heaven, wakey wakey

makers are not buyers

2012-01-21T20:30:00.003+05:30

Crafts exist where 'physicality' is of importance. In the developing/under developed world, among the currency poor ruralites, who cherish the basic and fulfilling things they have. They are grateful for the food they eat, and wish to eat it in all it's beauty. They have the time for labour. They make their own bedcovers; to buy from someone else is a disgrace!

In quotes, Subhash Chandra: We are creative people, we create ourselves. We do not go and buy created things.

(And this, I believe, is a maker's dilemma: How do you sell, when you hate to buy?)

In the developed world, 'where the mind is' is of importance. Among the currency rich who can buy all that they cherish, in no time and with no labour. Buy, buy, buy.

Where then lies the future of the crafts; forever with the currency poor?

In India, I have not seen a rich goldsmith, but have seen plenty rich jewelry stores. Why is that?

'Craft is not mere manual dexterity. It is the cultivation of the mind. Serviceability and aesthetics are not two different ends.

Craft is not divorced from a degree of mechanisation, because from earliest times man started evolving tools as an extension of his being and did not rest content with he unaided skill of his body.

Crafts is man's endeavor to bring grace and elegance into an otherwise harsh and drab human existence. Something beyond the satisfaction of mere needs and creature comforts.'

- Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

The image below is the perfect visual for the words above, disturbingly.

The maker and the buyer.

The currency poor and the currency rich.

The dark and the fair.

The lively and the expressionless.

The colourful and the bland.
The traditional and the contemporary.

The hands and the face.

The low and the high.

of people and stars

2011-12-22T16:39:00.000+05:30

another post getting published after 10 months of its inception:

Time to turn the critical eye on, to see the undercurrent, not the prettiness alone!

Two of my favorite places- People Tree and Tara Books , could never have been more of opposites. And to think that it dawned on me years later!

The following views are a personal interrogation and impressions formed on me naturally over a period of time. Our country is much richer (visually) by the enterprise of both, and I do not wish to demean any of them. But I do lean a lot more towards one of them, after my realisation of what sets them apart.

A friend of mine wanted to intern with People Tree. She went to meet them and they said that they were not hiring. She got the impression that it is very hard to get hired by them. She herself had a glorious academic background from a fashion and design school. I too was lost as to why.

To intern with Tara, you have to submit an application, and they are always booked a year in advance. Their last intern was a student from abroad.

** Tara Books

## People Tree

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of them

** The foreign factor, from book festivals to collaborations. Hand made story books.

## Indi-pop artists like the Indian ocean, t-shirts with poetry and faces.

Who works with them

** The intellectuals- writers and poets, traditional artists, students.

## Those who want to work in art and craft, without any prior knowledge of the same. Curious youngsters from anywhere, grow up and grow along.

Identity

** Bhajju Shyam, traditional Gond artists. He has defined the way Tara books look. Although later, Tara collaborated with Patua artists of West Bengal, and now with even other folk artists. The Gond art, albeit a new one, is the face of contemporary tribal art in India, and Tara makes a strong connect with this very modern character; successfully bringing out a contemporary style from the other folk arts too.

## People make it's core. People make what they identify themselves with. A lot of fabrics have the visual of a 'face' on them, in a hand-painted style (because they are derived from it). A 'face' is, I think, the first form one draws, as it is a direct imagery of communicating one's self.

Brand imagery, as seen on the internet

** Intellectuals gathered in a room, making a book launch, with the tribal artist given much applaude. But he is not one of them. Foreigners visiting their production unit. Their USP being 'handmade' of course by local Tamilians, and the exceptional Mr A. Mostly written by foreigners, painted by tribal artists, and produced by localites.

