Vedasri Siddamsetty

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Walking across a brand new mall in immaculate Singapore, still largely unopened to the public I was first introduced to the talents of one Mr Chihuily. Set in a neat and tidy ceiling, all-white environment a burst of colour in a tizzy caught my attention. A chandelier that paled even the Venetian Murano glass, I was bewildered by the mastery and creativity of this glass-blower right in that steely lobby. It was so messy yet perfect, blasting away colour every angle, yet elegant and dazzling yet demure all at once. Like a good piece of art it was exciting and delightful sparking wonder and amazement. Soon after I returned to my usual workday though it did leave a lasting impression.

Now several years later I traversed upon the Chihuily museum in Seattle, all as a matter of chance. As we made our way to the Space Needle, sparks of bemused colour peeked through the branches. It brought forth all those wondrous excitement to discover the beauty of blown glass!

Dale Chihuily is an American glass sculptor and entrepreneur who is a master at his craft. As he walks about with an eye-patch, the imminent dangers of working with blown glass become very apparent, yet his high levels of technical skill with glass are palpable. Being well acquainted with the chandelier-like centre pieces in hotel lobbies or malls there is much excitement to see these beauties in the museum, but the themed collections are breath-taking. The Japanese inspired lanterns or the ceiling water-creatures and the animal-inspired art-work are beyond one’s imagination. The quality of glass, the bends, the turns are exceptionally well-done. Each installation is truly poetry. Chihuily works with his team, drawing up ideas for the next pieces of art on paper and displayed in the museum are some such working drawings! Except that they hardly look like working drawings! Working with such high temperatures, in a medium that is viscous and cooling it to change its constitution from liquid to solid is no easy task, but the rewards are multi-fold. Good things take time, but even greater things are worked in a matter of a few moments, a difference between oil-painting and blown-glass! Once glass is melted, the glass-blower has but very little time to craft his sculpture, literally making his strike when the iron is hot! Unlike the oil-painter who has more a few moments. This spontaneity in the craft is as beguiling as the final display of striking colours and reflective nature of glass. Light does play a huge part in enjoying glass-ware in general and the same applies to glass-sculpture including blown-glass.

Hugely inspired by nature, when the sculptures are set indoors they are beautiful, but when they are set outdoors amidst pretty flowers made by nature, they strike up an even more beautiful image, almost matching up to their inspirations! A walk in the park with several glass blooms standing up or a hugely optimistic sunny yellow and orange lighting floating overhead is a wonderful way to appreciate the beauty in art and in nature, all at once. There is after all great truth in beauty and beauty in truth. Getting blown-away by the blown-glass wonders is a must do, whether on the ancient island of Murano or in the busy suburbs of Seattle! And once the miracle of wonder sets in, glass can never be the same again!!

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The story of the American Freedom is largely incomplete without the Liberty Bell and a walk down America’s original capital city, Philadelphia. The land of opportunity as it stands today, the democracy that it is, and a nation of such pride, confidence and openness all started with the ringing of a bell. The Liberty bell. Symbolising true freedom for every soul, abolishing slavery and ensuring equal rights and opportunity, the liberty bell has a rich history just like its host city.

Not exactly the oldest city in the world, but a city steeped with American history, cobbled stone streets, red-brick buildings, in spirit symbolising a democratic state whose constitution was formed by a group of intellectuals drawing their roots from all over the world. One such man, fondly titled “Monsieur Electrique”, the man who discovered electricity, Benjamin Franklin. Playing a major role in the American freedom struggle Franklin earned popularity and hence the title during a visit to France missioned to ask for support against the colonial British on the American continent!

Eventually after several armed efforts, the new-age Americans successfully ousted the colonial rule off the continent and drafted a whole new constitution. The final battle is depicted in the very famous painting of, “Washington Crossing the Delaware”, wherein the father-figure of America and the first President, George Washington, crossed the Delaware river to catch the British soldiers unaware and thus defeated. Philadelphia, or Philly as it is fondly referred to has been host to several movements even after the very early freedom struggle and the formation of the super-country that the United States is today. The abolishing of slavery, women’s suffragate movement, equality among people, a strong sentiment that makes for an even stronger country is what truly is the spirit of the city. Though Americans are not a particularly specific race, they are people who are bound by common ideals, right from the out-set, a group of people tracing their origins from all over the world, all continents, some who came sooner and some later, but all who set-foot in a country that values liberty and equality above all else. A country with equal opportunity for all, a country with no minorities, a country with no reservations, no prejudices, but pride in the human race as such.

