YESTERDAY WAS DRAMATIC, TODAY IS OK.

looking on

2011-12-21T17:34:00.001+05:30

sunbeams

2011-12-14T10:59:00.001+05:30

timeless

2011-12-10T10:41:00.003+05:30

ischia, italy

forio d'ischia

2011-12-06T10:41:00.002+05:30

the most beautiful beaches i have ever seen! on a volcanic island that too!

europe on a lomo:

2011-11-26T16:37:00.001+05:30

our hostel and around

Barcelona walks.

2011-11-22T12:33:00.003+05:30

walking in europe is so much fun! and cycling too!

Gaudi

2011-11-17T18:58:00.003+05:30

Finally saw Antonio Gaudi's work and was completely awestruck!

Park Guell

Sagrada Familia

barceloneta!

2011-11-15T13:43:00.002+05:30

waiting

2011-11-12T14:19:00.003+05:30

the Dali Museum, Figueres

europe on a lomo

2011-11-08T10:19:00.002+05:30

TRAIN TO AMSTERDAM

europe on a lomo

2011-11-06T12:56:00.002+05:30

LEIDEN

europe on a lomo:

2011-11-04T13:30:00.002+05:30

LEIDEN: things we did

saw pretty homes

jumped up and down

some more

patted Shelly's belly

lounged at the park

europe on a lomo:

2011-11-02T18:13:00.004+05:30

CYCLING IN LEIDEN

cloud

2011-08-01T16:05:00.004+05:30

enfolding sunny spots of greenery

karen's house in goa

2011-07-11T17:20:00.006+05:30

divar, goa

2011-06-21T00:07:00.001+05:30

thivim station

2011-05-12T20:13:00.000+05:30

penthouse, goa

2011-05-05T09:16:00.002+05:30

the wall project - chapel road

2011-04-21T00:48:00.006+05:30

Once upon a time in a one-room rented apartment of the narrow alleys of an old, charming East Indian village called Chapel Road lived an easy going but over enthusiastic girl. Everyday she stared at the blank compound wall outside her home with an intense burning of adding some life to it. So she set out and gathered all the colourful people from the village and they all painted the wall. What a lovely way to add colour to the village and how wonderful to make so many friends!

Currently spread across the city, with lovely people painting kilometers and kilometers of walls funded by the government and spreading rapidly to other cities as well, the Wall Project has added life, colour and texture to all the people involved.

Kudos to Dhanya, Parag, Shaxeb, Nisha and all others who brought so many of us together!

Join the Wall Project on facebook!

sachin!

2011-04-11T09:00:00.000+05:30

chandini chowk - kolkata

2011-03-31T08:48:00.001+05:30

chinese breakfast!

2011-03-21T13:18:00.002+05:30

very yummy fish momos!
chandini chowk, kolkata

fish

2011-03-16T22:39:00.000+05:30

i actually saw it - the fish from 'tree hugger'!
in rajasthan.

'better gay than grumpy!'

2011-03-01T17:08:00.004+05:30

golden temple during diwali

2010-12-17T18:36:00.001+05:30

shut-shop

2010-12-13T22:30:00.001+05:30

elliot's beach, chennai

harpreet's daddy

2010-12-09T19:09:00.001+05:30

from ankleshwar to amritsar

2010-12-05T10:55:00.000+05:30

haus khas - delhi

2010-12-02T11:52:00.002+05:30

chandini chowk

2010-11-22T12:39:00.001+05:30

nizamuddin dargah, new delhi

2010-11-15T18:48:00.002+05:30

i completely fell in love with delhi. the sights, sounds and mostly the food. it's a lovely city with great infrastructure, a beautiful culture and so much art and design all around. sigh.

wait for more in the next few posts!

aftermath

2010-09-29T15:10:00.003+05:30

the ganesha marathon!

2010-09-25T14:22:00.005+05:30

the participants!

contestant 1: the politician

contestant 2: the peacock

contestant 3: lord shankar

stampede!

gokulashtami videos

2010-09-25T14:19:00.000+05:30

collapse!

jay gujarat!

dahi handi

2010-09-08T10:38:00.004+05:30

Also:

Nash
Kunal

aalaa re aallaa!

