Traditional leisure activities

Traditional leisure activities like spinning; knitting, crocheting, embroidering   Isn’t Just for Grandmas

"More than any other part of the body, our hands reveal our inner state."

------Omraam_Mikhael Aivanhov

I had learned to knit  first, it was the year 1962, I was ten years old and studying in nth standard in  Shishu Vihar Hindi School,  Jamnagar.  Jamnagar  is a historic city  Lord Krishna established his kingdom at Dwarka town in Jamnagar district, in later years when I was in teen years I learned the basic stitches of crochet. Then came a time in life that Knitting and crocheting has always been an outlet for my stress. I love the magic of using my hands to create something from a beautiful ball of yarn. I took yarn for granted until I observed my aunts, grand maa and other ladies in my family    spinning and dying the spun yarn, and making bags with tapestry crochet technique. Then  I understand the process that the yarn has to go through before I ever see it and it has only added to the magic.

I've spun lots of punies(cottan balls) and  dyed a bit, even if it was with Kool Aid…and I enjoyed using a canvas of yarn to create a whole different kind of work of art. My eyes have opened up to color and the combinations one can make with joining hues and crafting something fresh and vibrant.

But what about creating the yarn itself? I  t know that  my ancestors spun that’s why to keep the tradition on and to handover it to the younger generation  I feel it calling to me…previously I use to spun in a lot but there is a big gap in between, the need to spin has been strong for a while now and I’ve pushed it away because of non availability of charkhas in my house   . I’ve wanted  a Traditional Charkha for a while now. I can’t really tell you why because I’m not an expert on spinning wheels or anything…but it spoke to me the minute I saw one. No other wheel gave me this same feeling and the sense that I’m destined to spin has not diminished…if anything it is growing stronger.

In the month of August we visited the village Bhagana I saw a charkha in one of the house I visited, it hit me head on , I told my intensions about charkha  and found  that there was a sweet woman needing to sell her wheel with all its attachments. I practically freaked out. A beautiful  Traditional Gharkha and it had my name all over it. Being none too patient I waited until nightfall to discuss the purchase with my daughter  and she knows how much I’ve wanted one…even if I can’t spin yet due to lake of space in my house …but any how .i got it and now it is mine!!!

My front corner today

xoxo

Haryana Day

Haryana is a historical region that once was sandwiched in the name of Punjab. The Punjab region of India and Pakistan has a historical and cultural link to Indo-Aryan heritage identity as well as partially to the Dravidic indigenous communities. The Partition of India divided Punjab into two parts. The Eastern part (with two rivers) became the Indian Punjab and the Western part (three rivers) the Pakistan Punjab: Indian Punjab divided into three parts: Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh

All through the area of Haryanvi 

traditions can be seen with its food, language and idiosyncratic inheritance. The Haryanvi 

language, with Bagri  is broadly spoken in this region and the structural design reflects the earliest customs and traditions of the Haryanvi   people. There are also Haryanvi  feast days, including the Holi which is celebrated at the approach of vernal equinox,^[  on the Phalguna Purnima (Full Moon). The festival date varies every year, per the Hindu calendar, and typically comes in March, sometimes February in the Gregorian Calendar. The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair ruptured relationships.  Other holidays are several with  Haryana Day on Nov 1, in Haryana.

हरियाणा के सूर्यकवि एवं हरियाणवी भाषा के शेक्सपीयर के रूप में विख्यात पं॰ श्री पं लखमीचन्द का जन्म सन 1901 में तत्कालीन रोहतक जिले के सोनीपत तहसील मे जमुना नदी के किनारे बसे जांटी नामक गाँव के मे हुआ ।
दादा लख्मी चंद के सांग ( लोक नाटक )1940- 1950 के दौरान काफी प्रसिद्ध हुए, 44 वर्ष की अल्पायु में उनका देहांत हुआ, इस आधुनिक काल के बारे में उन्होंने कभी लिखा था.

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20 वी जाए पाछे इस्सा ज़माना आवेगा,
इतनी खलाफत बढ़ ज्यागी माणस ने माणस खावेगा..
दुनिया के हालात बिगड़ क इतने खश्ते हो ज्यांगे,
कट क लोग मरेंगे घर घर ये तय फौजी दस्ते हो ज्यांगे...
जी टी रोड प ऊपर निचे दो दो रस्ते हो ज्यांगे,
पशु पखेरू महंगे होक ये माणस सस्ते हो ज्यांगे...
अर मुर्दा माणस बिक्या करेगा ना कोई चिता जलावेगा
ये रूल पुराने हो ज्यांगे गली गली म खुले
कचेहड़ी चौकी थाणे हो ज्यांगे,
दूध, दही, घी सपना होके मोती दांणे हो ज्यांगे...
ये गाम बसेंगे पाणी म परलोक ठिकाणे हो ज्यांगे,
घास फूंस की सब्जी खाके यो माणस गुजारा चलावेगा।
शदी 20 वि जाए पाछे इस्सा कलयुग आवेगा,
इतनी खलाफत बढ़ ज्यागी माणस ने माणस खावेगा।

xoxo

Diwali, Bhaia dooj of 2014

It's third day of Diwali celebrations  that is  

Bhaia-dooj 

The simple jars with crochet  jackets   holding tea   lights thrown across the chest of drawer   adds so much drama.

