Life style

In Sharbari Zohra Ahmed’s Dust Beneath her Feet, Yasmine Khan, 26-year-old proprietor of the Bombay Duck, has created a home away from home for a vibrant cast of characters. There is Asma who imagines herself to be a character out of a Bronte novel, Patience, the good time girl, and Radhika who is light on her feet and has darkness in her mind. It is Kolkata in 1942 and the city swarms with American soldiers. “Yasmine wanted to create an environment for the American soldiers that was similar to something that might have been in New York — a nightclub with singing, dancing, food and drink,” says Sharbari who was in Bengaluru for the launch of the book. Dust Beneath her Feet tells the story of Yasmine and Edward Lafaver, set against the backdrop of momentous events. The 48-year-old author says, “I didn’t set out to write a feminist text. I think these women are feminists. I was focused on the characters and their story, of this independent woman … [Read more...] about Of all the jazz clubs

“I always enjoyed the art of storytelling. Studying journalism helped me explore all the forms of media,” shares city-based photographer Sushmitha Tadakamadla who is making a mark with her visual montages of food, fashion and people. From breweries to magazine covers and photo shoots for newly opened food joints, the 24-year old’s images are striking due to their eye for detail and the usage of natural elements as part of her visual narrative. Lamb chops   An alumnus of St. Francis College for Women and Bharati Vidyapeeth’s School of Photography, the young photographer shares, “My instant connection with photography happened because I came across images that moved me. The beauty of expressing an image through a still image fascinates me till date. It is an adventure of playing with a 3D space and transforming that into a 2D image. Photography has helped me overcome my fears and inhibitions as well.” Sushmitha shares her foray into … [Read more...] about Sushmitha Tadakamadla’s photographs: As natural as they get

Kathak in Kerala? You heard it right.We have now opened up to the bols and tatkars of Kathak. As far as the cultural landscape of Kerala is concerned, Mohiniyattam and Bharathanatyam still enjoy pride of place. But interest in Kathak has gone up in the past few years. Today, students are willing to fly down their teachers from North Indian cities. In Thrissur, the Kolkata-based dancer Rajib Ghosh, a disciple of Rajendra Gangani, arrives every month to teach a batch of 20. In Kochi, Deepa Kartha, a Malayali , has been teaching Kathak for almost ten years. “I have around 35 students,” says Deepa who runs classes at her institute, Rudra Performing Arts Centre at Thammanam as well as at Jainika School of Dance, in Panampilly Nagar. A disciple of the renowned dancer Parvati Dutta, Deepa could be a pioneer in Kerala’s Kathak classes. Trained in Bharathanatyam, Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi besides Kathak, Deepa has been giving solo Kathak recitals for the past five years. In … [Read more...] about The sound from the anklets

It is only natural that everyone would want their silk purchases to be stamped pure, for a guarantee on quality. Discerning silk consumers would know that one government organisation working to protect consumer interest in assessing silk to offer a mark of purity is the Central Silk Board (CSB), where its initiative Silk Mark Organisation of India, under the Ministry of Textiles offers a ‘marks card’ with its quality stamp (Silk Mark India) for the interested registered members. The Silk Mark Organisation of India (SMOI) has nearly 5000 members under its umbrella of weaver-clusters from all over India to have their silk labelled for purity. “Just like gold has Hallmark and Wool has Woolmark we brought in the Silk Mark to help people get 100 per cent silk that our label specifies. We guarantee only the silk, not the zari or the work that oes on a sari or fabric. It is in the interest of people’s purchases that SMOI also arranges the Silk Mark Expo, a platform to … [Read more...] about The mark says it all

Last week, Reshmi Dey demonstrated and talked about the art and craft of glass blowing at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Delhi, in an event called The Story of Czech Glass. Her work stood with eight Czech companies, as she, along with Jiri Pacineck, one of that country’s well-known glass makers, gave a glass-making demo in her mobile studio.Dey discovered glass when an ex-partner ordered in some glassware from Firozabad, a hub of India’s glass-making industry. She says she was mesmerised: “The light, the reflection, the refraction. I still remember there was a teal vase and a fine hand-engraved smokey flower vase.” That was in 1999, and she was 25.Dey, who grew up in Tinsukhia, Assam, and Kolkata, and dabbled in the hospitality industry that was just opening up in the area, boarded a train to Delhi in 1995, looking to do her MBA, much to the horror of her family, “because Delhi was this big, bad place”. Born to a conservative government … [Read more...] about Glass-blower Reshmi Dey now has a line of jewellery