Dreaming Rose Buds

Blooming rose buds are always a joy to watch and when I saw this bud, I wanted to watch it bloom, to watch the deep red petals peeking out of the green. The bud swaying gently in the breeze…but then time didn’t permit me to stand and stare.


I knelt down to capture it against the vast blue sky, and this is all I have. The scent has floated away, and the petals have fallen off. That is how life is, nothing is permanent.

Here is yet another shot of ‘a dreaming rose bud’ from my collection. To take this shot I squatted down, twisted and turned myself just to eliminate the neighboring buildings. This was taken in my friend’s balcony garden, so no passers by, it was just she rolling with laughter seeing my stunts.




Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

(For the next 15 days we will be on roads, touring the length and breadth of Rajasthan, India. Rajasthan, the land of Rajas (kings), the land of forts, the land of temples and the land of cenotaphs. I had been dreaming about this trip for the past few months, now finally all the bookings and reservations done, daughters' exams over, we will be off to enjoy the short vacation.)

Seasons Greetings to you all, my dear blogger friends!

Rosewood Inlay Handicraft

Mysore is famous for wide variety of handicrafts, other than its textiles and paintings. We were showroom-hopping there to pick up hand carved gifts to take back home. Wood inlay art pieces were in plenty there. A visit to the factory of a showroom there was the most captivating experience. The workers there willingly showed us their specific roles in creating the beautiful art pieces; inlay work on rosewood.


One of the carpenters meticulously carved grooves in the predesigned images and patterns on the rosewood board, by carefully scooping out along the lines. The motifs that were to be inlaid were piled in groups; these were being fixed into the grooves by another craftsman. Until a few decades back these motifs were of ivory and the price of each art piece was exorbitant. With the ban on ivory, these motifs are now made of colored plastics.

Finally the smoothing was done using a sandpaper to give the final finished work.


It all sounds easy right? It looked easy too; my daughters were keen to try out their skills on them. However easy it may look or sound, the fact is that, one has to be dedicated and talented enough to produce these wonders.

The descendants of artisans who migrated from Persia to Srirangapatna during the time of Tipu Sultan might have helped propagate this craft. Today there are around 4000 artisans in this city of Mysore, earning their daily bread through this art.

(Do click on the images to get a better view.)

Talking to them and seeing them work at close quarters was awe-inspiring. The factory officials are smart; they encourage visitors to mingle with the workers so that we become emotionally tied to their products and ultimately their brand ambassador.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Kesava Temple at Somnathpur

Somnathpur was one place we missed visiting each time we went to Mysore. This time we were determined to make it there, and the stars favored us. We drove 35km to Somnathpur from Mysore, part of the road was in bad condition. The temple here is not as well known as the temples of Belur and Halebid, probably that is why they are not damaged like the temples of Belur and Halebid.

(Do click on the pictures to get an enlarged and better view.)

The temple is erected on a star shaped platform and has three sacred shrines and three sanctums. The northern sanctum has Lord Janardhana and the southern sanctum has Lord Venugopal's idol. In the main hall there was the idol of Lord Krishna.

All the while I was under the impression Somnathpur as the name indicates has a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, but it is actually a Kehava temple, a temple dedicated to Lord Krishna. The place got the name Somnathpur because the construction of this temple was by Somanatha, an officer under Hoysala King Narasimha III (1254 – 1291 A.D).



The temple stands in the middle of an open verandas with 64 cells.



The sides of the raised platform are carved with rows of elephants, horses, stories from epics and other characters. We were told there are 540 elephants carved all around the structure and no two elephants are carved alike. Elephants represent strength, and they are holding up the entire structure.


The interiors of the temple was dimly lit. Photographs taken inside did not come out well. Below is a shot of intricately carved ceiling.


The inscriptions on the slabs near the 'mahadwara' the main gate give the details of the construction of the temple. There is also some mention of annual grant of 3,000 gold coins by the king for the temple's upkeep and maintenance.

The sculptors had engraved their names under some of their works.Names like Mallithama, Masanthamma, Chameya, Bhameya can be found engraved on the pedestals of the images. Mallithamma is credited with maximum number of images and also for carving the northern shikhara, that of Janardhana cell.



The temple exteriors have been maintained well, with beautiful gardens and other tourist friendly requirements. There were many guides very willing to explain the temple's history and architecture. We were charged Rs. 300 by the guide(standard rate) for an hour's explanation and tour around the temple. The place is worth visiting if you are anywhere in and around Mysore.

Earrings made from Old Newspapers

Almost all households today save old newspapers for recycling. Many sites dole out tips to reuse newspapers, but none have mentioned that old newspapers can be made to use earrings.

There are many types of hand made earrings, made from wires, beads, terracotta, shells, stones, threads, wood, but earrings made from old newspapers, you heard of them?

At a recent exhibition, a group of eco-friendly people from Karm Marg had showcased their hand crafted mastiful things. One of these products was the hand made earrings from old newspapers. It made me curious. Old newspaper pieces rolled tightly and then twisted to a circular form, with a final coat of varnish. Don’t they look beautiful? I was wondering will it really catch the fancy of the college going students. Perhaps modeling these products by Bollywoods’ Katrina Kaif and Aishwariya Rai can do the trick.



Are you in the habit of storing interesting newspaper cuttings? I have a whole bunch of them, some as old as two decades. Google has now made it possible to search old newspapers online by partnering with newspaper publishers to digitize millions of pages. "Not only will you be able to search these newspapers, you'll also be able to browse through them exactly as they were printed -- photographs, headlines, articles, advertisements and all," Google product manager Punit Soni said in the blog post. So may be I can get creative now and use some of those cuttings of newspaper for making earrings.