2010-09-06T19:40:00.006+05:30

angel

2010-08-16T21:00:00.001+05:30

i fell in love with the angel on this chapel!

walking out

2010-08-07T13:30:00.005+05:30

nash's house in goa

the watchdogs of goa

2010-08-02T17:38:00.005+05:30

The interiors of Goa are lined with villages, villages with centuries old Portuguese houses, an occasional crucifix here a random chapel there, winding roads with only an occasional motorbike zooming by.

Everything is serenely ordinary and ambling past until you come across the lions and soldiers. They breathe a life into the otherwise still scene. They watch the streets in pairs and have been doing so for centuries.

quaint bazaar roads

2010-07-30T15:09:00.003+05:30

deolali

timeless!

2010-07-29T14:13:00.004+05:30

This month I went to Deolali [a small non-touristic hill station in the Nashik district, Maharashtra] with my mother to bring in her birthday. Although my family has a holiday-home there, it was my first visit and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was largely a Gujarati settlement [apart from the military base that is]...
Lazy afternoons on porch swings, lunch in the Jain canteen across the road, healthy sandwiches and thandai for dinner, Jain derasars [temples]... the works!

I was most impressed by the cozy tourist accommodation or 'arogya bhavans'. Old houses converted into comfortable guest houses equipped with an attendee to suit the needs of a typical Gujarati family. One can opt for the attendee to clean, help out in the cooking [chopping, washing, we know how fussy our ba's and nani's are about 'doing it themselves'!] or even do all the cooking in your very own kitchen typical maharaj-style! How awesome is that! And what better way to maintain these wonderful houses than to convert them into guesthouses, instead of breaking them down and constructing fancy hotels.

temple in deolali

2010-07-26T20:29:00.000+05:30

the Irani Restaurants of Bombay

2010-07-18T15:11:00.002+05:30

Anyone who lives in Mumbai feels a sense of nostalgia about its numerous family-run Irani cafes because they have always been there and they have never ever changed.

As soon as you enter in one it's like you are transported back in time...; the circular darkwood chairs, marble tables, checkered tablecloths, brun maska, kheema pao and the famous milky chai... and not to forget the eccentric owners and waiters who impose 'rules' such as 'no sitting for long', 'no combing of hair', etc...! Most of us have so many memories of time spent in an Irani Cafe... bunking college lectures, they were the best and most affordable places to go to!

And so, anyone who lives in Mumbai is also saddened as they are fading out, mainly due to changing social trends: changing tastes, increased competition, and no successors to carry on the business. Who would have thought :(

also see:
my earlier post on britannia and company

without pain that too!

2010-07-17T13:34:00.002+05:30

tabitha

2010-07-13T20:48:00.000+05:30

mumbai monsoons

2010-07-12T11:57:00.002+05:30

from my rickshaw

Bombay: Hidden Beauties: Horniman Circle and Victorian Architecture

2010-07-07T11:48:00.007+05:30

Some years back while I was attending a Sufi Show, called Ruhaniyaat in the Horniman Garden, I discovered the beauty of Horniman Circle in the background. I thought to myself, I wish I could have a cocktail party here with light live music playing, the buildings lit up in the background, the fountain inside the garden in a playful mood sprinkling its water.

On close observations you see that the "banking street" that’s I would like to call it, has so much of wonderful architectural gems. The buildings, like most street buildings along the roads in South Bombay enclose footpaths at the ground levels. This was done to protect pedestrians while walking in the hot unbearable sun in the summers and from the heavy showers that were received during the monsoons. What an insight they had while the planned and designed! The space thus created is a cool arched passage and an absolute pleasure to walk through...

The niches have various heads/busts of people on each floor and on every building, each head being slightly different from the next; a different hairdo, a differently styled beard, a different expression...

Buildings around this area have a sort of romance in them, Elphinstone House, the Red coloured Mumbai Samachar Building, the St Thomas Cathedral, Brady House/ building that houses the ABN Amro (today the RBS), Readymoney Mansion are all such beauties.

Our modern day managers while taking care of their branding have sadly plastered and destroyed some of their facades so that their establishments could get good visibility.

