Glass Apart: My LOVE for Glass Bangles!

मेरे हाथों में नौ नौ चूड़ियां है…

The precious leave of Holi was utilised in a very unusual activity, taking account (Style, Design, Colour, Numbers – Total Audit) of the Bangles I have in my cupboard. I wanted to organise these as I was repeating my bangles quite often…

…& I don’t like doing that! I am a self-confessed bangle freak!!

I love to wear new bangles every day, matching it with the outfit, though it doesn’t go that way. So, cupboard cleaning and organising took a few hours but it was worth it. For the first time, I noticed my collection of glass bangles, bought from the length and breadth of the country. They were parked the same way as offloaded carefully from the flight, without even checking what and how many bangles I had bought.

My personal collection

My love for glass bangles dates back to my childhood when an old gentleman used to come to sell glass bangles in his daliya (cane basket), neatly tied by a sootli (thin rope) in such a manner, so that design colour etc. was clearly visible. My mother use to buy lots of bangles from him whenever he came. (Maybe it is genetic). I was a very curious child always, so I asked many questions from bangle seller – Naccha! So, what is Naacha now – Mummy use to call him chacha, I called him naana, so he became Nachha (Naana – Chacha) for all ladies in the colony! I don’t know what he thought about this new nomenclature.

Questions like: Bangles are made of what, how do you colour them? How do you put sequins on them? Why do you bring these in cane basket? Are these heavy? Why do you sell bangles? He patiently replied all my queries while selling his bangles to colony aunties, sipping hot tea. Once his sale was over, he will give me a few free bangles and my joy in knew no bounds. Probably, the love dates back to the incident, which I suddenly recollected while sorting my bangle collection today…real nostalgia!

My glass bangle collection has travelled from far-flung areas, across the length and breadth of the country right from Katra, Jammu to Hyderabad, AP traversing Delhi ( Pracheen Mandir Bangle Bazaar, Delhi Haat, Janpath, Sarojini Nagar, Lajpat Nagar) Jaipur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Lucknow, Dehradun, Rishikesh, Hardwar, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Kolkatta ( Shankha Poda), Assam, Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda, Kutch, Bhuj…

Even international destinations are not spared: London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Guangzhou, Bangkok…I have bought whatever in the name of bangle available there! (needs a separate post)

You will be surprised to know that I always carry a sheet of bubble wrap to pack my bangles so that they can survive the wrath of airline people. Before planning a trip, I never forget to check from where I can buy bangles. Over a period of time, I realised that bangles are becoming my passion, rather obsession! By nature, I am a very content person, I don’t like to hoard stuff for the heck of it, but I can’t control when bangles cross my eyes. I want to shop, come what may and most of the time I do that. I remember my bua saying: बिंदी, चूड़ी के लिए क्या सोचना!

That has stayed with me. I never give a thought to anything while buying bangles. I am sharing a few pictures from my collection. I love wearing them especially with traditional outfits on all occasions, on all festivals. Sometimes I decide the bangles first and then match the saree or dress. If I something misplaced, I feel very agitated.

The history of bangles dates back to Mohen-jo-daro days, 2600 BC when these were found in excavation and statues were found wearing them. In India Ferozabad in UP, near Agra is very famous for glass bangles and supplies to the world. The bangles of Firozabad are exceptionally made, so intricate, so colourful, so fine… It is one of a kind cluster producing bangles and catering to the growing demands and requirement in India, there is approximately 150 bangle making in the city.

We Indians love bangles, the love of Bollywood for bangles is part of the folklore, haven’t we grown up hearing songs like:

चूड़ी नहीं मेरा दिल है, बिंदिया चमकेगी चूड़ी खनकेगी, मेरे हाथों में नौ नौ चूड़ियां है, बोले चूड़ियां बोले कंगना

No celebration is complete without bangles, No Shringar is complete without bangles! Life is a celebration, celebrate it with anything you love!

My special thanks to Sai Vandana, Aarti Mohit Mathur, Aparna Chaturvedi and Hemlata Didi who have patiently tolerated my madness, added to the collection in whichever ways possible.

Last but not the least my dear Mummy, Usha Varma for introducing to the finer things in life!

 

 

 

 

 

Serene, green, enlightening Sarnath – famed Buddhist Destination

Readers you would recollect that my earlier post was on famous Buddhist Destination Sanchi Stupa in Madhya Pradesh, India where I had recollected my childhood memories of visit to Sanchi. Giving continuity to that, today I want to recollect my visit to Sarnath few years ago on a trip to Varanasi.

While in Varanasi, I thought of visiting my cousin there and he insisted that we visit Sarnath which is around 10 Kms away from Varanasi. Reluctantly I and my mom agreed as I was already tired of visiting religious places of Varanasi. But it was to happen and it happened, but what a surprise it held for us. When we reached Sarnath, some excavacation was going on there which was very similar to the one I had read about in my History books.

