aahsome 02 beauty

8/14/2019 Aahsome 02 Beauty

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AahsomeTheme BEAUTYISSUE #2



ABout

Aahsome is a quarterly, ree PDF magazine rom India made possible by readers

like you. Aahsome showcases the human spirit, mind, ethics and morals.

For this issue, we asked you to interpret beauty any way you like. You amazed us with what you

think is beautiul!

The cover is Lady Godiva depicted by Pre-Raphaelite artist John Maler Collier. The legend goes that

Lady Godiva had a dispute with her husband Leoric, the Earl o Mercia, over taxes he levied on the

developing city o Coventry. He challenged her to ride naked across the town, promising to reduce

the tax i she did so. Godiva took the challenge and became a local legend. Townsolk had stayed

indoors to show their respect but one person peeked at her anyway, the character we now know

as “Peeping Tom”.

Aahsome was ounded and initiated by Anand and Arun, two designers with a shared passion or

art, culture and ree expression. Anand’s initial brainchild, Aahsome’s mission is to showcase both

the outwardly and the inhibited alike.

Let us know what you think at [email protected].

J. Arun s a dese a SldeShae. He

dabbles a, skech ad paph.

He’s twe a we.c/SplA

K.A.Anand s a use Expeece Dese

b pess ad bls ab des ad

eeh else hee: hp:// ea.

http://twitter.com/SimplyArun

http://rega.in/

http://rega.in/




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intro

Everyone knows beauty is in the eyes o the beholder. That implies as

many denitions o beauty as there are eyeballs. How do we even

start to dene beauty? Can it even be dened?

Many cultures have tried to. Some have even marginally succeeded.

Bringing down beauty to a set o ormulae, as is the wont o western sci-entic method. Maybe those ormulae can even help by making beauty an

assembly line product. But is it really so simple? Going eastwards, we have

the Indian rasas, out o which the most important is the Shringara rasa.

Though it encompasses beauty only as seen by the eyes o a lover, still it is

the closest we have to a rule, regarding beauty. It is, as it is with most In-

dian philosophy, without strict rules, more in spirit than orm. Moving ur-

ther eastwards, you begin to hear the sounds o one hand clapping. Wabi-

Sabi is the beauty o worn down things, which still have a charm and graceabout them. This is the beauty coming out o imperection. Imperection

leads to uniqueness. A clay bowl slightly misshapen is thus beautiul.

Coming to human beauty, does it have any anything to do with skin

color? Why do some gods which are supposed to be dark skinned shown

not as shades o black but o blue? The argument that their aura is blue

and hence they are shown in that color doesn’t hold. As in are those the

only gods who have their auras in blue? The dark skinned Goddess Kali

came back as the air skinned Gauri. There are various versions to this story,

the changes being in why did she do this, but that is not important. What

is important that she came back as air skinned. Maybe there is some link

between this and the act that airness products account or more than

50% o the skin care market segment in India. This is the only segment that

grew at more than 10% even in the recession o 2009.

Why is body hair being unwanted like mongrel puppies? O course more

testosterone has the side eect o more body hair, so some might want to

remove hair to look less masculine. But still there is hair in specic places

o our bodies or specic biological reasons (increasing the surace area to

spread pheromones, being one o them). Isn’t it worth considering thattheir only ault is that they are unwanted? Unwanted by you (or by your

lover).

— K.A. Anand

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Art

F whe he ca eebe, Rajesh Babu eas a a

ehsas. He s cel a A Dec uAE.

“Adam and Eve”



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The names matched

The personalities didn’t

Yet they had an intangible something that held them together

From his veshti to her sleeveless dresses

From his temple to her church

The smiles on their aces

Made most hearts melt

One wondered how it had happened

Where the story lay

It had begun many monsoons ago

A stalled car. Rain pouring down in sheets.

A smile did it all.

Iyer and Irene

FrEE vErSE

Title credits to Ravi Sivaraman

Illustration: K.A. Anand

— Kirti Manian

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PHotogrAPHy

Pae Wheels nea rek mase, nh Skk

K maa

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PHotogrAPHy

Lehae He raee Kapde, nh Skk

K maa

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gda L ake a 17,100 ee

K maa

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PHotogrAPHy

Kirti Manian

She wes. She akes phaphs. Sees she des bh ehe.

She’s 28 ad les mba. K ejs aell, ha aelled

bh Sh ad Eas ida he las cple eas. Ladakh s he ex

desa she has d. Le s ea be led — c b e

ad each da led wh j.

vew e K’s wk a hp://leaseeees.blsp.c .

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Story

So I’m walking down the road and this young guy, not more than 12, short

o breath, runs to me, “Uncle, Uncle what’s the time?” The question took

me not so much by surprise as it did o being called “uncle”. “12.30” I said.