Below is a shot of tea coaster made from old newspapers. I took them in my hands to feel them, they are hard and stiff, sure to last for long.



Another interesting read on use of old newspapers is: Today's News, Tomorrow's Textiles.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

St. Philomena's Church, Mysore

Another majestic cathedral we visited at Mysore was The St. Philomena’s Church. A massive structure with twin spires 175 feet tall, it is visible from miles around. This church is one of the largest in our country; it was designed by French architects and the work commenced in 1933 with the laying of foundation stone by Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV. However due to the independence struggle then it took a long time to complete the church.


We could not enter the church as the Sunday prayer was in progress and the church was crowded. We had to be content peeping from outside and getting few glimpses of the interiors. The statue of St. Philomena is placed in an underground chamber and a piece of her bone is preserved here at the centre of a beautiful shield.


There is an interesting story of how Philomena the daughter of the monarch of a small state in Greece was given sainthood. “The story of St. Philomena dates back to the 3rd century A.D. Philomena was the daughter of the monarch of a small state in Greece. Her parents were childless. They prayed to God and asked Him to bless them with a child and promised to convert to Christianity if their wish was granted. The next year Philomena was born to them. Even in her childhood Philomena showed signs of piety. When Philomena was 13 years' old her father took her to Rome to obtain the favour of Emperor Diocletion. The Emperor was enthralled by her beauty and wanted to marry her. But she refused and vowed to give herself to God. As she refused to marry the Emperor she was tortured and beheaded in Rome. But people's devotion for her spread near and far and she was given sainthood. There are a number of churches dedicated to her all over the world.”

The church is today a major tourist attraction. The windows of the church have lovely stained glass paintings depicting the birth of Jesus Christ, the Resurrection, the Last Supper, and the Crucifixion. These shots were taken standing outside the church, standing at the exit points. I used the Canon EF-S55-250mm IS lens.

Black Swan

“Ma, is that white swan painted black?” was what my eight year old asked me when she saw the Black Swan. She was staring at it with disbelief, in her world of imagination and dreams there were only white swans. I had read about black swans and seen their pictures, but never seen them live and so close. I too was watching it, stunned by its beauty. This was at Mysore Zoo.


Black Swans (Cygnus atratus) are large water birds breed mainly in the region of southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Black swans feature a lot in Western Australia’s art and literature and its state flag has Black Swan swimming right to left on a yellow background.

My daughter’s query reminded of the metaphor ‘black swan’ (disambiguation). One of the Western misconceptions was ‘All swans are white’. So a black swan was a metaphor for something which could not exist. A Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh recorded the sighting of the first black swan for the first time in 1697. The discovery of the black swan along Australia’s west coast in the late 17th and early 18th centuries led to the shattering of the age-old metaphor.


The Black Swan was an idea put forward by the Enlightenment philosopher, David Hume. It was meant to represent the unexpected, the stuff you don’t know or don’t know that you don’t know. The famous Black Swan theory developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb labels the unexpected rare events in his book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. The book makes several useful points for entrepreneurs and investors that come from the existence of Black Swans. Read the interesting interview by Business Online.

What is a Black Swan?
Medieval Europeans had only ever seen white swans. In fact, any impossible event was termed a ‘black swan’. So, when the first settlers reached Australia, they were shocked to find black swans all over! Taleb's black swans are those events that were once thought impossible, but when they occur, hit hard. In this extract, he writes about how we create narratives after ‘black swan’ events; making them seem predictable after they occur.

Err… I deviated; my main aim was to present the beautiful birds. Below is a shot of the White Swan coexisting peacefully with the Black Swans in the Mysore Zoo.

Camera Critters is hosted by Misty dawn.

Ganesha Idols

Pottery Town of Bangalore caters to each and every festival demands of Bangalore. With Ganesh Chaturthi fast approaching one of my friends wanted to buy one idol directly from the potter’s hands and that too, one which was not painted with the toxic colors. Do I leave the opportunity?? I too tagged along. I had never been to Potter’s Town before so I imagined the place to be with confusing lanes and by lanes, but to my surprise it was just a single street.

It was just a single street with around 25 to 30 families in this profession; catering to the needs of Bangalore population. Unfortunately modernization is taking its toll and the business is no longer profitable. It is during the festival times the potters make some money.


What we saw there was feast to our eyes, Ganesha idols of all hues and shapes, most of them covered with plastic sheets. Only a couple or two sample idols were left uncovered in front of every shop.













Traditional families go for the handmade clay idols with a touch of gold paint to highlight the features. We saw Lakshmi at work in a dingy room, with her deft fingers over the wet clay still making the idols to meet the orders placed by her customers. Every act from mixing of clay, baking and drying all are managed in that tiny room. The clay is purchased from distant places like Hoskote, Kanakapura, the prices have gone high she told us.

“Pottery Town was born when the Government gave 60 potters a designated area on a 30-year lease. The 23 families that are still in business here hope that this lease will be renewed or the land given to them next year, in the light of the work they are doing.” Today people buy these products for decoration and not for utilitarian purposes so the demand is less. Will these families be able to continue and flourish in this trade?


There, we saw a potter’s grandson happily playing in the roads. Will he be a potter too? He has dreams in his eyes, his little fingers meddle with clay often I am sure, but then will he want to be a potter or change tracks and abandon this trade??