Girl About Home

The Hindu : Arts / Magazine : An orderly chaos

2011-12-31T06:55:00.000-08:00

Pre event review of my upcoming photo exhibition at NCPA Piramal Art Gallery.

Sublime Chaos of Cities, featuring established photographers, Mala Mukerjee and Smita Barooah Sanyal, opens on the 6th of January thru 15th.

Be there guys!

The Hindu : Arts / Magazine : An orderly chaos

Thank You!!!!

2011-11-29T10:45:00.001-08:00

This one is for Vineeta Nair, of the immensely popular, Artnlight - blogger, multi-tasker, foodie, conversationalist, passionate and witty personality and artist extraordinaire.. (There is plenty more facets to her I might be omitting here for sure !)

Have known and admired her work for quite some time now. I am honoured, privileged and absolutely delighted to find a place on her fabulous blog..!

A humble house, and even the ordinary details have come alive at her hand and keen eye for detail. The few hours we spent together chatting over mugs of tea, and watching her work were delightful and priceless learning. I cannot thank V enough for considering the feature and filling my home with her sunny personality and intelligent wit, for one whole afternoon...
Watch her work magic for yourself ...

here

&

here

Both the Photograhs are by Vineeta Nair .

Interior stories from Goa

2011-11-18T19:22:00.001-08:00

Posting today, a feature about the Goan residential architecture and interiors appeared in the Nov 28, 2011 issue of India Today Homes. For the original article go to:

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/old-homes-goa-margao-furniture-menezes-braganza-beaches-konkan-coastal/1/160222.html

A typical Goan single-storeyed home in Margao

For the smallest state of India-merely a tiny strip of land on its western coast, Goa has inherited history incommensurate to size. Shaped by long years of Portuguese colonialism and the Konkan coastal experience, the old homes of the state are keepers of its chequered past.

A quest for the quintessential Goan home brings me to the sleepy old village of Chandor. The erstwhile capital of the state, Chandor reached the heights of its glory in the 11th and 13th centuries under the Kadamba rulers of Karnataka. The torpid monsoon afternoon is uncomfortably hot. I am looking forward to my appointment with 80-year-old Sara Fernandez, resident and owner of Casa Grande or Vodelem Ghor in Konkani.

I have been told much about the old homes of the village, however nothing has prepared me for what I encounter.

Casa Grande is a two-storeyed structure seemingly Portuguese in style; a long facade divided by interminable file of windows laid with mother of pearl. Only once inside does the existence of a courtyard, in resonance with Hindu-style homes, become apparent.

Casa Grande

It is an old house, predating the Portuguese, built in the time of the Kadambas. Time drips from every wall and shell-lined window of the house. Mrs. Fernandez mutters, ``disorder, disorder’’ as she walks methrough fading corridors which has seen much in years.

Only for one who has just been offered a glimpse into the innards of a400-year-old house, living and breathing with supreme grace- I am tootransfixed, to notice. The decay, crumble and chaos spills silent stories, and history seems to have settled in coils and layers around the house. Walking around,I keep looking for a portal, a way into the fabric-in dimly lit hallways atticsand sooty secret passages -of one of the oldest homes of Chandor.

Goa has a rich tapestry of old homes and mansions with long eventfullives. These are spaces where thetraditions of the east and west coalesce resulting in delightfully syncretic architectureand aesthetics.

Casa Grande houses a veritable museum of sorts at the ground level. Artifacts-some dating back centuries, connected with the house-Shiva lingams and old agricultural implements are displayed aside precious vestments worn to church by the priests from the house including one particular garment with fine Chinese embroidery dated 1664.

A planters chair resting in the hindu-style quadrangle of the Fernandez home

The house has an armoury of swords and sheathed daggers, trap doors that lead to secret hideouts and escape routes, their walls perforated with gun holes to shoot at unsuspecting invaders.The past intertwines with the present as the later Christian, Portuguese elements become apparent sitting aside contemporary paraphernalia with grace and indifference; plastic toys are strewn on a 200-year-old love seat, a black and white television set sits propped against a powder blue lime wall.

Of particular note is an old cabinet made of gleaming rosewood. Choked with vintage China from Macau and plastic tableware, its glass panels are interestingly laid with old fading prints of art. "We keep changing the pictures inside as they fade'' explains Fernandez. The result is a quirky pastiche of renaissance art, old advertisements and bazaar prints. An apt testimony to the years of evolution the house itself has seen.

The rosewood picture cabinet at the Fernandez home

Old houses like Casa Grande are expensive to maintain. Homeowners complain about a growing shortage of craftsmen who retain quality skills to help maintain the homes. Many among the younger generation find it challenging to carry forward the demanding legacy of the past. ``I am tired,’’ says Mrs. Fernandez bracing her body against a white washedpillar, her asthmatic breathing labored with the effort, ``I have tried to keepthis place the best I could, I don’t know if my children will be interested’’, she says heavily. The factmakes the efforts of those committed to their histories and personal stories remarkable.

Living room of the Pereira Braganza's

Not very far from Casa Grande, is a painstakingly renovated home. The stately Braganza house owned by two sides of the same family: Pereira Braganza and Menezes Braganza. In the interest of preserving the space, the homeowners have segregated the living areas from those rarely in use.It is impossible to miss the elaborate 28-window tripartite facade of this Portuguese style mansion sprawled over 10,000 sq m of space.

The dance hall ( Perieira Braganza)

More sumptuous interiors, one will not see. The homes are divided into massive rooms with soaring ceilings laid out in intersecting sections. At the far end of the Pereira Braganza house sits the family's private chapel, an ornately carved and vaulted affair.The centrepiece of the mansion is a large ballroom. Its flooring made of Italian marble, Belgian crystal and Venetian glass chandeliers and mirrors encased in gold and silver, lends a priceless sparkle and patina to the room.

Chinoiserie love at the Menezes Braganza home

In the adjoining wing of the Menezes Braganza, it takes a retinue of six full time caretakers to ensure day-to-day upkeep. Gleaming silver, oriental vases and hand crocheted lace mix with the Portuguese love for Chinoiserie.

A sun filled bay at the Menezes Braganza home

Gleaming silverware at the Menezes Braganza home

In Margao, Ninette Pinto and Charles Rodrigues have just moved into a new, smaller home. They are still unpacking as I knock at their door. The interiors here are scaled down versions of what I have seen in Chandor, yet typically Goan. Intricately carved chairs in dark woods are arranged in circular arrangements on brightly patterned tiles and there is still more china and silver lovingly displayed.

Ninette and Charles Rodrigues home in Margao

Ninette's China

The Figueiredo home, also in Margao, has striking Chinoiserie inspired exteriors. Jade coloured window shutters contrast strikingly with bright yellow exteriors.

Red blue and buff at the Figueiredo home in Margao

"We keep changing the colours of the structure both inside and outside," says Figueiredo. "It helps us maintain the faÃ§ade from the elements, besides changing things around a bit routinely,'' he adds. The tropical nature of Goan weather accelerates weathering of structures.

Yet another family in Cansaulim, the Carvalhos have set aside a few well-preserved rooms. A newly painted bedroom with richly carved four poster bed covered in hand crocheted lace and a rosewood wash stand displaying an old Chinese basin and jug serves as a serene link to the family's faded past.