My cousin who was well versed with the place told me that it is a highly revered Buddhist pilgrimage centre. It is believed that after getting enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, Lord Buddha preached his first sermon, sanctified as Maha Dharm Chakra Parivartan, at Sarnath. They are digging the site to bring out more details about Gautam Buddha. It was the sprawling site with lush green facade and a stupa in the centre. “After his enlightenment in Bodhgaya, the Buddha went to Sarnath seeking his five former companions. He found them, taught them what he had learned, and they also became enlightened. This event is referred to as “the turning of the wheel of the Dharma” and also marks the founding of the Sangha, or the community of monks,” my cousin shared with us. I got more interested and came to know about it more through various books which I bought from Varanasi on Buddhism and Sarnath.

The highlights of Sarnath are:

• The great Dhamekh Stupa and several other structures stand testimony to the importance the place enjoyed at that time
• The Chaukhandi Stupa is the place where, during his first visit to Sarnath, Lord Buddha met his first five disciples
• The area is a treasure trove of archaeological findings such as Dharmrajika Stupa and Mulgandhkuti Vihar
• The smooth glistening pillar established by Emperor Ashoka in 273-232 B.C. marks the foundation of the Buddhist Sangha, and the Lion Capital atop this pillar is now India’s National Emblem

Sarnath, located just 12 km from the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, is the site of the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma after his enlightenment. Sarnath is one of four holy Buddhist sites sanctioned by the Buddha himself for pilgrimage. The other three sites are: Lumbini (birth); Bodh Gaya (enlightenment); and Kushinagar (death).

Sarnath has previously been known as Mrigadava, “deer park,” and Isipatana, meaning the place where holy men (Pali: isi) fell to earth. The latter name is based in the legend that when the Buddha was born, devas came down to announce it to 500 holy men. The holy men all rose into the air and disappeared and their relics fell to the ground.

The current name Sarnath, from Saranganath, means “Lord of the Deer” and relates to another old Buddhist story in which the Bodhisattva is a deer and offers his life to a king instead of the doe he is planning to kill. The king is so moved that he creates the park as a sanctuary for deer.

What to See at Sarnath

All of the ancient buildings and structures at Sarnath were damaged or destroyed by the Turks. However, amongst the ruins the Dharmekh Stupa is impressive at 128 feet high, and 93 in diameter. This dates from around 200 BC and is the spot where the Buddha is said to have preached his first sermon.

Only the foundations remain of the Dharmarajika Stupa, but it is notable as a rare pre-Ashokan stupa.

The decaying ruins of the Mulagandhakuti Vihara mark the place where the Buddha spent his first rainy season in meditation. In the 7th century, a writer described it as 200 feet high and containing 100 niches containing a Buddha carving along each wall. A life-sized statue shows the Buddha turning the wheel of the law.

To the east is the modern Mulagandhakuti Vihara with its beautiful wall paintings; behind it is the Deer Park, which is maintained as an open animal park and still attracts deer.

The Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath survived the Turkish invasion but was broken during excavations. The base still stands in its original spot and has some interesting carvings.

The splendid lion capital that topped the pillar, which thankfully survived its 45 foot drop to the ground is on display at the Sarnath Archeological Museum. The museum also houses some of the greatest treasures of Indian Buddhist art, including almost 300 images.

There is also a Bodhi tree planted by Anagarika Dharmapala which was grown from a cutting of the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya. It is located next to a Sri Lankan monastery.

Six national temples have been built by various Asian communities at Sarnath.

Six national temples have been built by various Asian communities at Sarnath since the site’s restoration, including a Tibetan temple and Sri Lankan temple.

Must visit Sarnath, when you plan to visit Sarnath.

Fond memories of visit to Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, on Shivratri!

Today is one of the most important and biggest festivals of India – Mahashivratri. This is an auspicious day to celebrate the Lord of the lords, the mightiest of all Gods – Shiva. The day is celebrated amidst much fanfare with utmost bhakti, shraddha and aastha. This day is of great significance as it marks the union of Shiva and Shakti.

The biggest abode of Shiva in Mumbai is Babul Nath temple in South Mumbai where devotees flock since early morning to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva. I too celebrated Mahashivratri at home by lighting 11 diyas, dhoop, agarbatti, bel patra, dhatura, flowers and offering of Panchamrut & Jal on Shivlinga in the morning. It was an indeed a divine experience! Felt connected to Lord Shiva!! Kashi Vishwanath Temple is one of the most famous  temples in Varanasi, also known as the Golden temple dedicated to the Lord Shiva.

