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Dhana Murti
“What can you do with a rice grain? You can feed it to the crow, Or even a pigeon if you know. You can take a bite too, If you like it raw. But can you make a god? With rice and sticks And no straw. I...
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Channapatna
The floor is surfaced with sharp wood splinters and sawdust. Unlike other work-sheds, afternoons here are swift & hasty and the noise from turning of wood through overhead belt-drives fills the...
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Impressions on Clay
The crimson sun sets over the sleepy town, bowing in a reddish orange hue over the magnificent fortress bringing every stone of its existence alive. The Banas River becomes still and the water...
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Blue Pottery
As one steps into the enchanting old city of jaipur, he/she is surrounded by an epiphany of crafts of every kind. What binds them all in the husk of the heat and the lure of the tales is an unending...
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Syahi Begar
There is something excruciatingly beautiful about a little town in the heart of Rajasthan, specked with colour all the time. With the sun’s heat breathing down on them strongly, bobbed in bright...
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Todas’ of Nilgiri
“One man loved a girl. “Her parents know about this love. “They catch the man and tie him to a tree. “His beloved waited from dawn to dusk “But her lover never came. “‘The buffaloes are home again’,”...
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Cheelai from Madhurai
This story goes back to 800 years ago, when artisans of Saurashtra migrated to Madurai region of Tamil Nadu in late 16th century. The artistic traditions of Saurashtrain artisans flourished under the...
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Chappa chappa charkha chale
“I am convinced that swaraj cannot come so long as the tens of millions of our brothers and sisters do not take to the charkha, do not spin, do not make khadi and wear it.” ~ M.K.Gandhi (Opening speech...
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Song of the Needle
A mother, wife, daughter, sister, a farmer, a mason, a carpenter, a cattle rearer, a sweeper, a washer, a cook, an individual, a woman and at last an artisan trying to live with peace and pride. Such...
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Lappe ka Kaam
The stunning Gotta Patti work on the ethnic wear of the Rajasthani womenfolk is a spectacular embroidery involving an array of techniques. This process of fabric ornamentation involves applique work...
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The Bronze Age
Lives are lived, stories are formed, they are documented… as Scriptures, Images – moving or still. Generations pass them on making eras immortal in time… in people’s memories… even after generations...
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Gamocha from Assam
Nestled among wetlands, rice fields, lush greenery and river banks; Barama Block in Baksa District, Assam, lies about 70 kms from the state capital of Guwahati. The relatively new district was carved...
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Post Card ~ Of Paos and Pomphrets
Ponk ponk, goes off the Goan morning alarm. It’s 6 AM and the Poder appears in the horizon looking like an umbrella blown inside out. He adeptly balances the bamboo basket on his head carrying loaves...
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Patola for All
Man, an eternal traveler has traversed landscapes… on foot, on his rides, on flights in search of better lands, wealth and at times merely for wander lust… trading goods for necessity and pleasure on...
View ArticleOf Adats and water buffalos
They call themselves the ‘triumphant (through) water buffalo’. They are the Minangkabaus. The tribe inhabits the Sumatra islands. And they thank the water buffalo a thousand times over. Their majestic...
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Thappa Chappai
The forest was denser… life expressing itself unhindered had covered the abandoned rock cut caves. The caves were formerly said to be inhabited by Buddhists. Tigers (Bagh) chanced upon them in their...
View ArticleTwo lovers and butter tea
He loved her. She right back at him. They lived in the hills amidst vast expanses of empty lands. Their love seemed to be born of the landscape. Man, a tribal soul had fought and killed for what he...
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pashm
At 5:30 am in the morning, 15100 feet above the sea level he’s rushed, separating his Pashmina goats ready for milking. The Changpa nomad and the goats, both have learnt to adapt to the tough terrain....
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When Miniature went the Mughal way…
He sits cross-legged in the lap of hills. He has a knowing, settled air to him. A brush of fine bristles is held in his secure hand and the contours slowly become visible of a thing; beautiful, that...
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Sieves that sprinkle Stars in my room…
A house, she wanted to build, with every twig and stone the earth embraced, bonding with her mother, the earth. Not for a moment could she exclude herself from her imagination enthralled in a faraway...
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