this day. last year.

this day last year
we landed in another continent 

as explorers 

but more of wanderers for distraction

travelling, they say, changes you

change that we were seeking, seldom we knew this travel would gift us

a rattled mind and a muddled body was rekindled to harmony

a life was conceived

and since then

how beautifully has life changed

between 

today

and 

this day last year

12102020

Reflect

2018 has been a roller-coaster like every other year. By end of the year, on a personal level, there are 10 things I would reflect on and keep with for the next years:

1.     Be politically correct

2.     Make up your mind for worse

3.     Keep zero expectation

4.     Do not share everything with everyone

5.     Never discount yourself

6.     Get used to things you know won’t change for another decade

7.     Attach but detach faster

8.     Learn to say YES, learn to say NO

9.     Experience is King

10.  Keep upgrading yourself

A Soul Clenched

Initially I had titled my research paper as: Challenges and learning opportunities for Himroo of Aurangabad. As I was refining the paper further, the title felt more like an essay and less like a title. So I changed it to Himroo: A Soul Clenched

Why such a title? It is inspired from one of Pablo Neruda’s poem called Clenched Soul. Because I believe when circumstances give you a clenched feeling, or when you clench your teeth, it is time to fight back for yourself and make a significant change against the unpleasant circumstances you have been facing. Currently this is what Himroo of Aurangabad is facing – some unpleasant circumstances.

Himroo became a part of my life since 2007 when I was studying post graduate program in NID. For past 11 years it was an on and off relationship with Himroo which began as a craft documentation project, then a photo shoot project, a craft publication project and so on. In November 2018, with a clenched soul I decided to end this relationship by presenting a design research paper at INSIGHT 2018 – A Design Research Symposium at NID, Ahmedabad.

Indeed a clenched soul of Himroo and a clenched soul of myself form two different metaphors here. But life is that way – sometimes quite hopeful and not always determined. I go with what Rumi says, “Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.”

The research paper will be part of a publication by NID soon.

Sharing few images and slides of my presentation here.

I began and concluded the presentation with images of women Himroo weavers as they are the only hope for the craft to survive and sustain further. 

Simran

Since DDLJ I thought that Simran is a very filmy name, until the day I discovered that I will be having two neighbours named Simran for the next decade or so. Women of the two homes next to mine are named Simran. At my home, whenever anyone mentions Simran, the next question is which Simran? So we had sort this out. Shall we mention them as Simran 301 and Simran 302. Gaah! No! Strangely that sounded like bed numbers to me! Parjeet chi mummy and Ishaan chi mummy is blah, too past century! So we decided to mentioning them with their husbands names, like Gurpreet chi Simran and Sadiq chi Simran. That sounds love, doesn’t it?

chi (marathi) = ki (hindi)

Aham Bhumika

Last month I did a guest post for The Handmade Co about my process and experience of working for Aham Bhumika - an NGO in Bhopal. Here is the link for the post.

~

Aham Bhumika is an NGO based in Bhopal - working on education and women empowerment for over 3 years. They have skill trained 40+ women in hand embroidery in the outskirts of Bhopal. Embroidery as a skill and a method of making; requires least investment. Wonders are embroidered with a single needle, thread and a piece of cloth.

Two years ago when I crossed path with the founder of Aham Bhumika, I was overwhelmed by the quality of embroidery and dedication towards the “handmade” concept. They were looking for design inputs to enhance their product line.

Design is not a discipline; it is a way of life – is what I followed while working on project Aham Bhumika.

My idea of a good product is – good material, proper process, right detailing, optimum design and colour. Textile design is more of what you touch and feel than what you see.

Streamlining fabric sourcing and pre-processes of embroidery and utilizing existing fabric is what I started with. The result of this was a small collection of zipper pouches named EYE CANDY.

Ranging from local inspiration of Gond Art to global inspiration like Sashiko and Otomi embroideries, I made sure that design is process driven and is as cohesive as possible. It is a need of hour for craft design to have global aspirations along with a strong local foundation. 

The fun part of working with crafts is the hands-on approach it demands to achieve desired outcome. 

Dhamadka - a "work from home" place

2008 was when I first visited Dhamadka and I seldom knew that over the years it would become such a special place for me, like a second home – the one after my mother’s.  

