The bamboo poles stop just short of grazing the walls of the 17th century structure that, for 10 days, housed Pampa: Textiles of Karnataka — presented by the Abheraj Baldota Foundation, in collaboration with Karnataka’s department of tourism and the Archaeological Survey of India. A careful matrix of similar poles, held together sturdily with jute ropes, criss-cross … Read more
We are at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity where I am trying to sneak a picture of a block print of cultural icon Begum Akhtar on a blouse. Its wearer, Mamta Varma, runs Bhairavi’s Chikan in Lucknow, with 300 women who do fine chikankari embroidery. Noting my interest she reveals that the unusual blouse was made by … Read more
As a collector of ikat saris, I have a defining memory of the weave. An exquisite cotton ikat sari woven by Pitabas Meher, whose father Mohan Meher received the National Award for the design. In shades of deep red and indigo, it was inspired by a board game and replicated the motifs of the dice with script and numbers. … Read more
A pillar here, an elaborately carved door there, trellised balconies and stone carvings offer tantalising glimpses of what it must have been like 2,000 years ago when Paithan, then known as Pratishthana, was the capital of the mighty Satavahana dynasty, and later the Vakatakas, the Yadavas and the Marathas. The town located a little more … Read more
Gwyneth Paltrow, Deepika Padukone with Ranveer Singh, and Alia Bhatt | Photo Credit: AP, Getty Images Sarojini Naidu famously quipped that it cost a lot of money to keep Mahatma Gandhi in poverty, so she would no doubt view with amusement fashion’s current obsession with quiet luxury dressing. Blame it on actor Gwyneth Paltrow’s recent … Read more
The 17th-century English explorer Edward Terry wrote of his visit to India: “The natives there show very much ingenuity in their curious manufactures, as in their silk stuff, which they most artificially weave, some very neatly mingled either with silver or gold or both…” It is these glowing, glistening, lustrous “silk stuffs” that are the … Read more
The Tungabhadra river flows, not too far from where we stand. On its southern bank is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hampi, the capital of the mighty Krishnadevaraya’s Vijayanagara empire. But we are on the northern banks at Anegundi village, said to be older than Hampi. All around are hills with massive boulders precariously … Read more