nidhiramblers

It is uncanny sometimes how events develop. As I read comments from Rama and Varsha giving their meaning to the term 'craft' in my earlier blog ' Varsha Nair: Her art...', I came across 'Handmade Nation' recommended as a blog of note. It was an enticing title that lead me to the blog, which is about the rise of DIY (Do It Yourself) and the new wave of art, craft and design in the USA . (http://indiecraftdocumentary.blogspot.com/ .) Anyway, Rama's comments about craft set me thinking. 'But craft requires mastery of technique along with creativity, making it a tougher field'. (Rama Gopinath lives near Seattle and Gopi takes me golfing at his club on our visits to our daughter Nandini .) To reminisce, it took me back to the time, years ago in Khajuraho , when I saw both Tara and Raji suddenly run excitedly towards..... well a hand cart full of brass figurines. These were all very well crafted and very beautiful and are still displayed in...

I thought, here I am rambling about art and how is it that I have not written about Varsha? It is indeed totally inconceivable that you are writing about Indian art in Bangkok and Varsha is not featured in it in a big way. In fact, I did think about a blog about her couple of times, but did not get round to it. ' Varsha ' is a beautiful sanskrit word which creates an image of gentle drop of rain or flowers ( Pushpa varsha ). It can also be an unrestrained outpouring: an extravagant and sometimes excessive. ( Varsha Dhaara ). I think her parents were prescient in choosing this name for her. It is really difficult to capture the essence of her persona. Varsha gushes, rushes, expresses, declares, proclaims depending on what she is passionate about at the moment and all this is encompassed in her name itself. We met Varsha at an exhibition of paintings, which Samhita Arni had made for her book 'Mahabharata'. I liked the natural way she spoke English, and not surprising as s...

Tara had a unique opportunity on Tuesday the 2 nd October. UN has declared Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday as the 'International Day of Non-Violence'. Thus on, 2 October 2007, ESCAP in collaboration with the Embassy of India, Bangkok organised a function to commemorate this day. The Ambassador of India kindly asked Tara to sing two Bhajan's (Inspirational hymns) which were favourites of the Mahatma. It was organised at the United Nations conference centre. The UN building as you can expect is an impressive building and the facilities were excellent. It is easier to copy from the aesthetically designed programme to give you an idea of the day. 10:30 -11.00 hours Refreshments 10.45 hours Arrival of H.E. Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar , Minister for Panchyat Raj, Youth Affairs and Sports and Development of North-eastern Region, Government of India and H.E. Ms. Latha Reddy , Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of India to ESCAP . 11.00 -12.1...