He ran o again but not without uttering that “U” word ollowed by “Thank

you”. Now what dierence does that make? Curse me rst and then ollow up

with a thank you? Or you’re thanking and cursing at the same time. Children

these days! No morals I tell you. And there at 22, I was eeling old.

I’ve never been happy about growing old. Why, given a choice I’d stay our all

along — days when my dreams and ambition revolved around being an elephant.

Why I wanted to be an elephant, though, is beyond explanation. But that I want-

ed to be one remains part o my amily history. For all I remember I never said I

was six and a hal or will turn 12 next month. I’d have been happy not aging at all.

But then lie doesn’t roll that way. So as I crossed 13, I began hoping against hope

that growing old could be a good thing. How hard could it be? Everyone I knew

was growing old. My grandmother was always smiling and shes 72. So I thought

let’s not jump into conclusions, let’s take aging one year at a time. I pretended to

act mature.

Te Elephant Kidby Alok Mohan

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Story

I wanted to go out and play and mom would say “just wait till you nish your

tenth, and you can play all you want.”

I complete tenth and I’m playing and she would call again, “12th is all that matters.

Everyone will want to know your marks, besides getting into a good college. Play

as much as your want ater 12th.”

And beore I know it I’m in college. And 18. I soon realized to my horror I’ll have

to wait till ater college to start playing because i I played then I wouldn’t get a

good job and then what would Sita’s uncle’s wie’s brother’s nephew’s ather-in-

law and his wie, daughter o P. Krishnankutty say?

Out o college and I’m ree! No more classes. No more exams. I can play at last!

And then a relative who does not wish to be named says, “Is this the age to be

playing? Guys your age already have good jobs and are settled in lie.” and I’m

like WTF???

Today, at 22 and a hal, all I have to look orward in lie is another 40 years o

work. And then I’ll be 62. And I’ll commence my cycle o being a child again.

Being a child I always wanted to be an elephant. Elephants are beautiul. Being a

child was beautiul. •

Alok Mohan s a cpwe based Ab Dhab.

Whe cah bewee sa he da ad

be a ge, he bls ccasall a

elesshh.blsp.c .

The Elephant Kid photo by Koka Sexton. He

blogs at www.kokasexton.com and you can ind

his pictures at http://www.lickr.com/people/

ikoka.

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triButE

The Fender wails…

High on psychedelia;

Higher on love.

Wood and steel in unison

Sculpting air. Visions.

Smoke everywhere,

Sweet, ull o breath;Asphyxiating all care uncalled.

Ghosts o the living,

Albatrosses, hopes, fying.

Gods in Act, acting Gods.

Stirred and shaken,

Perect blend, Amen!

Touched by the Metatron

Sonic N-Bombs, a zillion Ktons.

The river o sweat,

Sound bytes and more,

Ambrosia over a setting sun in Eden.

A bend in time. A Big head Bang.

A urious mix o sweet and tang…

Live in Concert

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triButE

…Marshals, renzied, roll.

The equalizer set to equalize

Ranges beyond the console!As geographies melt,

Iron and Gold smelt.

Roger and Dave serenade,

The Wright-Mason duet made.

The lunatic smiles overhead.

The dark moves into the light,

Quivering hearts & stage right!

She glances & smiles.

Pompei, in my head.

Flatlined, wonder-eyed, in bed.

There she was, my fower child,

My elusive Floydian wild.

Le wh chce, Harish Shankaran has alle le wh

sc. He als les es, heae ad ejs w. He

bls a www.xefw.e ad wees a

we.c/spkedelk Pss… he’s sle w!

A b Hash Shakaa

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ADmirAtion

T

his morning, as I crossed the road to catch an auto, I saw an

exquisite woman. She stood in the shade o a mango tree. I think I

ound her remarkable because she was so comortable in her ownskin. Didn’t seem rushed. Didn’t seem uncomortable without any o the

modern-day accoutrements we use to avoid eye contact with strangers —

mobiles, magazines, iPods. She just stood there, simple and beautiul.

She was airly tall, and her straw-colored linen dress ell a ew inches

above her knees. Her calves were sinewy and her arms were shapely. Her

arms were toned, sure, but they didn’t look like the over exercised walnut-

crackers that some women have. She had shoulder-length hair that seemedto glint o honey-hues when the sunlight shited through the leaves.

Everything about her seemed to have the delicate ading o timelessness

— like the edges o a beautiul, heirloom sari, maybe. Her dress was

almost white, her hair was almost brown, her eyes were cappuccino but

again, almost so. From head to toe, her seasons in the sun seemed to have

lightened o some o her demeanour, but admirably so.