Horniman Circle also has the Town Hall, this place has such historical importance, and very few people know that the declaration of Queen Victoria as the Empress of India was made on the very steps of the Town Hall after the Sepoy Mutiny.

South Bombay never disappoints me I always discover something new. Despite of being there so many times, it was only on this trip that I discovered the Bombay Port Trust building’s two beautiful ships that were jetting out. The building is a very simple stone building but these two ships take them to another level, so well thought of, small details make so much of a difference!

- Text by Francis D'Costa!

Bombay: Hidden Beauties: The Church of Saint Thomas

2010-07-01T21:18:00.007+05:30

The Bombay Fort had a few gates to get into it, one of these gates lead to the Church of St Thomas and hence the gate was called Churchgate and this is how the Railway station got the name "Churchgate"!!! After the walls of the fort were brought down the gates were gone but the area still continues to have the name! I have lived in Churchgate all of my childhood and I did not for the longest time know this!

The St Thomas Cathedral is one of the most beautiful Churches in Bombay, the wood and their Brass is well polished, the stained glass is the prettiest I have ever seen. Stained glass in most of the Churches in India was imported in parts, probably from Western Europe and assembled here on location. That is why one can see the joints in the glass [check out Jesus's limbs!] and this makes it look really abstract and 'modern' today...

Many Britishers that died in India are laid in the complex building of the Church, Generals, young soldiers, maids all lying in silent, some of their wall marble tablets have beautiful quotes from the Bible, poetry that makes you feel that these people were of great honour. Even though some of them died fighting Indians during the Ist war of Independence which they called the 'Sepoy Mutiny', you feel sad for them because of the beautiful depiction on the marble tablets.

[My friend, Francis who knows so much about the secrets of this city took a few of us on a long awaited tour of the city! Thanks Francis for the lovely insights!]

sunday afternoon siesta

2010-06-28T15:06:00.002+05:30

animal crackers!

2010-06-22T18:39:00.004+05:30

I worked with Shradhanjali, a handicraft unit of Auroville that makes stationery with hand pressed flowers and came up with a range of animals! Do see!

festival in edyanchavady village

2010-06-18T19:52:00.000+05:30

the soul of auroville

2010-06-16T19:02:00.002+05:30

matri mandir

pray

2010-06-11T10:04:00.002+05:30

2010-06-10T17:45:00.001+05:30

our last stop before auroville!

temple walls

2010-06-08T20:24:00.001+05:30

shi mangalambika vilas coffee hotel, kumbakonam!

2010-06-06T22:44:00.003+05:30

really quaint and ambient coffee shop in the narrow galli leading to the temple. this place is a big hit amongst all trigger-happy tourists, and the filter coffee is amazing!

rest

2010-06-02T16:38:00.001+05:30

pit stop for chai and some mindless kannada television

pretty pretty flooring at rathna hotel in honavar

2010-06-01T13:40:00.001+05:30

market!

2010-05-29T22:54:00.001+05:30

temple town: kumbakonam

2010-05-28T20:41:00.002+05:30

outside : inside

minaret

2010-05-22T20:10:00.002+05:30

things that passed us by
[what do i have to do sitting pillion besides taking random photographs and munching on apples...]

lodgings!

2010-05-20T23:30:00.001+05:30

so i collect hotel room photographs, i take them the next morning when we are packing and loading the bikes. always :)
i love photographs of used hotel rooms, they say so much about the people in it...
here is the collection from our ride to auroville.
enjoy!

suraj garden restaurant & lodge, sangumeshwar, maharashtra

nashville, socorro, goa

perpetual general stores & lodge, agonda, goa

ratna hotel, honawar, karnataka

bombay hotel, payyanur, kerala

lakshmi apartments lodge, palakkad, kerala

shantur maharaj, kukkal, tamil nadu

tourist cottages, palani, tamil nadu

sangam lodge, kumbakonam, tamil nadu

apollo lodge, chidabaram, tamil nadu

forecomers, auroville, tamil nadu

we rode from mumbai to kodaikanal for the ultimate frisbee tournament [we won 2, we lost 2!]
and from kodaikanal to auroville where we stayed for 2 months to dabble at this and that... flower pressing and collage-making at shradhanjali, organic farming, cycling, eating yummies...
we had a blast.
and i happened to eat the world's best chocolate ice cream... so!

also see nash's pillow series here!

things that passed us by: loonghi bikers!

