2025 was an exciting year for us 🙂 VarnikaDesigns turned 15! VarnikaDesigns Blog turned 10! The Museum Memories Project turned 5! Immense gratitude to each of you for supporting, motivating and inspiring us.
Celebrating 10 Years of VarnikaDesigns: A Blogging Journey
So it’s 10 years – a decade of writing a blog - this is the 160th post, 3 in the draft and a few more in my mind!!! Thank you for being a part of the VarnikaDesigns blog’s journey, for being a reader, motivator and inspiration ❤ ….. When I started, I didn’t realise... Continue Reading →
Water! We will always need you but we treat you bad :(
One morning in March, 2024, India woke up to a headline that shocked us beyond belief * India's pride, Bengaluru, had no water!!! Born and brought up in Rajasthan and having spent most of my life there and in Gujarat, both desert states of India, water scarcity was something we were aware of being integral to our lives.
Award of Honorary D. Litt. degree to Dr Asok Kumar Das
The Courtauld Institute of Art, an independent college of the University of London has announced the conferment of an Honorary Doctorate degree (Doctor Honoris Causa) to the distinguished art historian Dr Asok K. Das.
The story of the dazzling ‘Gota’ embroidery: its past, present and future
Amidst all the glitter, glamour and glitz of yesteryear the shimmer and shine of Gota stands out! It has captured in its weave the fantasy of the times. Travelling from the markets of the Western Indian cities of Surat, Ajmer where they were manufactured, Gota came to be the ubiquitous accessory of every royal garment. Let us know of the history of the exquisite Gota embroidery based on original fieldwork.
Albert Hall, Jaipur
The Rajasthan State government run Central Museum in Jaipur is still popularly known as the Albert Hall. It was designed by architect Sir Swinton Jacob inspired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, in the Indo – Sarcenic style and opened as a Museum in 1887. It was built to commemorate the visit of Albert,... Continue Reading →
Early Indian photography history at Jaipur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9x_ht9eQas Dr Asok Kumar Das is an Art Historian, Author, Former Director, City Palace Museum, Jaipur. He is an expert with 40 years of experience in the field of museums, museology and curation. This interview reveals the history of early Indian photography through the work of Sawai Ram Singh II, the ruler of Jaipur in... Continue Reading →
Part 5: Rajmata’s legacy ❤️
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’s other love: the City Palace Museum, Jaipur
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
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.
