Dia’s 95: the ‘Bidhoba’ with a swag!

This post is about Dia, in the context of patriarchy, feminism, widowhood, hypocrisy of the Bengali community, sexual need, gender roles, power struggle, and mental health awareness, narrated by her granddaughter in whom she confided a lot but could never get herself to love as much as the grandson.

Tighten your seat belts for some time travel!

Welcome aboard! You are on a time travel device. And, are advised to hold tight, keep your jaws from dropping and eyes from popping out as Aparna Andhare, the maverick pilot, swooshes you through the lanes and by-lanes of Shekhawati in north east of Rangeelo Rajasthan. The region of Shekhawati is probably one of the...

The Look Book: when they saw us, and how!

My first review as the Mumbai correspondent for Art Fact, the newsletter for ArtsAcre Foundation, Kolkata I could stare at that Persian couple the rest of my life – really! Her hairstyle, their fashionable garments and footwear, his headgear, her direct gaze and his almond dreamy eyes – together they were celebs of their day...

#throwback to BodhGaya Biennale: 2016

  The first BodhGaya Biennale was organised by the Bihar Government in the historic city of Bodhgaya in December 2016. The theme for it was appropriately selected as 'Peace' - as, "the intriguing idea of 'peace' is the focal point ...this allusion is hopefully not too late to recall an utopian urge and, hence, a...

Design your History! Yes, you can :)

        For the History of Design course for the Industrial Design students at the National Institute of Design, Vijayawada, we strapped ourselves tightly and zipped onto a roller coaster time travel... yeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, like a virtual reality experience, especially customised for your personal choice 🙂 don't believe me??? then read on... One lazy...

What makes Indian Textiles so exquisite?

    A wide variety of beautiful textiles ranging from embroideried, woven, printed and painted comprise India’s rich textile heritage. For most of us, there is a familiarity with most of the textiles coming from all parts of India – like Banarasi, Baluchari, Chikankari, Kalamkari, Kanthas, Kanchivaram, Ikat etc. The skill of Indian weavers is...

Ganesha: the Elephant God

Lord Ganesha or ‘Ganapati’ denoting the Lord of the Ganas, is also known as Ekadanta, Gajamukha, Lambodara. The eldest son of Lord Shiva and Parvati, he is considered the ‘manas’ or mind if Shiva is ‘atman’ or the soul. He is worshipped for his various qualities in the beginning of all religious rituals as he...

The world’s nest at Santiniketan

India's first Nobel Laureate, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore wrote in 1929: I was brought up in an atmosphere of aspiration, aspiration for the expansion of the human spirit. We in our home sought freedom of power in our language, freedom of imagination in our literature, freedom of soul in our religious creeds and that of mind...

Sandeep Sangaru designs dreams

“You will need to have a dream and then explore all its dimensions and details and then refine the offering through an iterative process that blends imagination with action in the real world.” Design Thinker M P Ranjan, 2011 For Sandeep Sangaru, this dream began at Kashmir more than two decades back when he went...

British whispers in Chunar

Part 3: British Chunar The most interesting building we saw in the Chunar fort campus was the house of Warren Hastings, the 1st British Governor General of Bengal. He was in India just after the Battle of Plassey in 1757, when the Nawab of Bengal Siraj-ud Daulah had to give away all his powers to...