Vedasri Siddamsetty

I was given a writing prompt to write about the best gift I have received on Christmas, and while I kept thinking, what it was since we do not celebrate Christmas in our homes. We however do celebrate in our offices, and this was in one such office, doing the whole Secret Santa thing that I believe I may have received my best Christmas gift.

The gift was a bunch of things an architect would truly appreciate from the Japanese store Muji. The no-nonsense and no-branding store is an architect’s favorite for anything as such, but my gift consisted of a set of colored pencils, a measuring tape, a ruler, pencils, erasers, and a box to fit them all. Well-designed stationery is a boon and an object of delight in equal measure. I look at it even today and absolutely revel in how pretty it is and what a mood enhancer good design really is, label or no label!

The best memories are not captured. And thats what the security advised me as we entered the Axis Bank gallery at the Museum of Art and Photography that houses the current exhibition titled the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras curated at the Museum of Art and Photography. The beautiful book by Tulsidas showcasing the mighty Hindu epic comprised of 1100 pages, 80 of which have been displayed at this showcase. The beautiful pages all framed by a golden border are succinctly lit up. Patronised by the royal court of Banaras this exhibition is curated by the late Kavita Singh and Parul Singh. While the miniature painting style originally brought to India by the Mughals and extensively features their Mughal gardens looked very splendid featuring the main characters of the Ramayana, the Garuda pakshi, who has a celebrity status in our house at the moment and all the other milestones in India’s greatest epic. The create your own miniature painting was a rather cute touch felicitating the gallery exhibit!

On another floor is an exhibition by the British artist Alexander Gorlizki, along with Riyaz Uddin and Pink Studio Jaipur, that takes a rather fantastical spin on the old world paintings from the gallery’s collection. This feature title “What the Camera cannot see” brings out whimsical elements into serious moments. Again the quirks are so mirthful and joy-ridden that it had us in splits as we went from one screen to the other. Black and white photos with flamingoes and what not, that usually would not been there come together and become magical on another note. Again holding forth aplenty is the third exhibit that says Visible/Invisible showcasing women and their glories, dooms, challenges in great alacrity. I for one was happy to spot Jamini Roy’s, Raja Ravi Varma’s exploits and some lesser to me known artists.

On the whole the Museum of Art and Photography located in the heart of Bangalore, opposite the famous Cubbon Park has its heart in the right place. Funded totally by the tech-giants of the city, there is a Kiran Mazumdar Shaw auditorium, the Infosys foundation gallery, the Wipro gallery among others, boasting of donors both famous and anonymous. It is a state-of-the-art gallery unlike its nemesis run by the government on the other side of the street. For a minute I wasn’t sure if I were in India at all. The galleries are interspersed by research laboratories that work on art, rather work on conserving art. The museum shop selling wares by Jamini Roy, was way too expensive, but then a slice of art is expensive no matter to the doer or the seeker! The infrastructure at the MAP could well put Moma to shame, though much more meagre in size. The exhibits were fun to the next level and mostly Indian, except for the Gorlizki, however he was so much fun too. I sure hope the museum turns out its curations just as often as we feel like visiting, or has classes for art aficionados like us, mastering Varma’s style may just be what we like.

P.s. I was also served a reminder on why this blog makes sense, celebrating words without pictures, makes the gram totally lost and them readers win!

The best memories are not captured. And thats what the security advised me as we entered the Axis Bank gallery at the Museum of Art and Photography that houses the current exhibition titled the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras curated at the Museum of Art and Photography. The beautiful book by Tulsidas showcasing the mighty Hindu epic comprised of 1100 pages, 80 of which have been displayed at this showcase. The beautiful pages all framed by a golden border are succinctly lit up. Patronised by the royal court of Banaras this exhibition is curated by the late Kavita Singh and Parul Singh. While the miniature painting style originally brought to India by the Mughals and extensively features their Mughal gardens looked very splendid featuring the main characters of the Ramayana, the Garuda pakshi, who has a celebrity status in our house at the moment and all the other milestones in India’s greatest epic. The create your own miniature painting was a rather cute touch felicitating the gallery exhibit!

On another floor is an exhibition by the British artist Alexander Gorlizki, along with Riyaz Uddin and Pink Studio Jaipur, that takes a rather fantastical spin on the old world paintings from the gallery’s collection. This feature title “What the Camera cannot see” brings out whimsical elements into serious moments. Again the quirks are so mirthful and joy-ridden that it had us in splits as we went from one screen to the other. Black and white photos with flamingoes and what not, that usually would not been there come together and become magical on another note. Again holding forth aplenty is the third exhibit that says Visible/Invisible showcasing women and their glories, dooms, challenges in great alacrity. I for one was happy to spot Jamini Roy’s, Raja Ravi Varma’s exploits and some lesser to me known artists.