Traditional home to the ajrakh prints of Kutch, Dhamadka has been a place of work for natural dyes and hand block prints for me. Ajrakh to me is much beyond its process, it is more about the people who make it and how they use and cherish it in their daily lives. 

Along with work, living at Jabbar bhai’s place with his family, getting served with fresh gujju delicacies day in – day out, evenings with mehendi sessions and nights under the starry sky is what makes it a home away from home. Working in Dhamadka is like working from home and I make sure I do it at least once (3 to 4 days) every year!

Here is a small photo essay on Dhamadka... 

Indigo dyed fabrics drying under the sky

Wooden blocks / Ajrakh printed fabrics

Fabrics dyed in red kept for drying / Tools for clamp dyeing. 

Flowers / Floor at home / Indigo ground

Washed fabrics / Young dyers Ujeer and Mohammad / Detail of Ajrakh printed fabric

Fabric being washed / Jabbar bhai / Booklet for process of Ajrakh

Weaves of Brilliance

My cousin’s grandparents were a unique couple. They never made a property of their own. Got both daughters happily married. Globe trotted after retirement and had interesting stories of each country to keep us kids entertained. Aaji and Abba as we called them; collected beautiful souvenirs and miniature alcohol bottles from around the world which particularly kept me interested whenever I visited them as a kid. Well in advance they had decided to donate their body once lifeless. This inspired my grandparents to do the same and be of use to the world until the last bit of oneself remains. To be honest, this inspiration has seeped in me as well. Their planning was so apt that they had even decided where one will live once one of them passes away. Abba passed away and Aaji went to live rest of her life with fellow aajis and abbas at an old age home in Panvel called Shantivan. Aaji lived there for more than 4 years before she said the final goodbye.

My cousin used to visit her and always told me about how beautiful that place is and about various activities that are carried out in that surrounding apart from the old age home. Fortunately I happened to visit Shantivan this spring and had a wonderful experience, one of which was dhurrie weaving carried out by leprosy patients.

Many years ago when leprosy was treated as stigma, this rehabilitation centre was set up based on the Gandhian philosophy of swavalamban and labour of love. Leprosy patients are trained to weave dhurries so that they can earn a self-living with dignity. Today very few patients work here but the concept, vigour and work they produce are awe-inspiring.

These are cotton flat weave dhurries woven on basic floor looms using a punja. Most of the dhurries are made to order in customized sizes and colors. Dyed yarn is sourced from Bhivandi and Solapur – two of the biggest cotton weaving centres of Maharashtra. Basic kilim motifs are woven at regular repeats. What is more beautiful is the weaving of letters to make customised names as per order.

My abba has such a dhurrie with his name woven on it. He says it was made in Madras before I was born, which means it is more than 31 years old. I always believe textiles are such beautiful treasurers of myriad stories. I have treasured some beautiful pieces of textiles that my aaji has handmade - smell, texture and colors of which have countless memories stitched on to them.  

eclipse

Do you remember?

Do you remember that call you made?

A usual Monday noon, it was your smoke break time at office; time to dig up some graves and haunt, perhaps.

I was busy at my studio putting things together to close a long project, the way I had put closure to few acquaintances of life.

Everything was pretty usual.

Except for that call you made.

Remember?

It is said that...
Some people are people.
Some people are experiences.
You, my dear, are a hurricane
the one that I survived through

and I wont let you forget that!

dive

ocean

E-waste Mural Workshop

This post was long due and has been lying in drafts since August 2016.

Better late than never… and here it is out in February 2017.

Recently I met a senior architect in Mumbai and she shared her experience of making a mosaic flooring for the terrace of pediatric ward at KEM hospital in Mumbai many years ago. They had tough time convincing the authority the importance of an interactive mural for the paediatric department in the hospital. Similarly she said applies of corporate offices. As a design professional, you know what you seek in a project and explore in that direction, whereas, teaching and learning is always a multi directional and open ended exploration.

January 2013 was the first time I put myself in the role of a design mentor. It was a workshop based course at NID. Few students looked elder to me and I had a major depression on the first day! This of course was part of the fun of teaching, and simultaneously learning much more! After that I have been taking short courses at NID and NIFT.

After looking at the e-waste mural made by us at Concept Art, I was invited to take up a workshop in Royal College of Architecture, Guwahati. The theme for their annual function year 2016 being Reduce Reuse Recycle, making a mural from e-waste was quite appropriate a concept.

