Diario del detente de Lola

Un usuario de un amuleto de Laura Alba

clip_image0025 de jul – hoy estoy de remojo con el detente que Laura quiere poner a prueba en mi persona. Me lo obsequió con todo y cargador. Haz de cuenta el inalámbrico que hay que montar en su base si quieres que funcione: mi detente (una etiqueta de ropa en la que luce una dama de flotante cabellera) se retira a descansar por las noches al interior de una bolsita hecha a su vez con el papel-plástico de una bolsa de café (muy a tono con mi Café-Restaurant). Al día siguiente, de vuelta a la sede de las tentaciones, mi bolsa, esta bien cargado para salirle al encuentro a cuanto gasto precipitado se presente. Debo decir que no es la primera vez que soy objeto de este tipo de protección. Cuándo éramos niñas, mi hermana y yo usábamos un escapulario especial para infantes, con imágenes mini mini. Aun lo conservo. Se lo presumí a Laura, quien procedió a inmortalizarlo con su cámara. Ver a la derecha.

clip_image0049 de jul – día de tianquis en la Comercial. Ya no tenemos nada. Por la mañana le destiné un tiempo a las compras semanales para la casa y el Café. Como quien no quiere la cosa, hice un alto en los anaqueles rebosantes de moldecitos para panqués. La oferta no tiene fin. Las formas se renuevan constantemente: cuadrados, lunas, estrellas…es un zafarrancho para la vista. Pero es un hecho que la gente quiere lo nuevo. Una se quiere actualizar, pro no es para tanto. Ahora les dicen cup-cakes (léase “cop queics”).Eso es gringo. Una moda como tantas. Ademas del pastel una clienta quiso festejar su cumple con un buen pedido de panqués-cup-cakes con los moldes que compré recientemente. Pero en esta ocasión creo que el detente me contuvo. Clientas! Espérense: no compraré ni uno mas.

clip_image00613 de jul – Nos faltaron verduras para la sopa y se acabó el polvo de hornear. Tuve que ir de volada al super. Parece que Mary esta sintonizada con el detente, pues antes de salir me advirtió que no se me pasara de comprar tanta fruta en oferta. Dicho y hecho: pasé de largo. Y mira que tanto la fruta como las ofertas estaban suculentas. Mañana es día de tango. Tuve que darme una vuelta a Liverpool por una crema y estuve en un tris de comprarme unos zapatos despampanantes de raso color sangre para la bailada. Hasta los probé con unos pasitos. De buena altura pero de lo mas cómodos…y caritos. Finalmente, sin que fuera un No! Tajante y rotundo, me pude contener. Por la noche, metí con agradecimiento el detente en su bolsita color granate

clip_image00817 de jul – Fui con Laura a Miguel a comprar pegamento para tela, pues el que tengo creo que ya esta muy viejo. Quería mostrárselo pues ahorra muchas costuras, sin manchar. Ella sí que no necesita ningún detente, aunque tenga la patente. Dijo que estaba bien saberlo, pero que por el momento no. Pero qué crees? El pecado se adueñó de mi bolsillo. Había unos chaquirones de lo mas novedoso y compré de varios colores y sabores. Ni modo, este detente no esta a prueba de chaquirones rayados y con luces. Y verás, me van a inspirar unas pulseras super, ya tengo la tela per fecta para combinarlos. Luego nos seguimos a Galerías. Las obras del metro en Félix Cuevas (única línea construida en el sexenio) estan llegando a su fin, asi como el terregal, el ruido y, sobre todo, las calles clausuradas y las desviaciones. Al fin podremos disfrutarlo. De puro gusto, haremos un paseo de terminal a terminal. El detente esta de acuerdo pues durante los primeros días, será gratis. El recorrido de las tiendas fue una tortura pues a cual mas compiten por mejorar gangas.

clip_image010 clip_image012clip_image014 La prueba suprema se dio en Radio Shack Ya me había comentado mi sobrino de las linduras electrónicas de hoy en día. Aun asi, no estaba preparada para el recorrido que se empeñó en darnos el buen vendedor que nos detectó husmeando. El I Pad o sea las tabletas, se han reproducido en otras marcas como si fueran conejos. Había smart T.V.s hasta de unos $40,000, pantallas planas descomunales, que reconocen la voz, el movimiento corporal para hacer cualquier cambio, que sirven para navegar en Internet. Televisioncitas portátiles de alta definición. Cámaras digitales capaces de n monerías. Teléfonos digitales que se creen computadoras. Libros Kinle. Bocinas chistosas como personajes de caricatura. Juegos de video que se manejan con el puro movimiento corporal. En fin, podría decir que mi detente y el que tiene Laura en su chip quedaron agotados, pero la verdad los gadgets me marean. No asi la variedad de estambres, hilazas, cintas y demas que ofrece “Crochet” a la vuelta. Aun con esos precios estratosféricos, dan tentación de la buena. Armada con mi detente, los estuve viendo y gozando con Laura, sin arriesgar el menor despilfarro. Es un buen invento este detente, de verdad útil, aunque no sea 100% efectivo.

A living amulet–how you can be lucky for others, if not yourself

Bangalore graphic designer Bakula Nayak reflects on how she has become a ‘living amulet’ sought after by shopkeepers for her auspicious presence for ‘bohni’.

Bakula in her new apartment just after a puja when it is blessed for good fortune

People all over the world nurture certain beliefs and superstitions and India is no exception. Though we as a society are getting increasingly progressive, ours is a country where superstitions abound. This however, reflects only one small and fascinating shade of the enormous, incredible, multi-faceted country that is India.