Love, may well be the soul of Philly, a city that has given voice, setting forth a debate and abolishing anything that seemed unfair as people evolved and reached new levels of understanding the value of life. Walking along the well manicured streets, sidewalks, we shared our visit to Philly with the Pope, a man who symbolises new vision and urges the Catholics and others in the world alike to truly love. “Have the courage to truly love”, a banner screamed out fluttering as it may on a lamp-post. Love does make the world go round, empathise, laugh, accept the misgivings, forgiving, thereby making the world get way better than it ever was.

As flashy buildings tower the once quaint and historically significant buildings, the city has long given over its power or vision to the now busy and important Washington DC or the ever gorgeous New York City, it does essentially hold on to the ideals about what the United States of America is really about. The old capital holds proof of the original states and the very many that joined in to form the now-strong 50 states union, the national flag that went through many a make-over over the years and the earliest settings where a new governance was flagged off. The french oligarchy were the greatest supporters of the vision of a new country with King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and others offering monetary fuel for the American Revolution. Though taking the violent ways to a peaceful end, the spirit of the United States is one truly driven by liberty, equality and more truly about love, and Philly is one city that is a constant reminder of the noble ideals that gave birth to the most affable country in the world!

As for liberty, from the Statue welcoming immigrants off the Atlantic, the alloyed bell though cracked now, a hot-bed of political moves, activist rights, enormous debates, prides and falls, it is the basis of free will and yet it does ring a bell!

In a sprawling campus off the city of Seattle is the stunning Boeing Factory that amazes not only by its inner workings and all that it stores but also tremendously by its sheer size. The Future of flight as the aviation centre is aptly titled, the visit to the world’s most expansive building, the largest building in the world by volume, housing an area of 472 million cubic feet of area is simply breath-taking. Whilst most of us have taken an aircraft flying either an Airbus or Boeing, the factory that produces the Boeing series is a sight to watch. Welcoming all the incoming tourists the lobby boasts of flags representing all the countries whose airlines subscribe to the Boeing brand. Happily I identified the Indian tricolour also playing a quick game of identifying all the other flags waiting for our turn to tour the Boeing Everett factory floor.

A museum adjoining the lobby makes for an interesting display of the Boeing brand through the ages, videos, presentations, mock-ups and all else showing off with pride the Boeings all the way from 707 to 787, over the many decades that the company has been in business. The Dreamliner is displayed with utmost pride as is the innovation wing of the company that has invested in sustainable strategies including sustainable flight fuel to engines that exceed expectations or aircraft interiors with optimum in-flight conditions. A very interactive platform teaches the makings of the aircrafts blue-blooded Rolls-Royce engine while some crew take the crowd into an exercise modelled purely for an audience poll. The museum is all but a prelude to the factory floor that is indeed awe-inspiring.

As the guide fills in the crowd, the bus pulls into the biggest building by volume, the Everett Factory floor. The company he reiterates, takes great care of its employees with all the required necessities, including day-care and all else embedded within the campus. Entering the factory through one of the major tunnels, the seemingly mile-long walk terminates at an industrial elevator that lifts up a crowd just as easily to the viewing deck. The tunnels are marked with fire-pipes, chilled-water pipes and all the service connections all labelled neatly that enable smooth running of the enterprise. The factory floor is a sight with six 737-jets, the latest in the market, being readied for assembly all part by part. The visitors are led on to the highest mezzanine floor getting a high-view of the entire floor. Each part of the aircraft is assembled insulated, bolted, welded, fixed and moved to the next station in the assembly line. With clear precision and accurate workings. On another side, the assembled aircrafts are all painted and readied for inspection before delivery. Colourful tails stand out with a host of airlines ready for flight.

In this area, a section of the Boeing 747-jet is displayed, it is indeed quite precarious to know the thin divide between the warm comfortable seat and the outer troposphere. A few layers of insulation and a thin metal shell are the only protection we earthly beings have while we munch on those peanuts some 30000-ft up in the air. Visitors also do get a sneak-peak at the 737s, with the all new clear to opaque changing glass and sleeker interiors. While the inventors at Boeing toil away ideating, developing, designing and bringing to life, newer and faster birds, we all can look forward to another wonderful destination at a far-end of the globe, sipping on champagne and very oblivious to the fuel in the wings or our luggage about 10 feet under, savouring every moment, in-flight!