On the whole the Museum of Art and Photography located in the heart of Bangalore, opposite the famous Cubbon Park has its heart in the right place. Funded totally by the tech-giants of the city, there is a Kiran Mazumdar Shaw auditorium, the Infosys foundation gallery, the Wipro gallery among others, boasting of donors both famous and anonymous. It is a state-of-the-art gallery unlike its nemesis run by the government on the other side of the street. For a minute I wasn’t sure if I were in India at all. The galleries are interspersed by research laboratories that work on art, rather work on conserving art. The museum shop selling wares by Jamini Roy, was way too expensive, but then a slice of art is expensive no matter to the doer or the seeker! The infrastructure at the MAP could well put Moma to shame, though much more meagre in size. The exhibits were fun to the next level and mostly Indian, except for the Gorlizki, however he was so much fun too. I sure hope the museum turns out its curations just as often as we feel like visiting, or has classes for art aficionados like us, mastering Varma’s style may just be what we like.

P.s. I was also served a reminder on why this blog makes sense, celebrating words without pictures, makes the gram totally lost and them readers win!

The best memories are not captured. And thats what the security advised me as we entered the Axis Bank gallery at the Museum of Art and Photography that houses the current exhibition titled the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras curated at the Museum of Art and Photography. The beautiful book by Tulsidas showcasing the mighty Hindu epic comprised of 1100 pages, 80 of which have been displayed at this showcase. The beautiful pages all framed by a golden border are succinctly lit up. Patronised by the royal court of Banaras this exhibition is curated by the late Kavita Singh and Parul Singh. While the miniature painting style originally brought to India by the Mughals and extensively features their Mughal gardens looked very splendid featuring the main characters of the Ramayana, the Garuda pakshi, who has a celebrity status in our house at the moment and all the other milestones in India’s greatest epic. The create your own miniature painting was a rather cute touch felicitating the gallery exhibit!

On another floor is an exhibition by the British artist Alexander Gorlizki, along with Riyaz Uddin and Pink Studio Jaipur, that takes a rather fantastical spin on the old world paintings from the gallery’s collection. This feature title “What the Camera cannot see” brings out whimsical elements into serious moments. Again the quirks are so mirthful and joy-ridden that it had us in splits as we went from one screen to the other. Black and white photos with flamingoes and what not, that usually would not been there come together and become magical on another note. Again holding forth aplenty is the third exhibit that says Visible/Invisible showcasing women and their glories, dooms, challenges in great alacrity. I for one was happy to spot Jamini Roy’s, Raja Ravi Varma’s exploits and some lesser to me known artists.

On the whole the Museum of Art and Photography located in the heart of Bangalore, opposite the famous Cubbon Park has its heart in the right place. Funded totally by the tech-giants of the city, there is a Kiran Mazumdar Shaw auditorium, the Infosys foundation gallery, the Wipro gallery among others, boasting of donors both famous and anonymous. It is a state-of-the-art gallery unlike its nemesis run by the government on the other side of the street. For a minute I wasn’t sure if I were in India at all. The galleries are interspersed by research laboratories that work on art, rather work on conserving art. The museum shop selling wares by Jamini Roy, was way too expensive, but then a slice of art is expensive no matter to the doer or the seeker! The infrastructure at the MAP could well put Moma to shame, though much more meagre in size. The exhibits were fun to the next level and mostly Indian, except for the Gorlizki, however he was so much fun too. I sure hope the museum turns out its curations just as often as we feel like visiting, or has classes for art aficionados like us, mastering Varma’s style may just be what we like.

P.s. I was also served a reminder on why this blog makes sense, celebrating words without pictures, makes the gram totally lost and them readers win!

The Jonases are those whose stunning looks are matched by the worldly sophistication of their lives. They are everywhere keeping up with things, dragging those with them to the climes of international espionage and creating a furor everywhere they go. The conflict fuels them, and gets them in the throes of emotion that provides a joie de vivre. The places to be in are endless, the things to do are endless and in the swirl of high society while the wealthy remain immune becomes heady for the tawdry. So while in simple terms one does not wrestle with the pigs since it makes one dirty and the pig actually enjoys it.

This last line was unequivocally recited by Dr Balaram Bhargava, a fictional, rather semi-fictional character of the movie “The Vaccine War” he sums up India’s policy as such. While Covaxin was the first indigenous vaccine to be made from scratch by any country, India did achieve a lot in the midst of the crisis. But by taking a stand against those who took unfair advantage and kept the spirit alive to be independent, unsubscribing to toxic policies of hedonistic nations the country had a major win. Rising to the situation, the Indian scientists concocted in record time and for the first time ever something they had never done before. That’s the high and mightiest lesson in working with self-belief, a lesson that various scientists in India from space travel to vaccination have been serving up to the nation time and again over the last couple of years. The naysayers have found their answer and so have the haters, while engaging with them is not the need of the hour, taking a stand is.

As a Bharatiya, a person from Bharat it is indeed a proud time to be an Indian, one in six people in the world is Indian and that fraction is just going to rise over time. While the simple-minded and high-thinking tribe takes center stage in this country, there is also the milieu who are hoarding up what is necessary to keep the economy boosted. The essence of the country though lies in its simplicity and the wealth of knowledge of the past steeped in self-awareness and self-belief. While no country is inferior to another, everyone marching to the beat of their own drum, and respecting the differences is India’s win, and taking pride in diversity is its intelligence. The best thing about India yet, well that’s definitely not keeping up with the Jonases, it is in fact staying miles away from the Jonases.