## People of all kinds, with enthusiasm and action.

of stars

of people

old work - found as a draft post ~ alphabeater

2011-12-22T14:26:00.000+05:30

A strategic word building game for children of age group 10+
This was a secret project in a way, during our Masters course. But our game up there, never got launched in the market. So I launch it here :)
I enjoyed making the visuals for it, and coining it's name, which I wrongfully thought as unique.
With my team partner, who is a sensible and hard working product designer (ignore the bottle form :), we did try very hard at the game play. But then I am not a very playful person, and that came through. And the visuals, after all, all just that- visuals :)

13/March/2009

jaali

2011-12-22T12:27:00.001+05:30

introspection #1 :: what is the Big Idea

2011-12-21T19:45:00.002+05:30

It is not the knowledge you have of the skills,

or the ability to visualise the unseen,

but what you do with both.

Until now, Anya Prints has been, sort of 'Art for Art's sake'

It needs to find an apex.
Something with an infinite quality.

For others, this has been
people :: profit :: culture :: earth :: peace :: spirituality :: education :: fame :: play ::

Am yet to reply when baba says "what's the big idea?"

ahmedabadis love their birds

2011-12-21T19:31:00.000+05:30

2011-12-21T19:29:00.001+05:30

when I think of India

2011-12-12T17:27:00.000+05:30

my heart skips a beat

the image that made me think so

2011-12-12T17:18:00.000+05:30

~ The CEO can either get a car in a moment, or an employee for a year ~

searching online

2011-12-08T13:14:00.001+05:30

For tutorials on Printmaking, I found a BareForum, which is ok-ok.
But the interviews linked below are hilariously honest.
Read in the given order!

... On Limited Editions ...
... On Subscription Sales ...

... I'm not selling prints ...

powdered painted poems

2011-12-07T18:49:00.001+05:30

It took me a few attempts to drop a dot
Lines still elude my fingers
After much waking up, and squatting down
Will the labyrinth be undone

For those who wish to read more online, you may go here , here and here.

A delight!

2011-12-07T18:40:00.001+05:30

The updated AIACA (All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association) website has a treasure of craft documentation and resource base, adding most positively to the Bible of Indian Handloom and Handicrafts.
Great work!

nahi chahiye

2011-12-06T15:37:00.001+05:30

For some reason, I cannot find the same-ol-masala-maggi in the stores.
There is now a new 'masala' apparently.
Finally, a reason to call it quits with the 2-minute affair.

welcome dear camera, with henna and bokeh

2011-11-28T15:13:00.001+05:30

now open

2011-11-13T23:35:00.001+05:30

See the Water collection on the Anya Prints website
Shop on Etsy

night

2011-11-08T13:16:00.002+05:30

one golden, printing day

2011-10-23T01:02:00.002+05:30

disaster disaster, what are you after

2011-10-23T01:00:00.002+05:30

activart

2011-10-12T11:16:00.000+05:30

An activist is an active artist.
An artist would plant saplings in a chosen demarcated area, as being symbolic of an idea,
or to highlight it's relationship with it's surrounding,
or to grow them in a pattern morphing into something else, etc etc.
An activist will do the same, minus the 'demarcated area', minus the 'symbolic sampling',
minus the 'etc etc'.
   Both artists and activists are very closely related;
   they part ways when one chooses to symbolise,
   while the other chooses to actualise.

* Provoked by her photo. I can hear music and laughter, see vibrant colours beyond her.

I see nothing political; much artistic indeed. I can't keep up with all that she did.

I soaked up the bit where she led the tree plantation and reforesting campaign.

is there no skill

2011-10-10T11:29:00.000+05:30

"...But they (transgenders) don’t need particular educational qualifications to become hairdressers,
beauticians, choreographers, fashion designers or make-up artists..."

An article related to Manipur, but applies to the rest of the world too.
Male designers are stereotyped as gay in fashion.
Fashion and its associated industries are considered elementary.
Even though it can create astonishingly sophisticated visuals.
All those in the fashion industry look either unduly odd or simply dressed in black.
Everyone is trying too hard to look effortlessly different.

