Friday, September 18, 2009

A New Hinterland

In the near future, there will be a new kind of society where the urban mentality meets the village landscape. In these hinterlands of the future, every living entity or society would consist of the village and attached to the village in places near and in the jungles would be institutions. A list of 9 institutions have been outlined.
1/ GLASS OF GRASS. A vegetarian restaurant set in the heart of the forest.
2/ Soul (The School of unconventional learning): A school for city kids and village children that teaches fine arts and performing arts, conducts festivals, abolishes the concept of examination totally and follows a different approach to the convention of academia aiming to provide an alternative to it. The school houses camps with artists, musicians, sculptors, dancers and organises field trips into the village homes understanding their way of life.
3/ HQ: The recording studio that collaborates with artists from all over the country working on music projects and song compositions to be released quarterly. HQ also houses a venue for concerts. Apparently this is where The Strangest Band became popular with their 7 feet high animal constumes and acoustic sounds.
4/ Filmrose: A structure modelled on the design of a rose; each petal housing rooms and secret spaces for film screenings. Here, film enthusiasts meet, watch movies, collaborate on projects and have access to world-class shooting and editing equipment. (I saw a very strange film there once called Buickgreen about a white man in Varanasi falling in love with a local girl, falling out of love with her, strangling her with his lungi and very cleverly covering up the murder by having her secretly burnt in Manikarnika)
5/ The Interactive Kitchen: A restaurant opened by four friends and ace chefs. They cook live for their customers and in the process also detail the whole process right from vegetable farming to ingredients. Cookery classes and field trips contribute financially to this venture. This kitchen also is responsible for the food supply to planets of this Hinterland.
6/ Ode, The home for the Orphans, the Disabled and the Elderly: A structure set in the serene expanses of the mountains, housing an elaborate botanical garden that is maintained and taken care of by the residents. The orphans are taught in Soul.
7/ A childrens film & drama centre: This space screens intelligent cinema for children upto the age of 17. The films are categorised and discussions with adults follow screenings. The children who visit this faculty also have the option to study drama and puppeteering. Their performaces are showcased in the HQ and at the special auditorium at ODE.
8/ Yoga Cafe: This is a hotel where all the rooms have glass structures cantilevered into nature. The rooms are thin and long with high ceilings. During your stay here, you can begin your study of Yoga, understand the learnings of Advaita Vedanta and of spiritual Guru's like Sri Aurobindo, Kabir & Ramana Maharshi. Throughout their stay they are provided vegetarian food from Glass of Grass.
9/ The Library housing a large collection of art books, books on film and music & books on spirituality and philosophy.

This could be elaborated into a book with illustrations and conceptual drawings of the aesthetic of each of these planets. The book would read like a visit to a new utopia in the future. A visit to a self-sustaining society built on the grounds of humanity, learning and peace. The book could be called "Hinterland: Ideas for the government, Ideas for the developers, Ideas for people".