Today my memories took me to my visit to Varanasi in early 90s for some friend’s marriage. I very reluctantly boarded the train from Lucknow to Varanasi on a chilly winter night in December with my mother in tow. I really did not know what the trip to Varanasi would unfold for me except that I wanted to buy some Benarasi Dupattas and Sarees and a trip to BHU, nothing beyond this…

…but it turned out to be 180 degree reverse experience. I was never a highly religious person, and in early 90s not at all. As marriage was in the night, our host suggested that we visit holiest abode of Lord Shiva Kashi Vishwanath Temple via Vishwanath Galli and then visit Dashawadhmedh Ghat and other Ghats on river Ganges. They told us that Vishwanath Galli is so narrow that no Taxi would enter there and the best option is to walk it over. So our walk began in the morning, and believe me, the walk looked to me just unending, finally we reached temple after walking to nearly an hour. What an experience it turned out to be! There were hardly any devotees in the temple so we could peacefully do Puja with the Pujariji. It was indeed a divine experience. Pujariji said, “Bhole Baba se jo chaho maang lo”. & what did I ask for? Top secret!! Sorry I don’t have photos of that trip.

Kashi Vishwanath should be must visit for every Shiv Bhakt as the Jyotirlinga present in the Kashi Vishwanath Temple is considered as the 12^th of all the Jyotirlingas. Lord Shiva is the main deity in Hinduism and also known as the Vishwanath or Vishweshwara (means the ruler of the universe). Kashi is the oldest city of the world in history and known as the city of Lord Shiva.

Jyotirlinga in the Kashi Vishwanath temple has an extraordinary and exclusive importance in the religious history of India. The main deity is known by the name Vishvanatha or Vishveshvara meaning Ruler of The Universe. The Varanasi city is also called Kashi, and hence the temple is popularly called Kashi Vishvanath Temple.

It attracts devotees from all across the world. The management of the temple was taken under UP Government on 28^th January, 1983. The current temple is constructed by Late Maharani Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore in 1780. A Naubatkhana (in front of the temple) is constructed by the Collector Mohd. Ibrahim Khan in 1785. The two domes of the temple were covered by the gold (offered by the Punjab Kesari Maharaja Ranjeet Singh) in 1839. And the third dome was gold plated by the Ministry of cultures and Religious affairs of Uttar Pradesh Government.

This makes Varanasi a tourists place because of great religious importance to the Hindus. The gold used to cover the two domes of the temple was donated by the Punjab Kesari, the Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who ruled the Punjab. Now, after 28 January 1983, this temple becomes the property of the government of Uttar Pradesh and it is managed by Dr. Vibhuti Narayan Singh, then by the Kashi Naresh.

Opening time of the temple is: 3:00 am

Aarti time:
Mangala Aarti : 3 AM- 4 AM (Morning)
Bhog Aarti : 11.15 AM to 12.20 PM (Day)
Sandhya Aarti : 7 PM to 8.15 PM (Evening)
Shringar Aarti : 9 PM to 10.15 PM (Night)
Shayan Aarti : 10.30 PM – 11 PM (Night)

Location of the Temple: Kashi Vishwanath temple is located almost 5 km away from the Varanasi railway station and almost 6 km from the BHU.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple located at the western bank of the holy river Ganges. According to the Shaiva philosophy, it is considered that Kashi Vishwanath Temple is the midpoint of the worship for a long time. There is a Gyanvapi Mosque located adjacent to the temple. During spiritual occasions such as Shivratri, the king of Kashi (Kashi Naresh) comes to the temple. At that time nobody is allowed to enter the temple. Other devotees are allowed to the temple only after Kashi Naresh has completed his worship.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple has most religious importance for the worship in the Hindu religion. Many great Hindu saints (like Adi Sankaracharya, Goswami Tulsidas, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, Gurunanak etc) had came to the Varanasi to take bath in the holy water of the Gange and for the Darshan of the Jyotirlinga. It is believed that the one who will take bath (at least once in the lifetime) in the Ganges in the holy city Varanasi will get Moksha. True devotees of the Lord Shiva get freedom from the cycle of the death and birth. After death they directly intermingled into the Mahadev. People beliefs that the one who decided to end their life at the temple, Lord Shiva himself drive a mantra of freedom in his ear.

Vishwanath Gali

Vishwanath Gali in Varanasi is the way to Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Kashi Vishwanath Temple is located in the Vishwanath Gali and one who want to go to the temple he can go through the Vishwanath Gali. Vishwanath Gali is very popular gali of the Varanasi and famous for ladies corner, shops for the pooja goods and sweets. Devotees can make an affordable shopping in the Vishwanath Gali after completing the Darshan of Lord Shiva in the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. & I did the same…picked up some lovely Benarasi Dupattas & Sarees.