However, all these associations do not matter when it comes to the output.
Even if fashion designers are just glorifed darzis (as Ravi Bajaj rightly puts it) in India,
it still takes much effort and learning to be a darzi in the first place.
In all the dust, a sparkle shines, born from this skill and imagination.
Beyond one's gender, and efforts even.

a start

2011-09-30T20:35:00.002+05:30

Anya Prints, India
Original Handprinted Visuals

My current and lifelong project- of making hand printed visuals for everyone.
The first collection is a set of silkscreen printed greeting cards.

Empty websites are not very promising. Hope to fill them up in two weeks.
Start I must, however.
(bolo bajrang bali ki jai!)
And squarerootofminusnine has been re-routed too.

drawing in the dark ~ iii

2011-09-30T15:59:00.003+05:30

longersations legging around
glass glasses with honking sounds
a hairstyle unfigurable
a leg unstable
as runny snoots lounge
among indigo leaves

2011-09-30T15:51:00.002+05:30

drawing in the dark ~ i

2011-09-30T15:47:00.001+05:30

the streetlight yellow
the orange flowers
engulf the laawaris
all so bright,
in the night

nice parting words

2011-09-21T14:27:00.002+05:30

~ ~ ~
Unlike Coroflot.
Which has no delete option!
Have to request via email.

price of everyday things

2011-09-14T12:47:00.001+05:30

Coffee and cocoa have always been premium goods.

But Hing!

That Maggi (unhealthy), Soyabean Nutrela (flavourless sponge) and Mushroom (fungus) cost much the same, says there is a lot more in common between them :)

the excel

drawing in the dark ~ ii

2011-08-31T11:26:00.000+05:30

The painting looks far from moon lit.

Next time I will hold out the work, extending my hand forward,

and see whether the paper merges with the surrounding. Hmm.

the noble one

2011-08-29T14:14:00.002+05:30

Be Linen Movie from Benoit Milliot on Vimeo.

The fabric of linen is simply caressed with the camera lens.
Without making one dizzy.

suspended

2011-08-27T15:53:00.001+05:30

source of photo on right

in the himalayas

2011-08-27T15:36:00.000+05:30

the temple of fire (water)

2011-08-27T15:03:00.000+05:30

the record

2011-07-23T02:05:00.004+05:30

OKHAI from shilpa bisht on Vimeo.

Finally, a web-friendly file.

Welcome, my naive video. Not just negatively, but as a very natural one too.

The dust on the lens, harsh sunlight on people talking... making them frown unconsciously, abrupt cuts, oddly sentimental bits... aah... and most off all... what is it that I say?

Some say it is a romantic video; some say, it has stunning visuals.

I say: I wanted to make a film. (and that is not the way to start anything! But I did)

This video is a reminder of how easy it is to be obvious. And that saying nothing also takes much effort.

the survey that rings true

2011-06-26T12:35:00.002+05:30

Look around... there are so many people in metros, and many many more in smaller towns who have started something on their own... a venture that makes money and improves their quality of life. The kirana wallahs, the cable wallahs, the wada-pav wallahs... they might not be Tata-Birla-Biyanis, but they sure make a lot of money.

Today, being an 'entrepreneur' seems the It thing. Everybody want to be one (me too!). There is a crackling ruckus of start-up competitions, angel funders, big idea innovators... But to common India, entrepreneurship has never been a glam game, but a very natural choice. Out of the will to simply survive, ingenuity revealed itself often. And a recent survey confirms it.

i am impressed!

2011-06-24T21:20:00.002+05:30

This place has almost reinvented itself right before my eyes.
Although I have never been to their studio... but anyone with any interest in pottery, knows of them in Pune. So this way I have known of Adipa since 8 years... I visited their website a year or so back and they seemed the same... making tiles and little else here and there.

