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Golden Age Creative Adda | Golden Age Diary | Astrophysicist

April 16, 2008 | 02:06 AM

Water Film Festival : support it if you can please

Dear Shekhar
I have been volunteering as project co-ordinator for an international water film festival titled Voices From the Waters. The first edition was held in Bangalore in 2005. The second was held in June last year and it is still continuing as a travelling film festival across cities, small towns and institutions across the country. It has been concieved as a platform without any defined boundaries celebrating the blue gold and building awareness. The next edition of the festival is scheduled for September 2008. I have attatched below the call for entries. We would be extremely grateful if you could help spread the word or even offer us suggestions for the festival.
Please refer to the website http://voicesfromthewaters.com/ or any further information. It would be great for any help you could offer.best of luck,
peace,
siddharth

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April 03, 2008 | 05:48 PM

In search of water

Every year, over 500,000 children in India never reach the age of 5 because of water-related diseases like diarrhea, gastroenteritis, hepatitis. Over 300 million Indians have no access to toilets. Already, 224 million Indians live in water stress. About 70% of irrigation needs and 80% of municipal water supplies come from groundwater sources. However, depleted aquifers and lowered groundwater tables mean that this is no longer sustainable. It has been estimated that by as early as 2020, India’s demand for water will exceed ALL sources of supply.

Can we make a difference? One individual thinks so. And one organization is supporting him in his mission for the cause of water. On April 26th 2008, Sharada Prasad will start a 19,000 km Motorcycle Ride across India. The objective of Sharada’s ride is to discover what water means to people across the country. The problems faced by people with respect to water are different in different parts of the country. Support him by going to ;

http://www.indiawaterportal.org/k2k/


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March 20, 2008 | 04:58 PM

Paani - will Water turn against us ?

We have forgotten how to worship water. After all if water is available to you on tap, and in the same place as you do your daily toilette , how could you even respect it ? Water to us has become functional - so we have started to take it for granted. It is now our right to have water running in our taps at our will and our command. But it never used to be like that and I assure you it will never be like that again. Nor was it supposed to be. We were supposed to go to water, not the other way round. In all of human history Water has been worshipped by every culture. Water was the centre of all community, of all existence. But now we pollute it, commercialize it, turn it for profit. We do everything but worship it. So Water is turning against us. That which nourished the very essence of life will soon teach us to value very drop we can find. Worship every drop.

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February 18, 2008 | 09:44 AM

Paani : Will even these buckets go empty ?

Another picture form my Paani photo file :
water album - 139.jpg

In Mumbai many of the slum and pavement dwellers begin their search for water at 3 am daily. Many having to buy water from the 'water mafia' at Rs 5 per 'Handi'. Considering that it takes upto 4/5 handi's to just cook a meal, many people are spending up to 30% of their incomes on water. If we do not completely re-assess our attitudes towards water, in the near future the daily life of most people in the city will be dominated by the search for water, and leading to riots and inner city wars over water. The city will be ruled by the water mafia. Please do go the following site, to get an update on the situation as it exists now :

http://www.infochangeindia.org/agenda3_06.jsp

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February 10, 2008 | 07:28 PM

Monkey mind

morning rays wrote : "hi shekhar, when a thinker is silent it could mean 2 things.......a positive...that you're in the midst of ideas .....and a negative....your emotions are bottled up at the moment. when we visit your blog regularly there is a bond with you.......which makes us want to see you HAPPY ! share....... and the good will get better.......and the negatives will get blown away !"

Thank you 'morning rays'. It makes me feel great there is a community out there that I can share with. Bond with. Honestly ? I am trying to calm the mind down. It has been in what I call the 'scrambling mode'. Which is what you get into when you make and release a film. You are constantly problem solving amidst a hundred people. It has been too used now to diversions for so long, it keeps looking for them. I have the script of Paani in my mind, in my heart. Just finding it difficult to getting it down on paper. Trying to calm my mind down. Get used to being alone, and get on with it ! shekhar

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February 05, 2008 | 03:33 PM

Paani Script

water album - 008.jpg

3 years ago, before I started on Golden Age, I began to compile pictures of people that live on the streets and under the new highways. Pictures that would help in the research for what conditions are likely to be for people that live on streets and in water deprived conditions. As many of you know, Paani is the story of a city that has been divided into the upper and the lower city. In the year 2025. Global warming has taken place leading to a severe water shortage. The Upper City sucks up all the water and then drip feeds the lower city. Water is now a weapon of economic and political oppression. Writing the script now !

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June 10, 2007 | 04:46 PM

And so my day begins at 3.30 am ...

We are reeling in the throes of a very severe crisis of water, reports Ratna Rajaiah. In her extremely caustic article she talks about how the daily lives of people in Mysore is being dominated by the availability of Water. For those of us that live in large cities where water still runs through our taps on demand, it's a warning of things soon to come. Whether in London, New York,Los Angeles or Tokyo. " “40% of Bangalore (India's Silicon Valley) is getting water only once in 3 days”. Do read .....

Continue reading "And so my day begins at 3.30 am ..."

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January 03, 2007 | 09:52 PM

Paani pictures

WATER EXPORT - 054.jpg
Sharing with all of you one of the pictures I took of the Dharavi slums in Mumbai slums during my visual research for Paani.

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December 23, 2006 | 05:32 PM

Water Wars, the coming Urban Disaster

The next wars will be fought over water and not oil. As Global warming takes place, water will become the scarcest resource. Millions will die of thirst and countries will go to war to colonize the water resources. Or maybe not ?

Continue reading "Water Wars, the coming Urban Disaster"

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Paani, the begining

So what is Paani about and what provokes me to want to make the film ? And if it provokes me so much, then why have I not made it so far ?

Continue reading "Paani, the begining"

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