India's first Nobel Laureate, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore wrote in 1929: I was brought up in an atmosphere of aspiration, aspiration for the expansion of the human spirit. We in our home sought freedom of power in our language, freedom of imagination in our literature, freedom of soul in our religious creeds and that of mind... Continue Reading →
#projectinterpret’s 2nd quarter
In the 2nd quarter of #projectinterpret, apart from the guided tours some new initiatives have taken root. These are: Knowyourcity challenge: photographs are regularly uploaded on the VarnikaDesigns Instagram and Facebook accounts to quiz on some historical monuments/sites/buildings to help people connect to the architectural landmarks of a city. Most of us have passed these... Continue Reading →
Castella de Aguada – what’s that?
The Castella de Aguada is an actual place though it looks out of a children's adventure book. Popularly known as Bandra Fort. Has accentuated both reel-life, and real-life love lives for those who live life 'filmy'! In Bandra West, earlier probably known as Bandora. In Mumbai, earlier known as Bombay. History of it goes... Continue Reading →
Re – imagining Design: following M P Ranjan
M P Ranjan, India's foremost Design Thinker, said on 16 October 1997 at the AEP Bridge Semester, National Institute of Design: “Design is a responsible and creative activity that aims to understand human needs and aspirations in order to generate effective alternate solutions that can resolve these needs. By its very nature the process of... Continue Reading →
Turning to Gandhi …
When the world already stands devastated with brutalities and horrors that human beings are wrecking upon other human beings, comes across the despicable crime towards a lovely, 8 year old child. Name, caste, community, religion, village, family, country or politics - nothing, absolutely nothing, should matter in the path of justice. The National Crime Records... Continue Reading →
Sandeep Sangaru designs dreams
“You will need to have a dream and then explore all its dimensions and details and then refine the offering through an iterative process that blends imagination with action in the real world.” Design Thinker M P Ranjan, 2011 For Sandeep Sangaru, this dream began at Kashmir more than two decades back when he went... Continue Reading →
The young boy who didn’t like going to school
Dear Arushi Wish you a very very Happy Birthday 🙂 many happy returns of the day. This post is about a young boy called Robi who didn't like going to school. He was born on 7th May 1861 at his father, Debendranath Tagore's house, in Jorasanko, Kolkata. He was born more than 100 years from... Continue Reading →
British whispers in Chunar
Part 3: British Chunar The most interesting building we saw in the Chunar fort campus was the house of Warren Hastings, the 1st British Governor General of Bengal. He was in India just after the Battle of Plassey in 1757, when the Nawab of Bengal Siraj-ud Daulah had to give away all his powers to... Continue Reading →
The ascent to Chunar Fort
Part 2: Medieval Chunar Chunar fort is built on a promontory on the eastern bank of the river Ganga but is so strategically placed across it that the mighty river actually strikes against the fort and turns back towards north. This gives the name to Ganga as Uttarvahini - meaning turning around! This fort has... Continue Reading →
A Maharaja’s vision, and the romance continues…
In the last blog, we had started on the journey of the discovery of the creations of the illustrious ruler Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. We saw him turn into a full fledged king, soon he will prove he is a ruler above excellence, a beloved of his citizens whom he never considered his subjects. Sayajirao was... Continue Reading →
