B'jour Roma and Firenza

I was joining my better half for a work cum holiday in Milan. As I landed the airport at Milan and got on the bus to Centrale I couldn't help notice how much Italians love to talk on phone..and it is 'intense' talking.(Indians would certainly call them "dramebaaz") I believe it comes from the fact that Italians too have very close knit families or perhaps are over-possessed with a sense of concern or maybe they just sound like that! The bus was packed; it was season time-summer time and everybody vacationing out in the sun to get that perfect golden tan.

I was to be in Milano for only a couple of hours as friends had recommended Rome and Florence. However did make it to the Duomo which I would say is breathtakingly intricately finished. The detailing and the scale can't just be captured in a picture but here's one for a memoir...



Walking down the street near the Duomo one will see the biggest and best of brands of the fashion capital. I loved the old world charm blending into the new as I walked past the stores slurping onto the yummy peach flavoured gelato.

A longer than long day due to the time difference wouldn't end as the sun was up even at 9 in the night. As our stomachs began to rumble we found a pizzeria and had the yummiest thin crust!

The next morning was an early train to Rome. We took the superfast to reach as early and explore the city however the train broke down and we were stranded for three hours in the middle of nowhere. Everybody was shocked as this was a rare case. As people started falling sick due to the heat even the managers aboard did not know what to do. An engine finally arrived and we changed our train and ended up traveling unreserved on a slow train...sigh the roman holiday! However beautiful views of sunflower laden fields, countryside living, castles and tunnels made up for the disastrous start.



Rome in July is hot..very hot..but traveling around is still easy if you buy the Roma Pass. It is valid for three days on any public transport and also gives you discounts on museum visits. Rome is where one would find cobbled streets. Trastevere is the place to be as it is next to the river and also this is where the carnival takes place at night. We booked by chance and were lucky to be right in the middle of all the attraction! From flea markets to stores, eateries to live music and entertainment - it is all here.





Our first day was to begin at the star attraction of Rome - The Colosseum. Even the museum built around it is interesting. However, the view by the night is the best way to sum up a day. Since we are both art lovers we picked as many museums of interest on our visit. However Rome can be a beautiful shopping experience too. And if too tired simply soak your feet in the nearest fountain and cool-off!




At walking distance from our place was the Vatican city. Home to the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo, I knew this was much more than a holiday... perhaps a pilgrimage! I recommend booking in advance on the internet as we did else we'd have ended up in a kilometers long a queue in the sun to get in and lost precious time being inside. Both the Vatican Museum and the St. Peter's Church next to it are breathtaking and huge and take an entire day to cover.




Firenza or Florence is a city frozen in time. Cobbled pathways, the typical architecture, the subtle love for style in everything is what makes Florence worthwhile. It is undoubtedly picturesque and we know now where Michelangelo came from and what inspired him. Churches, another Duomo and loaded museums particularly the Uffizzi is a must-see. It houses the stunning works of Alessandro Botticelli in particular. Florence is also a popular destination for shopping. Though I was mostly interested in soaking-in the culture and the breathtaking views.




The view from atop a hill gives a spectacular feel of the city.


Even though the dreamy holiday is over and as I now sit to write about it here I miss tossing coins in Fontana Di Trevi and wonder when will I next see it again.

No gloom this monsoon!

Rain Biking..such fun these boys!

They say it doesn't rain in Mumbai, it pours...you know, it's always "..baarish gir rahi hai...!" as to the rest of the country saying "..baarish ho rahi hai...". And I am glad watching the monsoon fiesta out from my studio balcony. After all the long summer sultry days are finally over.


Football and rain is quite a heady mix

As every corner of my studio cum apartment fills in with darkness of the clouds hovering over the skyline I work on giving it a touch of colour and happiness.

My love for the stained glass is back :)





In between regular work I did these two pieces that now light up my space. One is a party leftover..an Old Monk bottle and the other is the glass door that separates the dry area outside my kitchen.

Kutch mein kuch din : some days in kutch

During my post graduation days at NID, Ahmedabad I often saw pictures of Kutch and the life of its people with students at the textile department who would visit is region known for Ajrakh printing, block printing and embroidery for study. Being in Gujarat often drawn to the raw and lyrical quality of the art of this region, the trip could materialise only five years hence after little convincing my husband who is also from NID...
The best way into Gujarat is by road if you don't mind driving as the roads here are excellent all over. From Mumbai, Ahmedabad is only 7-8 hrs which was our first night halt courtesy a good old friend. We learnt how much the city had grown, developed and spread out to suburbs which never existed just sometime ago.
The chilly morning sky was filled with kites for Uttarayan or kite festival which was in the coming month and as we geared up to set off to Bhuj. We reached our hotel by evening and explored the old bazaar quickly that was just down the lane, as we knew we would soon be tired. In this brief survey I had already made up my shopping list. Hotels in Bhuj are mostly very basic - just fine for resting at night and setting off by morning.


