Posts

Showing posts with the label #BlogchatterAToZ

Doors Do Have Stories To Tell

Image
Doors fascinate me a lot. It is the first thing I notice whenever I visit anyone's home. Doors of temples, forts and palaces are pieces of art in themselves- from the intricate architecture, wooden and stone carvings, to the beautiful door knobs, bells, motifs, garlands and other embellishments. Even the metal supports, hinges and locking systems fascinate me to no end. In most Hindu households in towns one can find a kalash - an urn with mango leaves and a coconut on top- painted on the doors or near the entrances. A marigold garland too is most probable. In the north and east, one can find  jhotis or temporary white colored designs made by the wives during auspicious occasions. Sometimes mini palm leaf brooms or lemon and chilli bound with a thread can also be sighted on the doors. These are said to ward off evil. Down south a demon mask does the task. Wherever you may travel to, every door tells a different story.  This picture tells how women in the...

Building Communities: Artists Villages In India

Image
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”  ―  Edgar Degas 1. Andretta, Himachal Pradesh-      Andretta Pottery and Crafts Society is the meeting place for artists and hobbyists who sign up for courses, spend their holidays amidst art and make sure to return every year. The place has home-stays, hotels and rent-ins for visitors. Today 3-week long residential courses are organised there to teach world-class pottery to serious students. Andretta came into existence when a young Irish woman named Norah Richards arrived there on horseback sometime in 1920s, made herself a mud house, and invited Punjabi Theatre amateurs and professionals to perform plays there. Despite its remote location, it saw a steadily growing influx of serious theatre artists, painters, ceramists and potters over the years. Norah established a school of drama too. Famous sculptors and poets settled there for the artistic environment that it offered. The...

A Thousand Paper Cranes

Image
“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”  ―  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ,  Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship I always find myself dwelling in the past. Always. May be because the past is safe- it’s already set in stone never to be changed- there’s no unpredictability attached to it. I miss the city I left behind. Day in and day out. It’s never out of my thoughts. And in such a mood, I picked up a novel called ‘The Nine-Chambered Heart’ and journeyed with the central character to the city with the river, the city without a river, the town in the east of the country, the mountain and the sea beach. It’s in this book that I learnt the belief about ‘A thousand paper cranes’ in Origami. Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. It is a traditional art form about 1000 years old. It is a creative folk art that has spread worldwide for its simpl...

Theme Reveal #AToZChallenge 2018

Image
It's again that time of the year. April & the A To Z Blogging Challenge. And as usual the blogging universe is buzzing with excitement and anticipation. And of course, how can I forget, nervous breakdowns too! Yes, conjuring up 26 posts for each English alphabet along with a theme can be a daunting task. The A to Z Challenge is an international blogging challenge wherein the bloggers post everyday of April, except on Sundays. Each post should have a title starting with the English alphabet of that day. Having a theme is better as the anticipation of the next post is kept alive in the readers. It's like a month long blogging marathon (a term I picked up from Preeti Shenoy's blog) , with Sundays off! So today is the day, we bloggers reveal our chosen theme for this challenge. I had first participated in the A To Z Challenge in 2015 with the theme 'Characters from the stories I have loved' . I had successfully completed it, without giving up or ...

Why You Should Take The AToZ Blogging Challenge With BlogChatter

Image
Have you ever felt a yearning for something you can’t even define? A keen longing for something you can’t pinpoint. Even when you are in abundance of everything you want or need.   That for me was a sense of belonging. I needed to feel my thoughts mattered. I wanted to project my ideas, my love for novels and the written word out into the space. I wanted to be understood. I wanted to connect deeply, not just for the sake of having connections. I needed conversations, long unending dialogues with people who could empathize, not everyday small talk. I needed to validate my own worth and existence. And somehow, writing and blogging provided me with all of this. Blogging provided me with the much needed community, empathetic souls that I couldn't have reached otherwise. I drew my daily motivation from blogs, and I still do. #Gratitude posts, #ThursdayTreelove tales, weekend coffee share, #FridayReflections and #MondayMusings have become a very essential part of my l...

Queeristan by Parmesh Sahani

Image
  Queeristan (Amazon Link) Thanks to Audible Free Trial I listened to this amazing non-fiction on LGBTQ inclusion in Indian workplaces. Author Parmesh Sahani identifies as gay Indian, working closely with Godrej higher management and employees for years to create an inclusive workplace, both legally and in spirit. This book is a result of those years of experience, research, collaboration with individuals from difference spectrum of the society and organizations who has successfully transitioned into a queer friendly one.   Indian history is inclusive. From the Khajuraho temple architectures, to Konark to the Rig Veda, there is existing proofs even 2000 years ago of Indian inclusiveness of queer. It’s the draconian British law that criminalised it, which was scraped in 2009, came into effect once again following a sad judgement in 2013 and eventually was scraped off for good in 2018. I am in awe of the lawyers who fought this legal battle- colleagues and partners – Arundh...

Popular posts from this blog

The One To Leave First

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

When Breathe Becomes Air

I Am Rooted, But I Flow

Before Sunrise: A Timeless Tribute To Conversations

Movies on Murder Mysteries

Burst That Ego If You Want Genuine Connections In Life