The Brothers Farr sing for ‘Abdu’l-Baha in Montreal

Yesterday members of the Baha’i community were invited to join the congregation of St. James United Church in downtown Montreal for special Sunday service.  It was nearly 100 years ago to the day that a 68 year old Persian spiritual leader spoke in the same church on the evolution of religion.

From 239 Days in America:

Perhaps it was unexpected that a voice calling for modern religion came from the East. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá argued that religious truth must change along with the evolving needs of society. Rather than deny the existence of a creator, or the benefits religion had given humanity, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke of the need for a reformation so that modern religion could meet the needs of an increasingly complex world. [Full post]

‘Abdu’l-Baha is a central figure of the Baha’i Faith who’s epic journey to North America is being celebrated by Baha’is across the continent this year.

Yesterday’s service closed with two original songs from my friends Eric and James Farr of the band Honeyman and the Brothers Farr with Jacque Proulx accompanying them on the violin.  These wonderful videos were filmed by their friend Clara Haskell at the church before the event.  Here is the other song they performed yesterday morning, it’s called “Children of His Journey”.

To follow the story of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s trip, I highly recommend checking out 239 Days.  It’s a social media documentary that shares a  fantastically well-written post every day that tells you roughly where ‘Abdu’l-Baha was at in his journey 100 years ago to the day.  I’m subscribed to it by email to be notified as articles are posted.

It’s been great to follow this story every day — especially in the run up to these centenary events in Montreal that I got to attend. Coincidentally I am going to be moving from here in Eastern Canada to San Francisco this Sunday to begin graduate studies at around the same time ‘Abdu’l-Baha visited the same city 100 years ago on 3 October 1912.  I feel like one of those devoted fans who follows their favorite band while they are on tour, only 100 years late.

Finally, here is a short clip of the response of the audience and of the Reverend Arlen John Bonnar to performance.

Status updates from a bike tour (and friendship) unravelling

Right now my friend Eric Farr (of Honeyman and the Brothers Farr and the Hidden Words) is working with the International Development and Relief Foundation and his main job is running the Mother’s Day Bike Challenge that will take a group of volunteers from different faiths from Toronto to Ottawa to raise money the organization’s maternal health work in Asia and Africa.  Just a few weeks ago I joined Eric on on a bike ride to run through the route and marry Eric’s foolish optimism with my actual experience planning bike tours with the Otesha Project.

The tour turned out to be a total disaster that cost us our friendship and very nearly our very lives.  Unlike many Facebook users who use their profiles that project a version of their lives that is filled only with weddings, concerts and puppy dogs, Eric and I had the courage to say petty things about each other to all our friends.

For all you people who prefer to wait for your show’s season to end so that you can download the whole thing and blast through it in just a few sittings, here now is every episode of this story in order with some of our favorite comments.

Day one: Toronto to Pickering

From my wall:

Eric writes:

Day two: Pickering to Cobourg

We both posted that morning before hitting the road:

That night Eric gathered his strength to write:

My account of the experience:

Day three: Cobourg to Belleville

Lots of activity on day three.  It all started with some yoga, I wrote:

Saavasana expert Eric shared:

Our kind Cobourg host Mr. Darrell Flewell posted this photo:

Eric changed his profile picture:

As did I:

That night both shared a video:


Here it is:

At some point that day one of our mutual friends found a comparison to make:

Day four: Belleville to Kingston

Day four had its ups and downs.  That morning I shared this photo:

Later on Eric also shared a photo:

It’s possible that we may not have taken the most direct route to Kingston.  Here is a previously unreleased video from that afternoon:

Late that night Eric whined:

While I celebrated:

Day five: Kingston to Perth

A former colleague of mine claimed to spot us getting out of a car that morning in Kingston:

Here is the video, likely directed by special effects wizard James Cameron:

Late that night from Perth, Eric gave the following status update:

I updated my status to share a number of discoveries:

Day six: Perth to Ottawa

Another strange night for Longneck.  That morning he shared a photo with the following incoherent caption:

I updated my status to ask a question:

Later on that morning Farr reports:

My version:

At some point that day Carolyne Gardner, our host in Pickering, shared her thoughts:

But by then it was too late.