Salt farming enroute to Bhuj from Ahmedabad

After a quick breakfast at Green Hotel in the market we headed to Aaina Mahal that also houses a museum. Not much is left of this place after the earthquake however some parts have been reconstructed.




At the Aaina Mahal

The museum manager here is a great guide to begin exploration of this region. The first thing we were told was that one would need a written permission from the police station to visit certain areas for security reasons as they were too close to the border. So avoid reaching on a government holiday.
Once we had our permissions in place we decided to do the region in four parts : north, south, east and west kutch each day. Day 1 was north, our first stop at KalaRaksha, an organization that has a guild of artisans that work from their homes in sparetime. This where I first learnt about the different kinds of embroidery and their distinctive characteristics. Interestingly it is a way of life here. For instance the embroidery called Soof is done only by a community of people who have migrated from pakistan, Pako or Ahir Bharat is done by a community of Ahirs. They have a small room where they display the collection from this region to demonstrate each and also have a unique documentation of articles from this region. After visiting some artisan homes here I realised the important role KalaRaksha played in their lives. Not only was it a means of bringing livelihood to homes but they also ran courses and programmes that would sensitize them towards colour, texture and patterns. I was pleasantly surprised to see how they were innovating in their skill and even though we were lost in translation they could communicate with words like 'texture' and 'pattern' to me.


At Kala Raksha Campus


Crossing the Tropic of Cancer enroute to Hodka village







Sham-e-Sarhad Resort in Hodka village

It was around lunch time we stopped at Shaam-e-Sarhad at Hodka. The food counter was about to be closed and we had reached just in time. The food here is simple and home-like. The first thing to strike you about this place is the rustic beauty of the setting and the immense peace. Gujarat is a dry state but hey sure do have somewhat a healthier drink made of curd- the typical chaas served here would work like beer on a hot sunny day and we rested a while.



A crafts village near Hodka

After exploring some more villages and digging for more art, by evening we reached Kala Dungar, a hill top where you'd get a good view of the rann that looks beautiful at sunset before heading back to Bhuj. The India Bridge or the last indian post at the border was another halt.


India bridge from atop Kala Dungar

Day2, was towards Lakhpat in the west - a holy place of the Sikhs. This was a long drive which we interspersed with mata nu madh, the narayan sarovar and some other small interesting locations. Mata nu Madh is a temple complex, however we were happy to be greeted by a flock of flamingos in the narayan sarovar visiting in the indian winter.



Watching the migratory Flamingos at Narayan Sarovar

Lakhpat is actually a walled city, a fortress named after its king. We rested a while in the shade of the tomb of Raja Lakhpat. There is very little public means of transport here and on our departure from here we hitched two elderly men who wanted to go to mata nu madh to pay their respects and had been waiting in the heat for four long hours. In India, there is no bigger driving force than religious faith! Understanding a bit of Gujarati we were able to have a conversation with them on the places that could be of interest which is why we headed for the east the next day.



Raja Lakhpat's tomb

On day 3, we decided to go far east and touch the Harappan remains at Dholavira from Bhuj. But since this was a long journey we fixed up a place for night halt at Rapar with the help of our hotel manager at Bhuj and dropped going southwards as it only had the Mandavi beach, and living in Mumbai we were tired of doing beaches. On our way we halted at Srujan in Bhujodi to see their shop. There is another organisation that empowers artisans here called Khamir. The products here are of great quality and so is the campus. A little further we visited Dr. Ismail Khatri's workshop in Ajarakhpur where his son patiently demonstrated the complete process of resist dying or Ajrakh to us. He told us how after the quake their entire community had to leave from Dhamanka and settle in Ajarakhpur as the iron content in water had increased because of which all fabric would turn black. The process involved all natural dyes. The process of developing a piece of fabric was long and skillful. My respect for all these prints that I saw often at Fab India in the city grew even more. Dr. Ismail had never been to school but he is so skilled and knowledgeable about his work that a university in UK had felicitated him with the honorary doctorate.





The process of Ajarakh printing

At Rapar it was no hotel we stayed at but a school for the challenged. A small village, it is famous for its white metal jewelery. After breakfast with the children here we headed to Dholavira early in the morning in search of what we had read in text books at school - The mysterious Harappa.


Enroute to Dholavira we finally got this close to the great Rann of Kutch






At the Harappan site excavated at Dholavira

Ironically even though articles excavated here have found home in various museums world over, here they cannot boast of a state of art museum and the excavation work has stopped for the last three years stuck in political agendas. We met a local person here who claimed to have been on the excavation team earlier and he became our tour guide to this lost city. Even in a thousand years of what remains one can imagine how beautiful it must have been when the sea was close by. An excellent example of town planning is on display. Our guide took us to the 16 reservoir tanks that were designed in a manner where water for drinking was stored first and then what overflowed automatically went into the reservoir for bathing water. Remnants are scattered all around with a watchful eye one might even find a souvenir to take back home!
With limited time on hand our trip was coming to an end. If only I could find another reason to come back I thought...We sat quietly recollecting what we had experienced as we were now heading back to Mumbai via Ahmedabad.