The restored bedroom at the Carvahlo residence, Cansaulim

The efforts to preserve and conserve are driven mostly by individual homeowners, efforts that are not only heartfelt and challenging, but will decide what Goan legacy is going to mean in times to come.

Diwali

2011-10-29T04:38:00.000-07:00

The festival of lights just went past. Hope you guys had a good one!

Happy Diwali and a Happy New Year folks !

Diwali

2011-10-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

Colour and lots of hand made fun this diwali

Quick post about Diwali prep at home. This year, we have tried to reuse things we have at home, add more colour and have loads of fun in anticipation of the day!

The kids having a go at painting the diyas, which are soaked, washed and primed with offwhite paint first.

For many years now, I have refused to throw my used earthen diyas away. Just so long as they are not chipped and cracked, we wash dry and repaint them using bio-safe acrylics giving them a new lease of life.

This year, we are making story- stools to prop the Diyas on too. All manner of old chowkis and peedhas, have been sanded down and painted in vibrant colours. Some featuring motifs and scenes from my kids favourite traditional Indian stories.

Painted and finished..together with a bunch of yellow and orange foot stools to house them on.

The stools make bright little spots- ideal to brighten up the house for Diwali. These will get used in the house easily later, as tiny study desks, table top accents, to store books and ofcourse just normal stools to sit on.

Since they can be painted over easily, the activity allows for maximum fun..something my kids too have had a liberal hand in. Unabashedly playing with paint, leaving the finer details from me to tweak later ;).

The Bull from heaven.

The stool pictured above is based on a lively Buddhist story chosen by my son.

A word about the illustration: I have based the drawing in good part on a drawing by illustrator Linda Edwards, from a children's book called ~Stories from India~ published by Usborne.

Hope to comeback with yet another Diwali post, provided I can make the time to tend to the blog while so much is going on around.

Have a good one folks !

DIY: Recycled Bookbox

2011-10-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

Idle Sunday afternoon.

four pair of hands,

One discarded wooden crate

paints- brushes

varnish

Recycled book case.

This one here based on Mumbai is inspired by truck graphics and wall art.

Before and underway

The finished book box

Whew!
Hope you guys enjoy this..
We did !!

Elements of the Goan home

2011-10-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

An article appeared in the discover India section of online design and style magazine Prismma.

Startling colours of an exterior wall and window from a Margao house.

Dream like, yetelemental, Goan homes preside over a lush green paradise. The warm and humid climateblurs the distinction between indoors and the outdoors. Shaping in response to the fecundtropical conditions and long years of colonial rule, Goan domestic architecture is enriched by the Europeanexperience, yet rooted deeply in the local culture.

Ranging from simplemud houses, to grand mansions displaying an agglomeration of Mannerist,Baroque, Rococo, Neo-Classical and Neo-Gothic influences, Goan homes are apalimpsest of architectural styles and influences.

In home after home,one will encounter delightfully syncretic architecture and elaborate interiors thatblend pre-existing Hindu and Maratha motifs with European styles introduced bythe colonizing Portuguese in the 16^th Century.

The broad elements ofGoan houses result form a mixture of Indian and Portuguese styles. Homes thatare Portuguese in origin are usually two-storeyed and façade oriented. Whereasthose of Indian origin are single-storeyed with a traditional courtyard basedorientation.

Between the two also,there is wonderful mixing and marrying of ideas, resulting in nuanced, hybridarchitecture that is both impressive and inspiring- for example thetwo-storeyed house in which the top story is functional while the ground flooris merely ornamental. It was Portuguese custom to segregate the lower storey ofthe house for the household staff and retainers. Since in the Hindu home the servant quarters were typicallylocated at the back of the house, this bottom storey became shorter, until itreduced to an ornamental high-platform in time, adorned with decorative arches, pilasters and colonettes.

For a betterunderstanding of the Goan eclectic idiom of house building one may firstly,look at ways in which the local population adopted styles and precedents set bythe Portuguese. And secondly, the ways in which the local identity asserteditself in shaping and adapting the influences passed on by the colonialmasters.

As they grew in powerand rank within the Portuguese administration, the upper class Goan aristocratssought to emulate and even surpass the grandeur of the residences of theirPortuguese counterparts: The examples of this trend are many- The practice of buildinggrand staircases in the entrance halls, many windowed facades- like at theBraganza home in Chandor- busts of classical Renaissance figures in thepediments of façade windows, grand dance halls as a focal point of the home.

In an assertion of thelocal Goan identity, the erection of a columned porch with seats built into itstwo sides, called bollcaum, also became commonplace in the 19^thcentury. In time the bollcaum was extended to include the façade of the entirehouse effectively screening it from rain and the hottest midday sun. Where on the one hand the covered porchwith built in seating confirmed to the Indian ideas of decorum, it did so byextending the house into the public space- adapting to ` open-minded’ westernmores. It is an interesting vantage point to observe life go by the house, afeature used frequently by the lady of the house.

Other interesting andunique aspects of the houses one will encounter in the state are the use oflocally available building material such as laterite stone in place of brickand lime plaster, which make for sturdy and durable structures. Additionally, in many homes, readilyavailable mother-of-pearl is used to line window shutters.

The window shuttersare particularly enchanting. The shiny iridescent patina of the shell lends luminosityto the spaces that glass shutters – used to replace shell increasingly- are notable to replicate.

Something has to be said about the bright colouring andunabashed love for pigment here. In the early days of Portuguese rule,only churches and other religious structures were permitted to use white to colortheir exteriors. The domestic residential structures automatically adopted boldand sensational colors subsequently achieved with the use of vegetable andnatural dyes in the past.

A corridor linking two different parts of the house at the Braganza home in Chandor, which seamlessly introduces the outdoors into the house.

Baroque style staircase at the Braganza and Menezes family home in Chandor.

Hindu style Jaali motifs beautifying the exteriors of newer bunglow style homes in Candolim.

House with a high-seat, Abade Faria Road, Margao

The Bollocum.

Window shutters lined with pearlescent capiz shells.

Girl about town

2011-09-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

Started writing a brand new blog today at : http://girlabouttownetc.blogspot.com/
This one to mostly feature travel writing and photography and some randomness. Do check it out ..

Mentioned!

2011-09-20T05:54:00.000-07:00

Festive table decor.. and I am thinking warm fall colours, orange, amber, gold and rust... pair it with jewel turquoise and gold, sparkling wine glasses and silver, glowing tealights, flowers.. all things that encapsulate the richness of a festival.

The post is a digression, since I meant to post a story from Goan homes as promised ... but then the paper wallah delivered this:

And I Had to take a minute to say Thank You India Today for featuring Girlabouthome in their design supplement!!

A very first for me.. and such a privilege to be spoken of in the same breath as women I admire so much!! Super thrilled !!!

Here's to Bhavna Bhatnagar of An Indian Summer, Sandeep Sandhu of Designwali and Priya Iyer of Once Upon A Tea Time.

A quick peek inside the mag... For a more readable version, do check out Priya's blog at here.

About homes: Stories from Goa.

2011-09-02T11:52:00.000-07:00

Houses carry the imprint of their dwellers on them. People say a lot by the choices they make about their immediate surroundings, the way they live. History is threaded together with the shards of pottery and digs of crumbling structures dating back millennia. Located in their particular place and time, homes are a repository of people’s priorities, world views, histories and personalities. In a sense becoming a mirror of society itself.

An abiding interest in spaces, and how people live’ was what initially got me blogging about home in the first place.

