Rajasthan Calling!

I'm headed to Rajasthan- the most colourful state in this country, for 8 days. I'll be back with a lot of pictures and colours and hopefully some stories :)

Buddha.

What started last night continues, its been 18 hours now and the terrorists are still holding so many people to ransom. Deaths, injuries, but above all there is this overwhelming sensation of helplessness, anger. It's so many centuries since we've 'evolved' from the neanderthal man. And where is the evolution?
I promised myself I wouldn't rant here. So I won't. Instead here are some images of peace. From across the world. From different flickr streams. Just look at his face.

Murnis in Bali's flickr

Silentinfinite's flickr

Stephcarter's flickr

Akuppas Flickr

Shawn Econo's Flickr

Bill Horne's Flickr

Ze Eduardo's flickr

Asiadsb's flickr

Q Q's Flickr

Amazing Granada's flickr

And finally my favourite image. I just wanted to leave you'll with a smile.

I have put together a collection of images from flickr & for the 1st time I have not written to ask for permission. In case anyone has an objection to their images being used here, let me know, I will remove it.

'Artnlight' in Hindustan Times Mint

Today is momentous for me. This is the day that 'artnlight' makes its appearance in Hindustan Times , one of the leading newspapers in India. When Melissa Bell from HT Mint wrote to me saying she wanted to feature 'artnlight' I really didn't know what to say. We spoke and she had this idea of writing a 'post' for the paper, and when the article would come in print is the day I would upload the post on my blog as well. So here's my post for the day.

Artemis: Goddess of Nature, Independence and the wilderness
To her from whom we derive our strength,
our powers, our vision, our grace,
where does she dwell?
In our dreams, our inspiration,
Our breath, our space?

Who is your Goddess?
Which Goddess are you, in the shape of your beliefs,
in the sweep of your work, in the grace of your home?

I am about to share with you a book which has long been my favourite "Goddess at Home" by A. Bronwyn Llewellyn. This book introduces the seven Greek Goddesses- Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Hera, Hestia & Persephone and goes on to explain how you can infuse your home with a divine grace worthy of the Goddess in you. Specific characteristics of the goddesses and their symbolism is explained with examples of ways to welcome her home by adding specific objects, colours, patterns or motifs reminiscent of her.

In my last post I featured Goddess Athena and how you can bring home her spirit of art and wisdom. Today I want to speak of my favourite Goddess, Artemis the Goddess of all things natural, wild, free and independent. Each time you think of standing on that cliff with the wind blowing your hair & each time you yearn for the smell of green, know it is Artemis who lives in you. So how do you get more of her into your home? How do you get more of YOU into your home?

"Although Artemis shared the quality of strength with other Goddesses, she possessed an untamable individuality. She knew her own nature well and honoured it. So create a space that announces who you are, where you come from and where you are going. Make it personal, use things that resonate at the core of your being. Don't be swayed by others opinions and choices. Exercise your intuition."

"To summon Artemis, invite nature into the den in all its wildness. Add a vase of tangled twigs or aromatic silvery Artemisia, unrefined containers of clay, drilled stones or wooden containers. This Goddess roamed fearlessly through moonlit thickets. Step boldly into colour realms you may have been too timid to try. Consider warm umber or delicate bamboo, add a woodsy hue of oak or gleaming chestnut."

Cover your floor wit natural fibres like coir or jute.

Frame naturalists sketches depicting natures beauty in every leaf, petal and stem.

Use natural containers of bamboo canes, twigs and basketry for magazines and other storage.

Display photographs of your travel to exotic places, whether a continent away or the next town.

Collect your found objects and souvenirs there, whatever denoted the life you have or the life you want.

To Artemis, everyday is new and overflowing with potential. She doesn't worry of what others think or expect of her. Her spirit is independent, individual and untamed. So bring her home, into you life and let your imagination run wild, literally J

Symbols of Athena
Moon- particularly the crescent
Bow and arrows
Mirror – clarity of self knowledge
Roads and harbours

Her colours
Earth tones and colours of deep woods, sundrenched meadows
Saffron and red
Silver
White

The spirit of Artemis lives in many adventurous self –knowing women, including Jane Goodall, Amelia Earnhart, Georgia O'Keefe, Katherine Hepburn.

Aradhana Nagpal and Dhoop

This will be my second post on Dhoop, Bandra's fantabulous gift & decor store. And I had promised a tete-a-tete with Aradhana Nagpal, the brains behind that show. After many months of co-ordinating schedules, we finally met. Whatever I may have expected Aradhana to be, I had not expected someone so young and I had certainly not expected to meet someone with such a tremendous academic background. Background not withstanding, what really shines through all that Aradhana speaks is her real passion and commitment towards Indian handicrafts and culture. This girl really feels for it. If I ever in some corner of my brain worried about the dying or dwindling of the enormous artistic heritage we have and what we are doing to conserve it, meeting Aradhana puts that to rest.

I love Dhoops large sunlit Balcony/Terrace

Speaking of Aradhana's qualifications, what began as an 'experimental' Liberal Arts programme in Ohio ended in a double major in Anthropology and Indian culture and History from Xaviers. After working with the NCPA and in India Book House, Aradhana just wanted to travel and get away from it all. (Me too, me too!) She headed straight to the North East. I have yet to meet someone with such a prfound love for a region as Aradhana has for the NorthEast and the tribes that live there. She just loves the Nagas. So after staying in the Northeast for almost 2 months, Aradhana came back to Mumbai- as she says "over the permitted weight by atleast a 100 kgs, I had shopped so much!!!" And that is how Dhoop began and it never looked back.

Dhoop has beautiful ceramic cups from which you can drink water

tea

and coffee :)

The beautiful cups from Northeast.

Once you've met Aradhana you'll never see Dhoop the same way again. You will see it the way she sees it- as a beginning, as a journey, as a place where culture and art is celebrated. I heard her as she told me with childish excitement that Raghu Dixit had come down & and how they had cleared the centre of the shop and people sat all around and watched him perform. She was even more happy when Maoris from Newzeland came to the store. It is her dream that Dhoop will one day have a book corner where people can quietly read and there will be talks by writers and artists.

Every product in Dhoop is beautifully packaged and like Aradhana says "Every product here has a story behind it"
Tealights, mirror and incesce holder in the Jaipur pottery style

Dhoop's jewellery collection is to die for...

And its beautiful lamps promise to bring
Beautiful light

They have some neat storage solutions as well

But what I love are pieces like these. Fun unique pieces. This is a coin holder & you need to shoot your coin in- neat!
These are part of the Indian Board games series
I've never seen a Krishna with the serpent wound around him quite like this...
Gods galore...
Serene Buddhas
And an antique insence holder
This is the new Bollywood collection
Shree 420 Hooks can now beckon your clothes :)
Kashmiri papier-mache style painting but on steel cups!
Pretty beaded shell curtains
These butterflies are stunners
Stylish metal tableware and huge brass urns of all sizes
These snails stole my heart. Don't they look like the gentlest souls?
And I'll close this post with my favourite picture of these brass lamps which close like a bud and open like a flower. And I'd have completely missed it had not Mr Rammy Nagpal (Aradhana's dad) shown them to me, meticulously explaining how you hold the turtle head to open it.