Today they seem like another place altogether! I am super happy to see a story that reincarnated itself in life-years. With a clean new website they announce their arrival. Products so basic and yet full of possibilities, they have clearly leaped from "little else here and there" studio pottery to serious production pottery with a heart that will never stop making tiles like these (which look like seed impressions to me). I am no fan of ganpatis or commercial colours, but I am ready to overlook these, for I am sure it sells!

(for the first time, I have made a new label in my blog- 'spark'. It seems that I express criticism more than love!)

desperate

2011-06-04T00:45:00.004+05:30

goes prono

2011-06-03T23:47:00.000+05:30

two zero zero

2011-06-03T23:34:00.001+05:30

stammering memory

2011-06-03T19:41:00.002+05:30

Arogya
Agyari
Ashag
Agastya Foundation
... Ten minutes of combinations to finally recollect.

Uh.

muffled voice

2011-05-02T17:42:00.002+05:30

super-MAN! hanu-MAN!

2011-04-27T13:10:00.002+05:30

kalighats and holywoodworks

the above two are of course, incomparable, for their different contexts.

and yet these superheroes flew, tore and rescued.

" The story behind this Kalighat painting: Notice the broken pearl string on hanuman. This was the pearl necklace given by Sita to Hanuman at Lanka, to be taken to Ram (some say it was a ring...). Hanuman was curious to find out whether Ram resided in every pearl of her necklace... so he bit it...

He was then questioned for this behaviour by Ram. To prove his purity, Hanuman showed to him that they are but enshrined in his heart."

i love books but

2011-04-20T23:58:00.000+05:30

Books will always be incomplete. They'll have pictures and a thousand words, but they will always be in a third person's narrative. My friend took a photo, just like the one that I saw in some book... but she brought it alive by narrating it in first person. So if you think the real deal is seeing it yourself- you are wrong. The real deal will always be doing it yourself.

chaos to structure

2011-04-20T23:49:00.001+05:30

from a sea of wood, the ship was made

but ofcourse

2011-04-20T23:42:00.001+05:30

The seats reserved for women
are the ones next to stairs
for the sleepers above.

this fall

2011-04-20T22:31:00.001+05:30

autumn revealed the nests

and clouds got stuck fleecingly

2011-04-20T21:56:00.001+05:30

Do I become a racist, if. I cannot stand the american nasal accent.
I loose all calm and succumb to irritation!

2011-04-20T21:47:00.002+05:30

Our nose is like an arrow

the oldest one

2011-04-07T21:56:00.020+05:30

Today I am wearing a top which has been with me since 12 years- a blue and white cotton angarkha. It was stitched at my mausi's boutique in Pune when I was in the eleventh standard. I still remember the evening when the new stock of fabrics had come into the store, and mausi suggested that I make a top from one of them.

It still fits me perfectly, except the height... I have just grown taller.

i love LITTLE SHILPA, but

2011-03-27T02:56:00.001+05:30

'Moving installations inspired by street life in India'

this is disgusting.

'Street life in India'- So, do these labour-class like people represent the street life of India only when adorned with clownish clothing and dental mirror headgear?

Why not take a well fed- well bred- fair Indian woman and put worn-out slippers on her head as installation?

I might sound angry, but the 'street' IS casually raped by everyone... especially the so called artists.

when summer comes

2011-03-25T11:25:00.002+05:30

... leftover's aplenty
with loss of appetite

2011-03-24T14:17:00.001+05:30

how audible can a screaming visual get? or even a silent one.

celestial

2011-03-24T12:21:00.003+05:30

aurora borealis/ northern lights

goggles

2011-03-23T13:50:00.003+05:30

'drawing the head and figure' book

over\slept

2011-03-22T13:57:00.000+05:30

One has been in a state of 'do nothing', 'see nothing', 'want nothing'.... but the spell has now been broken by the summer coming in.

I was seeking to create something from within, by cutting out all external influences... but it didn't work at all. I could create nothing. I realised that I must never stop interacting with the outside, or else I'll become one of those many '...' whose works are hollow, pointless, self indulgent and most importantly, a lament.