I intended to say through pictures, stories, what the spaces I have personally experienced or even just merely passed through mean to me. At least from time to time, if not always.

All is well with intention; only one needs to actually get down to doing it too! Disappointingly I have not really started saying what I intended to say with this blog- barring a few posts which I link here and here (only cuz they were blogged so long ago).

I remained satisfied with what was easy, around me and full of me at the same time- my own home.

Now a tad tired with all the self obsession and self love (I have to say it, the blog in its current state does not leave me completely happy) I want to slowly get back to the original inspiration.

Was a trip to Goa recently that triggered the desire to revisit the germ of the blog. The houses that dot this lush piece of heaven on the west coast of India, bright, colorful, old and new alike, villages and Vaddos full of them, rich or poor -lend an instant personality to the territory.

Where only the churches were allowed to be white, the homes embraced colours in all shades, whole-heartedly and without any reservations. These structures dating back to each time and epoch in Goa’s chequered history, speak of stories and a complete way of life quintessentially Goan. Informing and inspiring the work of master artists like FN Souza, cartoonist Mario Miranda, photographer Dayanita Singh - just a few talents Goa's fecund soil has nurtured.

Monsoons are a beautiful time to be in Goa. It is enchantingly lush, verdant and quite. A season of soft, sun interspersed showers. Drawn by the welcoming homes dotting the landscape and a also following a chance encounter, seeking shelter from sudden rain one afternoon, I found myself seeking more and more homes and the people behind them. Over the few days I spent there, I had seen as much Goa from inside these homes as from the outside.

Posting a series of stories from Goan homes then… Saying as much is needed to be said and letting the houses do much of their talking.

Stylistically, Goan residential architecture, has resulted form extensive inter-mixing of pre-existing Hindu styles of home building with heavy Italianate, Baroque and Rococo influences introduced by the Portuguese upon their arrival on the Malabar coast, As opposed to the rest of the country, the Portuguese tastes entrenched themselves fast and quick on the Goan landscape, allowing very limited say to other influences, read english influences on house building styles in subsequent years also. A fact that sets Goa and its many homes apart from the rest of the country.

Have posted a few pictures of facades that caught my fancy. Will talk at some length over subsequent posts.

Mine has come to be called a `décor / design blog. As such some of you esteemed readers might find me digressing. I might as well shun that tag, because it is infinitely more interesting to observe people and how they add meaning to their surroundings.

Do talk about it guys... And come back here for more, because the journey was delectably long and leisured and my explorations many!

Foyer

2011-09-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

Posting an after picture of the foyer. Refer to a previously uploaded image here. Have a Happy Ganesh Chaturthi guys, may the elephant headed one shower his many blessings on you and your family.

Have a blissful and sunny, golden yellow Ganesh festival.. :)

It happens to be the darkest corner in the house..the yellow brightens it up, reflecting whatever little sunlight it gets in the late afternoon, to light up the space with a sweet spot of cheerfulness.

Lit up with candles in early evening

Green....

2011-08-27T05:17:00.001-07:00

While on the subject of colour, one looks at art for inspiration. And on the subject of art, I just have to mention Rothko! Mark Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz was an American painter born in Russia. Among the greats of abstract expressionist, his work is a sublime example of stunning beauty that is achievable with pigment.

His famous rectangle paintings, are simple, yet deeply moving works. Blocks of colours, coexist on his canvases in a harmony of four sided shapes, rich in texture and luminosity. A lot of what I did in the house is inspired by the master.

This is a post about my green wall. The guest bedroom wall. I chose a dual toned wall, an almost chutney green textured with a very dark teal green.

Posting pictures of the different Rothko inspired permutations and combinations of wall and room colours.. Have mostly restricted pattern to minimum while playing in on texture in the space.

In terms of connotations and symbolism, green is an intriguing colour, denoting both the positive and negative, holy and unholy at the same time. Often times related with growth and fertility, it is also said to denote immaturity jealousy. Where in some religions like Islam it is the colour of purity and sacredness in others it is symbolic of the devil. For the materialistic, green is the colour of cash and abundance. Luckily the most popular association of the colour links it with nature.

..The idea appeals to me a lot. Green has long been my favourite colour.

Translating the colour into the space, restricted the colour pallet of the room to a select few colours complementary to the green family, which it self is a non subtractive colour- created by a mixture of yellow and blue.

Where the base of the soft-furnishings, I then use in the room are green or a more neutral beige, the accent colours vary from those in the same family or from the complementary spectrum...

Have to mumble a complaint here about paint companies and how misleading their catalogues are. We went through cycles of painting and repainting this one until I got something I was happy with. None of the variants resembled the sample colour provided on the Asian Paints catalogue at all however!.

Unfortunately none of the painters I worked with, or the paint companies knew how to do it. If anybody has an idea about how to achieve the look, do drop in a line. Will be much appreciated :) !

Red post

2011-08-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

Starting with a colour that dominates most of the living and entertaining areas in the home. We chose Red. It comes in all shades right from the more somber, earthy maroon and terracotta to the most vivacious deep red. Is cheerful. Goes well with the dark, natural wood surfaces and textiles I was going to pair the walls with. Is very Indian- Think Wedding saree, think tilak, rangoli, sindoor, mauli- Above all because, most reds contrast wonderfully with Black -the other wall colour on my pallet for the area- so a no brainer really.

Here is the color pallet for the living dining and entertainment areas...

The red, in shades of terracotta and deep red are paired with charcoal black and soft white for the walls, and taupe on wooden surfaces like doors and windows.

Posting the final look below.

(above): view of the Living room from the foyer. The wall sports a terracotta red.

In the family room, which is used for watching television or casual entertaining, the colours are a brighter red and black..This is the area I chose to paint myself... three coats of absolute fun and zen, which is befitting, because it is a very zen

The dining area offset against a terracotta wall, has a more formal, earthy layout and look.

A red lacquer shoe cabinet contrasts well with a charcoal black wall at the entrance.

ODD

2011-07-20T10:11:00.001-07:00

Organize De-clutter Display

Taking a break from the colour stories to write about little things. A forgotten corner of the bed room. A tiny spot of space by the window. Have used to organize stuff that would not fit into the closet.. most of it is too pretty to sit inside a closet any way!

The corner is utilised to store and display a collection of junk jewellery, old bags, the few books that I am reading right now, scarves, bags and shoes, family photographs and a whole lot of other things, that left alone would be a complete mess.

The few things that can be done to de-clutter and store things well, is to sort the objects and unify the look of a space using interesting things to store them..

Bags and Baskets: Antique Rattan basket from Green Lantern, HK. Tribal applique dowry bag from Matsya Here.

Baskets of different sizes, shapes and types can be used to serve as catch-alls for jewelery, old textiles, remote controls, books, keys, CDs and random odds and ends.

Pegs and hooks:Pegs from British India- Singapore, Silk and potli Key chains, turquoise necklace from Stanley Market HK and Polka Dot woolen Scarf from Kashmir Handicrafts- Mumbai.

Instead of stashing interesting bags, scarves key chains and jewellery out of sight, I use clothes pegs and hooks to hang stuff as I please. The display keeps changing to suit mood and convenience...

Antique Burmese embellished bag I inherited from my Grandmother, assorted jewelry from Jade Market HK, and Baskets from all over..

