Panorama

Immensely thrilled with the results of the iPhone panorama feature that I just discovered! Stunning results in extreme low light, only strays of ambient 2 p.m. light this afternoon!

 HAPPY DIWALI my friends and fellow bloggers.

May this Diwali light up several new blogging ideas and endless blogging inspiration! Love & Light

Nesting

... the year is almost drawing to a close, what with a visit to Pune planned for Dussehra and a Delhi visit on the anvil for Diwali & Bhai dooj and December being the month when my precious boy turns 5, I am thinking I should just go ahead and share my present home before it is time to move again!! Yes,  did I tell you that our own home is getting into almost final stages before we get a handover early next year!

and so here goes some visuals of my current abode, clicked on different days (and times of the day), different kinds of light through the last six months of summer & monsoon. As I have said, nothing is ever settled in my home, the placement of that cushion, or that piece of artifact, or that color match, almost always in a whirl of flux, so reflecting my mood of that day and that of the light that is filtering in!

This home is kind of a rectangular spread of space, two apartments made into one by knocking off the wall in the middle. So the result is this broad un-artistic doorway, wide rectangular space, a bit too much to hold my treasured belongings:). The challenge, if there was one, was thus to give the space some visual partitions, create separate dwelling spaces and give the wide frame some visual reprieve, aesthetically. A well heeded promise that my husband and I made before we moved into this rented place was not to acquire even a single new piece of furniture or artifact while in this house or before we move to our own. Hence, this totally negated the most adopted option of filling up odd and empty spaces by acquiring new odds and ends. This, believe me, has been the toughest promise to keep to ourselves!! That's another reason why the state of flux is so real and so imminent as I choose some of my favorite frames to share -

this favorite book shelf lends itself to a visual partition to the TV lounge area.

The welcome spread as we enter the living space

All pictures clicked by me. 

the Tugs at my heart!!

Ah I can smell the Shiulis, smell the magical closeness of Durga Maa to our earthly abode, feel the nip of the Autumn air when I slide open my doors early morning before waking my boy up for school! and my heart screams Sharodiyar Shubhechha to all those who are feeling the same pangs of Pujo Esheche - Maa AAshchhe and some silent tears are almost welling up as I write. Call it silly, call it emotional but this is how I inevitably feel every time, every year, this time of the year.

I miss those golden days of abundance, abundance of enthusiasm & boundless energy, abundance of the hormones that made us competitive and coquettish as we dressed up in our new Durga Puja finery, four, at times five or more sets of clothing for those 5 days of Pujo. The sweet pleasure of borrowing long-eyed sarees from Didis & Boudis, the hours in front of the mirror taking turns with friends who would have moved into our CR Park house for those 4/5 days of celebratory obsession, the nights spent out pandal hopping from one CR Park- block Pujo to another, the countless Bangla movies watched after midnight nestled with the girl-gang sprawled on the darris in the Pujo pandals, and above all, the stoic patience of parents to allow this nonchalant lack of discipline to continue through the week, every year.

Today, I want to thank my parents for their patience & trust in turning a blind eye to all that we did & then some behind their backs! Today, I thank my Boudis and Didis for the countless lending of sarees that made us feel like queens of our own little Bengali castles. Today, I wish to thank my Baba for shelling out enough kindness for the number(s) of new sets of clothing for all us siblings (though my elder sis always managed to have one extra!!), to my Ma for stitching up the most magical fits in Dresses, Skirts, Shirts, you name it! Today I wholeheartedly thank C R Park, the only Bongland I know, for those myriad memories that still contain the thousand-watt-redial of the familiar pangs and smiles, all in the security of its gallis, paras and blocks that made it possible. Today, I want to hug-tight all my friends who made it so so worthwhile!!

Sharodiyar Shubhechha my family & friends!

This picture for me is a true amalgamation of all that life for me is today - a little bit of this, a little bit of that, all sparkling under the same Sun and connecting in Oneness!

Jades in a vignette!

