Thank You!

I had no intention of posting today. But the is the last day of 2008 & I can't let this year go by without saying a bye to a year which gave me so much by way of learning, without saying a thanx to all of you, whom I've gotten to know across the year, without being grateful for your work cause that has taught me so much and maybe even changed me. This is my gratitude post. And the 107th post since this blog began. Last month I touched over a lakh of page views.

Its been one year and 4 months since 'artnlight' came into being & I'm happy to see I'm loving it as much if not more than when I started off. There was a time in the middle when I just didn't feel like making my usual posts and was just creating these designs & that's all I had & I gathered the courage to post them up here. I have made friends and I have shared and I have learnt. But more than anything what this blog & each one of you who read this have given me is myself. I am comfortable & happy with what I do here. And I have got so much appreciation that it is truly humbling.
I'm going to do one Oscar thank you speech and I'm going to mention person by person each one of you who I would have never met otherwise & who have made this journey special for me.

Holly from Decor8 because of whose phenomenal blog this blog exists.
Archana from Rang-decor who continues to inspire me with the way she lives & sees & photographs.
Akshay from Trivial Matters for being ridiculously young and ridiculously talented.
Claude Renault whose way of looking at India permanenlty changed the way I see her.
Peggy from Creative Influences for being a friend and for being an inspiration in the way she just does what she loves continuously.
Sas from Interior Inspiration for blogging the way she does & for being peaceful.
Calie Anderson from NoheaLookbook for being an inspiration in the way she lives life & does what she wants to - no holds barred.
Bhumika for giving me my 1st blogging award and for each of her comments here. She totally 'gets it'.
Nihar Mehta from Tribal Route the 1st decor shop I posted on, for being the brilliant & energetic guy he is.
Aradhana Nagpal from Dhoop for having dreams & making them come true one by one.
Hemant Anant Jain for being the creative and human powerhouse that he is.
Bhavna from an Indian Summer for blogging with such love & style.
Prashant Bhardwaj for his kickass photography & for hand-holding me through my entire camera buying phase.
Melissa Bell from HT for featuring me in Hindustan Times' Livemint.
Masala Chai for unerringly spotting amazing work & featuring it.
Meghna Punter from Arth & Nithya for being so talented & sharing it through her blog.
Embellisher for being talented fingers of the year.
Anil P for writing the way he does & popping in every now and then with encouragement.
Jess Gonacha for being an inspiration in the way she lives her creative life.
Krsta from Luminous Life for being super interesting.
Felicia from This Time Now for having a zest for life & lust for learning & a fabulous eye.
Angie from Studio Wellspring for having a brilliant & diverse blog & for being a complete doll.

And thanx to each one of you who isn't mentioned here. Thank you for stopping by, for commenting, for 'following' this blog. And thanx to all of you who don't 'follow' or comment but still come back to read this space every once in a while. This blog and all you guys mean much to me. BIG HUG! :)
And here's looking forward to a spanking new 2009 filled with loads of inspiration, work & happiness!

Giant Robot

No, I am not referring to the animation film/serial I vaguely remember from childhood. I'm talking about this new-talent-on-the-block duo Rahul Gaikwad & Yadnyee Shingre whose work giantrobot is. You must check them out. The site takes a while to load but its totally worth the wait.

Aren't they uber cool? I just died when I saw this.

All images are from www.giantrobot.in

News you can Use- Calender 2009

We are nearing the end of December and its time to send away another year & bring in a new one. Its the season for new resolutions & new calenders. If you are the kind who is particular about what you look at through out the year AND if you are the kind who could do with some reminders for your better intentions, then I'll seriously recommend this very unique piece of art which also happens to be a handy usable calender. Stick it on your soft board, in your bedroom, anyplace you will see it. It doesn't hurt the eye & it might actually result in something good. It is created by Hemant Anant Jain from Munna on the Run. It is called 'The year of Individual action'. Do click on the picture to read what it is about. So how do you get hold of one? It comes as part of the December issue of this magazine called "Down to Earth'. And if the copies are not available in the stands in your city, write to them, they are nice people who get back to you very promptly. I have just ordered my copies & will post a pic when my copies come. Do check the website out. They do some very good and necessary work.

