A Celebration Called INDIA

This time we take the journey of the common man to a notch above by getting inspired and incorporating the most striking elements that he came across on the street in our own humble way. 

Street Shots:

On the left, an intelligent teaming of a rust red top with green low crotch printed Aladdin pants and accessorized with paisley jhola bag and ornamented chappals.

On the right, girls accessorizing their western casual outfit with bandhani and printed duppattas and printed and patchwork jholas.

 

  Purple shirt dress beautifully accessorized with handcrafted mojri and oxidized silver jhumka to add an Indian touch to her entire look.

  Courtesy:Soumyo Kanti Mittra Photography.

Durga puja is an annual celebration of the triumph of Goddess Durga over the devil Mahishashur. Idols of Durga are put up in pandals and a 5 day of ceremony takes place ending with the idol of Durga immersed in a nearby river or lake.

 Courtesy:www.boston.com

Janmashthami celebrates the birth of the famous avatar of Lord Vishnu, Shri Krishna. By and large, idols of Krishna and his female companion Radha are put up in swings, outside houses, temples and pandals and offered prayers and during daytime the very popular matki phor custom takes place where a pyramid of human is formed to break a pot filled with buttermilk kept at a convenient height.

 Courtesy:www.friendskorner.com

Eid is the celebration of the breaking of the month long day-dawn fasting period, Ramdan. Muslims get fresh and ready early in the morning and attend the special Eid prayer, offer charity to the poor and feast together to their hearts content on the day of Eid. 

  Courtesy:www.sinnyfreak.deviantart.com

Ganesha Chatturthi is a 10 day celebration where Lord Ganesh is believed to have bestowed his presence on earth for all his devotees in the duration of this festival. On the 11th day, the statue is taken through the streets in a rejoicing procession to be immersed in a river or the sea.

  

Courtesy:www.wikipedia.com

Dussehra and Diwali marks the return of the victorious Lord Rama to Ayodhya after his triumph over Raavan and is celebrated by burning effigies of Raavan in organized fairs mostly in the Northern India.

International Trends:

Elements of Indian origin have been included internationally be it in the form of paisley in Etro, Indian tessellation in DnG, saree silhouette inspiration in Hermes or even indo western styling of vogue shoots.

 

An inspiring video taking you through the glimpses of true India.

Courtesy: Incredible India!

"A Celebration Called India"

  Courtesy: www.theatlantic.com

1210000000 people . 330000000 Gods and Goddesses . 5000 ethnic tribes

22 official languages

1 NATION

With 365 numbers in hand, days fall short for us, Indians, to make merry and rejoice all the festivities that come with it given the fact that these merriments also include the victory of the man in blue! However, as the multiplicity and diversity of the folks inhabiting the nation (let alone the number of folks inhabiting it) is colossal, there are only a few things that bind them all together into “ONE BIG” celebration; cricket, as mentioned earlier, and the significance of color and light in festivities.

The oneness in diverse cultures of India has been talked about for decades. Here is an account of this “unity in diversity”, a representation of how the entire population is entangled into one common reason to paint the town red with the triumph of good over evil, return of a victorious God, birth of mythological heroes, fasting in the name of God. . . . . . and the list rolls on and on and on.

 

  He is the beginning of goodness, always happy, content and high spirited and inspiring the joy of giving. Soaked in the world of books, literature and poems. He sports a pair of colorful multicolored paisley printed harem worn below the cotton white shirt and quilted brown waistcoat. The colorful beads around his wrist, the pile of his favorite chocolates, his digital “mouse” and notepad adds spunk to the whole nerd look.

 Celebrating the power of womanhood

Power shouldered sequence shrug worn over her metallic corset empowers her look. With black chiffon drapery flowing underneath the double layered blouson, giving a great grandeur, where the blood red bindi on her forehead acts as the ball of energy to the frame.

The celebration by the Nawabs represented by sacred colors of green and white teamed up with black jodhpurs brings to you an indo-western smart casual look where the white jacket with a bright pocket square adds the dandy touch to the silhouette.

The “all attractive” cowherd boy

The joyous infant, the charmer, the lady killer playing a flute all day sporting his flared asymmetric tunic dyed in various techniques with the colours of the peacock, worn over his red satin cowl pants. The printed scarf inside the quilted bomber adds a playful peasant touch to the look, bringing to you the amalgamation of the historic love story by sporting an androgyne look.

The day of the triumph of good over evil, the festival of lights.

The Man with the intellect of ten brains, stands tall and proud as he fell prey to the hunger for power. The combination of red and black represents the evil in him, giving him supremacy and dominance. His long cape flies and flares behind him as strong and magnificent as his immortality, his golden chains complimenting his brocade pocket square showing the richness and royalty of his nature.

Combating him is the warrior, survivor, fighter and victor represented by the multiple army metallic badging on his bandhgala jacket, worn over linen over dyed combat cargoes. The cotton ochre shirt he wears tucked in, where ochre represents the color of the sages. The scarf over his head and antique talisman around his neck adds to the feat.

Desi Dhaba

 

 

The journey of a common man across a regular road of the country can offer enough tarka to make him stop and wonder if he’s proud or not of this utterly confused and absolutely unique India.

India has reached a point where while one segment of the population is moving towards modernisation and westernisation the other segment is trying hard to cling to anything that defines best the traditional  and authentic India. The result of this can very well be summed up in one word as a sheer ‘mess’; in desi terms, as a ‘khichdi’. However, even in this khichdi, there is one part of the nation which is  untouched and  unharmed by all of this – the gaon; the village.

In our very first November story we decided to exhibit, instead of the gaon, this wonderful Indian khichdi  through the eyes of a comman man and attempted to show glimpes of real India that still exists in the imperfectly perfect cities of humara mahan Bharat!

Our great India!

 

The journey begins as he stumbles across the art of the nation where there is an array of canvas for the artist inside every Indian to work on, be it the wall across the street, the placard outside a cinema hall or even the forehead of the common Indian elephant.

 

 

The Indian street cuisine; figure out what you want to eat in a country whose streets offer you a wide choice of menu ranging from the khatta meetha nimbu pani , sweet and sour lemon juice, and tangy-spicy golgappas  to something as raw and simple as coconut juice and bananas.

 

Here is a site for retail therapy where visual merchandising gains a lot of scope and the whole street is yours to shop from, be it the neighbourhood’s paan dukan, paan shop, or the young boys selling larger than life balloons on the pavement, a source of his daily income, not to forget the creativity used in attracting people to their shops in terms of slogans outside the dhaba or the whooping maxi fluttering outside the local lingerie shop.

 

 

  

  

 

 

You will not miss a street without passing by a temple. However big or small, every nook and corner of this country has hints of beliefs on legends and folklores.

 

 

Being a traveller becomes easier here as you have many options and modes of commuting from one place to another. All you have to do is just choose what suits you best! A camel or a car, an auto or a local bus, but, just in case it’s a thela gari, a cart, don’t forget to watch out for the road signages that do not allow you in.

 

 

Intermingled and amalgated amount of emotions found on the streets when travelled through. A play of emotions on the faces of kids, workers, lovers and nomads that would surely leave a subtle smile on your face.

 

As much as one tries, he can never say he has seen India completely; atleast not in one lifetime. There is so much more to the country that our common man has yet to explore and thus this journey continues. There cannot be any better way to symbolise this than by the very artistic and truly colorful Indian truck which travels to every nook and corner of the nation and even with all this khichdi it is one thing that runs common althroughout.

Shubh Yatra !!