September 22, 2005: In this news release Ratna Rajaiah expounds about the many uses for bamboo. Rajaiah proposes that this well-known plant may one day be prized as a precious commodity. Rajaiah says, “In May of this year, Newsweek magazine featured 12 of the most exciting designs of the year — everything from the new Sony Portable Music Player and the Nokia N91 phone to the latest Polaroid camera. And amongst that dozen was bamboo picnic plates, flooring and baby’s clothes made from bamboo fabric! Not only because the fabric is so soft and so light that it ‘feels like cashmere’ but also because a natural anti-bacterial agent in bamboo has passed on to the fabric, which also makes it stay odor-free. But the bamboo’s most underestimated and often forgotten use is in construction and architecture. In China, there is a 1,700-year-old bridge, considered one of the engineering marvels of the ancient world. The bridge spans the 1,000-foot wide Min River and from roughly the 3rd century ce, hung from cables made out of bamboo until steel cables replaced them in 1975. Laurie Baker, the famous architect, found that a grid of split local bamboo, carefully lashed together in the right pattern, works just as well as steel reinforcement – at less than 5 percent of the cost.”
In India, Rajaiah points out that bamboo is used to make flutes (Lord Krishna was a divine flute player). Also India has the largest bamboo reserves in the world and bamboo has served as a source of food, construction material and medicine for the population.
Finally Rajaiah goes on to talk about his own personal experience of using bamboo to build his yogashala. Apparently the walls are made of horizontal bamboo slats that do not lie evenly together, resulting in a structure with perfect ventilation, that is neither too cold in winter nor too hot in summer. With a perfect air flow, the yogashala receives plenty of fresh prana.
This long article, available at “source,” is most informative! Click http://www.inbar.int/ for more information on bamboo.