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If you liked this post, you’ll want to follow the Facebook Page and the Youtube channel. I’m Ramya Pandyan (a.k.a. Ideasmith) and I’m on Twitter and Instagram.
Adventures of a Paper Plane Pilot
Freedom is a dream without a horizon
Chase your own boundaries
Celebrate the restless child of new life
It dares you to find your own independence
Happy birthday, free Indian.
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If you liked this post, you’ll want to follow the Facebook Page and the Youtube channel. I’m Ramya Pandyan (a.k.a. Ideasmith) and I’m on Twitter and Instagram.
Notice something wrong?
The state of Jammu & Kashmir appears to be broken up into 4 parts, with a distinctive border from the rest of India.
This appeared on Sony TV (you can see the logo in the top right corner). Ignore the Airtel logo though, that’s just because this program was being broadcast through an Airtel set-top box.
Maps are symbols and important ones at that. Consider the fact that every single major war in the world has been rooted in a territory dispute, right from the Mahabharata to our modern day Indo-Pak tensions. We can’t afford to make a mistake like this one.
What’s more, as a major media channel going out to a wide Indian populace, what message does this send out?
Mum has the kind of glowing golden skin that makes colours like yellow & orange look luminous rather than loud or tacky. Given her more demure style, she doesn’t usually wear a lot of bright colours. But occasionally, something like this slips through – a rich orange kurta by FabIndia with yellow-and-orange brocade sleeves. Typical to FabIndia, the style is subtle and shows in the superior cut as well as tiny details like darts near the collar and at the hem. I think it was a combination of the leaf skeleton pattern and the colour that gave me the idea for this piece.
My past Ideart posts have gone into great detail on technique but I haven’t seen any response to indicate that these interest anybody. If you do want me to elaborate, do leave a comment here or write to me. I’ll be happy to share what I did and how.
All I used was a set of brushes and the colour yellow (with a few highlights of gold). Here’s how it turned out:
And here’s the full garment:
*Cross-posted to Divadom.
If you grew up in India in the 80s, you’ll remember this short animated film that would show just before the Sunday morning specials and on occasion, before the Saturday evening movie.
“Hind desh ke nivaasi sabhi jann ek hain.
Rang roop, besh bhasha, jaati anek hain.”
Maths (1 to many), sociology (group formation), management (organized effort) and national integration – that’s a lot of ideas to pack into 7 minutes. We’re not in a day and age that values the last idea very much. Here’s remembering.
A reader sent in a link to this YouTube clip that replies to this month’s net-rage. ‘Why this Kolaveri da‘ features a bespectacled girl accompanying herself on the guitar and singing a response to the song. It’s not as catchy as the original Kolaveri Di but it deserves a watch. I especially love-u the way the girl’s eyes go at 1:16 and at 1:40 in the video. Enjoy-u!
Here are the lyrics in the video: Why This Kolaveri Da (Reply cover-Female version)
Why this kolaveri, kolaveri da
Why this kolaveri, kolaveri da
Why this kolaveri, kolaveri da
Why this kolaveri…. adaOnce we’re married, hell is life-u
Life total out-u
Out-u out-u you say out-u
We stand here hurt-uWhy this kolaveri, kolaveri da
Why this kolaveri, kolaveri daDawn come-u we go work-u
U sit there smoke-u
Money come-u you take spend-u
How do I feed the kids-uYou say love-u love-u o my love-u
I showed you bou-u…
but love-u love-u
Here’s cow-u
It gives back more than you-uNow you tell me who is right-u
Are you happy now-uWhy this kolaveri, kolaveri da
I’ve always loved November. Diwali festivities, vacations to look forward to…as I’ve gotten older, I find the end of the year packing up. The weather is crisper, even in hot & humid Mumbai. Everyone starts to let their hair down and spends more time thinking about parties, picnics & get-togethers than work. The world takes a break next month & November is all about the planning and anticipation of just that.
It’s been a packed and enjoyable November for me. I attended the NH7 festival in Pune, in its second year. A story on women bloggers featured me in a prominent way. For the few of you who remember my long-winded adventure with NovelRace, I finally managed to complete it! Whether this ever comes out or not, I can now die happy knowing that I did write a full novel. 🙂
On that cheery note, here’s this month’s links. As you can see, there was a lot of link-love going around too!
* Catch these links as they happen on The Idea-smithy Facebook Page. You can also post an interesting link of your own to the page and get featured on the Ideamarked post at the end of the month!