The aftermath

Safe at home, we both had a new video to share:

Here is that video:

The epilogue

The final chapter in our story came in the form of a YouTube video released to Facebook about a week after the tour ended.  Eric Farr pompously writes:

I had this to say:

Here’s the video:

The Mother’s Day Bike Challenge

The actual tour is hitting the road next Wednesday on the 9th of May.  In his typical foolish optimism, Eric has set himself the ambitious goal of raising $2000 to go towards the International Development and Relief Foundation’s important maternal health projects.  Click here to pitch in what you can to help him reach his goal.

Clip from the Benny Show featuring Carmel

This is something I made a couple weeks ago with my niece and nephew to invite their friends to attend my niece Carmel’s upcoming second birthday party.

‘Something so important’

About a year ago I put together this video while I was working directly with the Otesha Project as Programs Director.  To develop content for an upcoming fundraiser a number of the staff put together ‘digital stories’ based on our personal reflections on the work of the organization.  The cheesyness of my video irks me a bit, but you know what?!  I meant what I said and I still mean it, so here it is.  Bonus points go to whoever can mention the text I was citing at the 0:47 and 2:00 marks in the video.

The Otesha Project continues to spread the jam from their new downtown Ottawa headquarters and are now recruiting for the slate of crazy tours they have planned for 2012.  More information is available on the website.  Please share with anyone you think might be interested in connecting with Canadian youth around environmental sustainability and social justice as they live as part of a sustainable mobile community.

Performance of ‘Radiant Heart’ by Iain Nabil

Iain Nabil Ferguson is a fellow Canadian who has been serving at the Baha’i House of Worship here in New Delhi for the past few months.  He sings a number of songs based on the writings of the Baha’i Faith in this wonderful style that strikes me as quintessentially Canadian.  This one is based on the following two selections from The Hidden Words by Baha’u'llah:

O SON OF SPIRIT! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting. (Number 1, from the Arabic)

O SON OF BEING! Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant. (Number 5, from the Arabic)

You can listen to more of Iain’s music and keep track of him online on his Myspace and Facebook pages.  For another such video, check out this one I made with Honeyman and the Brothers Farr.  For more great music based on the Baha’i writings, check out this selection from the band The Hidden Words.

Anna’s presentation

Last post I  shared some photos of demonstrators at India Gate on the evening anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare walked out of Tihar jail to begin his public fast to demand a strong anti-corruption bill be passed by the Indian parliament.  Here’s a quick video of some of the chants.  If you watch very carefully you will see that magical moment when one chant leader is replaced by another.

Since then I have been witnessing Anna-fever all over the city.  Huge flags and loud slogans have been pouring out of trucks, cars and autorickshaws.  Last Saturday I witnessed as group of men rallied – flags, chants and all – their way from one metro line to another.  Half of each day’s newspaper has been dedicated to the story with articles on every aspect of Hazare’s health and the government’s ongoing efforts to get in front of the story for once.On Friday evening I hopped on a bus to Ramlila Grounds to spend a few moments at ground zero of Hazare’s movement, the space where he has been sitting and fasting, surrounded by his advisers, supporters and the media.

Getting off the bus, I followed the crowd through the streets of Old Delhi until I found my self in an orderly line that I knew must lead into the grounds.  Volunteers were handing out bananas and small plastic packets of drinking water.

Many have described Hazare’s movement to be primarily of the middle class, but one could see the poor of Old Delhi taking part as well.  Many were selling different versions of Hazare’s white Nehru cap with the words “I am Anna” printed on them.  There were young men circulating the crowd offering to paint the tricolor (orange, white and green) on your face for five rupees.  Further away a couple young boys were shrieking with laughter as they squeezed drinking water packets at each other.

