Part 5: Rajmata’s legacy Rajmata started the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya, in memory of her departed husband in 1984... A true warrior, lover of freedom, Rajmata Gayatri Devi has empowered generations of women, men, society, state and a country like India. The links to all the 5 parts are given at the end of this post. Please comment on the blog posts. Thank you for reading 🙂
Part 4: Rajmata other love: the City Palace Museum, Jaipur I am lucky that I knew Rajmata slightly personally. She had heard of my father in London where he was pursuing his Phd at SOAS and on his return to his job as Deputy Keeper at the Indian Museum, Kolkata, she had tried to contact him. My father’s evil boss had thrown away Rajmata’s letters of invitation so when my father received a call from someone calling himself Maharaj Prithviraj from Jaipur inquiring why the letters were not replied to, Baba thought it was a prank by his evil boss. Then Maharaj Prithviraj met with him and that started a lifelong bond between them.
Part 3: A passionate affair begins The MGD School is located at Sawai Ram Singh Road on 26 acres of land, you cannot miss it. It houses separate buildings for the senior and junior schools, has two large playing grounds, a big stadium, a rose garden, a swimming pool, two basketball courts, a music and art room, five hostels for different ages, and a hostel for female faculty, several labs, an extremely well stocked library and an infirmary for the unwell girls. It still remains a girl school, a sanctuary for many.
Part 2: The Gayatri Devi ‘Aandhi’
...And, she arrived. In style.
Not because of her beauty, garments, jewellery, handbags, perfumes or shoes. But because when she reached Jaipur for her marriage, it is believed, she had told her husband that she would not follow him by three steps as all Rajasthani women had to but she would walk beside him. He agreed but also told her to be patient as it would take his court some time to accept someone like her.
Rajmata
The word sends a shiver and thrill down every MGDian! For us, there is only one person who has earned this reaction. She is Rajmata Gayatri Deviji Sahiba, Queen Mother of the erstwhile royal state of Jaipur, the present capital of Rajasthan. Though she left us in 2009 she will continue to live in every breath we take, for generations …
This series of five posts is a tribute to Rajmata, written to share with the world who she really was and what she represented for little girls from Rajasthan, a western desert of India, recognised for its valour, colour and cultural heritage. It is also a state that, today, even nearly 75 years after India’s independence has one of the highest crime rates against women, an alarming number of child marriages and dowry deaths, and continues to practice the heinous crime of female foeticide (the killing of the girl child in the womb or immediately on birth, before they even take their first breath).
"My paintings are a means of conveying hope, that reflects the community and comfort around the neighborhood,” says Shrey Purohit, who has won two PleinAir Salon Art Competition awards and then "donated and auctioned his prestigious 2021 PleinAir Salon Art Competition’s best artist under 30 Award-winning ‘Downtown Near the Van Gogh Exhibit’ oil painting to raise funds for the homeless and needy in San Francisco." I am so excited because I had taught Shrey at a design school in 2017 in Mumbai.
2021 has been a difficult year for VarnikaDesigns but we kept on our endeavour of making heritage and history accessible and inclusive, an arduous task in the global Covid lockdown year. Thank you for your constant support and motivation ♥️♥️♥️
Through 'Beyond the Palace: creating new approaches' series, VarnikaDesigns is immensely honoured to bring to you a set of 5 video interviews with 6 amazing women entrepreneurs from the erstwhile royal families of India. We asked them how they are empowering artisans design a new paradigm, their future plans, how they extend their family’s royal legacy and preserve heritage through social media and how they are making their family’s and India’s culture accessible and inclusive. Follow us on the VarnikaDesigns Instagram profile from November 26 - 29, 2021 for their stories.This series is to help promote the unique fundraiser auction 'India for Artisans' by 200 M Artisans, CD and StoryLtd to raise money for India's artisans to be held online on 30th November, 2021, 8AM - 8PM IST for which VarnikaDesigns is a Cause partner
It’s out! My review of the exhibition of the work of Annie Morris and Idris Khan seen at the Gallierie Isa in 2020 January at Mumbai.
Wishing everyone a very Happy, Safe and Healthy Durga Pujo 🙂 This is the second Durga Pujo during the lockdown induced by the dreaded Covid 19. Nearly everyone is exhausted and drained - emotionally, physically, financially, intellectually and every other possible way. We have collected a special offering for you which are inspired from Durga Pujo celebrations from Bengal. We would not want you to miss out on the festivities associated with this festival and season ❤ so re live your memories and joys of the season, and plan for the grand one next year. May the power of the Mother Goddess be with you 🙂