I am glad I captured these beautiful Jades in full expression before I left Vastu, our ex-home. Because something has happened to my little garden since then, actually since the workers painting the building  paid homage to my little garden by dropping paint all over them and how it hurt! I raved, ranted, almost screamed at them but the moment happened right in front of my eyes, as a brood of them painters descended and before I could blink, it was all over, literally. A lot has happened since then, we've moved home, set up (mostly), my few planters placed in a more open deck next to the living room overlooking the greens & yes the misty ranges. But my plants have never been the same, yet! Most of the Jades have died, barring the mother of-em-all, and most of the other plants are trying, trying hard along with me to get back to their natural healthy green - yearning for them to look healthy again with the monsoon rains here! Love them!

and that watering can is on the same mission with me to revive our remaining green friends!

fiRst teASe PeEks!

 Yes, it's almost falling into place, my new home! It was a grey day so the camera was wistful and missing the golden glow of the sun that filters through most non-monsoon mornings till noon. But I thought what the h..., have waited to post for far too long! 

All pictures taken by me through the morning today. Would love to hear from you all, really.

All in the name, you see!

When I named my blog, images such as these, I mean subconsciously, would have been my inspiration for lime green walls, and I was reminded of them as I chanced upon this link on House Beautiful here on http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/colors/green-room-decorating-ideas#slide. Lime green, pear green, mint green, pistachio green, moss green, green all evoke images that are happy, pretty, in sync with the outdoors and I just couldn't turn away without sharing some of these wonderful green inspired interiors. You would just want to break off and put parts of these delectable images in your mouth and relish the devouring!

A living room in Alabama

and Oh I have indeed moved house and parts of the pieces are slowly falling back together as we spend day by day finding a slant, an angle, a nook or a hook, a shade or a spotlight, to put up or simply place the  ingredients that have constituted, again and again, our home by lending their own twist to every new house till it acquires the Home nomenclature. It's immensely WIP, but this is what I revel in, the process of setting up, seeing things in different lights (at different parts of the day) before finalising a resting for a curious craft or artifact or a painting. So while I'm still some weeks away from sharing my favorite corner, tablescape or my son's new nook in the sun, this is my hello to you all who know exactly what I'm talking about. Love and sunshine and a dash of Green...

All images from www.HouseBeautiful.com

this one's about the White Lillies

N got gifted these beautiful Lilies on his birthday and they arrived all wrapped in a queer bunch, not yet in their full expression in the midst of all other paraphernalia that make up a flower arrangement. But what character they acquired once on-their-own and standing in a vase of fresh water. This is how they looked even after a week, left us marveling at their beauty & propensity to bloom. Just their Nature, I guess!

Vignettes

We're going to be moving again...yes, and so a lot of my time is being consumed in the process that will make that happen! Am missing blogging, am missing my time with the camera and hence the moments that many-a-time are so worth capturing!

While this continues for a while am sharing some of my table-scapes that will soon be dismantled, arranged, rearranged and re-grouped to whisper the mood of my next home!

Pink - the Rani of 'em all this season!

Is it me blushing or is a lot of Pinks & Florals casting their spell this season! A lot of the blogs that I read have the color on their current posts here, and of course here, the color & prints seem to be hueing up my home in bits in pieces and today, one of the pages I look forward to in this morning's papers just splashed the pink in holi-is-here kind of abundance!

Off the net

Courtesy iDiva, Times of India, Mumbai. Hey don't miss the pretty Pink Stool

Lovely florals in pink hues on the Jaipur Bed cover & Cushions
and delicately etched floral bordering on the mirror

How pretty do these florals look on this tea set !

Image courtesy Shannon Darby's http://pinkwallpaper.blogspot.in

And Carpets, whether on the wall or for you to warm your feet on...

Courtesy Jessica Helgerson in Gray Magazine

My very own dash of Pink in my living room

Have a super Pink season, and as for me who took the Pink to be rather generic for most of my life, am quite falling over me over this new found love!!