I had a day full of meetings and it felt like the perfect opportunity to bring back a look that I used to sport before I left the corporate world (and surprisingly found I’d been missing!) – the power dressing look. These photographs were shot in the night after I got back, indoors, so they aren’t as clear as I’d have liked.
Formalwear is something that’s still a new challenge for most Indian women. Our hot, dusty climate makes business suits quite impractical. A lot of women opt for the ubiquitous salwar-kameez instead and indeed, it is probably the best solution for everyday office wear. But once in a while,a real power dressing look may come in handy.
My power dressing look is a derivative of the dressing principles I watched dad follow over the years. First of all, everything in one of two colour families – blue/grey/white/black or cream/beige/red/brown. Belt & shoes must match. Absolutely no white socks for formalwear.
To this, I added my own individual aesthetic sensibilities. Silver/white gold jewellery with the first colour family and gold/pearls with the second. Scarves for colour. And high style through jewellery rather than shoes (sensible shoes only!).
Here’s what my comeback look was like:
The straight, no-nonsense lines of a cotton half-sleeved shirt in grey. I’m extra partial to shirts that can be tucked into the trousers. Sadly, most women’s shirts have short tails, which means they have to be worn hanging outside the trousers. While that look may be acceptable for daily office wear, for a extra polished look, I think nothing beats the shirt tucked in.
Predictably (or shall I say classically?), the trousers were black, straight fits. Pinstripes are another power-dressing staple. Besides on trousers, they have the additional benefit of making the legs look longer. Height adds an illusion of power, after all.
When the shirt is worn tucked in, it’s vital to wear a good belt. I’d have preferred to wear a regular sized belt but it wasn’t handy so I picked this slim black one with a rectangular buckle instead. Black faded into black and I don’t think the width difference showed at all.
I’ve had this bag for almost 8 years now. I bought it right at the start of my career, needing something other than the colourful, flashy stuff I’d use to tote my stuff around, in college. A trip to Dharavi’s leather market yielded this and would you believe, it’s stood me in great stead all these years, through job changes, monsoon, train travel et al! I’ve only needed to have a zipper fixed once. It’s pure leather so cleaning is no more than a swab with a dry cloth, once in awhile. The bag has two large compartments, a mobile phone holder within and a zipper side pouch on one side. It usually carries wallet, keys, mobile phone, diary, papers, sunglasses, headscarf, face towel, make-up, lunch, a small water bottle, a book and has room for more! Also, it doesn’t show any unsightly bulges, holds its shape and the handles are sturdy enough to carry the weight and withstand the rigours of daily travel. A great investment, indeed!
And now for the accessories – my trusty steel watch, a single ring on each hand, a silver heart charm bracelet and a silver square in each ear. This last is also years old but always felt too ‘old’ for my usual fun sense of dressing. But it added just the right degree of prim womanliness to this otherwise masculine outfit.
I’ve always had a thing for scarves (see Scarf It Up!). But a colleague once told me that I looked like a flight purser in this very outfit (quite aggravating if one is not employed in the airline industry). Colourful scarves worn like ties have come to be synonymous with the hospitality sector, so I had to junk that idea. the collar of this shirt was too high for me to wear the scarf knotted around the neck and it was too hot for a cravat tie. So I junked the scarf and looked for something else to break the severity of this look. This pretty blue stone dragonfly brooch did just that! Unconventional in such matters, I usually skip the over-the-heart location in favour of other places like a collar lapel, the belt loop or even a thigh. A spark of bling on the neck or a pop of colour against staid fabric really adds a dash of fun to this look. Who said power can’t be fun?! For this time, I positioned it right in the middle of the chest, between two shirt buttons (also avoiding any accidental opening).
Footwear was a basic, black leather pair of square-toed shoes. I know these look rather masculine but they’re comfortable and durable, both things that give me the kind of confidence needed to pull off power dressing. Indian women’s footwear has a long way to go before it can discover the notion of ‘comfort and beauty’.
Imagine my delight when I spotted these at Hush Puppies! Leather pumps with flexible PVC soles (heels part of the soles) and a suede stripe running across the top. They were comfortable, feminine and dignified. The pair is available in jet black, midnight grey and chocolate brown. After drooling over them for over an hour, I came home with the grey pair. Maybe I’ll nip back for the brown, later this week! This pair would go perfectly with a skirt or dress just as well as it does with these trousers!
I Wear:
What say you?