Bikaner Havelis

As our rickshaw sped through the bylanes of the old city in Bikaner I saw these buildings and was like, wait a minute, what are these buildings? That's when the driver told us these were Havelis built by merchants many centuries ago. While some are inhabited most of these magnificent structures are empty. Lane after winding lane lined with the most intricately carved exteriors. I remembered the Ahmedabad pols, but these were more regal and certainly not as 'lived-in' as the pols in Ahmedabad.

"Havelies are marvels in home architecture. Such havelies or residential houses do not exist anywhere in the world. They are the pride of Bikaner, says great author and philosopher, Aldous Huxley."

"The havelies were the residence of wealthy merchants who had a fancy for beauty and art. Nine months in a year they lived in far off lands to earn money and then came to this city to rest and enjoy and build havelies and live in them, show their wealth and status, their love , fascination for architecture and colours."

"The oldest haveli is perhaps four hundred years old but most of them are hundred years in age or around it."

The juxtaposition of the handpainted words like 'Modern' and 'school' in these lanes captures the way the old & the new co-exist.

A parked cycle in a decaying entrace....

...and wiring indicate habitation in some of these havelis

Lanes like these are such a rarity in Rajasthan which is mostly buzzing with people & markets through the day.

Some of the Havelis show mixed architectural influences.

As one walks through these labyrinths of beauty, one can't help but wonder about their upkeep & maintenance. Many of Jaisalmer's Havelis are maintained by either the families who constructed them or by the Archeological Survey of India, I didn't see any such signs here.

And just when you feel like you are walking through a giant and empty film or theater set, suddenly a childs head pops out & surprises you.

Artistry in the Junagad Fort, Bikaner

There was so much artistry in the Junagad fort/palace at Bikaner that it truly deserves another post. Every surface, be it the walls, the doors, the ceilings or the floor, was a canvas for the hugely talented artisans who worked with vegetable dyes and gold.

Gold paint and vegetable dyes on marble.

Walls and the door are filled with depictions of bounty

This floor alternates Indian and Italian tiles

Here is the door at the side of the RangMahal depicting folklore in the miniature painting style.

Marble columns frame an elaborately painted door.

Intricately carved wooden doors inset in marble

Bowls of fruit adorn this door. The extensive use of fruit is characteristic of Junagad artistry.

A closeup of the door

Alternate panels of red & brown make this door interesting.

Above the door

But the ceilings really stole the show

A symbolic Sun looks down the ceiling benevolently.

Junagad fort, Bikaner

We had begun the day with a rat temple (no kidding) and walked the almost theatrically empty lanes of Bikaners Haveli's, and then sat down to a 3 course meal in Chappan Bhog. Nothing could possibly measure upto the 1st half of the day. So we walked into Bikaner's Junagad fort without much expectation, but in tow was a 'young dude' guide (the youngest and the dudest of this trip) and life looked more promising for this one reason. But Junagad turned out to be one of the most beautiful palace-forts of Rajasthan and the explanations of the symbolism of Rajputana relics peppered with the very current dilemas of our young guides life made for a rather interesting afternoon.

Coming up is a virtual tour of sorts

Raja Bika is said have walked away from Jodhpur to create his own kingdom & hence Bikaner is named after him. The curious can read up on Bikaner's history here.

This narrow passage is the only entrance to the fort & the designs are placed as support for elephant feet when they walk up this path.

A marble water tank where the Royals played Holi (the festival of colour)

This window (jharokha) is rare and made with ceramic tiles from Poland and china

Details of a pillar.

This is the spectacular Rang Mahal

Gold on red spells opulence

This was the cloud room, all the walls were painted with blue clouds. This idol is said to have been brought from South India and is therefore dark, unlike the marble statues normally found in Rajasthan.

This alcove was where musicians sat.

The Queens Bedroom is done in muted colours.

The huge & imposing Diwan-E-Khaas, where the king met with his ministers to discuss matters of the state.

All the walls were covered with intricate panels of carving. This one features the tree of Life with animals below it.

And when I looked up I saw these arched windows that looked into the Diwan-e-khaas. The ceilings are intricately carved wood.
Shakti Singh our guide explained every detail with an understated pride and nonchalnce of youth, he also told us this is what he'd rather do, though his girlfriend and dad would rather he joined the army.