The only thing that seemed to be in stark contrast to this bleached

perection was her complexion. It was strong and beautiul and… in some

ways… emphatic. She looked like she bathed in the nest cognac to havethe color sotly coat her skin and make it glow. There was such a gorgeous

sheen about her.

As I let in my auto, I turned back to see her again. Around her, the world

had gotten busy, and the Monday had gotten manic. But this lady just

turned this crazed little lane a background or her portraiture. There she

stood, with a wonderul glisten refecting o her — in the shadows, in the

spotlight.•

Beautiful Strangerby Mukta Raut

Mukta Raut ve, d, we. Sees, i js we.ee3.blsp.c

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ESSAy

T

he word beauty conjures up something

or everyone. An artist may be remind-ed o the beauty in nature; a writer re-

lates to it with his poetry, a layman thinks o all

the sizzling hot stars on the big screen. Beauty

means something to everyone.

Since ages, wise men rom all walks o lie

have not only attempted to dene beauty, but

also tried to relate it to their eld in some way

or the other. To understand what makes beauty,

well…so beautiul, a class o men set it upon

themselves to unravel the secrets o beauty.

These were the mathematicians and they set out

to prove that beauty could be determined by

mathematical relationships and ormulae.

The thoughts o this is very well refected in

Bertrand Russell’s words:

“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not

only truth, but supreme beauty — a beauty

cold and austere, like that o sculpture, without

appeal to any part o our weaker nature, without

the gorgeous trappings o painting or music, yet

sublimely pure, and capable o a stern perection

such as only the greatest art can show. The true

spirit o delight, the exaltation, the sense o being

more than Man, which is the touchstone o the

highest excellence, is to be ound in mathematics

as surely as poetry.”

From beauty in theorems and geometry,

they went on to suggest that physical attraction

increases i that person’s body is symmetrical and

in proportion.

Leonardo Da Vinci plainly suggested the

beauty o objects depends on a ratio, known

as the Golden Ratio. To understand what the

Golden ratio is, draw a line, and bisect it in two

unequal hal’s, a long segment A, and Shorter

segment B. The Golden Ratio appears when the

ratio o A to B is equal to the ratio o the entire

line (A+B) to the longer segment A.

I objects relate to the Golden Ratio, called

Phi and which roughly equals 1.618 in various

proportions, the physical anity towards that

object increases. This act is very well illustrated

in the Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.

Te Mathematics of Beauty by Arvind Subramaniam

SS

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ESSAy

Vitruvian Man

by Leonardo da VinciGalleria dell' Accademia,Venice (1485-90)

Original drawingphotographed by Luc Viatourwww.lucnix.be

ESSAy

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According to Leonardo’s preview in the

accompanying text, written in mirror writing, it

was made as a study o the proportions o the(male) human body.

From this diagram, Leonardo, summarized

some interesting acts…

• The length o a man’s outspread arms (arm

span) is equal to his height

• The distance rom the hairline to the bottom

o the chin is one-tenth o a man’s height

• The length o the hand is one-tenth o a

man’s height

• The length o the ear is one-third o the

length o the ace

• The length o a man’s oot is one-sixth o his

height, etc…

The mathematics website www.intmath.com

has come up with a mask o a human ace based

on the Golden Ratio.

The proportion o all acial eatures

correspond to some aspect o the golden ratio.

Thus in Theory every ace that has a “good t”

in this mask is Beautiul.

The human body is not the only object, which

i it corresponds to the golden ratio makes it

beautiul. In act, mathematicians have noticed

the golden ratio in every aspect o nature,

including or example in the petal arrangement

o a sunfower.

Having understood the beauty o the Golden

Ratio, architects and engineers all over the world

have strived to constructs monuments and other

structures in a attempt to make them beautiul.

The Pyramids o Egypt, The Pantheon in Greece,

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Europe are all said

to have been built based on the Golden Ratio.

In modern times, photographers may relate to

the Golden Ratio with the Rule o Thirds, which

emphasizes placement o the subject in ways

pleasing to the eye.

I you thought the application o the Golden

Ratio ends here you are wrong. Even in music,

the Golden Ratio can be applied to the intervals

between dierent notes, to bring about soul

stirring, beautiul music.

Someone said that a mathematician is one

who understands the beauty in the mathematics

as an art orm, unny because none o us would

have contemplated math as an art orm. Galileo

said “Math is the language in which God wrote

the universe”. We will have to understand that

math gives structure to the whole universe and

this is the beauty o mathematics. •

Arvind Subramaniam s a Saec Bad

Csla ad Web 2.0 Eaels, a

aae phaphe, d ebe

Cbae Phwalk, ad a cplee

de. He bls a www.bead.c

ad wees a we.c/ad_p

ESSAy

SoCiAL Promotion

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PHotogrAPHy



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PHotogrAPHy

Day of the pots!