my niece with her self stitched out-fit

A pooja that's normally performed at home annually this time coincided with Diwali

  

My daughter usually create a light filled home, which is really serene, relaxing, with an airy breezy feel and lots of punchs of colour. She is talented and she is a person with esthetic sense.

She did her diwali shopping from different markets of Delhi. She has used a lot of different natural textures to bring a homely feel, ....rugs,......blinds,.old art prints carefully handpicked from......hang in groups

All kinds of lamps come together, t lights in crochet jacket jars, traditional Haryanvi  oil lamps, candles and my new Haryanvi   Lantern(hidden below the chest). 

xoxo

Emily

I cannot resist myself to read the last few pages of Wuthering Heights  as last night I got in the grip of  sleep reading it and few pages were left to read.  It  is a story of passion and love, it is also a story of class, of families, of how one cannot resist and yet must one do what society dictates. At the core however, it is a love story like none other. The story is dark. It is not pretty. It is not meant to be. It was considered vulgar and preposterous when it was first published. Emily went to her grave thinking she was a failure. The book was reprinted by Charlotte and now it is one of the most beloved classics of our times.

Photo Credit: http://www.stuffwiththing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/wuthering-heights.jpg

Wuthering Heights is narrated by Nelly Dean. She has lived around for a long time. The story is told in extended flashback to a lodger or rather the tenant at Thrushcross Grange. Nelly narrates the story of Heathcliff and Catharine – of their obsession, their love and their madness. Of how they could not be together and yet would not give up each other for the world.

 The book evoked very  strange feelings in  me  . It is more than just unrequited love. You know there is only one way in which this story will end and yet – you pray that things become alright and they do, in a different way of sorts. The core theme also, mostly forgotten is that Heathcliff is an outsider. He has been adopted by Mr. Earnshaw at the beginning of the novel, which Hindley, Catharine’s brother cannot stand. This is just the start of things to come though.

At some point you feel Catharine also detests him and to some extent maybe that is true, but you know that love will prevail and she is merely trying to succumb, but you know she is stronger than that. Wuthering Heights will break your heart – even if you do not want it to, it will. There is no way out from that one. A read which you will never forget for years to come, that is for sure.

It’s really a classic work of English literature that deserves a careful read. There has to be a reason it has persisted for a century and a half, whether or not I agree that it should persist much longer.

 Did you now that  Hindi film  Dil Diya Dard Liya is a 1966 Hindi film based upon Emily Brontë's celebrated novel Wuthering Heights. The film is directed by Abdul Rashid Kardar and Dilip Kumar.

xxx

Hand Made Diwali Luminaries

Behind a word as beautiful as "chandelier", hides tears lamp or chandelier. In addition, they are fashionable. When something into fashion in the world handmade unseen there is a competition to see who makes a more pompoms, yarn, or string. There's a lot of craft postureo back (we'll talk about that another day), but just take a look on pinterest .

  

                                         source

xoxo

cushions and magazine holder

This summer I stitched a pair of Silk embroidered pillows for my daughter’s new home. You may recognize the patterns. The color is "maroon" in each of these photos, in oddly inconsistent ways (both fabrics are actually the same color, and I used the same threads for both), but the right-hand pillow in the first photo is probably the closest, albeit a tad darker than reality.

Pillows

 And I made a magazine holder for her

My daughter was requesting me to make her a magazine holder which I made years bak and was featured in one of the leading Hindi magazine.

I made this   beautiful fabric  magazine holder  using scraps of red and blue cheque fabric from  my stash . Its machine washable, with demounting the steel  on the top that can be used to attach it to the wall.

 A unique and colorful way to keep your magazines or newspapers from taking over the house. Isn’t it beautiful? 

fabric magazine holder

xoxo

Indian touche

Found on idathue.blogspot.com

https://www.flickr.com/photos/idathue/

http://www.ivy-and-co.com/2012/08/featured-and-i-won-giveaway-all-in-same.html

http://sandyshook.blogspot.in/2010/12/x-tra-thick-textured-slippers.html

indian law site

http://www.lawisgreek.com/tag/consumer-rights

xoxo