? I like the overall tone. A bit far from earth, it doesn’t show much of human intervention other than the dam. but may be a dam is enough? Anyways the picture shows a lot of geographical features.. Took it on my flight from Delhi to Sapporo a few months before. So it must be somewhere close to the east coast of India.

Anyways, am happy about the warm hi-fi japanese toilets mentioned in the pervious post  More on it later!

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Tags: civilization, coexistence, dam, environment, happiness, human civilization, painting, photography, prakriti, technology

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"So did you have culture shock?" this high school student asked me yesterday. Japanese people always makes the best out of their opportunities, whether it is to mingle with a foreigner, to know the outer world or to practice their english. I told her how i felt when i was brought into all this snow and how i got accustomed to it later. but that doesn’t fit as a culture shock, does it? I didn’t have much to tell her abt culture shock as one of the reasons i came to japan was the unique culture it posessed. Yet i forgot to tell her about the Reverse Culture Shock, which i saw defined in the handbook for international students of our university, and which i met with a few months before..

They’ve given the stages of Reverse Culture Shock like this:

1. acceptance & integration: state where a student has established a routine and accepted the habits, customs, foods n characteristics of japan.
2. return anxiety: where he realize how much his experiences have changed himself
3. return honeymoon: excited immediately upon arrival in india. parties to welcome and renew friendships n family ties
4. reentry shock: family n friends may not understand or appreciate what he has experienced, nor may they seem very interested. india n his hometown may’ve changed in his eyes.
5. reintegration: realises +ve n -ve aspects of both countries and have a more balanced  perspective of their experiences.

Of these, reentry shock is the most treacherous. was prepared for it too, psychologically, as i was aware of it beforehand but still it felt awkward once in a while. it may seem weird but thatz how it is.

So it was in august that i went to india after 1 n 1/2 years. and things were fun..

sense of time. gathering @ kochi

me: i’ve been waiting here since 5:45 !!
he: what time did we fix to meet? 6:00, rt?
me: ya and do you know whatz the time now?
he: it is 6:30 yaar. we’re on time!
me: huh??!!

dress sense. @ my friends home

he: dey, arent u changing this tshirt when you’re going out?
me: huh? mmm? means?
he: didnt u bring any shirt?
me: no, whatz the problem with this da?
he: ohh, never mind!

zebra crossing @ kottayam

me: mummy stop! itz red!!

mummy n me stops there
people cross the roads
cars n lorries n buses pass by

me: mummy itz green now! letz cross

but
cars n lorries n buses pass by
therez a policeman watching nearby

me: whattt???
mummy: hahaha. so letz wait for the red signal n cross!

aunty on phone, inviting to their new home

me: oh! i cant wait to see ur new home!
aunty: but remember, we dont have those hi-fi computerised toilets at our home. if you need, you’ve to bring one of your own. (unfortunately sometime back i had bragged to them that in japan the toilet seat warms when you sit, one can adjust the heat, water jet n blah blah..)
me:

It was like this for some days for each n everything. Back in time i was expert in jumping into those crowded running buses and now i found my talents lost. I even felt it was awkward how i kept my foot in the bus. I twitched n twisted n turned so that i was satisfied how i stood in the bus. and then my shoes will be over someone’s feet!

So i dont have to say what happened to the green tea and the chopsticks i brought home!!

and oh god, i was saved cuz i was aware, never did i start stories saying "in japan..". (other than the hi-fi-toilet incident. that was enough!! )

Anyways reintegration came soon to my rescue. Indian toilets found me or i found them who knows.. (or was it the spicy food :) missing it now). Was allergic to japanese toilets when i came back after a month. Needed to go to the nearby spicy tajmahal restaurant to treat the allergy lol.

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Tags: culture shock, dress sense, india, japan, reverse culture shock, toilet, zebra crossing

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snow? who cares!!

1 n 2. the japanese self defense force braving the snow before the mammoth snow sculpture they made.
3. see what the koalas got to say
4. huge task ahead!
5. hide n seek. shez from macau. do u know where macau is
6. mmm looks like the little girl from The Ring ?? May be not!

mama penguin n little penguins. lions club sapporo and hokkaido university international students joined together to make this snow sculpture for the 57^th sapporo snow festival (6 Feb to 12 Feb)

Sapporo snow festival (Sapporo Yuki Matsuri ¹) began spontaneously in 1950 by a small group of high school students who started making snow sculptures. In time it grew, the japanese Self Defense Force (SDF, you can see the structure they built and saluting in  the pictures above), several groups and the public joining it.

^{1. Yuki Matsuri. yuki = snow, matsuri = festival}

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Tags: lions club, sapporo, sapporo snow festival, self defense force, yuki matsuri

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past fetches me nostalgic impressions
i like past for that
past teaches me fantastic lessons
i like past for that too
if you say ditch your past
if you say
     ‘it’s just past, forget it’
you’re betraying yourself
for my nowness -> is past this moment
my today is past tomorrow
past is like that giant tree
under which i sit and lean back
i am sitting in this narrow space
tagged as present
my eyes glance forward to future
future sketches me a colorful spectra
i like past for that

~ dedicated to Sarah, the oasis in my Sahara
   the Scarlett O’Hara at my Tara

This is the central lawn of Hokkaido University in spring, the cherry blossoms in full bloom. There is a huge tree there, is not in the picture but to the left side of it, where i go with my books n bottle of water and sit n look forward to future (daydream, daydream!)

*update: hey prasad, herez a sakura song (6mb) sung by Moriyama Naotaro. See the lyrics, itz easy to sing sakura sakura along!

 more of the university. close. closer..closerrr

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