...

2011-03-18T15:15:00.002+05:30

...

2011-01-07T12:14:00.001+05:30

2011-01-07T12:11:00.002+05:30

2010-09-15T17:33:00.001+05:30

Life just wants to be.

And for the most part, it doesn't want to be much.

'A short history of nearly everything' by Bill Bryson

2010-09-15T17:06:00.001+05:30

Start thinking big.

Am stuck thinking small and just for myself.

eid chaturthi

2010-09-11T22:45:00.000+05:30

Muslims can't wait to see the moon today.
Hindus will have kalank if they do.

jewel

2010-09-11T22:31:00.002+05:30

karela amla nimbu

2010-09-11T22:21:00.000+05:30

2010-09-03T00:53:00.000+05:30

Its not the climax alone,
there are many penultimate moments.
Bob Boyle

2010-08-17T15:02:00.001+05:30

Looking out to look inside,

still far from looking within.

many one

2010-07-19T23:03:00.002+05:30

handmade in IDC, by a potter and some of us students,

for our Design Degree Show this year.

an extremely consuming task,

and yet very easy.

2010-07-19T17:57:00.002+05:30

Though I have not seen your lover,
I am sure I saw her face etched on the window.

i am coming home

2010-06-29T02:02:00.004+05:30

no more hostels in my addresses

these hospitable, hospital inspired places

no more dead corridors, sanitary messes

no more darkness and damp spaces

guarded by old men and signed by entrants

no more of mass meetings or sightings

of a superabundance of women

or dogs, cats, cockroaches and mosquitoes and rats even

no more indifferent, satiated voyeurism

and shoutings on the phone

no more waking up in a room refusing to become home

no more sleeping like other homeless ones

and living to work, eat and sleep

to become a nobody, an empty matki

i am coming home

to mommy

2010-06-25T02:04:00.000+05:30

Pedro's movies have layers of deeply shallow characters.

teach errs

2010-06-25T00:58:00.002+05:30

*
Some are friendly and open,
others are mean and walled.
Most tell you what to do,
few trust you with what is to be done.
But they all always help.

They are a manifestation of what we seek.
They come in all kinds,
and we need each kind to find our truth.
*

start

2010-06-20T15:38:00.001+05:30

i wish to retire to my home, for contemplation.
start savouring, not planning.

o

2010-06-16T20:34:00.003+05:30

All loving names are such that make one pOut.

blades

2010-06-16T20:31:00.005+05:30

The shoulders of the mountains are all that matters.
People live on the parapet of the mountains.
From far away, I can see if food is ready at home...
... as the smoke escapes the chimney, signaling silently.

*

2010-06-16T20:25:00.002+05:30

Ten lac is the price of a dead air passenger.

£ø¥∑

2010-06-16T20:21:00.000+05:30

LOVE IS TO FEED
When one goes visiting relatives, they will feed you, make you sleep, and wake up only to eat more.
2 kgs in a month of relatives' hopping.

clap clap

2010-05-03T01:24:00.002+05:30

so it goes. will upload soon.

my first film.

a 15 min documentary on okhai .

old paulo

2010-04-17T10:09:00.001+05:30

I think that when we look for love courageously, it reveals itself,

and we wind up attracting even more love.

If one person really wants us, everyone does.

But if we're alone, we become even more alone. Life is strange.

Paulo Coelho

I have lost the one who really wanted me.

inverted T

2010-04-10T15:28:00.005+05:30

   The pedal that tore my Patiala,
   I drown it's thought, as I
   Take a plunge,
   that punctures my ear with water,
   As I float like a T
   I mirror the bird gliding above me.
   While I stay there
   the birds come and go.

cross

2010-04-10T15:12:00.002+05:30

India was the fattest Lonely Planet on the shelf.
:D
:(

waah waah

2010-03-31T22:21:00.000+05:30

Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

~ Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi

एपोन के लिये

2010-03-26T12:31:00.001+05:30

बुरा जो देखण मैं चला

बुरा न िमलया कोए ।

जो मन खोजा अापणा तो

मुझसे बुरा न कोए ।।

काहे कबीरा

कबीर

2010-03-25T17:06:00.001+05:30

ना जाने तेरा साहब कैसा है ।

मसिजद भीतर मुला पुकारे, या साहब तेरा बहरा है ?

