Museum Memories #23 by Nidhip Mehta

5 Museum Memories of Storm King Art Center (New York, USA) By Prof. Nidhip Mehta Architect and Former Dean, Pearl Academy School of Design My favourite museum to visit in the entire world isn’t even technically a museum at all. It’s 500 acres of rolling hills, woodlands, and green fields that holds one of the...

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 […]

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...

“People who love to eat are always the best people.”

  "People who love to eat are always the best people." Julia Child An American chef, author and very famous TV anchor, Julia Child established French food in the American palate. If you haven't seen Meryl Streep play her in the film 'Julie & Julia' then you ain't seen nothing! Every festival in India has...

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...

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...

Traditional Indian crafts with new life

Usha Prajapati Varia, the founder of Samoolam, emailed me about an upcoming event in the city. Since she is busy working in London could I attend it? Why not? Of course, anything Usha suggests is always unique - and so it was! I read up about Jiyo from their website, it says there: JIYO !...

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...

Have you visited your local Museum yet? We have :)

March is here, everyone will get busy with their financial work in India as this month ends the financial year here. It’s a stressful time when you realise that most of your investments have gone wrong and the essential papers are missing! For a de-stressful time, visit the local museum in your city to marvel...

2019 has an exciting start!

#projectinterpret started 2019 with a tour of the nearly 2000 year old Kanheri Caves in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivali East, Mumbai. Easy to reach, through winding lush green path, spotting deers enroute, this cave cluster needs to be climbed by foot once a vehicle takes you to its base. Not for the...