Jodhpuri Christmas

One would talk about the fine Jodhpuri sherwanis or the bandhnis after a trip to this blue city. But what I want to share is this cosy little guest house called Mandore guest house and the Christmas eve we spent here. There is a narrow lane right opposite Mandore gardens strewn with construction debris, cow dung, ashrams, teashops which takes you to this leafy haven. At first one is a bit skeptic about the place but as soon as the guard boy opens the huge gate to let your car in, you get transformed to a different place.

I must give my husband due credit for finding this place and doing a bit of reading on what to expect. Much to my amazement, two dogs emerged from nowhere and my husband promptly asked the boy -"where is the third one?" He knew them by names. This trip planning was entirely left to him unlike out earlier trip where I was always in charge.

Mandore has some 15 odd cottages with a little private garden table outside where they serve all your meals. It is a family run place so your experience is lot like living in some one's house as guests. We arrived early at 5:45am and the sun was just rising. The sleepy guard boy took our bags in and we happened to ask about breakfast time. "Apko jo khana ho vo hum bana denge jiji". Wow! I would rather go back to my warm quilt than cook breakfast for a guest. But as promised, in half an hour our parathas, poha & chai arrived on the cosy table outside.

It is a vey unhotel like place where food is made fresh at your request, the owners drop by to check whether you are comfortable, no intercoms or TV, clean rooms reflecting the vibrant Rajasthani essence. This place is for the people who want to get away from urban spaces and unwind with nature and fair amount of comfort. The food is superb and their Daal bati is to die for. In the evenings the whole place is lit up with small lamps. Since we visited on Christmas eve, the place looked even more festive.

Andretta potteries

I am back to blogging after a long silence. I have been busy studying aesthetics over the weekends and reading up a whole lot of stuff on Indian philosophers. I took a break with my family in the Kangra valley. My next post would be on that but right now I want to share about this village called Andretta in the kangra valley.

As you approach the village, you spot Sobha Singh art gallery run by his own daughter. Somewhere you also read about Norah Richard's mud house and centre for the arts. B.C. Sanyal, an artist too had set up a society on a land given by Norah Richards. A smallish lane running opposite to the gallery takes you to a pottery workshop run by Mini Singh, son of famous potter Gurcharan Singh. Walking around the place makes you feel that this isn't an ordinary village and it would have been a pity to miss it on my tour to the valley. Mini Singh himself has an interesting biography which one could read on http://www.andrettapottery.com.
Unfortunately I couldn't meet the man himself but bought some beautiful stuff from his workshop. He seems to be instrumental in starting the Andretta pottery & craft society. They have workshops for aspiring potters. I left feeling envious of all these artist settled here who have the snow caped Himalays in the backyard of their studios and little streams of melting snow running alongside.
Splendid!

Misconstrued

Designer's worst nightmare

Flea Nite exhibit

Finally it happened! After a month's painstaking work, my handmade stuff was up for the show.
For a first time experience it was great. Have a dekko...

Illustrations

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Just thought of sharing some college work. I was browsing through my portfolio and came accross these water colour illustrations. These illustrations were done as a part of charachter visualisation exercise. the charachter given to my group was a "middle aged man".

Fle@ Nite

At Juhu, Golden Manor on 7th June,2009 from 4pm to 1am.

What would you get to see?- A group of exhibitors exhibiting and selling paintings, handmade stuff, photography and everything you can imagine being a part of an art mela.

Check out some stuff that I am going to exhibit.

Handcrafted books by Riddhi

A few days back I received an email with loads of image attachments with a message saying- "Let me know what you think of them". I still haven't replied to her mail but I was eager to share Riddhi's work on my blog.



Riddhi apart from being a good friend and my typo guru, she is a practicing graphic designer. I would often receive some handmade earrings wrapped in small i-pod size stitched covers made from saree borders. Her chappals would have some ceramic button stitched on them which would leave you wondering where did she pick those! So in a nutshell, she has this ability to put things together which look fabulous and add a personal touch.

Similarly, the books that you see here are designed to reflect a person's personality or taste.
One could see her work at http://riddhi.theblueskys.com You could also pick up one of these books at a group exhibit cum sale that both of us are participating on 7th June at Juhu, Mumbai. I'll blog about this exhibit a little later and also share the venue & time.

Enjoy!!!

Champaner

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Champaner

Under the Gujarat architecture series, Champaner would be my 2nd destination to write about.
I visited it in 2005, a year after it was declared as World heritage site by UNESCO.

I was accompanying a friend who was taking a German student to visit Champaner. She was in India for her mid semester break and I was still studying at NID then. It is a 3hour drive and just 47kms from Vadodra.

This fort town was ruled by the Rajputs till Mohmud Begda captured it by the end of 15th Century. It was again attacked and captured by Humanyun in early 16th century. What remains of it are these ruins bearing the footprints of different rulers, their religion, culture and life once lived. The most prominent of all is the Jama Masjid.

I will soon put up more pics on my Shutterfly account and share the link.

Stepwells in Gujarat

Out of the many repositories of architecture in Gujarat, I first & foremost choose to write about the stepwells or vaav as locally called . These wells are no ordinary wells. One of the least known and visited architectural wonders built in and around 15th Century. They are five to seven storey layered excavations deep into the bowels of earth. Designed to provide water and shelter from scorching heat, they became a common place for meetings and cultural exchanges for the pilgrims.

These pictures are of Adalaj ni vaav, situated 18km. north of city of Ahmedabad. The well was built in 1499 A.D. by Queen Rudabai. There is an interesting legend behing Adalaj vaav.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adalaj

The best one is in Patan. I happen to visit it while shooting for a documentary with the famous patola weavers there.
The Rani ni vaav is by far the biggest and most intricate out of the ones I have visited.

Morna Livingston has compiled a book on these wells called "steps to water" which has some beautiful pictures of vaavs and Baolis all over Gujarat and Rajasthan.