िचउँटी के पघ नेवर बाजे, साे भी साहब सुनता है ।

पंिडत हाेय के अासन मारै, लंबी माला जपता है ।।

अतर तेरे कपट-कतरनी, सो भी साहब लखता है ।

ऊँचा-नीचा महल बनाया, गहरी नेंव जमाता है ।।

back to our pigeon world

2010-03-24T21:36:00.004+05:30

photo by rahul

pluck

2010-03-10T21:49:00.000+05:30

composition

2010-03-08T20:13:00.000+05:30

be a black hole when sad
a reflector, when glad

red pyjamas

2010-03-06T22:44:00.004+05:30

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

tete with a train- see

2010-02-25T16:31:00.008+05:30

Lets see the journey through images.
The yatra was simply inspiring for the people we met in the worlds they built.
The first moment of reflection I had was on my way back to my campus, when our journey ended. The massiveness of the travel swept through me only then, and I realised what changed in me... to be open to strangers. I know only about 2% of the students on campus, so I was pretty tempted to ask every new face I passed 'hello, what's your name...'
I would like to go back and work with them, or absorb them... those who spoke to me... Goonj, Barefoot, Gramvikas and Okhai.
There is also something very impersonal about the yatra that makes me post it all on picasa, not in a negative way. In the sense that I met 300 people, and wish to be in touch with only 10 of them... there was an eerieness of everyone being friendly.

The journey was a preview, and we were pretty heavily pampered in comfort.

'Awakening the entrepreneurship spirit' in such lavishness... is hard to digest. I am grateful to have been a part of the free ride with no expectations, but have no desire to embark on such a journey again. It's barely been a month since the yatra got over, and there are reunion plans. Damn, this post has turned itself upside down...
You can read about the people and places we visited, and see if the show below goes blank.

from ahmedabad with love

2010-02-23T21:28:00.007+05:30

@rgb 2010, nid

They told us to go see the city, travel around, eat, hear and smell the city.

Do anything, but don't stay in your room!

Boy... a wonderful competition to participate in... for when one comes from another city for a fest, they are forever eager to see the city...

and to be asked to do that, is very kind!

My thoughtfully humble entry got the prize.

# tch tch, terrible photo

naked

2010-02-10T23:15:00.001+05:30

the bisqued pots and food

the bubbly conductor

applying slips and glazes on the test pieces

drying them before firing them

smoking them

removing the slip and glaze

ta da! i still need to clean them and wax them...

the naked raku workshop by rekha bajpe agarwal, from delhi blue pottery, at idc iit-b, for 2 days
*smoked marbled beauties*
pots were thrown by srikant, some 8-10 mumbai potters participated
am too tired to write the details!
raku rocks, always.

black horse

2010-02-07T22:54:00.000+05:30

What a delight to see them here...

a gateway of cupboards...

i see a trend in an installation being a repetition of anything.

Damn lame and shallow. Remember my taps, anyone...

oink

2010-02-07T22:48:00.002+05:30

other than sweet cuttings for mommy's night,

i cooked and hogged pigs like a pig at home...

raheem

2010-02-07T22:35:00.004+05:30

an audio visual collaboration... one guy plays the guitar, mouth-organ... sings his own compositions... the other guy draws on a tablet... we see it projected on the screen... all live.
atul kavkaved awesomely. harsh is glowingly gifted.
but all along, and in the end too, i saw no reflections of the music in the painting, or vice versa.
nonetheless, they are fascinating!
the DawaDaru duo
harsh
atul

/one-liners rampaging through my mind

2010-02-05T21:31:00.002+05:30

iit is not my cup of tea
i am the teetotaler.
i am the wall of faith?
a small breasted woman with subconscious long hair
ready to dissolve, highly potent
her stuck structure wants to unscrew
the fractured future, the permanent past.
who is the first one to clap in the audience
who is the pervert artist in the elevator
one of us. one in me.
my hair, my flag
my forbidden love
it's time to cut you.
mocked for being always loved
adamantly unchanging distrust

she just won't shut up

she should shoo.