Metal detectors and pat-downs by distracted police officers are a common feature of life in Delhi.  You can’t take a ride on the metro, watch a movie, enter a mall or temple without one.  By the time the line had taken me to the line of metal detectors I was already stuffing free banana number three into my mouth.  Just then thick white smoke started surrounding us to give the whole scene a much more authentic protest look and feel.  Rather than from tear gas, the smoke was coming from two bicycles with small fumigation machines.  The demonstration had been getting some bad press for the sanitary conditions.

Now in the grounds, I followed the sound of the loud speakers across a muddy expanse populated by streams of people navigating through the large puddles.  Compared to the rest of India, Delhi gets barely any rain but with a total lack of drainage, Delhi can flood with the best of Indian cities.  Half an hour of heavy rain can leave behind days of massive puddles.

It wasn’t long before I was in the thick of the crowd and finally setting eyes on the 74 year old Gandhian activist sitting below a blown up photograph of the original Gandhian (Gandhi).  Nothing between me and the big man but a moat full of media people and smokey Delhi air.

There was a similar spirit of fun and camaraderie among demonstrators that I had seen earlier at India Gate.  Children, youth, middle-aged and elderly people were all there and there was even a section penned off for women, just like what you can find on a Delhi metro train.  Hazare sat alone on the stage as others screamed into the microphone in Hindi, occasionally inspiring the crowd to chant ‘Long live the revolution!  Long live Anna Hazare!’

After an afternoon out with a friend the next day (Saturday) we saw a crowd of young men leaning in to watch a small television in a textile shop.  The government had held an emergency parliamentary vote on Hazare’s version of the anti-corruption bill and passed it.  He hadn’t eaten in 12 days but there he was on TV giving a raucous speech.  I asked one of the guys watching if he had eaten anything yet and he said that apparently he was going to hold off until Sunday morning.

Since then he ate breakfast checked into a private hospital here in Delhi where he is reportedly being attended by 36 doctors.  Now that they have defeated corruption, Anna’s team has announced their next project – they want Indians to have the right to recall Ministers of Parliament mid-term.

This whole story has raised to many important questions over the past few months related to democracy, the role of institutions and of the culture of corruption.  Along with constant updates on Anna and the government’s response to his movement, the papers have also been providing a steady stream of op-ed on the story.  Everyone has an opinion on it, but mine is still under construction.  Might have more on that here later.

A short film about sports

If I don’t understand football, curling, or even marathon running – there is no way I am going to understand the sport that the majority of the planet has long written off as too perplexing to even try.  As little as I understand about cricket, I did have the feeling that if India was going to win their ICC World Cup final match against Sri Lanka last night – the quiet hill station of Panchgani was going to get loud.

Check out the above video if you would like a taste of what broke out all over this giant country last night.  Share it if you like it.

A Magic Show by Parmesh

Every 19 days Baha’i communities all over the globe get together for an event called the Nineteen Day Feast.  The Feast generally consists of collective worship, consultation and socializing – but each of those elements can take any of a number of forms depending on the culture and style of the community.

Some GIFs from Japan

A couple days ago I left Ottawa and I am currently in Japan for a few days on my way back to India.  I’m staying with one of my home-town brothers Zach Miloff and perennial travel partner Anis Sobhani has come along for the adventure.  For many of us, Japan holds the promise of being so unlike the western world that being there is the closest that we will ever come to space travel.  It’s industrialized like Canada, but only completely differently.

According to fancy pants Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail, GIFs are currently enjoying a renaissance.  GIFs are those clunky looped images things that used to crowd the internet before flash and video.  To capture the awe and wonder of being in Japan, we made some GIFs.  The above is of Anis on top of Zach’s apartment building in Chiba, outside Tokyo.

These two were made at Shibuya crossing in Tokyo.  Shibuya crossing is one of the busiest pedestrian crossings on the planet.

Here is a very special behind the scenes making-of video for the last GIF in the crossing:

More on India when I get there later this week.