The veggie cutter revisited

The foodie in me loves food as much the people who can cook. From the passionate Julia Child to our very own Madhur Jaffrey to the sexy David Rocco or sweet Kylie Kwong, I'm available for adoption to them all ;)I'm not a bad cook myself and if I wasn't a designer, I would be a chef cooking my own treats. 

So while I was looking for some food gyaan, I came across this article  in 'Gastronomica' by Chitrita Banerji (have you read her 'Eating India'? Most, mouth-drooling!) - "How big is the difference between sitting and standing? A cultural difference when you examine food in the context of food preparation. In the kitchens of the West, the cook stands by the table or a counter and uses a knife. But mention a kitchen to a Bengali, or evoke a favorite dish, and more often than not an image will surface of a woman sitted on the floor, cutting, chopping or cooking. In the Indian subcontinent, especially in its eastern region of Bengal, this is the typical posture... 
...Enter the 'bonti', a protean cutting instrument on which generations of Bengal women have learned to peel, chop, dice and shred." (You can read the rest of the article here.)

Now, did it ring a bell? Not yet? Didn't it remind you of my Villi? Now I know that it exists in another culture; that of Eastern India, particularly, Bengali. Am sure it also exists in many other cultures across India, just that am not sure by what name it's known around. Would you like to help?

Chronicles of Chicory Chai

A promise is a promise is a promise. Remember, I'd said I'll share my designs with you? Well, here I am. (I know... finally!) 

If I was to speak of my designs, I'd say they are rooted in Emotions & Aesthetics of Romanticism. I'm not a fan of contemporary mechanization or state-of-the-art production lines. So these ideas are handcrafted; individually made by skillful craftsmen from my studio-workshop. To me, these creations are about finding luxury in the handmade – reveling in the imperfections, uniqueness and the personal touch that each piece gets. 

A bit of 'us' (You'll hear a lot of we, us, our's with respect to my creations. It's the team which makes them possible. Though the designs are mine, they wouldn't be real if not for these super skilled teammates.) is passed on to each these pieces as they get translated from paper and come to life. Therefore we do believe that every piece big or small, has a soul. No wonder, most of the things made here are one-off pieces. Seldom do we repeat them; and if we do, rest assured, they'll never be the same :) 

We mostly do women's accessories - focusing on jewelry but also venturing into bags, footwear, stoles & scarfs besides home decor products. You'll start seeing them here regularly now. Obviously in bargain, I'm hoping to hear more from you. Tell me how you like them, what you think of them, where would you wear these, with what or just anything that comes to your mind when you've seen them. And if you are keen to have any for yourself, drop in a message with your contact details and I'll get back to you tout de suit.

Below: Pendants in silver made with agates and semi-precious stones.

Design & Photographs © Chicory Chai

Party time!

It’s been a kind of break, as they say, at the end of which you know your life would change. A crossover of sorts; so with all the introspection you could do, you stand at the end of one road and the beginning of another and pledge: “My life is my life and I shall live it exactly the way I want”. Well... it doesn’t hurt to be positive ;) 

And thus begins my story. If I have to sum up the current events in my life, I’d say it’s all about the babies. (No, worry not folks; am not changing this into a baby blog!) Yeah. For instance, I’m now a proud mother to a pretty li’l girl, Zoeya. Motherhood has done me great good deal and barring the poo-poo bit; it’s bliss. Demanding? I’ll wait to hear from those who’ve been, there done that. 

Then comes my tiny studio-workshop where most of my creative work happens. It’s been royally ignored all through this title-change and is now screaming for attention. But I must tell you that it did quite well all by itself too. And then there’s this project which was conceived around the same time as Zoeya :) and I’m quite close to sharing it with you guys.

And then of course, this blog, my li’l-over-a-year baby who needs my time and care. I haven’t been really fair to this guy(?) or is it a girl(?) – ask the French, they’d be able to tell. By the way, did you notice the makeover Chicory Chai’s got? What do you think about it?

So while I get all ‘mommy types’ and carry on with all the motherly duties, I’m also getting back to my life. Full throttle!!

2013

So it seems like we all - me, the speaker and you, the listener, survived through 2012. The world didn't end and we still have lots of things to look forward to. Sure it started on a couple of new notes and brought in the excitement I'd want to have year round (on this, you'll have to wait for another month or two till I'm allowed to reveal the details). But all in all, it looks like a great year coming my way - personally and professionally. 

Above all, Chicory Chai is getting as real as ever. It's now got a complete make-over and it's looking awesome with the new found attitude. Soon you shall see the chic Chicory Chai products coming your way and I can't wait to get your reactions/  opinions/ feedback and 'likes' of course :)  

So stay put even as I take long pauses. They are only to make sure I bring in more excitement to Chicory Chai as we approach it's first birthday. If only I could tell you how much is actually happening behind the scenes.

Much love. Good times. To all.

Of Golden times

Two years back, around this time of the year, when everything around you sings a common melody of festivities, when the blazing sun of October gradually gives way to the orange-grey skies and you wake up to the dew drops and blooming flowers, I made my first journey to this divine place. Not for any religious reason but just because I wanted to see for myself the magic everyone told me of. My ego compelled me to challenge their opinion. But one glance and everything else became redundant. The overpowering presence of this monument took over and I had to surrender to it's magnificence.  During the 3 days I was there, I was pulled to experience it's glory at all hours of the day - at noon, by sunset, at two in the morning, against the rising sun, the disappearing moon and each time it told a different story. No matter what I captured on the camera, it didn't reflect half as many emotions as I felt. At the end, all that remained with me were the ghosts of Golden times... 

Photographs © Chicory Chai 

Guess what?

As I slowly unfold the treasure trove, I was thinking I shouldn't give it away so easily! It won't be as much fun if I just kept giving you gyaan after gyaan, will it? So I thought maybe we could do with triggering your grey cells! You know, brain teasers and stuff. So let's see how many of you actually can guess what this object is. Li'l logic and a li'l observation...co'on, it's not from another galaxy, for sure. 

Hint: If you were born in the fifties, you'd interact with it atleast once every single day (and if you had an OCD for hygiene, maybe, even twice.)

Photographs © Chicory Chai 

Blog discovery #4

Not exactly in line with what I mentioned in my last post but sometimes (with me, most of the times!) things don't go as planned. This is one of those things :) So back to Tasveer Ghar. A precious place in the virtual world created by these 'fantastic five' who are archiving the rare gems of the visual world. Tasveer Ghar is a trans-national virtual 'home' for collecting, digitizing and documenting various materials produced by South-Asia's exciting popular visual sphere including posters, calendar art, pilgrimage maps and paraphernalia, cinema hoardings, advertisements, and other forms of street and bazaar art.

Here's what I found in there. Remember Lux? And remember what a symbol of luxury it was to our grand-parents and parents too (till they got  to know of Dove!)? Remember how Doordarshan would flash the glorious bathing beauties pampering themselves with the foamy Lux? From being 'a brand of washing soap', it overnight became the 'soap of the film stars'. As a kid, I would fantasize being one of those film stars and get convinced that I needed a bath! And hasn't ceased being an aspiration for many a people of India. There was a time when the only soaps I knew were 'Lux' and 'Moti' - the former being an everyday one and the latter, meant for Diwali. My brother on the other hand thought it was some kind of desert and used to lap up the foam like freshly whipped cream, till he turned 5!! Oh, the goodness of Lux.

Go re-live all the nostalgic moments, if you were born in the 70's or before.