/one-liners rampaging through my mind

2010-02-05T20:44:00.001+05:30

the greater the dilation of your eyes,
the greater the love!
Desmond Morris

2010-02-05T20:34:00.000+05:30

fair and lovely sale is a sign of unconfident/ insecure women?
who is not insecure, one may say.

2010-02-05T20:24:00.002+05:30

show me the finger marks on the pot,
and i'll tell you how big the pot is.

raku rocks!

2010-01-26T02:08:00.011+05:30

26 nov 2009

a post too late,

but ought to be shared

we did a raku firing in mohanty sir's house... raku, for all i know is a celebration of making pots, drinking in them, eating and making merry.

mohanty sir was a lovely host, he bought lovely cakes and made the most delicious coffee and tea i have ever had (considering i am fond of neither of the drinks).

our pots were ready, glazed them, put them in the compact kiln, and waited... waited for the glaze to melt... as we saw through the top hole...
the wait was terribly long... more than 2 hours to reach 1100 deg celsius. i thought raku was a fast affair... we started feeling sleepy after all that food and wait.

but boy,

when we switched off the kiln, took off the lid, picked out the pots with loooong tongs at that high a temperature, dumped them in a box full of saw dust, watched them get engulfed in flames, waited a bit, put the pots in water, heard them crackle, and finally

when we took them out

we fell in love with them.

then the party started!

one batch after next

in the next 3 hours, we had done 3 more such rounds

and with every round

our energy doubled

for every single time

we could hardly wait to see

how the pots painted themeless.

i all the joy

none of us took a proper picture of the complete fired collection.

i smelled of smoke

and winked at the crazy cracks

buy uy y

2010-01-24T22:15:00.002+05:30

If you have one teapot,

and you can brew your tea in it,

that will do quite well.

How much does he lack himself,

who must have a lot of things?

Sen no Rikyu

gifts of earth

2010-01-22T00:15:00.007+05:30

Am reading 'Gifts of Earth: Terracottas & Clay sculpture of India' by Stephen P. Huyler.

The book needs a lot of editing, for there is toooooo much repetition of content. However, it has inspired me with its collection of photographs.

The traditional potters of India, their wives, their homes, their preist-iness and their pots. Especially fascinating are the votive sculptures, offered to deities for various reasons. They make horses, elephants, all their parts thrown on the wheel and then combined over days... i attempted an elephant, with an adorable back view.

tete with a train

2010-01-22T00:06:00.007+05:30

It's been a week, since I returned from an 18 day train journey as a part of Tata Jagriti Yatra.

Have much to write, but am awaiting a lot of photos... to make this post come alive.

For now, a preview- in the picture is our group S, frolicking after a presentation in the train on our role model

(that's what we call the people/ organisations/ entrepreneurs we visited).

gufa

2009-12-11T02:10:00.008+05:30

amdavad ni gufa, ahmedabad

it looks a bit sci fi and marine from the outside, but on the inside it is very earthy, playful, much like a madhubani painting at times, on handmade paper. You follow a line, and it forms a woman standing... you follow the body of a horse, and it completes itself across many roofs... It is raw but crude too at times, nonetheless a delight for its unbound surface and terrain.

winter cleaning

2009-12-01T16:04:00.006+05:30

For the past few days, I have been emptying my 'to see, to do's...'

It's time to share what I've done in the past months. See!