Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay established the Crafts Council of India (CCI) in 1964. She also laid the foundation for Sangeet Natak Akademi and National School of Drama. A freedom fighter, social reformer and feminist, champion for India's women and her Handloom and Handicraft communities, this lady from Mangalore was awarded the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibushan - the... Continue Reading →
Landour is the land of Ruskin Bond. He's my love of the same infinite and unfathomable intensity as Gulzar - am not giving up either one is English love and the other is Hindi+Urdu love 🙂 If this sounds bizarre at all then that's how it is! Everything about Landour and Mussoorie is quite surreal...... Continue Reading →
Hi, I'm Chitku 🙂 we've met before. This is my brother Kaachbo. We have been brought into this world by Priyanka Tolia. She is an Exhibition Designer from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, and had studied History (Honours) from Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) before that. Priyanka often heard from the elders in... Continue Reading →
Meet Chitku - my lovely fairy She's made by caring hands of Uttarakhandi women, with grass from the Himalayan range from northern India. She was part of a batch about to fly off to the European climes. I just loved her, felt she wanted me to keep her with me. I asked her if she... Continue Reading →
“There is nothing sadder than an empty museum. After all, the treasures belong to the nation — to everybody…Museums provide spaces to meet, with huge galleries and a chance to see things in a different way, in real life, not digitally. They can be meeting places with cafés and restaurants, as well as lecture halls... Continue Reading →
Back to India’s realities: In India, post my London return in 2015 November, I was upbeat about creating accessible and inclusive spaces but everything changed with the research here. I became extremely disappointed that I was not able to find visitor surveys or statistics here. Most of our museums do not even know how many... Continue Reading →
Roughly translated it means: “Do not mention your solitude to others you’re not the only one, everyone is lonely this journey is difficult alone...” These lines are from a longer poem for a film by Gulzar. Here he has beautifully articulated the pain of loneliness, saying we are all lonely. To me, it also means... Continue Reading →
18 April is World Heritage Day. Today #projectinterpret salutes those who protect our Heritage, at whatever cost. Those who remain unrecognised, unknown and invisible. Those who we never get an opportunity to thank for their infinite efforts. Who is cleaning the Ghats or banks of the Ganga every morning before we go and ritualistically... Continue Reading →
Hello everyone 🙂 As promised, 2019 is a year of collaborations and many travels for #projectinterpret It started with a trip to Kanheri Caves in Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay) which spurred Vishal Shastri to start his own blog - you can read all about it here: https://varnikadesigns.wordpress.com/2019/01/17/2019-has-an-exciting-start/#more-2054 February was an exciting month. There was an exceptionally... Continue Reading →