Getting to your dharma with the world watching, in spite of it judging and being firm in the stance got India miles ahead with the vaccine and will continue to get India vastly ahead in all that it undertakes. The attitude is for the win, after all, it is the attitude that claims the altitude.

Yesterday I got to meet a very interesting man. Quite old of course and a Vaastu consultant. Enough introduction for an architect to be wary of, but interestingly the man was nothing much to be wary of. When I got home after listening to his views on Vaastu, I googled to find him an author of many books on the same subject and some on life-building views like that of water, again an element used in the science of Vaastu, so not to be surprised of. So I had two plans to show him, printed to a scale easy on the eyes I began explaining the building, the plot, and its orientation. Promptly laughing with a twinkle in the eye, he exclaims that the simplest would be to not go with this. Then as his junior prodded him with the virtues of the site, he agreed to use power pyramids to enhance the issues posed by the ancient building science. And then when I showed him another building on a plot rotated at a precise 45-degree angle he said Vaastu wouldn’t apply to this, as the science of Vaastu needs a corner. For example, North-east needs to be a corner and cannot be in the center of a side. Pushing away the plans he said, do whatever you want for design as the principles he talks best about anyway wouldn’t apply. Then he thought how the city layout would be at such an angle asking where the plot was located. The enlightenment then came that even the location has a vibe, or as he Vaastu and this location was generally good. Rolling up the plans in the jiffy I decided to leave on this good note. But the most interesting part was when he asked me how the earlier dwellers were doing in the first building’s case, and in the other case how the current dwellers were doing, whether on matters of health and wealth. When I confirmed that all was well, then he said, there we go, we have proof, it’s in the building (also in the pudding) and hence it should be okay.

What generally trumped his words was, much ever we would like to harness the best of this ancient building science, one must be aware of the happenings of space, for at times we may just chance upon a good alignment without even trying for it. If things are going well, we could just let them, be as they are, riding on the wave as curious bystanders and not obsessive controllers. His experience on letting time decide and leaning into the learnings of science beat his need to bring better, the essence of greed by trying to change, reminding me much of a doctor who would know when to operate and an architect who would know when to build. Sometimes a psychologist could well replace a Vaastu consultant and a happy household with an architect! When the elements of the planet come together in a building, the power to harness the power of earth, water, fire and air remains the goal of the architect, and does turning the whole game at an angle of 45 degrees change the power astoundingly that the science does not work? I am bummed, I have seen fortunes change with a change in Vaastu, as I have seen a change in fortune with a change of name or spelling too, but with this insight I am somewhat turning into a non-believer. Perhaps I’d like to call it the art of Vaastu now and not so much science, for the fact that it could spin a no-baller too at some angles! So the advice then remains, if things are fine, let them be and necessitate an action only when required and beneficial, if immune to action then well, do whatever you want. Much like the advice I think the universe would like me to hear at the moment. The man I am referring to is Mr AR Hari, a who’s who in the building ecosystem of Bangalore, who has written several books as google says.

https://www.google.co.in/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22A.+R.+Hari%22

This Diwali I headed to one of the umpteen Diwali parties and picked up some really unexpected life lessons. Just like one should know when to stop eating, one should know when to exit a party, and that too gracefully. Also arriving late is extremely fashionable as the mood of the place is just right to pick up the Diwali vibes, so thats one about timing, there is always a just right in time. But more importantly, lessons came unexpectedly on health and loving the human body. Seeing a transformation in about 45 days, it really seems like we can sculpt and architect our bodies. While the average party goers are notorious for lifestyle issues, the scale of people who are sworn into salads or a workout regime is just growing by the numbers. Dont eat dairy brigades are topped by don’t eat gluten brigades, which are in turn topped by dont eat sugar brigades. Even for the fresh live jalebis, a season favorite, the line goes like pehle aap, pehle aap, just cause one clearly does not want to feast.

The only feasting that happens is with the eyes and the only eating with the nose or so I surmise. And then there are those that go the whole way forward, giving up on all the food we call festive and lapping up delicious natural fare, thereby guarding their health and in effect wealth. No maida, puts out most the unnecessary, no sugar takes care of the rest. As an alternative to building wealth, the side effect is building health. And in that there is remarkable merit. Smoking became unfashionable since the dum maaro dum era, then sitting became unfashionable in the next era, today a bunch of things are unfashionable as research becomes more fashionable, health does too. This Diwali it seemed more fashionable to be on a research based diet than in the latest Sabyaschi, great for the pocket and for the real estate space of the house. There is obviously more to it that meets the eye, and when one delves deep happiness is then only skin deep, just like beauty.

This Diwali may Goddess Lakshmi bless you with poorer appetites, an aversion to sugar, a dislike for the consumption of maida, take you far away from manufacturing plants and in corollary a lover of natural plants, a seeker of movement and towards working out if not working and thereby bringing dhan in more ways than one. Happy Diwali!