2010-05-14T12:22:00.001+05:30

things that passed us by

2010-05-13T14:38:00.001+05:30

things that passed us by [I]: mannequin mania

2010-04-27T15:05:00.002+05:30

just when we were about to reach goa, these hordes of trucks loaded with mannequins with defiant poses, precariously balancing, looking thoroughly frozen in action, were breezily speeding away away from us.
it all seemed so ordinary and yet so queer!

our motorbike [extreme right!]

2010-04-20T19:59:00.002+05:30

chiplun:
goa, here we come!

bye-bye mumbai

2010-04-17T19:36:00.000+05:30

on the road from mumbai to kodaikanal.
day 1!

kala ghoda cafe

2010-03-09T23:27:00.000+05:30

a must visit
the sweet potato and pumpkin salad with sesame seed and olive oil dressing is simply to die for! the next time i go, i will make sure i take a photograph...

britannia and company

2010-03-06T17:09:00.001+05:30

a must visit!
Address:
Wakefield House,
11 Sprott Road,
16 Ballard Estate,
Colaba, Mumbai
Phone: 22615264
visit other iranian cafes here!

my street exhibit

2010-03-05T21:03:00.000+05:30

kala ghoda art festival 2010

the taj mahal

2010-03-04T19:08:00.000+05:30

i think it was the most crowded day ever!

my first glimpse of the taj mahal

2010-03-02T19:01:00.001+05:30

from agra fort, on a cold foggy day

my favourite blog

2010-02-27T13:16:00.000+05:30

nash

believe it or not!

2010-02-25T19:27:00.000+05:30

early morning

2010-02-24T21:43:00.001+05:30

agra fort

2010-02-22T22:42:00.000+05:30

fun day in jaipur

2010-02-20T12:46:00.001+05:30

rayna, alia, adi and me [damn the frantic sight-seeing!]

the staff

2010-02-19T23:14:00.000+05:30

aboard the indian maharaja!

leopard cat

2010-02-16T18:25:00.000+05:30

view of the city

2010-02-15T23:51:00.000+05:30

ceilings, city palace, udaipur

2010-02-12T22:13:00.000+05:30

sigh...

udaipur

2010-02-11T23:36:00.002+05:30

pichola lake and city palace

vidyanagar revisited

2010-02-07T20:51:00.004+05:30

i finally went back to gujarat after some six years where i lived and studied a five year architecture course.
so many things are exactly the same, it's like i never left. rehman chacha has not aged a minute, the chai tastes exactly the same, the same food is served [i had one plate each of all my favourites :)], the same notes are etched on the doors, the same posters are stuck on the walls, and i myself am the same height [i double checked on the markings on my wall].
and yet so much has changed, so much development for the worse... i guess it is inevitable.

2010-02-06T23:06:00.000+05:30

moustacheman

2010-02-02T20:59:00.000+05:30

yummy...

2010-02-01T15:42:00.001+05:30

...chocolate pudding in the pantry of the Indian Maharaja train!

2010-01-29T14:45:00.001+05:30

finally framed! thanks, dithi for the lovely lovely prints!

shelved

2010-01-28T17:17:00.000+05:30

soccorro. goa.

2010-01-27T16:29:00.002+05:30

*

2010-01-25T15:39:00.000+05:30

goa

goa III

2010-01-24T21:06:00.000+05:30

goa II

2010-01-23T13:11:00.000+05:30

goa

2010-01-22T18:27:00.001+05:30

i just love the old portuguese houses...

sleep

2010-01-19T00:15:00.000+05:30

chop! chop!

2010-01-17T15:04:00.000+05:30

wag the dog

2010-01-16T19:48:00.000+05:30

nehru nagar, vile parle

strain. pour. serve!

2010-01-15T10:06:00.000+05:30

shut!

2010-01-14T21:04:00.000+05:30

2010-01-13T14:00:00.000+05:30

mohammedali road

display

2010-01-12T13:56:00.000+05:30

mohammedali road