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