bangles

Thought behind the Thought

Romances rarely last long! But while they do, they fill life with their delicate beauty, colour and vibrancy. Just like glass bangles! 

In India, glass bangles (choodi/chhora/bangdi) are a traditional form of jewelry that adorns a woman's arms. Bare arms are considered to be inauspicious as bangles are associated with a happy and prosperous married life. Earlier on, the bride would wear a green 'chooda' or set of bangles on her wrist as a part of the marriage rituals and she was considered a new bride, to be pampered and protected till her chooda was intact. This temporary phase gave her time to settle in her new household and learn to take up her duties and her place as the woman of the house.

The fragility and playfulness of glass bangles is fast becoming a thing of the past. The colourful radiance of these rings of light, however beautiful, seems to have lost the race to the pace of modern life, just like Romance!!!

About the Craft

The traditional craft of bangle making in India is demonstrated in this interesting video

Processing the Raw Glass

Raw glass is taken out of the furnace through the pipes. Without removing the pipes, the molten glass is beaten to make its dimensions equal.After this, the glass with the pipe is placed in an another furnace which has an automated roller. When this molten glass comes in contact with the roller, it starts stretching like a thread and rolls around it. In this process a spring of glass is formed. To make separate bangles, this spring is then cut with the help of a cutter of diamond. But, at this stage, these bangles have two ends, which need to be joined. Usually, this job is taken up by separate units.

Judai
The open ended bangles are given to the contractor, who takes the material to the workers for the joining process. Traditionally, this process of joining of bangles is termed as 'Judai'. Workers doing joining or Judai use simple chimney of kerosene connected with the air input, generated by simple air compressor, locally known as 'Pankha'. In one unit, as many as 15 to 20 chimneys are connected with one air compressor. Whole of the set-up is hand made.

Sadhai
The joined bangles pass through another process popularly know as 'Sadhai'. In this process, joints of bangles are made to look neat and straight. Here, the glass is made to melt. Application of little pressure joins both the ends. The job of sadhai is usually accomplished by women workers.

It may be noted that a large number of people are engaged with the work of Judai and Sadhai of bangles to earn their livelihood. These processes in itself forms another industry in the city of Ferozabad, the hub of glass bangles in India.

Word Art 

Bangles are fascinating and their visual appeal so strong, that it expresses itself as poetry through the genius of Sarojini Naidu, patriot, poet and an illustrous daughter of India.

The Bangle Sellers - by Sarojini Naidu

Bangle sellers are we who bear
Our shining loads to the temple fair...
Who will buy these delicate, bright
Rainbow-tinted circles of light?
Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,
For happy daughters and happy wives.

Some are meet for a maiden's wrist,
Silver and blue as the mountain mist,
Some are flushed like the buds that dream
On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream,
Some are aglow wth the bloom that cleaves
To the limpid glory of new born leaves

Some are like fields of sunlit corn,
Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,
Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,
Or, rich with the hue of her heart's desire,
Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear,
Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.

Some are purple and gold flecked grey
For she who has journeyed through life midway,
Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blest,
And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast,
And serves her household in fruitful pride,
And worships the gods at her husband's side.


Credit and Source of information

http://www.surfindia.com/matrimonials/bangles-making-process.html

http://allpoetry.com/The-Bangle-Sellers#sthash.WSjdzLsP.dpuf

depth

Thought behind the Thought

This quote is dedicated to my friend whose sensitive mind can reach the depths of anything! I continue to be amazed by her ability to think deeply about concepts and events and people, and find meaning where there is apparently, none!

And then I look at the world around, which seems to have stopped at the surface of everything. People do not want to even scratch the surface, leave alone unravel the depths of anything. What a shallow world, and what a priceless friend to have!

And I am sure that her explorations into the depth of things will help her scale the heights that she may not have even imagined! For, to scale the heights of a mountain peak,  one must have a good judgement of the depth of the valleys below.

About the Artist and his Art

Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, the first name that comes to my mind, when I say sensitivity and depth! Poet, writer, painter, musician, thinker, philosopher, educator, inspirer, Tagore remains one of the most influential of India's illustrious sons. Known as the person who gave us our National anthem, Tagore is and will always be remembered for his sensitivity, vision and expression.

Below are a few of his paintings (coloured ink on paper) and lines from 'Stray birds', his collection of short poems ( single lines and couplets). Just a few gems from the treasure he has left behind for us ....

 "Maiden, your simplicity, like the blueness of the lake, reveals your depth of truth."

"Woman, with the grace of your fingers you touched my things and order came out like music."

