AN OEVURE OF HANDSTICHED DRESSES & SAREES _1

Photos of designs by 'Ruby's Boutique' on the occasion of marriage of Sujash and Moumita

Sujash and Moumita. The Kurta of Sujash designed by 'Ruby.

Silk cloth used as base and silk threads and jari threads have been used for the works done by hand by artisans.Design idea and colour combination has been done by me.

Details of Sujash' kurta.

The sherwani are done in South raw silk as base,the work is done using kashmiri stitches and a varied number of stitches,again lot of jari and silk threads have been used to bring out the motifs,a pains taking work done the the artisans.Was highly appreciated by invitees.
The lehenga has been done in brocade cloth,the blouse is in south raw silk and the top in tissue silk.The design has been thought for months before being worked upon. There are a lot of thread sequence and stone work done on it.
Men's dupatta has been specially bought from Bikaner to bring out the authentic look.

Sujash, Moumita and Surath wear Sherwani  and Lehenga designed by me.

Details of the needle work of Sujash' Sherwani.

The above pictures offer a closer look into the designs.

The South silk has  a shaded mauve colour sari with a second shade of blue hue showing. It is a perfect blend of colours, the work just complements the whole sari in totality. A perfect evening wear,for a reception or a party wear.One would love to own it, a princely possession I would like to believe.

One of the masterpiece the karigar has done, could really bring out the imagination on cloth which I could design on paper. Silk-Thread, sequences have been used to give it a dimension I was looking for.

OUR DAY OUT ON CHRISTMAS,2008

Enjoying a day out !

Well, Calcutta got relief from an unusually warm winter only a few days ago. We woke up at 6 am as light crept through the windows of a clear and crisp morning.A holiday means traffic-free roads and strain-and-hassle free driving!

Ruby and I got ready to spend the day out. No morning-walk .We had a quick break-fast, took out our cameras and rolled out of our garage. Later I checked and found that we drove 81 km till the evening.

First we to the Race Course of Calcutta to capture a view of the sky-line , as vi wed through the early morning haze.We found the horse-trainers are leaving the ground after the trots and other exercises.....to capture the same, we would have to come earlier.While I struggled to capture a view of the outline of Victoria Memorial Hall which was on the eastern horizon, Ruby captured some interesting shots of horses and their riders. ( I have borrowed one shot from hers). As we left the ground , we came across two interesting subjects for photography : a herd of goats and several tea-vendors with their ware of kettle/oven combo and plastic cups .

View of outline of Victoria Memorial Hall in distant east of Race Course of Calcutta.

Hordes of goats going past the gate of Race Course.

Tea-vendor outside the western gate of Race Course

Rest of the day was spent among 4 families.This meant a lot of driving from west to north-east to south-east and back to west of Calcutta..We had lunch at one of Ruby's aunt's place (Rajpur) which is 25 km from where we live. Their house has a balcony opening to a large pond and a foot-ball ground .Sitting in this balcony,we enjoyed frightful quantities of sweets after a sumptuous traditional Bengali lunch while watching hordes of locals braving the December chill as they took dip in the bathing 'ghat' of this pond in a sunny afternoon .

A traditional Bengali lunch. Fried rice,'dal'(gram),fried 'Bhetki' fish,curries of 'paneer'(home-made cheese) and egg.

Sweets....... loads of calories !!

Bathers defy December chill!

There is a famous temple of 'Goddess Kali' in this locality where a large crowd gathered in the afternoon to offer their prayer. The Goddess rides a lion , which is a departure from the traditional imagery of 'Kali'. Those who were selling photographs of the Goddess were of no help in offering an explanation. We offered our prayer and Ruby took several photos before we left for Calcutta .

'Bipattarini Kali' at Rajpur.

We drove back to Calcutta while the sun bade us good-bye.

BUILDING MY PHOTO DIARY : MORNING WALK @ PARNASREE

It was a bright morning, sun rising in a clear sky.There were traces of cloud in the horizon,The sky washed clean and blue after 6 weeks of rain.

Ruby ,my wife and I carried our Canon Powershot during the morning walk again .There was no threat of rain.Breeze was pleasant.Our plan was to take a few snaps of the Krsna's idol fixed on a banyan tree. We were also on the look-out for interesting and colourful photos of the early morning street scene at Parnasree.

Mother and the calf

We came across a she-buffalo mothering her kid, colourful advertisement corners, a street-side fruitstall getting set by two brothers, sisters hurrying to school. I tried to capture the struggle of a tree , uprooted during stacking of concrete pipes (construction material) on the side of road, yet alive and green. I took a photograph where the access to a water-body almost opposite our flat blocked by pipes and filth......yet the shimmer of sunlight caught the camera's lens !We captured newspaper vendors exhanging loads of tneir merchandise, children talking incessantly while rushing to school.

Krsna tied to a banyan tree







Setting the stall before
the shopping hours





Exchanging the wares !




Deserted to rot !




Struggle for life

A north-south road in our neighbourhood, leading to Behala Flying Club is experiencing now a major construction work. Drain pipes are getting laid, Scores of trees have been uprooted to make room for the pipes.I do not think, any re-plantation will be possible. I took snaps of the road parallel to the unfortunate one , with the greenery and the chequered design of light-and-shade on the same.. Who knows when area development will take away this view from our life .

The reluctant bird !

'Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.

We fell them down and turn them into papers

That we may record our emptiness.'

-- Kahlil Gibran

http://www.poemhunter.com/kahlil-gibran/

Chequered by light & shade