NIRVAIR (Kada)

NIRVAIR - without fear

Starting with Beards as the cultural artifact, I found significance of beards being very strong in the Sikh community. Sikhs are supposed to keep uncut hair and beard as part of their identity.
Being minority in India and outside India, Sikhs have already been struggling for their rights to practice their faith (carrying Kirpan ,wearing turban etc) . Post 9/11 there were hate crimes against not just Muslims, but also Sikhs. The terrorist, Osama bin laden ,the master mind behind the attack, also wore turban and had a long beard which was significant to his belief and origin.
Outcome of this was people have stopped trusting each other.

This has led to:
-Low acceptance
-Less or no socializing.
-Loss of semantics
-People are disrespected
-Increase in mutual hatred
-Increase Hate Crimes
-Community attacks and so on..

This all has lead to the world becoming a darker place. As everything is homogenizing around us, the unknown and the uncommon is less trusted.

So, I wanted to bring back that trust by forming a network of trust across the communities.
Taking inspiration From Kara, artifact from the Sikh faith which is universal symbol of the totality of God; free for everybody to use. Its in the shape of a circle, which, like the eternal nature of God, has no beginning and no end. This form is common and has gone across communities carrying it's acceptance and meaning.

I propose to a make trust bangle which will connect with people on the basis of trust. For eg
Two people A and B wearing the bangle meet, and they form a mutual trust.

A and B can remain connected.
Now, B goes and also connects to C .
later, C connects to D (forms a bond of trust).
Which enables A automatically connecting to C & D . Increasing the trust beyond self.
This way it will keep spreading and glowing as more people are added to trust
list.
This bangle would glow as you touch it as a gentle reminder, of you being in a trusted neighborhood and surrounding.
This would create an intangible network of trust within different communities and form a better social interaction.

Brain Storming on 'Beards'.

All the associations, which exist with beards.

Meaning Discourse around Beard.

Locating the meanings it has formed from our ways of understanding i.e Cultural history, science, Gender associations,Natural/Godly uses, problems, future of beads and so on.

Quantified data on Beards

Studying quantified data on beards(life logging, body hacking, microbes etc) and also existing wearable technologies.

Beard as a Cultural artefact

Beard being natural or marketed symbol of manliness and its meanings attached with gender identity formed of years.

Beard as Identity to a faith.

In sikhism, Kesh (Hair) is the practice of allowing one's hair to grow naturally as a symbol of respect for the perfection of God's creation. Meaning of beard is mentioned in the text of other religions and communities but looking Sikhs, it has still kept its meaning alive.

Racist attacks on Beards.

Post 9/11 there were hate crimes against not just Muslims, but also Sikhs.

Repeated problems with not so random additional security checks.

The terrorist, Osama bin laden, The master mind behind the attack, also wore

turban and had a long beard which was significant to his belief and origin.

it caused strong mistrust across communities.

.

Sikhs facing issues, practicing their faith.

Studying about Sikh faith, as beard is not the only thing they can be identified with. There are other strong symbols, cultural facts that they carry as important part of their belief. It is a serious issue as loss of faith can lead to loss of identity.

Understanding Sikh identity Symbols

Kanga(comb), Kada(steel bangle), kachera(underwear), Kesh(hair) & kirpan ,it's not written but turban is in a way considered a 6th artefact. These artefacts are what Sikhs got from there gurus. Each artefact has deep routed meanings, which comes from the belief.

Meaning of kirpan

The Kirpan is a Steel dagger which symbolises a Sikh's. It is a reminder to duty of the true Sikh to help those who suffer unjustly, by whatever means available. Symbol of mercy is being feared now.

Role of a Baptised Sikh.

Understanding role of a Sikh (Saint+Soldier) and also how future of these artefacts(kanga, kirpan & kalgi) can be shaped so that their meanings can be revived.

Discourse on Contextual turban.

Study on identity differences and similarities on basis of turbans with origin and history.

Kada or Kara (trusted form)

The Kara is an iron/steel circle to symbolise God as never ending. It is a symbol of permanent bonding to the community, of being a link in the chain of Khalsa Sikhs.

It was found that kada as form has gone across community and

still kept its meaning and trust.

Designing symbol of trust.

Understanding how people form trust among different communities and exchange commodities. So a symbol of trust can be created which can go off communities and can fight fear that is spreading..

Interaction design to form network of trust using kada!

Designing a New age kada, which helps you form a network of people and places you trust. With this network of trust, you can touch your kada the reminder and it glows back to inform you that you are around you're trusted people. This disrupts the fear in different people.

Prototyping

Nirvair(without fear). its a new age kada. The whole outer surface of the kada is the interface which only requires a simple touch as interaction. Interactions are defined to be as simple as possible to avoid giving any learning curve or confusion.