Second Day in Ahmedabad

In the morning we are invited to attend the 11:00 prayer session in the prayer hall. Since there is a bit of time, I am using this opportunity to set up my head-worn in-ear microphones and record some of the street sounds, simultaneously with the HD camera. As the sound recording on the mic input of the video camera does not appear to work very well - too high sound level, without any manual override control -, I record the audio separately onto a digital recorder. It can later be synchronised to the video.


At 11:00 the students move into the hall and take a seat on the floor. Brian, Falguni, Adam, and myself are taking a seat in the front. Then we are invited to say a few words to the approximately 300 students who are present. First, Falguni introduces the rivers project. Then I talk about creative technology. I am equipped with all my gear, looking slightly awkward among all those simplicity and the emphasis on manual labor. I make a point of explaining that I use this technology for linking people and worlds. and for sharing individual experiences. Then Brian makes the concluding remarks. All speeches including the preceeding prayer were recorded on my in-ear microphones - I will publish this recording soon after transferring it to the PC.

Afterwards we visit the marvelous tribal museum on the campus. It seems not to be well visited, as we appear to be the only visitors. But it offers a very interesting insight into the different tribes and their culture. These tribes still are well functioning in the India countryside.

The women in our group visit SEWA in the afternoon, while Brian, Adam, and myself return back to Vallabh Vidyanagar. On our way back we stop at a famous mosque, where Adam has the opportunity to participate in the Friday prayers. Crossing the street is quite an adventure, as the following video shows.



In the evening we enjoy a nice dinner in the private home of Sunil Shah, who had helped me so much with getting the mobile internet connection. His wife cooked excellent dishes, combining the taste and spices of India with some of the European cooking traditions (e.g. chips).

Conference "Creativity and Literature"

The conference "Creativity and Literature" which is held here at the Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, at the H.M.Patel Institute of English Training & Research, 3.-4.November, fits very well with our theme of using the arts to create awareness, and we decide to actively participate in this conference. Beccy and Jenny give a workshop on creative writing, Brian gives a poetry reading on Monday evening at the poets' meet, and the rest of us (Ruth, Jane, and myself) each give a presentation on Tuesday morning, about our work our institutions, and our vision regarding creativity. I mention the strong links of Leeds Met with India (Bollywood, Gandhi Hall), and the students applaud enthusiastically, especially since the province of Gujarat is the home of Gandhi. My presentation is somewhat ad-hoc, as I was not sure what the audience would expect. These are students of English Literature, with the ambition to become writers and teachers. So I twist my presentation towards creativity, looking at technology to aid human creativity, as well as being a bit provocative and point to artificial creativity, with an example of the "Cybernetic Poet" who might eventually replace human poets like Brian. (Just kidding of course).

Arrival in Anand

The travel on Emirate Airways went well. Some of us could get a bit of sleep, others were reading ("Cultureshock", as a preparation for the experiences in India), others were enjoying the selection 100s of video-on-demand movies. We arrived in the morning, 8:30 local time. The driver from the university was already there, and we squeezed into the Toyota: 6 passengers and one driver, on two seat rows.

After a drive of 90 minutes on a motorway, sometimes shared with pedestrians, lots of moped drivers, and sometimes herds of cows, we arrive in Anand, a town about 100km SE of Ahmedabad. We will stay at the guest house of the Sardar Patel University in Vallabh Vidyanagar.

After a brief break, we have a meeting at the university with our hosts Dr. Rajendrasinh Jadeja, Director of the H M Patel Institute, and Dr. Falguni Bharateeya, Head of the English Department, where the program for the next days is being discussed. Our organisational contact is Asha Makhecha (from the Faculty of Business) who had been setting up the meetings, and who showed us around so that we would find our way here in Vallabh Vidyanagar. It turns out that on Monday and Tuesday there is a conference held at the university: "Creativity and Literature". We agree to participate and give a few talks to the participating students.


One problem is the availability of internet: there is one PC in the computing lab which has Internet connection, but for some reason the Ethernet cable does not work with my laptop - no connection is shown. Our host will try to resolve this in the next days, but for now I cannot send out blog entries or emails.

In the evening we have a dinner at a local restaurant, and afterwards we are invited to Asha Makhecha's home for a tea.