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Spinning at a height of over 667 feet the space needle was once the tallest building of Seattle and the tallest structure to the west of the Mississippi River. Built in 1962 for the world fair, it stands at 607′ height, withstands winds of about 200 miles per hour and earthquakes of about 9.1 magnitude, all equipped with 25 lightning rods! Super sleek and nimble-footed the Space Needle looks out into the Pacific Ocean and provides sweeping views of the Seattle skyline.

Arriving at the base of the tower and tucking away our ride at an appropriate parking stall we walked up to admire the structural ingenuity and the engineering feat that the tower represents. Envisioned by architect John Grahams the tower was conceptualised as a flying saucer tethered to the ground. The column profiles of the tower lend to it it’s very enviable hour-glass figure balancing the saucer with high dexterity.

Getting in line and atop the tower in precisely 41 seconds, the circular viewing deck opens up for a lovely view of the city. All romantics will inevitably remember the Sleepless in Seattle moments, and the tower as the setting does a great job of enlivening romance in the atmosphere. Beauty inspired love, almost always, and beautiful architecture whether in steel, brick, glass or concrete, like all beautiful things inspires love.

Dodging selfie-sticks and poky elbows, I made my way to the protective rail letting the wind in my hair. The cascade range of snow-covered peaks of Washington state are visible from the viewing deck. Mount Rainier a gorgeous snow covered peak stared out at a distance, on a clear day, like that day, its the farthest that one can see from the tower. There are sunny days even in gloomy Seattle I thought, being lucky enough to check into the city when the sun was clearly in a mood to stay!

Unlike the Shanghai tower, the Space Needle hosts no bungee jumping expeditions, instead for the adventure junkies the climb to the top is an option as the 848-stair climb to the top is thrown open. Though thoroughly tempted, for once I took the lift! It would be a worthy climb to the top though if one has an inclination to it.

As families shuttered away capturing the moment and a distant horn of the cruise ship sounded I watched the sun-set far across the horizon. Watching the daily phenomena of sun-rise or sun-set is heart-warming, when a moment pauses and thoughts are set in motion. The sun-set from the Space Needle is a glorious sight indeed as all of the city is orchestrated into a melange of fall colours, a premonition to the ending of day, just another day!

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Off downtown Victoria and on the island making great use of the glorious weather and warmer climes thanks to the nearby pacific is the see-it-to-believe-it Butchart Gardens.

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A rose is a rose is a rose.

Just as an orchid is an orchid, a dandelion is a dandelion, a daffodil is a daffodil and a carnation, oh well, a carnation. A beautiful garden in full bloom is a paradise for sure, an inspiration to artists across the world, an inspiration to poets across time. From exquisite Mughal gardens to flamboyant Napolean ones, and just when in the Palace of Versailles I assumed it cannot possibly get better came the greatest sight of them all, the quintessentially majestic and surreptitiously doe-eyed, the Butchart Gardens. Setting an absolutely marvelous sight at every turn, the Butchart Garden exceed with the greatest of expectations. Beauty as they say lies in the eyes of the beholder, but Butchart is one that could possibly defy the bindings of even English Literature, its a place you cannot help but fall totally and impossibly in love with.

Located in the scenic country-side of the Saanich Peninsula we hopped onto a bus and furtively asked the driver to kindly let us know when the bus reaches the Butchart garden. Employing a highly robust tone he declared just as robustly, when we reach Butchart you will simply know. Winding through sleepy towns and the quiet countryside we werent assured of his declaration. However sleepy eyed and induced into complete relaxation by the weather, we didn’t need any heads up on reaching the famed garden! Like he said, we simply knew. A grand red rose with the words neatly emblem-ed brought to our notice at once dainty and magnificient Butchart Gardens.

The story of the Butchart Gardens is one of wonder and amazement, all great things have an even greater story, and this one is no less. Owned by the Butchart family, the site had its modest beginnings as a cement quarry used to dig out and process Portland cement by its then owner Robert Pim Butchart. For years the family quarried the land, digging out in the process rich limestone, a source of great wealth. After a whole lot of quarrying, exhausted in all the mineral deposits the land soon became quite useless. Useless for some are causes of great vision for others. Robert’s wife, Jennie Butchart, with her love for landscape and all things beautiful took interest in developing the now exhausted quarry into a sunken Japanese Garden first. The vision is marvelous as it stands today, a befitting transformation to a deeply misshapen cement quarry. Quarries are quite the opposite of a garden in terms of the environs or of beauty!