Teaching or taking workshops related to textiles and design is instilled by now, but here this was art.

Working on art in studio different and working on the same with 100 students is a completely different ball game. Students have their set of questions, excitement, ways to work and self explore… its just wonderful energy.  

Students had an elevation of Banaras skyline from their recent study tour and this was to be translated on a wall with e-waste as the material. Each material demands different techniques and finishes. That is what art is about, being open to all the questions and searching for answers in all directions which infact is actual learning. While working with students, what I learnt is that you need to build a sea of trust about their capabilities in them and then they will swim it along…

The Gang!

Do you have a bench like this?

i am

reasons to hate

2016 – A Poetic Year

As promised to myself two years ago - to buy one book every month every year, this year has been fantastic with a total of 35 books and indeed very poetic with 50% of the books being those of poetry - from classic to contemporary, from love and longing to erotica and despair. 
In 2006, one for my faculty at NID had given me a feed back saying - "...learn to be poetic". Now, after 10 years I know what it actually meant and that life is beautiful and we have to make it more beautiful.  

The year started by reading Crafts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh by Jaya Jaitley and ended by adding a biggest book to my library- Michelangelo: Complete works. This book is so huge that it fits neither in the book shelf at studio nor in the one at home – precisely explains why this book is about Michelangelo!

Now when I have listed out the books, I see that each book has a story associated, a story about me - my state of mind and work at that time of the year. 

It’s so beautiful to review ones year this way!

It has been a wonderful year –

from travelling across the country to making a home by the hills

creating huge art to developing minute skills
meeting old friends to not making new

reading books to learning music

falling in love to writing poetry

So here is the list of books added to my library this year: 

Poetry

1.      Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing (April)

2.      The Book of Questions – Pablo Neruda (April)

3.      I swallowed the Moon: The poetry of Gulzar (May)

4.      Essential Haiku (May)

5.      Kabir: Ecstatic Poems (June)

6.      Lullabies – Lang Leav (July)

7.      Love and Misadventure – Lang Leav (July)

8.      Memories – Lang Leav (July)

9.      Bitter Sweet Love – Micheal Faudet (August)

10.   Erotic Poems – Goethe (September)

11.   The Inability of Words – Harnidh Kaur (September)

12.   Milk and Honey – Rupi Kaur (September)

13.   Mouthful of Forevers – Clementine Von Radics (September)

14.   Chasers of the Light – Tyler Knott Gregson (October)

15.   Sylvia Plath - The Collected Poems (October)

16.   The Universe of Us – Lang Leav (November)

17.   Bitter Sweet Love – Michael Faudet (November) 

Art and Design

1.      Crafts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh – Jaya Jaitley (January)

2.      World Textiles: A Sourcebook (January)

3.      I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail – Urveti, Ram Singh (February)

4.      10 books of illustrated short stories – K.G. Subramanian (March)

5.      The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images (June)

6.      Mudras of India: A Comprehensive Guide to the Hand Gestures of Yoga and Indian Dance (June)

7.      Basketry: A world Guide to Traditional Techniques (July)

8.      Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art (September)

9.      Michelangelo: Complete Works (December)

Reading (assorted)

1.      Concerning the Spiritual in Art – Wassily Kandinsky (January)

2.      Creative Confessions – Paul Klee (February)

3.      Blank Canvas – Prabhakar Barve (February)

4.      My Gita – Devdutt Pattanaik (February)

5.      Love Letters of Great Men (March)

6.      Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka (June)

7.      Business Sutra – Devdutt Pattanaik (September)

8.      Vishwakarma’s Children – Jaya Jaitley (September)

9.      A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf (October)

u n f o l d

This is a poem composed of a series of my tweets with rhetoric questions and corresponding hopeful answers.

Periodic excerpts from this also compose small poems-

i am the moon         

i am the star           

i am the earth         

i am the sea            

i am a zephyr         

i am air  
         
~

slide open the curtains

look at the sparkle in your eyes

walk barefoot

stand by the shore

untie your hair

and

b r e a t h e    

(now read first line of the first short poem and first line of second short poem. continue this way..)

winter mornings

your feet

I love your feet

only because they walked 

upon the earth and upon

the wind and upon the waters, 

until they found me. 

(Excerpt from the poem Your Feet by Pablo Neruda)

Paper Planes