Assorted bangles and more baskets

Woolen scarf from Kashmir Handicrafts and

Potli scarf from the lovely Kanika's Anek Designs Here

The Colour post...

2011-07-14T07:40:00.000-07:00

India assaults the senses with colour texture, noise and smells. The surfeit of colour and brash celebration of kitsch is a revelation to those exposed to the country for the first time. I can sense that awe in the reaction of my kids to their new home. They are overwhelmed on a daily basis by the sights and sounds .. My little girls cannot get over their bangles, and shimmering kurtas, overdose of colour in the local markets, the splendorous sarees and clothing, loud colours of festivals -Holi, Diwali, Ganesha- brashly painted faces of the behrupias sometimes seen roaming streets....

For me, moving back to India was rediscovering the familiar. For the kids on the other hand, it has been about the creation of a brand new memory bank.. I see them fill it up with colour and language and experience each day. It is hard not to be taken by their wide eyed innocent excitement for the mundane.

Naturally, the house needed to have more colours as a reflection of the excitement..! Albeit still with a little restraint, for all the red and green and blue we have up on the walls, there is black, beige, taupe and plenty of white neutral space too.. all that marries our existing, Chinese, oriental and contemporary possessions into an Indian space.

Here's is a general colour palette used around the house..

Next up pictures of the finished product by colour... do come back !

1,2,3 : About Inspiration

2011-07-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

Three quirky uses of pictures hurriedly taken with my phone camera. A word about inspiration, when one really looks , it is everywhere... Travelling, browsing through books, mags, wonderful blogs and sites online. Thing about ideas is that they strike when one is not even looking for them... quite pensive hectic days, driving through congested roads, shopping at local bazaars, peaceful contemplative moments, fragments of dreams and in recesses of long lost memories.

What inspires you? Where do you seek that initial spark of an idea? When does it strike? How do you keep in touch with an idea and utilise it when the moment arises...

Good thing that with a camera in the mobile phone, one is always ready to pin that flash down.. listing three quirky inspirations and how they got utilised around the house.

Taking a break from reading Charle's Correa's `A place in the shade' one quite afternoon. I noticed the graphic monochromatic pattern on the jacket against a red silk cushion. We had our wall!

Even attempted playing with the texture with the help of my painter bhau before painting it solid black :)

An arrangement on a coffee table inspired by the days adornments placed in a startling red ceramic dish on the bed side table.. ( Pic above: Silver plated platter from Goodearth, Lapis and coral Buddha heads from the Jade market in Kowloon, Hongkong, Burmese lacquer tray from Kinnari, Hong Kong)

Finally, window dressing and a jute lamp shade against a terracotta wall inspired by a familiar sight at local bazaars. (Pic Left: Lamp and shade from Contemporary arts and crafts, Mumbai)

Reblogging!!

2011-07-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

Girl about home has moved. Yet again. Countless times in ten years. Pitching tent, folding all parts of a movable household and moving on- comes easily by now. This time, I am back home, to a city I love - Mumbai.

A lot has happened. I have had no time although all the inclination to sit and go over the going-ons of last year. As I try to put it together on the blog, a sense of panic grips me, a familiar fear of the blank page. I have in the process of finding my feet in a new city and a new country with a much large family, neglected this space and there is just too much to share.

Where does one begin? Maybe like Lewis Carol says in his Alice in the wonderland, ``it is best to begin at the beginning,’’

So I shall start with pictures of the skeleton of an apartment that I stepped into exactly the same time -first week of July-last year. It was instant love. The space has transformed into our home over the course of a year.

Setting up home has to be the most enjoyable experience I have had in this exciting and super challenging city this far. Making it mine with colour texture, pattern, material and yeah, love..lots of it..has been a ride. And what a ride! Meeting wonderfully talented people, discovering exciting places to shop at, working with painters, masons and contractors, learning new things and not to miss the problems and lessons learnt for life !

This house was a first in many regards, the first one my babies moved in to, the first one that I supervised from start to finish, the first one with so much colour, and at least one room that I took upon myself to paint myself....

Will keep adding the various elements that have gone into dressing the space in subsequent posts. Also stories from Mumbai, my hugely fascinating new home. There is much I have encountered and learned… More later. Have a great day folks :).

The beautiful Ganpati belongs to the previous occupants of the house.. of course we keep it.

The area that I took upon myself to paint ..!

Buddha

2010-03-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Probably nothing is as emblematic of peace and serenity as the figure of Buddha. For eternity, artisans, painters and sculptors have slaved over the right proportions that would artistically represent the beloved ascetic.

The features - eyes the shape of half open lotus buds, a keen nose and the hint of smile together convey the calm introspection that is beautiful beyond words.

Have been photographing Buddhist iconography around the region for a few years now. Sharing a few images form around the house and elsewhere.

The Buddha in emptiness. The Buddha in solitude. The Buddha in poetry.

Contemplating a now-lost statue of the Buddha in French sculptor Rodin's garden, German poet Rilke gropes his way towards and understanding of emptiness:

center of all centers, core of cores,
almond, self-enclosed, growing sweet --
all the universe, to the farthest stars
and beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit ...
Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich thick nectars rise and flow.
Illuminating your infinite peace,
a billion stars go spinning through the night,
Glowing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.

In unexpected corners.

In turbulence, noise, age, decay and death.

The Buddha is every where..

All things red and ravishing

2010-03-11T00:21:00.000-08:00

Ceramic Platter from Earth Home, Hong Kong, assorted seasonal fruits in red . Silk sarong from Altfield Interiors, Hong Kong. Silver Cuff from Khan Market, New Delhi.

Holi just went by, spring is out there is in full bloom, Valentines day, Chinese new year all wonderful occasions, that bring colour to mind one way or the other. Particularly the last two stand for a very vibrant and bold hue....Yes, I am talking Red !!

Bright, bold, hot and the irrepressible red!

Lately because it has been on my mind to, I see the colour every where.. In stores, books, magazines, in nature, in my kids crayons and paint boxes, clothes, lipstick ( a la Sandra Bullock rocking the colour on Oscar night)... every where. Since a lot of what one sees comes around, let me post some pictures of all that was red the past month.

Red and orange kantha reversible sheet from Anokhi, Delhi, Kantha cushion covers in Maroon (Anokhi) Red rectangular cushion covers from Tequila Kola, Hong Kong.

Red Lacquered bamboo tray and runner from Laos, hand glazed Tea pot and cup from Lane- Crawford Hong Kong. Wooden opium grinder from Rajashtan.

Red and turquoise necklace, Lhasa. Red Dzao tribal neck piece from Vietnam

From the archives: Red and yellow Ranunculus.

Happy Holi!!

2010-03-04T16:13:00.001-08:00

A very very Happy Holi to all!

1,2,3

2010-02-12T03:06:00.000-08:00

Three uses for a quirky object. Picked up a pair of iron stirrups from a flea market in Lhasa a few years back. Although I had no idea about how I will use them, their texture and shape caught my fancy.

After lying around unused for some time, the stirrups have been hung on a mango-wood hook by a bay window. Posting pictures of three different ways I use them.

To hold pots of miniature plants or creepers some times.

To hold flowers every now and then.

even tea lights some evenings.

Which use do you like the most? What else can one do with these?

Eco Wraps

2010-01-26T04:20:00.000-08:00

For those who love to wrap their gifts, but are wary of wasting paper, here is my year of gift wrapping in pictures.