Developing the garden over ages and passing it on through generations the Butchart garden today boasts of a total of six gardens, a butterfly enclosure, a visitor’s centre, a charming carousel, a coffee shop, restaurants and a store for befitting merchandise. Apart from the earliest sunken garden, there are also the rose garden, the Japanese garden, the Italian Garden, the Mediterranean garden and the concert lawn walk. As we flitted flower to flower I cluelessly gathered the brochure understanding more about these beauties. As it goes the Gardens do not label flowers doing away with tardy signboards and thus they give out brochures for those interested in getting more information. Such is the power of beauty that it forces one to live precisely in the moment, the greatest boon of all in a time where the future or the past drown out the present moment.

While the line-up of roses make for a compelling stop at the buoyant Italian garden, where extremely good-natured buds show up with their pretty colors and magnificient fragrances, the Japanese garden is stripped down to a bare minimum, marked by an absence of flowers and sculptural trees and scrubs bent gently over time to form artwork in nature. But it is the sunken garden that literally takes your breath away with dainty waterfalls and an orchestrated creation. The garden we were told by a gardener at the Butchart sees 5 seasons of different blooms every year, while he himself travels across to different gardens across the world seeking inspiration and expertise to graft, plant and introduce new species at the Butchart. A butterfly park and a carousel steeped in an old-world charm are other features at the butchart. The gelato store at the Italian garden whips up excellent gelatos, the cherry-chocolate is exceptionally delicious while the restaurant serves a delicious spread to enjoy.

Offering loads of inspiration to botanists and amateur gardeners alike, seeds of seasonal and perennial species are available for sale amidst all other merchandise that makes a part of any tourist attraction. A garden is paradise believed the Mughals, who enjoyed creating quaint gardens just as much as they enjoyed patronizing architecture and creating a robust empire, the French also believed in the timeless beauty of gardens as did the Butcharts. A thing of beauty is joy forever and flowers are beautiful and hence full of joy. As I looked over a local florist store filled with artificial flowers I couldn’t help but think how a good copy or a good fake can never be even half as awesome as the original! Orchids, Lilies, Ferns and roses none striking an image as their original counterparts, none so glorious or beautiful. Even with the right proportions and colors they certainly do not make the cut. Beauty is never skin-deep! It may also have to do with the living aspect of it, wherein the liveliness, the changing nature of the flower makes it alive and truly beautiful. Change is beautiful, energy is beautiful, liveliness is beautiful, flowers are beautiful. Those qualities are what make a world of difference between the paper flowers sprayed with scents!

As we buzz through life, taking in the changes, sometimes embracing while sometimes defying, this new year, let’s take the time to stop and smell the roses for they are changing too!

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Named after the hugely powerful and affable queen of England and off Canada’s Pacific Coast and slighting over seven and a half square miles in area is lodged the Garden City of Victoria also fondly referred to as the City of the Newly weds and Nearly Deads! Thats mostly because the island county floating off the coast of Vancouver has a population that exceeds in the old-moneyed old people and the noveau-rich young bloods. Hugely expensive, even more than Vancouver, and super pretty, this island is blessed abundantly by exquisite flora and a temperature that fosters, believe it or not, nicety. While Canadians are mostly easy-going and extremely pleasant, Victorians from British Columbia are of the highest rung where behavior is concerned. Hat-tipping pleasantries of the past have been taken over by citizens who take genuine and a boastful pride of their glorious city. Attribute it to the time they spend in nature, playing a sport and paying utmost respect to nature in their living styles. Add to that a great taste in living.

While our very friendly chaperon chatted away how it’s the best place to women to grow up and live, I couldn’t help noticing architectural details around town. Neat and crisply finished all the buildings and town-planning in general are very quaint, stylish and environmentally inclined. B.C in Victoria B.C. stands for bring cash he jokes, instead of the legal British Columbia. The expense because the island, though insanely beautiful ferries across nearly everything for the absence of a road connection from mainland Canada, from Vancouver, about a hundred kilometers across. The distance and the intentional disconnect add to the island’s charm.

The age-old Empress Hotel and the British Columbia Parliament Building are sights in the inner harbor that also plays host to swanky and top-of-the-line yachts docking in. Every year the harbor attracts top yachting talent during the Swiftsure International Yacht Race. While we looked on Leonardo Di Caprio’s good-looking yacht docked snuggly while the actor shot for the upcoming flick, the Reverant in nearby Alaska. Lined in festivity the Parliament building looked every bit presentable. In the shopping quarters of Victoria I was totally smitten by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory a store that boasted of the gourmet chocolate dipped apples apart from maple-flavored fudge brownies. A haven for the not-so-average chocolate enthusiast.

