Home Sweet Home

Welcome to my new home!  Looks like I am finally here to stay, after the hide and seek my blog played with me. Frustrating for me, as I was eager to get in and settle down, but out of our control as there is no choice but to wait for the “dns propagation” What a shiny new word! It may look possible to control the world, but don’t think you can control the internet. Oh, but I think we can! We just have to switch off! Ha! Fat chance!

Okay – enough with crazy fantasies.  So how do you like the new look? I confess I am in love with it.  I drove Vanita pretty much crazy when she asked me to choose a design, or at least explain what I wanted.  I remember telling her I wanted “warm, cozy, easy on the eye, welcoming, clean, uncluttered, striking” all in one sentence. As I marvel at her patience, I can’t help smiling at how she steered me towards the sort of designs I would like. And of course, I found one. Happiness prevailed.

Actually, I had planned to get some photos of my street shopping fellas, but I always seemed to be rushing somewhere last week. Even Saturday and Sunday were busy with Vidur and Sury being occupied with work. Vidur has a 6-day school week and had an exam on Sunday while Sury had a conference which is still on.  Then, yesterday evening we went out to an official dinner. The fun part is, I haven’t even had work deadlines.  So I occupied myself, continuing to spring clean my house and enjoying the joy of giving. It has been a great week, and my heart is happy.

So, welcome again!

Today, I am going to show you stuff around my house.  Again.  I hope you enjoy! As always, please click image to see original size.

What you see now is called a “Tanjore doll” This is a unique doll that comes in parts and is just assembled together by stacking. And then she dances, shaking her head, her torso and her hip. It is delightful to watch. This doll is made based on the principle of center of gravity.  Each part sits on the other and when you just touch it, the dancer begins to move. Tanjore is my native place in Tamil Nadu is is known for its rich culture, tradition and temples, designated as a world heritage site.

Tanjore Doll

Next up, are these pretty string wooden puppets from Rajasthan called “Kathputlis”. (Kath = wood and putli = puppet) They are wood heads (ha, ha) with stuffed bodies. They hang on our bedroom door.

Rajasthan Kathputlis – String wood puppets

The tribes of Rajasthan have been performing this art from the ancient times and it has become an eternal part of Rajasthani culture and tradition. No village fair, no religious festival and no social gathering in Rajasthan can be complete without the Kathputlis. It is believed that somewhere 1500 years ago, tribal Rajasthani Bhat community started the use of Kathputli as string marionette art and it is in their love for tradition that art of Kathputli survived the test of time. Tradition of Kathputli is based on folk tales and stories. Source: Wikipedia

Here is a Radha-Krishna artwork on our living room wall. It is sort of in a 3D effect with the characters set on a flat background. Rather beautiful. The main part of the frame is Krishna playing the flute with Radha at his side. At the bottom, Krishna is relaxing against a tree, playing the flute as his herd graze happily.

Radha and Krishna enjoying quality time as Krishna plays the flute

On another wall, we have this lovely wood inlay work of  peacocks, special in Southern India. It is quite a process to make this.

Wood inlay work India

On the other hand, though, I did not spend too long in painting these earthenware lamps.  I had a bit of paint lying around – and on a whim, thought why not!

Earthenware lamps

Let’s meet a musical group now. These guys make up an orchestra that one would commonly see at weddings, performing live.  These are wooden dolls from Channapatna, near where we live. Very beautiful. And yes, Michelle Obama loves them.

Orchestra

And just for fun, here’s a cute ceramic salt and pepper set:

ceramic salt and pepper set

Finally, here is a set of baby doll keychains I bought in Gangtok which we visited earlier this year. If you saw them, would you not buy them?

Baby doll keychains

So that’s it for today. I am still trying to get the hang of posting in WordPress. Oh, if you are wondering about the nifty background on some of these pictures – well, I got a little stack of handmade paper and thought it was fun.

Now let’s go meet Unknown Mami who hosts this link up, Sundays In My City. She holds the itinerary for our onward travel to other places! Or you can just click this badge!