what's in a name?"HIHIRI PIPIRI is the legendary land from which the first people had come. According to the Santhali mythology, the origin of mankind comes from two ducks who were created by Thakur in the very first days of creation. Their names were Hans ('male duck') and Hansli ('female duck'). Hans and Hansli loved each other very much and never left one another alone. So when Hansli becomes pregnant they tirelessly start to look for a proper place to lay the eggs. But in the beginning of the universe there was no land. Everything was immersed in water. Finally they found one lotus on which leaf Hansli laid two eggs. After some time two human babies (one boy and one girl) went out of these eggs. As they started to grow older, they outgrew the lotus and fell into the water. Hans and Hansli saving them, picked them up with their beaks and started to fly around to find a new home. They spent almost 12 year flying around and crying aloud, because there was no place to land on. Within this time their bodies turned into bones. At last, seeing their miserable condition, merciful Thakur created HIHIRI PIRIRI a mythical land, where Santali Adam and Eve grew up in bliss and happiness and which is considered as an original land of the Santhali people, who helped to build the house and are a very important yet neglected part of Santiniketan's culture. HIHIRI PIRIRI. Even though it's etymology remains unknown, it leaves some flavour of mystery on the whole thing..." + Kamil Siedczyn sorta also known as,"As all things must follow some preordained harmony, so the name fell natural one rainy evening. It was after a long day spent digging mud, sweeping floors, and arranging books in the library. Our first residents, Sofia from Italy, Lobzang from Tibet and Mum from Santiniketan obliged our tribulations, a lingering to-do, of what to call the project. A relic from a mountain sojourn rested on the window sill, a faded T-A-X-I, the plastic that sits atop a vehicle to deem it public tool. Thus it was suggested, Yellow Taxi Mud House. Suddenly comparisons fell into place: the house is yellow.. It shares something in style and age with the quintessential Ambassador yellow taxis that mercilessly plough through Kolkata's narrow streets where everything happens at once! - or sit still in traffic and smog. For our friends in Kolkata the name was a travesty! After all they've spent how many pointless hours haggling for a fair fare? And the city is forever creeping in on to the rural landscape, threatening to supplant it, forcing standardized values, standardized families, standardized color-coded taxis. But then again, much like mud houses replaced by careless cement, the yellow Ambassador taxi is facing its own extinction, as Uber and Ola ride the airways, can we expect the car to migrate to the city outskirts, into the villages and the dusty roads connecting them? While the urban excludes, the rural always finds space for the exiled, and so civilization recycles. Like getting in a cab, between whats before and whats next, for a short time you may ride in our mud house, choosing for yourself the direction it travels, opening new routes or taking strange turns.. The meter's broken anyway." + Lavrenty Repin "There is a Frog Room and a Please Watch Your Head Room amongst other rooms waiting for you. Spaces to be adorned with memories and art, a Freedom kitchen, countless mangoes that have a tendency to fall on you during summer, a mud oven that was inaugurated with home-made pizza, a tube-well lovingly referred to as the Stage, the back-door pond, a hammock to gaze at the clouds and the sky, the green fields, and the Kopai river… the Yellow Taxi is all of these things and so much more. Here is a secret - what really drives this collective is its capacity to embrace and radiate love. Finally, the Yellow Taxi promotes community-based living that has come to life primarily due to the harmonious collaboration between the village-dwellers and the visiting artists, musicians, and friends. Keeping this in mind, it can be considered a humble homage to Tagore’s Sriniketan Project. " + Stuti Mamen Lowang
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