Indian Design

The movie "Slumdog Millionaire" has won four golden globe awards and  might be one stop away from winning the Oscars. With all this publicity in place, I have started seeing an increase in the number of TV shows hosted in PBS, Discovery and Travel channels about India.  

Slumdog Millionaire is about a young man from the slums of Mumbai who gets to win the Indian version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire".  The movie brilliantly portrays the abject poverty, chaos and injustice that is prevalent in India.

Well, besides the poor, there is also an another side of India. The vibrant rich culture and traditions, exotic arts, and the growing number of young middle class citizens.  So, I thought,  why not introduce the  artistic elements of  the Indian design  in this blog with a personal touch.    

I was born in Chennai, the capital city of the Southern State of India called Tamil Nadu.  Silk fabrics have played an eminent role in this part of the Country. In any occasion, be it a religious ceremony, weddings, or an evening party, a South Indian woman loves to adorn herself with gold jewels, and wears an expensive silk sari.   A silk sari is a must have. Even the poorest woman would own at-least one.  The most famous silk sari originates from a place called Kanjeepuram.  When I got married, I wore a pure Kanjeepuram silk sari as well.   Below are the photographs from my traditional South Indian Wedding. 

Pure Silk Saris worn by me on various ceremonies.

South Indian Ladies in their Silk Saris

Wedding Altar Decor. This is where the actual wedding ceremony takes place.

I love the flower decorations.  Flowers are widely used as ornaments.  

Jewelry from the actual Wedding day. 

As you can see, unlike other Indians, I am not a big fan of wearing too much of gold. I like to keep it simple.  

India is just not about the "Chicken Tika Masala" and  "Bollywood".  The Country is very diverse and every part of India has something unique to offer. 

This is the last photograph, I promise no more pics after this one.  I took a pic of some old silk saris that were handed over to me by my MIL. I was thinking of using them for my craft work. Check my blog for the craft work i will posting in a couple of weeks time. 

Hope you guys enjoyed the photographs and learnt something new from this post.