Some superstitions have their basis in religious beliefs, others in scientific facts and still others in no conceivable reason. In the 70’s having a baby boy was better than having a girl – for whatever reason my dad believed otherwise. There is one kind of sweet distributed when a boy is born and one kind when a girl is born – he distributed the kind that he would if I was a boy, confusing everybody 🙂 He always believed I would bring him luck and says that is what I did. When I was born, my father was an engineer working on a modest salary for the government, he says his fortunes changed for the better after I came into my parents’ lives – he started his own business, made a lot of money and continued growing his business throughout his entire life. He always thought that I brought that change into his life and continued to bring him luck.

In my teens, I would take an auto rickshaw everyday in the morning to college. There is a rickshaw stand by my house and the drivers would say that whose ever rickshaw I took that morning always did really good business for the rest of the day. They wanted me to be their “bohni” customer – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohni To this day, when I know that I am the bohni customer for a rickshaw driver or a street vendor I pay a couple of rupees extra and hope that his day goes well.

One of my childhood friend firmly believes that I secure luck for his business when I am his bohni customer for any new venture. When he opened his first restaurant – I went to lunch there, had a great meal and paid in excess when I left. He wanted to break even in 9months but he broke even in 3! I order take away from there sometimes and his manager calls me back the next day to let me know that their sale was double the usual amount because I was his bohni customer. He says I should show up there everyday 🙂

On the other hand , he has a customer who he thinks brings him extreme bad luck. So when the guy does show up as a bohni customer, the manager purchases himself a bottle of water before billing this guy! They recently opened a new section to their restaurant and my friend made sure I came there to eat (before they opened to the general public) and paid my bill. I did and he says the response to the new space is amazing. I believe that he is a hardworking person who has put a lot of heart and soul into his business and hence it does so well but I love it that he thinks I bring him that touch of luck.

Strangely I don’t consider myself “lucky” – I have never won a single thing in any luck games. I always played the jackpot in the USA but no luck! Bingo, snakes and ladders, anything involving cards and dice, blackjack, spinning the wheel… anything! I have NEVER EVER won a thing. In fact, when I am asked to pick, choose or roll a dice I always have somebody else do it for me 🙂

The origins of Luck by Design

Walking into my Greek hairdresser for regular cut, I was shocked to see Chris the barber appear with a badly bruised face. What happened? With a half-smile, he told me he’d been knocked down by a car crossing a busy road, left in a coma for days. ‘That’s terrible, Chris.’ But he laughed, ‘Don’t worry, I have luck!’ He dug his hand under his shirt collar and pulled out a crucifix. ‘This protects me.’ He then told me about how he was given this special object in a Greek monastery.

Listening in the barber’s seat, I felt pleased for Chris. But walking home questions began to arise. Is he really lucky? I wasn’t wearing a crucifix, and I haven’t been hit by a car. He wears a crucifix and he is nearly killed. No, it’s not the objective reality of luck that seems to matter to Chris, it’s more the positive perspective he brings to it. For Chris, things could always be worse. Sure you’ve been struck by a car, but then you could have been killed. Chris feels lucky. And he has a long-lasting cultural platform to support this feeling. He is lucky.

But what about doubters like myself? Is there a way of feeling lucky without subscribing to belief that a mysterious hand is guiding events in our favour? Previous generations have inherited cosmologies and superstitions that give a semblance of order behind the random occurrences that can disrupt our lives. In abandoning such childish beliefs, have we lost a potentially positive frame through which to look forward?

I raised this with my sister-in-law, a superbly intelligent professor of international law who just happened to be struck with the curse of a terminal bowel cancer. She was committed to every possible practical treatment, from medical technology to strict diet. Nothing was left to chance. Yet underpinning all this was the critical element of hope. ‘In the end, you have to believe in something.’

The challenge then is to think of luck as something can be constructed, rather than imbibed magically through traditions or new age fantasies. To create luck by design seeks to create a space in which fortune can appear. This is the space where stories appear. The core element in any narrative is unpredictability—then what happened? By contrast with the predictable routines of daily life, stories allow for surprise. It’s this shared vulnerability to chance that connects people together.

Today, the creation of luck draws on a mixture of past and present sources, including collective traditions, personal invention and professional design.

Civilisation is an ongoing project. Just as crafts like pottery were honed over millennia, so techniques evolved for warding off impalpable fears. There have been substances that presage the future, such as tea leaves. Mysterious symbols have inspired confidence, like the four-leaf clover. Fragments of rare substances, as in medieval reliquaries, evoke a powerful aura. In addition to inherited traditions, many individuals invent their own ways to pass on luck to friends or family. A personal customised charm might prove effective in evoking a friendship that will survive through thick and thin. And now there are some designers, particularly jewellers, who are re-casting traditions to invent a modern amulet, tailored to meet new anxieties.

For the applied arts, the challenge of enabling luck promises to connect craft for art’s sake to the relational age.

Craft survived in the 20th century by becoming an art form. Ceramics and jewellery continued to be made by hand as a form of creative expression, rather than objects to be used. But this is unlikely to continue. With ongoing deskilling and dematerialisation, the production of craft masterpieces is declining. One answer is to return to the social basis of craft

There is in the origins of craft an element of design—not necessarily for practical purposes such as holding liquids, but in the architecture of hope within which people gain emotional shelter. The care invested in a handmade gift is a capital that we can carry around to face uncertainties of a life in play.

The project of Luck by Design is to draw from this rich combination of tradition, personal invention and professional practice to create a set of principles at play in the practice of making fortune. While it aspires to the disciplines of a professional practice, it also honours the folk wisdom that has evolved over millennia to raise hopes and ward off fear.

The 88 principles of Luck by Design are intended to evoke the diversity and open-ended nature of creating auspiciousness. Perhaps later, it may be possible to distil these into a system, like colour theory. But for now, we can enjoy its rich legacy, and maybe even contribute something new.

For a brief period, you can download a free copy of Luck by Design. Details here.