the bearded ladies of bombay

the graffiti on the walls of mukesh mills in colaba. there are so many shoots which take place here and if you peel away the paint from the slowly decaying facade, like onion skin, you will find the backdrops of half a dozen bollywood sets. the bearded ladies, took me completely by surprise and made me laugh.

anusha yadav photography

anusha yadav is a graduate in communications design, NID, ahmedabad and has been involved in photography since 1996. however, did only consider it seriously in 2004. currently she works as an independent graphic designer as well as a documentary photographer.

her specialisation in the photography field lies in "documenting" events, portraits, research material & celebrations.

more than just documenting, all her pictures are a narrative of the event. (rather than just people smiling to the camera). her pictures are not meant to make people/guests/place look good or bad, but exude, capture and represent their/its presence and participation through the event, in its actual candid essence. the equation is a simple one: spaces = people. and it is people’s behaviour that most interests her: actions, reactions and interactions; emotions, body language, eccentricities, humour – and those rare moments of visual surrealism that can make one’s day.

anusha lives in mumbai. you can check out her work here or here.

rakhi sawant for verve magazine

saffron art

i love accidental discoveries. there's much more pleasure in the unexpected. expected pleasure always loses its thrill by feeding off itself. yesterday i was doing some research on upcoming indian artists for something at work. everyone i asked for advice, directed me to saffron art. it's a great website, and what started out as a chore quickly turned into a real pleasure.

they sort the art by price or by artist. and you don't really need to login to browse the collection. which is just so convenient. they also have special auctions and exhibitions going on most of the time, but for that you do need to register yourself. they have a huge datebase of artists, including a lovely section on new artists.

some of my favourite discoveries.

shishir bhatt -untitled 2007

manish modi - newspaper 15

moutushi - fashionable

gopal sudhedar - face koli maharashtra

debraj goswami - that's the way i see it 3

debraj goswami - that's the way i see it 6

play it loud - the playclan way

life is boring. dull, really. so we spend it in pursuit of people, things, activities to funk it up. make it fun. thing is, some people just do it better than other. the 25 member design team at illume for example. they make you want to jump off a terrace. while we were slaving away at our desks, they came up with a mad cool design store called playclan.

there aren't a great many design stores in india. specially stores that do great original graphics in things other than t-shirts. so that makes play clan not just super popular but actually revered in certain circles.


first off, their in house branding is mind blowing. bold original and faboulous. a great logo. a canary yellow store facade. mad graphics and copy that you can drool over. makes it the destination to visit when you're in delhi.

poster promoting the loveless collection

t-shirts

then there's their products. graffitish converse shoes. bright totes. handrawn maps of old delhi on cushion covers and gift boxes. journals with monotone illustrations. the kind of stuff you're bound to covet, and then indulge in despite your prudent intentions. but for super fun designs like this, it's totally worth it.

old delhi cushion cover

gift boxes

and then there are the one off events and exhibitions they do ever so often. visit their website to know more about those. or drop in at f-51, select citywalk mall, saket.

chronicles of prashant miranda

two years ago i was in varanasi with my friend stanley, who was visiting india for the first time. we had planned to stay in this hotel called the Ganges View, which not only is charming and beautiful but probably one of the best places to stay in varanasi.

with the hotel full up, we didn't end up staying there but spent one long lazy afternoon on its terrace, sipping ginger tea, looking through dayanita singh's photographs and intrigued by the postcard sized watercolours of varanasi displayed in the hotel lobby.

back home, the hastily scribbled note with the artist's website address led me into a wonderful world of whimsical illustrations. people, places, moments came alive with little drops of water and casual strokes of colour.

Prashant is a traveller. who he is, what he does and the life he lives is directly shaped by his travels. in canada for the summer, india for the winter and random stops in-between the both of them, prashant travels, paintbox and journals in hand. the journals are witnesses to his experiences on the road. moments big and small, usually in colour, bound in the pages of his journals. these chronicles are perfect in their layout, with poetry for comments and statements that complete the images.

So even if you’re not one to get so excited over watercolours, I certainly recommend paying a visit to Prashant's site to soak up his gorgeous gorgeous watercolours that capture the spirit of the people and places he visits.

frogalicious

there was this idea. an idea that music should be accessible. that it should be enjoyed. that it should be encouraged.

and out of that idea came blue frog - a club, a production house, a recording studio, a music label and an artist management agency. the brainspark of ashu and dhruv (musicians and co-founders of smoke, a music production house), who teamed up with mahesh and srila (co-founders of highlight films) and then with simran mulchandani, blue frog was slowly morphing from a dinner table idea to a viable business proposition. cut to one year later and it is still as much an idea as an institution. an idea because it still is inherently optimistic and beautiful. an institution because it has become an intristic part of the bombay cityscape.

the club is fantastic. it has a great vibe. perfect sound. drinks that you're going to have to much of. food that comes with the special indigo touch. and most of all, the best gigs that you are ever going to catch in bombay. the studio on the other is hand, is the less know but equally fantastic counterpart to the club. right next door to it, it has the same language and attention to detail as far as design and layout is concerned. but it is day to the club's night. same but not similar.

located in mathuradas mills, the studio takes the huge industrial space and completely redefines it. trendy and chic, is the impression that you get when you first walk in, only to discover a casual welcoming vibe that permeates the place. it could be the people that lounge on the pod like seating, which occupies the visiting area. or the happy green accent that brighten and lightens up the place. or the white walls crammed with contemporary art that enhance the illusion of space. or the spiral staircase that winds up to a loft that is dominated by a skylight that stretches along it's length. the rooms are gorgeous, young and absolutely stunning.

people who use the studios end up spending a lot of time there. having a well equipped studio is absolutely vital, but having a space that you enjoy spending time in is nothing short of wonderful. decor that works on the levels of both form and function is what the studios have achieved. so the next time you have a recording, why don't you head there? the food is great, the set-up exquisite and the place, delicious.

the way up & the sitting area

the delicious art