Have avoided buying gift wrapping paper for a whole year now, using alternate materials like newspaper, used paper, magazines and recycled packaging material and fabric.

Sample these
A child's birthday gift is packed in paper made from News paper, recycled gift wrapping paper ( which was too creased to reuse as is) curling ribbon from balloon ties and paint. The paper was made by my eight year old during the course of an afternoon activity.

Tissue paper salvaged from a shopping bag was used to pack a baby shower gift. The cutesy accent on the gift in turn salvaged from the bottom of my child's toy chest.

For a fashionista buddy, an attractive center-spread from Financial Time's Weekend Supplement made the perfect wrap alternative!

There was no reason to dispose off an A4 sized paper that had served its purpose. Used it to wrap a bottle of perfume.

To wrap my Diwali gifts, we hand block printed peacock motifs on old newspaper with gold and red acrylic paints.

Apart from those that I could document in images, there were wraps fashioned out of scrap fabric, plastic and spray painted newspaper.

Have been trying to recycle every scrap of paper that we use around the house, in whatever way possible. More later.

Green blooms

2010-01-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

Among the various new year resolutions made at the start of 2010, is one to go as green as I possibly can. The other one is to update this space more frequently. Tying both of these together so that neither gets broken , I am going to post a few initiatives around the house.

Starting with dumping my florist. Sorry Mr Lee on Lyndhurst terrace, but I am going to have to stop my regular trips to your sweet little flowery haven.

As much as one loves cut flowers, the cost of these beauties has increasingly become clear. Commercial, large scale flower farming comes with a host of problems- pesticide overuse, carbon emissions that transporting these beauties entails, human cost in the form of bad working conditions for the farm workers- pesticide exposure, water source pollution- to think of a few.

For some time now, I have been trying to sustain my love for fresh flowers in ways that are less damaging to the environment. Uploading a few pictures and ideas- most of which are pretty obvious, but I am putting them together anyway.

The first of course is to grow your own blooms, if you are lucky enough to have a garden.

I have been growing Hibiscus, Bogun Villa, Gerbera, Orchids and Anthurium on my small balcony for some time now. The plants are able to provide small single stemmed arrangements if not huge centerpieces on a daily basis.

Less is more ! A single stem is enough to give you enough flower power sometimes. It helps to work with various textures and materials in the form of pots containers and platters to complete the arrangement.

The next time you are out walking, try to notice flowers and foilage that grow in your own neighbourhood or city. A few wild flowers, originating from trees or shrub - Bauhinia, Gulmohur, Frangipani, the stunning Amaltas- very evocatively called `Sona Jhuri' in Bangla - there is a limitless bounty available with the changing seasons around. But do be kind with how much you pick..!

Last but not the the least, potted plants are a wonderful alternative to cut flowers. Combine plants with different colours shapes and textures for fun results.

Would love to hear of similar stuff you might have done at your home or are able to think of. Coming up more ideas, big and small to save, conserve, recycle and reuse.. Watch this space.

Diwali wishes..

2009-10-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

I have been away long. Caught up with this and that. After months of being unorganized and not liking it too much, I am going to use the festival of lights as an excuse to get the blogging mojo back.

So here wishing you all a very very happy Diwali..!!

We did the lights, the diyas, a poor excuse for the rangoli, mithai and plenty of fun....

The rangoli my eight-year-old helped me make. Hardly traditional and far from pretty, but that's about how skillful we are with floor art. A friend suggested a name for the thing, `Kali the killer butterfly', I thought it fitting and the boy, dazzled..!

One year old baby tested her boundaries yet again, but I'd like to think she was trying to be helpful :)

Hope you guys had a lovely Diwali...

Do get back to this space in a day or two because more festive stuff follows..

Bali Random

2009-05-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Just an upload of random pictures from Bali before I can go on to other things........

Balinese Villa

2009-05-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

Ancient Indonesian legend has it that the Gods created the realm of the heavens-sky- for themselves, the earth for animals and the ocean for fishes. For men they chose an earthly paradise. Pulling a fish out of the bowels of the sea, they held it to the light, its tail forming a peninsula, gills- water of lakes and the backbone a string of mountains stretching across the length an the breadth of the island.

Shadow art

Thus created ~Bali- which also means offering was given to man. The island has won an unearthly reputation as `heaven’ and `Eden’ ever since.

Bali resonates with stunning natural beauty that permeates the very fabric of life and aesthetic on the island. Reflecting variously in the islander’s expression of beauty in art architecture, dance music and even the everyday rituals of life.

The Villa

It has long captured the imaginations of travelers from all over the world. Overcome by the fecund landscape and all pervasive expression of beauty, Playwright and composer Noel Coward in his witty style complained to friend Charlie Chaplin in verse:

As I was saying this morning to Charlie,

There's far too much music in Bali.

And though as a place it is entrancing

There's also, I thought too much dancing.

It seems that each Balinese native

From the womb to tomb is creative.

And though the results are quite clever,

There's too much creative endeavor!

Private plunge pool facing the Indian Ocean in our villa

River facing plunge pool of a neighbouring villa.

The island's famous beauty has attracted hordes of settlers, designers, artists and people from all fabric of life further enriching the cultural tapestry . Moreover it attracts tourist by the droves from all over the globe.

The room *

Dining Area of the Villa

Posting a few images of charming stone villas we stayed in during a recent trip to the island haven.

Built in the local Balinese style, the thatched Villas are open-sided pavilions, each with its own stunning view. The villas are furnished with traditional bamboo and colonial furniture.

Cheerful Indonesian fabrics and artifacts are an important part of the decor.

Despite their deceptively simple indigenous appearance the villas come kitted with all conceivable creature comforts, offering visitors an idealized experience in tropical living albeit in open pavilions and under thatched roofs. The outdoor stone and bamboo shower areas and quaint private plunge pools only complete the very pretty picture.

Outdoor seating in the open pavilion.

In the 1960s vacation houses first started being built on the island. In the late 1980’s the Amandari hotel opened near Ubud, setting a new standard for boutique hotels. By now the island is transformed. While the Balinese struggle to retain their traditional values, the island is increasingly colonized by tourism.

Dinner table

Staying in the pristine carefully beautified and structured environment of the island today it is hard not to ponder over the real impact tourism has had on the island.

As vehement critics of how tourism has invaded the local culture and ecology write Bali off as a paradise lost already, it will do well for us as tourists anywhere to be mindful of the footprints we leave in the process of visiting and enjoying new places.

Tips for green travel:

At your Hotel

Reuse bed linen and towels etc
Keep showers, short
Use reusable dishes and cutlery only
Pack wisely and reuse plastic bags if you’ve carried any
Do not litter. Carry a small bag for your garbage.
Find out about your hotel’s recycling program and dispose your waste accordingly. If the Hotel does not have a recycling program, consider carrying all recyclable waste such as empty plastic and glass bottles back home with you.
Minimize use of Air-conditioning and other electrical amenities in your room.

* The room picture courtesy, https://baliwww.com

Design

2009-04-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

Spotted these at a local store recently. The day-beds by designer duo Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levine rethink the traditional Indian Charpoy with fabulous results.

Exploring the concept of `unity of opposites', the range combines handcrafted and industrially produced work.

The day beds use cotton and silk mattresses embellished by embroidery applique and mirror work. The patterns evoke the ancient Indian game of `chauras' or `Chaupad'.