At the Craigdarroch Castle, the English-roots of British Columbia are keenly felt. The Victorian-era scottish-baronial mansion boasts of massive stained glass, ingenious structural prowess and views to behold. Not ancient by any means, it is a National Historic Site of Canada. A quick stop at the Canadian Tim Horton’s for delicious munchkins and hot coffee for the troop is a must-do too. A modern twist to the classic Canadian frontier! Driving the entourage up a hill one can catch a spectacular view of Victoria in the night with twinkling stars above and twinkling lights of a largely refined civilization below. The wonderful sublimation of nature and the art of fine living make up the cultural defines of Victoria. It’s one of those places that makes a lasting impression and charms with its finesse quite like none other. If not for all the acquisitions and achievements, being nice is after all is the mark of civility and hence of a civilization!

Laden with the crisp warm winds of the temperate climes, whiffs of maple in the air, with a lot of credit to the affable weather the niceness of Victoria is contagious, when you go be sure to grab your passport and donning the culture, be nice, after all it’s Victoria!

America is synonymous for MacDonalds, Levis, Starbucks, Coke, Chips, Costco, Walmart, Corn and the hugely popular westernized lifestyle. The so to speak western influence seems to have crept into the every niche of the world, including even the impenetrable Great wall of China. Ironically, it’s quite interesting to note what happens in the west of the great west.

Popularly termed as the west-coast mentality, one that mostly has people belonging to the west coast of the United States living a greatly un-westernised lifestyle. Characterized by befitting antonyms of the westernized lifestyle, this mentality has the populace largely being active, outdoorsy, and nature-loving thereby considerably shunning the “american paradigm”, preferring instead to shop at organic farmers markets,  grow and cook their own food, buy handcrafted goods, indulge in yoga and breezily ride the famous californian waves. Even more, living environmental-consciously is an added bonus.

So while the new-age western Americans model the best of the world in the ever-growing west-coast, living mindfully and consciously, intelligently as well as casually, decked in yoga-pants and fleece, it’s a good time for us all to literally ape the west, if not the west-coast.

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The country that measures its happiness as a figure of the Gross National Happiness had me intrigued for over a decade now. And when we decided to drive up from dreamy Shillong over several national highways and nearly 200 kilometres, my Gross Personal Happiness did certainly triple if only just a little!

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After a drive through Meghalaya, Assam, crossing the one-kilometre long River of Sorrow-the mighty Brahmaputra, some wrong turns and finally right ones we made our way to the Bhutanese border town of Samdrup-Jhonkar.

Greeted by a fellow Grad Schooler we breezed through immigration making it in, just in the nick of time leaving 5 minutes before the office closed for the day. A hungry pile up of traditional Bhutanese food comprising of a spicy vegetable curry with bits of cheese and a mountain of rice later we then drove up the bumpy roads up to the biggest town of Eastern Bhutan – Tashigang. With pretty pictures of His Majesty the King of Bhutan and his Queen hand-in-hand under romantic cherry-blossoms dotting every little shop or government office, one is regularly reminded of being in a kingdom country. Our hotel too had glorified imagery to the young and dashing King with his beautiful Queen. Unlike Thimpu, Tashigang is quite and ubiquitously as Bhutanese as ever, with globalisation hardly catching up.

Walking up to a next door hospital, a nearby police-station, a post-office and then a few shops the similarity of the building facades struck a chord as did the similar signboards of Pali script supplemented by English text requesting that the people dress in the national dress. Everyone seemed to wear the national garb of theh Gho for men and the Kira for women with equal elan and immense pride, if not for the fear of being scolded by the police! Our merry and chatty taxi driver was more than happy to dole out information on the predicaments of flouting laws in the Himalayan Kingdom. The prisoners are expected to spend time in meditation and play volleyball as penance in jails are are hardly flogged as punishment! Hours in meditation are the only seeming form of punishment, making the jails seem more like retreat centres.

