Miniature paintings are drawn on a very small scale. If enlarged, they would amaze one with their exactitude. One would fondly recall to mind miniatures on the theme of Radha-Krishna, those of Ragmala series and Nathdwara paintings. Handmade colours, particularly the basic ones – red, yellow and blue – develop strong contrasts as also delicate details of characters and their surroundings. A prominent style in the genre is the Pahari style with its variants like Kangra in which countless illuminated frames of scriptures are made and events described in them are delicately illustrated. Such beautiful miniatures, on glazed well laid-out 170 pages, of Artibus ASIAE and Niyogi Books’ A Sacred Journey (2021), written by Karuna Goswamy and B N Goswamy,…...
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May 28, 2022
Archana Shah has been collaborating with artisans around the country for the last 40 years to create textiles for her clothing company BANDHEJ, a label influenced by traditional textiles and artisanal skills, offering a range of eco-friendly fashion. Over the years, through many initiatives and interactions, she has been able to revive several craft skills,…
In this Photo Studio, photographer Ashish Mehta of ‘Meet Me at Khadia’, who has been running a time-honoured photo-walk in the walled city of Ahmedabad captures the authentic flavour of Amdavad’s kite festival known as Uttarayan.
Also known as Makar Sankranti in various traditions, Uttarayan festival, is dedicated to the Sun God and marks end of the 6 month period that began with June Solstice. Makar Sankranti, the Indian equivalent of Winter solstice marks the beginning of 6 month long ‘Uttarayan’ period, in which the northern hemisphere of the planet is tilted towards the Sun. Considered an auspicious time for new beginnings, particularly in agrarian societies, this day is marked with lot of festivity. The festivity is passionately celebrated all across India, but in the city of Ahmedabad, it is specially rejoiced by flying vivid kites using a sharp abrasive string called Manja.
The Heritage city of Ahmedabad is famous for its Uttarayan revelry as people and families gather on the Pol terraces to fly kites with utmost enthusiasm. The festivity is marked with authentic Gujarati dishes including the quintessential dish full of winter vegetables called Undhiyu. This album is a compilation of Mehta’s four years of Uttarayan photography, which was mostly conducted during the evening times of the festival in the Khadia Pol. The senior lensman is using Canon 1100D to capture the saffron hues of the Amdavadi Uttarayan skies.
To be a part of this celebration, you can contact Ashish Mehta as this year he has organised a ‘Uttarayan in Pol‘ event within the walled city of Ahmedabad. Since the happening is meant to be a traditional affair, participants will be given colourful kites, environment friendly manja, lip-smacking indigenous delicacies and of course an original Amdavadi Uttarayan experience curated by Mehta himself.
The captions of the photographs are the different names of Uttarayan/Makar Sankranti in various regions of India, Nepal and Pakistan.
Apr 12, 2022
The only human presence in this world is of the Narrator, who is a ragpicker – her name is Shakuntala Devi (Shubha Nigam). The rest of them are ‘despicable’ creatures, the scum of society -with one exception all street dogs. She is all ears on overhearing them talking about religion. Those on the fringe are…
May 29, 2022
Samskaras have significance. They get imprinted in the mind of a child. On completion of ten years of training in Bharatanatyam, Anainah, just out of teenage years, presented her first and thematic solo performance Bhakti Yug at the H K Arts College Hall on May 27, 2022. The dance recital, pretty good in quality…
May 24, 2022
Miniature paintings are drawn on a very small scale. If enlarged, they would amaze one with their exactitude. One would fondly recall to mind miniatures on the theme of Radha-Krishna, those of Ragmala series and Nathdwara paintings. Handmade colours, particularly the basic ones – red, yellow and blue – develop strong contrasts as also delicate…
Mar 27, 2022
It was about four years ago on February 05, 2018 that I attended the inaugural reception of an art show at Santa Clara University in California. As the show titled Beyond Borders: Stories of Im/migration focused on mass migrations was opened, the organizers began a panel discussion with five of the 20 participating artists and…
લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ મને લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
જનનીના હૈયામાં પોઢંતા પોઢંતા પીધો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ પીધો કસુંબીનો રંગ
ધોળાં ધાવણ કેરી ધારાએ ધારાએ પામ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ મને લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
બહેનીના કંઠે નીતરતાં હાલરડાંમાં ઘોળ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ ઘોળ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
ભીષણ રાત્રિ કેરા પહાડોની ત્રાડોએ ચોળ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ મને લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
દુનિયાના વીરોનાં લીલા બલિદાનોમાં ભભક્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ ભભક્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
સાગરની પારે સ્વાધીનતાની કબરોમાં મહેક્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ મને લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
ભક્તોના તંબૂરથી ટપકેલો મસ્તીભર ચાખ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ ચાખ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
એવી વ્હાલી દિલદારાના પગની મેંદી પરથી ચૂમ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ મને લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
નવલી દુનિયા કેરાં સ્વપ્નોમાં કવિઓએ ગાયો કસુંબીનો રંગ
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મુક્તિને ક્યારે નિજ રક્તો રેડણહારે પાયો કસુંબીનો રંગ
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પીડિતની આંસુડા ધારે હાહાકારે રેલ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ રેલ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
શહીદોના ધગધગતા નિઃશ્વાસે નિઃશ્વાસે સળગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ મને લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
ધરતીનાં ભૂખ્યાં કંગાલોને ગાલે છલકાયો કસુંબીનો રંગ
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એવા બિસ્મિલ બેટાઓની માતાને ભાલે કાંઈ મલક્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ મને લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
ઘોળી ઘોળી પ્યાલા ભરિયા રંગીલાં હો પીજો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ પીજો કસુંબીનો રંગ
એવા દોરંગા દેખીને ડરિયાં ટેકીલાં હો લેજો કસુંબીનો રંગ
હો રાજ મને લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ
~ ઝવેરચંદ મેઘાણી
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Aug 20, 2019
A children’s book about a boy who feels like a girl. And about a child brought up by grandfathers. These are some of the stories published by Tulika Books, who have been making children’s picture books since 23 years. Little…
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Did you ever wonder where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ characters got their names from? Well, your search is complete. Here is a brief introduction of the artists from whom the creators of TMNT took inspiration. Teenage mutant ninja turtles,…
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In this piece 64 year old Dr Yatin Desai, shares with CY his inspiring story of how to scale towering mountains with utmost ease and how this life adventure activity can shape human character and health. Chances are high that…