"Woman, in your laughter you have the music of the fountain of life."

 "I feel, thy beauty, dark night, like that of the loved woman when she has put out the lamp."

 Woman, thou hast encircled the world's heart with the depth of thy tears as the sea has the earth.

"This sadness of my soul is her bride's veil.

It waits to be lifted in the night."

"The sunshine greets me with a smile. The rain, his sad sister, talks to my heart."

" His own mornings are new surprises to God."

"The mist, like love, plays upon the heart of the hills and brings out surprises of beauty."

"The smell of the wet earth in the rain rises like a great chant of praise from the voiceless multitude of the insignificant."

"I Have dipped the vessel of my heart into this silent hour; it has filled with love."

Tagore himself, in his article 'My Pictures', explains his paintings as follows "The world of sound is a tiny bubble in the silence of the infinite. The Universe has its only language of gesture, it talks in the voice of pictures and dance. Every object in this world proclaims in the dumb signal of lines and colours, the fact that it is not a mere logical abstraction or a mere thing of use, but it is unique in itself, it carries the miracle of its existence. In a picture the artist creates the language of undoubted reality, and we are satisfied that we see. It may not be the representation of a beautiful woman but that of a common place donkey or of something that has no external credential of truth in nature but only in its own inner artistic significance.  

"People often ask me about the meaning of my pictures. I remain silent even as my pictures are. It is for them to express and not to explain. They have nothing ulterior behind their own appearance for the thoughts to explore and words to describe, and that appearance carries its ultimate worth. Then they remain, otherwise they are rejected and forgotten even though they may have some scientific truth or ethical justification. Love is kindred to art, it is inexplicable. Duty can be measured by the degree of its benefit, utility by the profit and power it may bring, but art by nothing but itself. There are other factors of life which are visitors that come and go. Art is the guest that comes and remains. The dithers may be important, but Art is inevitable."

In Tagore's own words, "The world speaks to me in colours, my soul answers in music". Obviously, the soul was very articulate with colours too. 

Credit and Source of information
http://www.ngmaindia.gov.in/sh-rabindranath.asp
http://www.indianartcircle.com/arteducation/Modernart6.shtml
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/r/rabindranath-tagore-poet-and-painter/
http://www.eldritchpress.org/rt/stray.htm

journeys

Two poems by two great poets almost paintings made with words. There cannot be a piece of art that is more apt for this quote. Nostalgia and flashbacks are always accompanied no matter how many times you read these poems. In the school days learning poetry that was this prolific was indeed a pleasure. A salute to the master poets from designjatra.

The Railway Train

I like to see it lap the miles,

And lick the valleys up,

And stop to feed itself at tanks;

And then, prodigious, step 

Around a pile of mountains,

And, supercilious, peer

In shanties by the sides of roads;

And then a quarry pare 

To fit its sides, and crawl between,

Complaining all the while

In horrid, hooting stanza;

Then chase itself down the hill 

And neigh like Boanerges;

Then, punctual as a star,

Stop - docile and omnipotent -

At its own stable door. 

Emily Dickinson

From A Railway Carriage

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle

All through the meadows the horses and cattle:

All of the sights of the hill and the plain

Fly as thick as driving rain;

And ever again, in the wink of an eye,

Painted stations whistle by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,

All by himself and gathering brambles;

Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;

And here is the green for stringing the daisies!

Here is a cart runaway in the road

Lumping along with man and load;

And here is a mill, and there is a river:

Each a glimpse and gone forever!

Robert Louis Stevenson

reading between the lines

Reading Between the Lines installation project in Looz (Belgium) from the drawing board of Gijs Van Vaerenbergh.

From the Architects:

On September 24th, 2011 Gijs Van Vaerenbergh revealed a construction in the rural landscape of Borgloon (Limburg, Belgium) that’s based on the design of the local church. This construction consists of 30 tons of steel and 2000 columns, and is built on a fundament of armed concrete. Through the use of horizontal plates, the concept of the traditional church is transformed into a transparent object of art.

Reading between the Lines can be read as a reflection on architectural themes such as scale, the ground plan etc., but the project also emphatically transcends the strictly architectural. After all, the church does not have a well-defined function and focuses on visual experience in itself (one could even consider it to be a line drawing in space). At the same time, the construction demonstrates that this experience is in effect a consequence of the design, since it explicitly refers to the various stages in its conception: the design drawing, the model… Apart from that, because the church does not fulfil its classical function, it can be read as a heritage related reflection on the present vacancy of churches in the area (and their potential artistic reuse).

for more, visit : gijsvanvaerenbergh.com