In an endearing detail, all crafts women who have worked on the mattresses have embroidered their names and the date on the edge of the mattresses.

Check out the designers website at -

http://www.doshilevien.com/

Images from here

Textiles: Hill tribe weaves

2009-03-09T01:00:00.000-07:00

Getting back to posting about Textile traditions from Asia. This one is about the most vibrant, most eclectic and most lovingly preserved traditions one will encounter. The hill tribe weaves from Indochina.

An intricate flower Hmong blanket with extensive embroidery ,

applique and batik used as alternately a throw or coverlet in the bed room.

Indigo dyed Black Hmong clothing from Vietnam. The collar, belt and sleeves are worked in

cross-stitch and applique and attached to the main garment later.

The hill tribe people from the region are diverse- almost 50 from Vietnam alone. They present a mind boggling diversity in attire, practices customs and traditions. It is impossible for the casual visitor to illustrate the whole gamut in a single blog post, it is more a subject for a serious ethnographer.

What unifies the vast number of ethnic people spread across Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and even China, to my mind is their love for textiles. Each minority is easily identifiable with their dress Most of them derive their names from the particular style of clothing they wear - Black Hmong, Flower Hmong, Red Dzao or Yao, White-trouser Yao so on.

One of the more vibrant tribes, Red yao, or Dzao clothing. Remarkable for their detachable aprons and belts worked with embroidery, applique and liberal use of woolen and metallic embellishment.

Flower Hmong blanket used as a window runner in the study room

The garments are made by the women. Harvesting and weaving the hemp, breeding silkworms, applying indigo dye, producing the batik designs, embroidering and sewing the garment and embellishing them with pompoms, shells and sequins, a virtually limitless range of techniques go into producing colorful and flamboyant dress which are utilitarian, ecologically-kind and expressive.

Have posted illustrations of the Black Hmong and the Red Yao or Dzao clothing from Vietnam. (Only I have not managed to get the right shades of indigo dyes in the illustrations which differ from the original in that respect. )

An unusual Sin ton, or belt and Plastron or Chap, of the Red Yao tribe

A lasting memory from my trip to Sapa, Vietnam is observing a Hmong household up-close. Ventured more by accident, seeking shelter from sudden rain- the half an hour spent in a ramshackle hut told me enough about the love of textiles, for the small area inhabited by the Black Hmong family was rife with fabric dying and weaving paraphernalia. A pungent smell of indigo fermenting in vats permeated the mostly cane and bamboo house. The women of the house had inky-blue hands - a tell tale sign that comes from handling indigo dyes.

The prettiest sight one will encounter roaming the emerald rice paddies of this exquisite hill station in Northern Vietnam is the sight of White Hmong and Flower Hmong women swishing voluminous skirts on the way to the weekly market. Called `skirts of thousand pleats' on account of the painstaking hand pleating that goes into creating the garment.

Flat cushion made from a Hmong jacket

A visit to the weekly Hmong market in Luang Prabang, Laos, was another occasion to arrest lasting images of a very colourful people out in their finery.

Over all the trips I have come back with stashes of textiles. Posting a few pictures from around the house and a slide show of images from Vietnam and Laos.

A child's cap embellished with wool and metal coins : Red Yao tribe

Besides the colourful flamboyant clothing, the hill people use jewellery and accessories extensively, a subject that will take up an entirely different post.

Lotus

2009-02-23T19:40:00.000-08:00

Rise delicate one

from the liquid womb

murky and quite.

Rise to the kindling

of the heavens above

Rise to the skies.

for you will float above it all

and eventually

keep the company of Gods.

On a good day like this a package arrives.

Brimming with pink and white lotus buds

You hear them slowly unfold into blooms ..

and quietly remember a day not long ago that went something like today goes.

Tagged

2009-02-12T06:56:00.000-08:00

I have been tagged... Its been a month since blogger buddies, Dithi and Jagriti urged me to put down six things about me before I could pass on the pickle to another six people.

Although it sounds easy, I have taken my time with this one. If there are only six things to say, like only six things mattered, what would one say and what would one leave out?

Instead of spending too much time procrastinating about what it will be and why, I'll post pictures of six things I made at pottery class a few years ago.

What is important about these six things is that they are really bad, quite the opposite of the magnificent artistic game plan with which I approached them. Please understand that these misadventures in amateurish shapes and awful glazes are more about the love than success.

Despite my perseverance and complete dedication, I never graduated beyond hand-building. The few sessions I spent in the studio were usually a complete waste of time, but how I enjoyed myself!

Beating mounds of hardened clay down to smooth malleability, the squish and slurp of slurry.. the hours of contemplating singular shapes, the intense meditation it is possible to achieve and the labour of it all.. Sometimes after the class, the only thing that would bring me back from the pure state of zen I'd achieve in the preceding two hours was the sight of the monstrosity staring back at me from the work table.

So it is with a lot of courage and apprehension that I will unveil if only for the sake of the tag, six terrifying signs of a failed potter... again and again, you are urged to look on only at the love.

Now for the six people who I am going to pass the tag on to,

Priya from tHe pluM tRee

Prashant from Chai ki dukan

Shireena from Masala Chai

Vineeta from Artnlight

Ashwiny from the window seat design

and

Rachel from buttons magee

Rules

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.

5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

There guys, happy tagging and happier blogging.

Warp and weft : Indonesian Ikat

2009-02-02T01:03:00.000-08:00

Posting first on a series on traditional weaves from Asia.

Traditional textiles are among the most exciting and sought after categories of traditional art from around the region.

There is much to offer- a profusion of techniques, fabrics, raw materials, motifs, patterns and applications.

Most traditional weaves are durable, and lend themselves to excellent use around the modern home. Decorating with kaleidoscopic colours of indigenous textiles rich in texture and imagery is rewarding not only for the visual appeal it generates, but for the fact that it helps sustain age old craft traditions and low-income rural economies.

Featured today are a few weaves from Indonesia. The archipelago's various people have age old weaving traditions. Most weaving is carried out by men and women at home using back-strap looms of varying complexity

Among the noted weaves from different Indonesian islands are the Balinese Songket and Rangrang, West Timorese and Sumbanese Pahikung, West Timorese Buna and the exceptional Ikat. Ikat derives its name from the Malay word Meningkat which means to tie or bind. Originally introduced to the archipelago from India, by the British East India Company, the tradition dates back to 700 A.D.

It is a complex weave in which the warp and weft threads are dyed separately before each cloth is woven . The typical, blurry outlined patterns that distinguish the end product only begins to emerge when the individually dyed warp and weft threads are woven together. The skill behind the process lies in the ability to work out before hand where the dyed sections will intersect and what patterns they will create. In Tengenan, Bali, weavers tie and dye the same pattern on both the warp and weft, a technique called double Ikat.

For the fact that they used very basic raw materials, like bark and fronds, Ikats from Indonesia display ingenious creativity.

Used traditionally to weave lengths of fabrics for a variety of uses- royal and ceremonial regalia, sarongs and hinnggyi's and other items of clothing- Ikat has always been considered a powerful medium to tell stories, preserve memories, provide people with their indigenous identities and to work magic. In various parts of Indonesia, exceptionally woven pieces with intricate patterns were said to process magical powers and were used as talismans for luck and protection.

The weave is s replete with motifs like conch shells, birds, fishes, flowers, animal and human figures. Expressive and very dramatic figures representing deamons and other mythological characters also abound.

