Pondi – cherry times…

Come, let’s travel the city of Pondicherry, now Puducherry, lovingly called Pondy. In happier times, I had taken a nearly 48-hour train journey to reach there, and it had been worth every bit. That was my second visit to the lovely city on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. The first time had […]

Jodhpur: beating the blues

Jodhpur. It is not just another city. It is an offering. Of everything stunning in nature: desert, sunrise, sunset, mist, flora and fauna. All beautifully entwined in the local history, arts, architecture, crafts, textiles, design, and cuisine. Much loved by its inhabitants. Jodhpur is a treasure. History: Jodhpur was established by Rao Jodha in 1459,...

Instagram takeover #2: Pragati Singhal

"Best design is something which works with all of your 5 senses and is invisible." Pragati Singhal, Textile Designer, February 2020 For February, the second VarnikaDesigns Instagram takeover was by Textile Designer, Pragati Singhal. She was very keen on highlighting 'senses' and took us on a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ride. We love it and will never forget...

Instagram Takeover #1: Suyash Srivastava

Dear Debby This post is especially for you - thank you for your encouragement and being such a wonderful inspiration VarnikaDesigns started its first social media colab with Suyash Srivastava, Textile Designer. He was completing his project from Siwan in Bihar, one of India's most sensational states, and gave us live coverage from there. His...

Let’s make 2020 Accessible & Inclusive Happy :)

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year - may we all strive in our own ways to make 2020 more Accessible and Inclusive for all of us    Thank you for your motivation, inspiration and trust all through 2019, hoping to continue in the same path through 2020 Like me, if you ever doubt your...

Nobel Prize for Economics & the Santiniketan connection

"This urge to reduce the poor to a set of clichés has been with us for as long as there has been poverty. The poor appear, in social theory, as much as much in literature, by turns lazy or enterprising, noble or thievish, angry or passive, helpless or self-sufficient," Mr Banerjee and Ms Duflo wrote...

The past is always with us, for it feeds the present: Ruskin Bond

Landour is the land of Ruskin Bond. He's my love of the same infinite and unfathomable intensity as Gulzar - am not giving up either  one is English love and the other is Hindi+Urdu love 🙂 If this sounds bizarre at all then that's how it is! Everything about Landour and Mussoorie is quite surreal......

Meet my family: Chitku’s story :)

Hi, I'm Chitku 🙂 we've met before. This is my brother Kaachbo. We have been brought into this world by Priyanka Tolia. She is an Exhibition Designer from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, and had studied History (Honours) from Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) before that. Priyanka often heard from the elders in...

Chitku’s adventure #1: CSMVS Mumbai Museum

Meet Chitku - my lovely fairy She's made by caring hands of Uttarakhandi women, with grass from the Himalayan range from northern India. She was part of a batch about to fly off to the European climes. I just loved her, felt she wanted me to keep her with me. I asked her if she...

How Accessible is India?

Back to India’s realities: In India, post my London return in 2015 November, I was upbeat about creating accessible and inclusive spaces but everything changed with the research here. I became extremely disappointed that I was not able to find visitor surveys or statistics here. Most of our museums do not even know how many...