Seema KK

PHotogrAPHy

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PHotogrAPHy

Day of the pot sellers!

Seema KK

PHotogrAPHy

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PHotogrAPHy

To a rainy day…

Seema KK

PHotogrAPHy

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PHotogrAPHy

The boat, sky, beach and the pier

Seema KK

PHotogrAPHy

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PHotogrAPHy

Good Friday!

Seema KK

PHotogrAPHy

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PHotogrAPHy

A year ago…

Seema KK

A aphc dese b pess, Seema keeps a kee ees

scal dcea phaph. She als lkes a

sbjec de he s, happ whe ael ad ea d

d. She hals Keala, cel ps he mases

Cca Des a Pa ise, new yk.

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SoCiAL Promotion



29

Sanchaliby Dakshayini Gowda

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Based on Varanasi’s rich brocade silk collection.

SoCiAL Promotion

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Varanasi. Kashi. Banaras.

The old, oldest, the legendary city, the eternal

city at the banks o the mighty Ganga River.

For ages this place has been radiating a strong

mystical image both within India as in the west,marveled at or its never-resting lie around

Mother Ganga, where Religion melts into

Magic as well as or products like the traditional

Banarasi hand-woven silks. This collection aims

at bringing to you along with a small piece o

this precious material, a small piece o the age-

old magic o this holy and worldly genuine piece

o Varanasi.

I personally oversee and train rural women, but

encourage their individual creative explorations

or any design. Currently, I have trained women

rom Karnataka villages, and aspire to train more

rural women all over India as part o the women

empowerment project is being pioneered by

Sanchali. These designs are my personal creations

out o textile scrap and such other material whichhas the potential to be recycled. The intention

is to recycle this precious material to the ullest

using letover that is thrown by tailors, weavers

or an old sari which is out o use. These scraps are

transormed into work o art or an expression o

the cratsmen o today. This

jewellery is sequenced with

stone, glass, clay beads. Or

bark o a tree, wood or seed,

which are naturally ound, to

add to the aesthetics o the

crat in its traditional way.

Recycling has been part o

our tradition since the time

one can remember. This has

been handed down or many

generations. Without any

training, Indian grandmothers

have creatively conjured up

designs and crats out o

everyday excess scrap materials like broken

bangle ragments, textile scrap, seeds or any

other such materials. A lost tradition in today’s

world o recycling plastics and other man-

made wastes, salvaging natural remnants rom

like tree bark shed during seasonal changes as

sources o artistic mediums, is a dying trade. Not

only saving artisans a trip to the market or art

supplies, but also these mother-earth provisions

are readily available at no cost at all. Inspired by

this novel system o waste management, which is

part o our age old tradition, my goal is to revive

this dying tradition lost to modernization as well

as encouraging art novices and connoisseurs to

draw upon their proclivity or nature.

The jewellery is eco-riendly via the re-utili-

zation o old sarees, letover bits discarded as

waste by tailors, weavers. Especially the old dis-

carded Banarasi saree is a museum piece becauseit is dicult to get a genuine Banarasi sari these

days. I have preserved my grandmother’s dam-

aged sari into jewellery. It just got an extended

lie. :)

www.sanchali.org

City

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A s Khushwant Singh said — Delhi is like his

hijda mistress Bhagmati. She is ugly to

an outsider but reveals her charms only

to insiders. I you can look past the squalor, you

can enjoy the Su-ism, the sandstone domes and

IHC.

He also said that no one belongs to cosmo-

politan Delhi. I a person says he is rom Delhi,

people ask “No, tell me, where are you original-ly rom?” To which he may answer “Arrey, I am

rom pro-par Delhi.”

Pro-par = Proper

I realized how Delhi grips one, when I hit

South India or a long trip and started missing the

blingy jordaar tube-lit dhabas on the highways

— the Las Vegas strips o Dilli.

So again, is Delhi beautiul? Only i the

ollowing makes it so:

Dilli ki sardi. The invigorating brrrr o winterrr.

The Sin-Cityness o Dilli. Dark alleys where

you’ll be yanked in a Maruti Omni (kidnapper’s

vehicle o choice) and eature in the newspaper-

headlines the next day.

Old-world Chandni Chowk with streets

stocked with spare auto-parts. Grease and black.

Food lanes stued with beggars on haunches.

Animated halwais. Stoned sadhus. Qutb minar.

Ghost town Tughlaqabad, accursed by Saint Niza-

muddin. Nizamuddin Dargah. Pigeon specked

Dilli.Beautiful?by Malvika Jain

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Facenotes and footnotes

Gudalur, Nilgiris

J. Arun

J. Arun

we.c/SplA

FAntASy

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Elf with earrings

J. Arun

ADvErtiSEmEnt



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