Indonesian Ikat also comes in a veritable feast of colours, Sumbanese rusty reds and deep blues in bold patterns. In rainbow stripes from Timor and deep browns, oranges and navy blue from the islands of Alor, Flores and Savu.

Images top to bottom.

Cotton sarongs from Jepara, Java, Sumba motif.
Here, two sarongs have been opened up and joined in the middle to make a bedspread.
Cotton throw from Bali.
Silk sarong
Silk Sarong, detail.
Cotton, sheet from Java, used as table cloth.
Tapestry and runner in cotton and hemp, Bali.

For more images and information on ikat and other Indonesian textiles refer to the site below.

www.nga.gov.au

Reuse

2009-01-14T03:44:00.000-08:00

In the lexicon of Proust and Monet, ombre means "shaded." In the decorative arts vocabulary, it fittingly refers to a historic method of dyeing fabric that renders subtle gradations of color from light to dark. An offshoot of a European weaving process, ombre has adorned pre-Civil War quilts and furniture textiles, Victorian-era ribbons and trims, and even -- in a wilder moment -- 1970s disco wear. In recent years, the technique has taken a sophisticated turn, appearing in all manner of fashion.

- Martha Stewart Living

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/looking-deeper?rsc=also_try

I've had a set of plain cotton napkins for ever. Must love them dearly, for every time they begin to look a little out of colour, they get a fresh start with over- dyeing. They have changed colour from white to off white, pale yellow, canary yellow and now- taking a cue from MS Living- a two-toned Yellow and Orange avatar.

Have done it with a variety of other fabrics around the house, table linen, bed sheets, kurtas and Tee's.

Posting the napkin how to:

1,2,3

2008-12-20T03:03:00.000-08:00

Posting a few pictures of a quirky little stand I found a few days ago.

A carved handle attached to a tiny wooden rectangular stand, which has a tiny little drawer at the side. It is hard to say how old it is or what purpose it might have served.

For now it is happily lending itself to different uses around the house, mostly ornamental.

To house a single stem here.

towels and little things in the bathroom.

Or simply a tea-light sometimes.....

M's House

2008-12-17T05:14:00.000-08:00

Had started a thread a few months ago, only to leave it in limbo like many other things that need to be done until something the other day reminded me of M.

Sweet, young and kind of forever pregnant with a protruding belly bearing twins the first time I met her and very quickly, with a sickly little girl born premature only to die a few months later.

When I think of M, I remember curly long hair always worn in a single oily plat and funny ever changing shadow like marks--near the eyes sometimes or near where her cheeks sunk into deep dimples when she smiled.

She lived with the twins and ailing parents in a mud and brick house, right across from the house my family rented for the three summers we spent in her tiny village near Trichy.

If I stuck my nose far enough between the trellis patterned grille on my window, I could have a good look at her house and the backyard. A simple affair like the others in the village. Squat, rectangular, covered with ramshackle red black tiles. A porch running its length. A very white house barring a few flashes of green for windows and doors.

I could see a cattle shed at the back with its two pointy horned beasts. Here M spent most of her day thwacking dirt with a stick broom, a stone and mud well where her father did his early morning gargles- loud enough to rouse the village and beyond. What I could not see too clearly was a kitchen that the back door led to. A window less room, made even more glum with years of soot climbing up the walls and the chimney.

I have vivid recollections of drinking coffee sweetened with tiny jaggery dumplings in her kitchen. Her mother called it `Kapi', the, sweet dark broth that left brown sand like grit at the bottom of little tumblers.

I had to steal into her house after school to drink the coffee, and that was the best part.

For reasons I only understood partially then, my mother strongly disapproved of us going to M's house. I had a feeling it was because of this funny looking man I saw on the porch one morning a few weeks after we came to stay in the village.

I saw him sitting on his haunches in a dirty vest and rolled up lungi tied at the waist in a half skirt. Large red eyes looking vacantly at nothing in particular. A dark and brooding guy with curly black stubble for hair. His mere presence giving the house an oppressive air.

I understood why that night when we woke up to loud noises coming from M's house.

Groggy and heavy with sleep , I looked out of the window to see, M's parents hunched over near the door on the porch. Loud screams followed by whimpering noises echoed out of the house for long. I did not see M the next day. She emerged a day later in her backyard scrubbing the shed as usual. She had a few new shadows on her face,- angry and purple.

We soon realised it was a frequent event in the life of the household and the village. Occurring every fortnight or so when M's husband Mutthu - the dark guy sitting on the porch -would come visiting from his transport business in Erode. I heard people murmur, it was because Mutthu was a `drunk' and it was some `business' between husband and wife.

The only night I saw anybody bother about it was a few weeks later, when my father went up to their porch and asked M's father to stop Mutthu. The old man just shook his head in quite desperation and murmured something about fate and not having done his bit years ago when the girl was born in the first place.

I remembered M well, but comprehended her story fully only years later as an adult myself.

Transformation

2008-11-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

Getting back to blog after a longish break. Plenty has happened.

Summer has very slowly changed to winter here for one. These are the sweet days of the year, when it is chilly but not the biting kind of cold, not yet atleast. The winds roll but not with the intensity of gales. The suns rays warm and benign slant ever so little but not in an evasive kind of way.

It feels to good to be here like this. A time for reinventing and reacquainting with life. Time to revisit my much neglected house and blog. Posting before and after pictures of the living room, as it changes with the season from summer into winter.

Living room in Summer....transformed quiet simply by breaking up the sectional sofa, replacing the rug and shuffling the accessories and art work around little.

making the area a little cosier and more intimate for the winter.

This winter I am promising my self to rest and just be. Turn inwards into meditative silences. Treat myself to more solitary afternoons spent with books guzzling endless cups of tea.

Celebrate the colours of the earth and skies, with winter flowers fruits and berries.

Listen to music on long chilly evenings......

To all my blogging buddies out there, enjoy this time to rest and restore, love and be loved. Do also visit this space again and have a wonderful season !

Cat Street

2008-06-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Uploading a few shots from an aimless tread around Upper Lascar row, or`Cat Street Bazaar' a few days ago.

In the true style of flea markets, although mostly situated astride a single street, this one is dishevelled, aging and full of odd things.

I start somewhere at the end of Hollywood road. Walk past old antique shops, cafes, and swanky new service apartments. A little near Man Mo temple, a narrow alley beckons me, I walk in, contemplating the graffiti on a crumbling plaster wall. Behind a row of glitzy stores and cafes, the alley is cool and deserted. A blast of hot dog smoke blasts from the back of a charred makeshift chimney. The smell lingers only moments before the rancid smoke bearing it raises to the heavens. At the far end of the street disembodied Buddhas sit chained to rusted iron stands. A plastic sheeted Vishnu waits patiently for a buyer.

A nose-less ear-less wooden horse, keeps the Gods quite company beside a reeking yet ever flowing drain.

Endless, unfathomable fascination with graves, foot binding shoes, spittoons and Chairman Mao draws folk down to Cat Street. Queer looking utensils, wine holders and chamber pots sit beside each other with new found dignity on dusty shelves. Their vendor swats mosquitoes with practiced flair, incinerating fidgety creatures with a battery run, racket like contraption.

An old lady, strings of coral and turquoise in hands haggles with shoppers.

Cat street is awash with objects, things old and new. Piled in mounds at every corner, pillaged from graves, dead people's homes, garbage dumps, flea markets, and dingy Chinese factories that churn out souvenirs in bulk by the hour.