While the Government of India funds a majority of projects in Bhutan, from restoration of monasteries to the building of roads and hospitals, the Indian Army is deported to supplement forces for the people of Bhutan. The Dongkang Monastery that we visited was in the middle of a certain such project due completion in 2018. A young monk all of 10 years walked us through the monastery filling us in on information regarding his father, a farmer, his favourite subject in school, Social Studies, and a life as a monk, that comprised of reading prayers and meditation. Meditation it seems is a national past-time! The architecture of the monastery with Bhutanese elements emerging from a white plastered background, windows and doors, teak-wood staircases are charming, but when lodged amidst the rugged hills, equally humbling. A trip to the Buddhist Institute in Tashigang got us join a prayer session as the monks chanted in baritone Buddhist scriptures all with the ringing of bells and the sounding of drums. Highly refreshed we headed down for a modest lunch of daal-rice and some Bhutanese flavoured curry. Drinkable water from the taps and extremely clean environs play their part in making the happy country. As Kuensel, the national newspaper provides snippets of news across the country, it even chronicles a yoga pose for the day!

Breaking dawn in the foot-hills of the Himalayas as well as the gorgeous views of a lonely cloud over the air-strip of Tashigang, the dewy misty ride down-hill instil a sense of wonder in even the wariest of the traveler. With Maggi banned across Bhutan too, the roadside tea-houses are filled with other instant noodles that the keepers more than happily dole out with its share of vegetables and cheese! The pretty building facades, the national dress are all part of the national mandate as is the measure of happiness that the young Bhutanese King takes extremely seriously. With humbling mountaneous views, gorgeous architecture and happy people, happiness does rub off as does cheer and as we waited for the clearing of landslides on our way down it was just natural that I began to understand that happiness is not a pursuit or an achievement, its simply a way of being!

A haiku for the land of inner peace and radiant happiness!!

Rugged mountains, sliver of clouds

stealing visions that make off with the heart

leaving but only a happy heart!

Perched in the Khasi hills, Shillong is every bit of a jewel of a hill-station, with dreamy locales and floating clouds, the Scotland of the east, one of the Seven Sisters and only just a couple hundred kilometres from the wettest place on earth! It is literally where the clouds finally give way to intense rain. And delightful as it could ever be Shillong is a merry confluence of erstwhile British influence with rose gardens, tea parties and an ever local presence of the vernacular Khasi traditions.

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My first impressions of a trip across Meghalaya about 9 years ago was the passage of a lone cloud(!) through the windows of our car on the drive up from Guwahati to Shillong. Absolutely exhilarating, it is something that has stayed with me ever since. Nine years later Meghalaya remains much the same. The gorgeous living roots bridges, sparkling waterfalls, pitcher-plants, India’s cleanest village in Mawlynong, an expansive golf course, the pretty Ward’s lake, music-loving, piano-playing people, narrow-winding lanes and an indelible colonial influence.

On a beautiful wedding trip we began the festivities truly Khasi-style by partying it up in the clouds! True-blue chilling as I may rightly say, happens within the precincts of the clouds. A moonlit night and the gurgling creek punctuated by Izzy Azelea is rightly where the heavens descend. Partying in the jungle, by a watering hole, a flowing creek, on a moonlight sky and surrounded by clouds, lets just say it had all the inklings of a wild party! And then after a day of chilling with our lovely bride and groom at the Umiam lake we braved the trip to Nongriat Village with a hike up 3300 steps to the double-decker living roots bridge where roots entwined to form a two-level bridge across a gorgeous water-fall.  The serious hike up and down is made totally worth the effort by the gorgeous views along the way, mostly flora and a bit of faunas in terms of butterflies and then a short trip to the Seven Sisters waterfall at Cherrapunji. Fortunately for us, we were treated to a relative dry though misty day. Even the wettest place on earth has it’s bouts of glorious sunny days!

Stringing carnations and roses at the bride’s house kicked off the start of the wedding festivities. The reds, pinks and whites a pleasant change from the usual marigolds of Indian Weddings! With a piano in the house, the notes of Fur Elise made a beeline into the crisp monsoon air as did the ‘here comes the bride’ tune at the church the very next day. A church wedding is synonymous with a beautiful wedding, almost always, with pretty bridesmaids, a beautiful bride and a bouquet of flowers, with a befitting ending!

With a dear friend happily married off, it was safe enough with the adventurous bunch of us to make our way into the country with a measured gross national happiness.

At the annual IIID Design awards the jury summarised how truly inseparable originality and creativity actually are. Brief yet succinent the comments read, “Originality implies being bold enough to go beyond accepted norms. Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way!”.

While am happy to share the news on winning amongst other talented architects and designers, am deeply encouraged to create beautiful and sustainable spaces. 

There is great power in smart, efficient, creative and moreover good design!

  
#iiidawardsnight #gooddesign #celebrate