Even with a surfeit of things around, more arrives here each day. More is created here, in this quite, old span of a few meters, way smaller than its former self, or so I am told.

In red and black

2008-05-08T01:04:00.001-07:00

Detail of a Chinese lacquer table

Of the enduring craft traditions of south East Asia, Lacquer ware is most certainly my favorite. Its production is said to predate written history. In China excavations have unearthed lacquer bowls dating back to the Neolithic period. In Japan, lacquer coated eating vessels were popular much before the introduction of ceramic tableware. Today, the tradition continues to flourish in idiosyncratic styles and methods throughout Asia.

The naturally occurring plastic obtained from the lacquer tree (Rhus Vernicifula) native to Central and Southern China was the authentic raw material of choice to coat every day objects with glossy, richly textured and intricately patterned veneer.

Purse and offering holder from Burma

As opposed to Chinese lacquer, its Burmese counterpart is made from the sap of the Melanorrhoea Usitata, a tree native to South East Asia. It is completely unrelated to the shellac used in India and Europe, which is made from the resinous secretion of the insect Coccus Lacca.

All this is information is of course gleaned from various sites on the internet. Most of what I really know about the craft is thanks to my Nani.

Assorted containers on a lacquer tray from Burma

Having spent quite a few years in Burma, she has managed to amass an impressive collection of artifacts, lacquer ware being a good part of it.

Her possessions have been a source of endless fascination and conversation on long summer days during our vacations. My love for objects and how they colour our imaginations and histories entirely grew out of there.

Burmese betel nut boxes

Nani had endless stories about Burmese fascination for Betel. Each house has an assortment of lacquered betel nut boxes - a cylindrical box made of woven bamboo and fitted inside with a pair of shallow trays to hold betel paraphernalia.

Headrest from Burma

In an embellished account, almost story like, she told us how one of her small bowls was fashioned out of real hair, probably alluding to a peculiarity of Burmese lacquer, a technique whereby objects are made of individual strands of horse hair woven around a frame of very Finley split bamboo. The object is made sturdy with application of successive layers of lacquer before the final coating of embellishment and pattern can be worked upon. Tediously made over months, objects thus produced are soft and pliable, unlike the containers made from coiled bamboo or Jack fruit wood.

Chinese Lacquer coffee table

Taking a cue from early memories, I have naturally gravitated towards collecting lacquer from all over. The not too shiny, not to matte finish of Chinese lacquer, makes it suitable for coating furniture. Its incredibly polished appearance and strengthening properties make it an ideal choice for an array of very handsome looking furniture.

Lacquered spoons and platter from Burma and China

Thicker, textured and malleable, Burmese lacquer is great for turning every day objects into pieces of art. Worth mentioning here are lacquer traditions from Vietnam and Japan. The former has a history of about two thousand years. Newer than most other traditions, Vietnamese lacquer resins are harvested from the Rhus Succedanea tree and converted into natural lacquer which is then applied to paintings and fine art. Markets of Hanoi and Saigon boast the most colourful and glitzy display of lacquer ware from local artisans. With the addition of other materials like plant material ash, egg shells gold and silver etc, artisans are able to churn out innovative and vibrant lacquer pieces in almost all colours conceivable.

Burmese Lacquer bowls

Called Urushi, Lacquer has been an integral part of the Japanese lifestyle. It has an impressive 6000 year history in Japan. Used to coat a range of articles including furniture and table ware, Japanese lacquer ware has long obsessed the imaginations of the West. So much so that the various methods developed in Europe beginning in the 17th century were instantly dubbed `Japanning'.

2008-05-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

The earliest memory I have of a house, is from years ago. I don't remember where it was, or what it looked like too much. There are hazy shadows where furniture might have been, a kind of faded light permeated everything around.. probably from a 40 watt bulb.

Soft brown layers of soot rested on unevenly plastered walls, washed green, or blue? Soot also clung tenaciously to webs beyond the reach of a round bristle brush attached to a long bamboo pole.

Really high ceilings, the house was enormous, its walls soared endlessly before hitting a dark ceiling.. wooden beams? terracotta tiles, I am not so sure now.

I remember a few smells too, a funny metallic eke of fried fish creeping in through the windows at lunch time..smoke from a muffled cotton wick exhausted of ghee.. the sea, and above all the smell of fear like that of oily hair and nycil prickly heat powder mixed with sweat-raw and rancid.

I must have been very small. I do not recollect the source of the odours or reason for the fear. Two or three at the most. Is that old enough to experience fear? guilt?

Wish I knew what led me to this post.

Now that I am here, at the doorstep of this house, at the doorstep of fear, this monologue has kicked in. I feel like encouraging it a bit, playing with neglected ghosts and shadows. Who knows what a small fire can grow into. I can come back with some other house from some other place, for over the years I have lived in and across from many house- a lot of them I remember well enough to revisit in detail.

Yummylicious! : Masala lemon tea

2008-04-10T05:57:00.000-07:00

Sitting down with a moment to spare.. beginnings of a sense of relief. Comes with watching things fall into place.. a sense of regret too. From letting go of chaos that gets you thriving. (A feeling familiar only to the hormonal, toddlers and women).

I have finally a moment to dedicate to some randomness. Let me do something I've been thinking of doing for a set of fellow bloggers whom have managed to get me heavily addicted.

I hope the chosen ones are listening, Archana, Prashant, Sas, Vineeta, Shireena, Masala chai, Chamki, Hermit, Udder- all on my `daily fix' list on the blog. Lovers of chai, blessed with an middling to obsessive addiction to the brew or not, these guys churn out fare I am definitely addicted to by now...

To all of them and more I hereby share my own favourite recipe for chai...

It is a recipe for lemon tea, with a very desi twist to it. If you have never tried brewing your cuppa like this, go ahead and give it a shot and bless me with every ooh and ah of relish that subsequently issues forth your lips, and if you have tried it already go right ahead and make yourself a cup all the same and bless me with every oh an ah... etcetera etcetera..

Masala Nimbu chai

Makes 5 cups

Ingredients

water -6 cups

Lime juice - from two whole limes. I prefer the Indian/ Thai varieties.

Ginger - 2 inch piece, crushed

choti elaichi (cardamom)- 3-4, crushed

Jeera ( cumin seeds) - 3 tsp

Saunf ( fennel seeds) - 3tsp

fresh mint leaves - 5-6

other optionals:

Pepper corns- 3-4

Szechwan pepper/ Timur - 3-4

Saunth- 1 pinch

Tulsi patta (Indian basil)- 4-5

(the latter are only for those with a stomach for timur and saunth)

Honey - 1/2 cup

Sugar (to taste)/ (optional)

Tea leaves -1 to 2 tsp/1- 2 tea bags ( prefer Lipton yellow label)

Boil the water with elaichi, jeera, saunf and ginger. Add one or more of saunth, pepper and Szechwan pepper if you care for them. When the decoction is bubbling profusely, and starting to change colour, squeeze in the lime juice and add tea leaves/bag. Shut off the flame. Add mint leaves and tulsi patta and steep the brew for a minute or two.

Add the honey and sugar and adjust the sweetness/ tartness as desired.

Strain and serve hot or chilled.

NB : Not that it matters too much, but the nimbu chai is great for coughs, colds, chills and sundry other digestive ailments and such like too..