I loved going down memory lane on this auspicious day!

Look forward to visiting Kashi Vishwanath temple next year!

Om Namah Shivay!

Triveni Ethnics: Organically grown Corporate!

 Must Read account of Surat based Triveni Ethnics which has totally transformed how Saree business is done in India.

All great things start with a move…as did Triveni Ethnics three decades ago when in 1985, Mr Giridhar Sarraf moved from one textile hub in the North (Read: Varanasi) to another textile hub in the West (Read: Surat) to setup Sakambari Silk Mills. Sakambari manufactured synthetic sarees under the brand name “Triveni Sarees”. Leaving their Suiting/ Shirting business behind, Sarraf started from the scratch with Triveni Ethnics – named after his mother.

It is predominantly a traditional family set – up where Senior Sarraf still comes to office daily, followed by Sons Shailesh Sarraf, who understands Surat’s textile industry like no other and has been driving home much of the product innovation, core sales and marketing revitalization; IITian & MITian Arvind Sarraf who brings in high level of efficiency, digitization, monitoring & innovation in the organization culture.

Indeed, the sons have taken Triveni Ethnics to new highs following their father’s vision. Today it is a well-known name in Sarees and ethnic wear. I would like to term it “Organically grown, Corporate”

Sarraf’s model Triveni on microcosmic India, a long lived traditional system, blended in with contemporary elements, bringing on cultural change. Being organically built from the scratch, they know how to be frugal, prudent in avoiding wastage, and quite frankly – even bearing with some inconveniences. It seems they believe in “No pains, no gains.”

Speaking to travel-knots, Shailesh Sarraf said, “Our biggest markets are UP and Bihar followed by Gujarat which are markets for classes as well as masses. Ours is a distributor driven business where we have distributors in almost all the states, who visit our office regularly to pick –up sarees according to their markets. ”

The office set – up is a blend of tradition and modernism. It has a cabin well – equipped for marketing and Digital presentations and outside you have traditional Gaadis for distributors to have a dekko at wide range of sarees. We too seated ourselves on Gaadis to catch the glimpse of Triveni Sarees. Shailesh adds, “To give a contemporary look and feel to the brand, we have added Salwar Suits, Lehenga Cholis, Lehenga Sarees, Kurtis, Jewellery, Cotton and Silk Sarees to our collection thus Triveni Sarees became Triveni Ethnics.”

The Digital Brain behind the brand, Arvind shared, “Though it is distributor led business but we track all our orders online which keep us updated about the movement of orders.”

Not only this, he added, “Our online platform – e-commerce is also very strong where we ship nearly thousand sarees a day to our customers not only in India but across the globe.” It is a very robust platform and shopping of sarees here is quite an experience. (I have experienced it myself).

As I mentioned earlier, it is run like a corporate – I will take you through all!

The Triveni team comprises of Designers from NIFT who churn out designs and designs to suit every palette.  Shalini Raj who is chief designer, also a drape expert was quite a delight, she showed us her drawing book which had many interesting designs and explained us how design team works. Then we moved to digital design team and e-commerce team where Nupur Chaturvedi told us that how they align shipments, orders, designs and tacking of the products.

We were shown the raw material, laces, sequins, decorations in hordes which are used by the design team. For the first time we came to know that what a humongous effort it is to make one saree! From here we moved to the ware house, which was huge and looked like a sea of sarees but, but, it was most organized warehouse I had ever been to. Mr Vineet Agarwal who manages it all delightfully shared his management techniques.

Conscious of the fact, that Saree remains favourite with the younger lot like their mothers and grandmothers, group does lot of engagement programs with young and upwardly mobile ladies. Not only their range of sarees appeals to the young Indian women by virtue of their design, fabrics, styling, colour range and most importantly, online access, their campus outreach programs are something to talk home about. Speaking on the subject, Nupur Sharma told us, “We do number of outreach programs in Campus and Corporates like Live Projects and Contests, Campus Ambassador, U- Design Contest, Saree Draping workshops and Triveni Case Challenge.” Indeed a great initiative to keep our youngsters abreast with most prominent symbol of Indian culture – The Saree!

Besides, Group highly appreciates the role played by Bloggers in popularizing Triveni Sarees Sarees and ethnic wear, they run an exclusive outreach program where they ship sarees to Bloggers from all over the world. I must tell you that Triveni Sarees have graced some big red carpet events by Bloggers from Europe and the US. These bloggers flaunt these sarees on special occasions and post it on Triveni’s face book page / twitters handles whom Triveni terms as Triveni Brand Ambassadors – Priyanka Chopras of this world, take a walk…

The ‪#‎Gujarati_Style_Drape‬ by Kseniia Iarovchyk

Garima Dutt in Bengali Drape

Now plans are on the anvil, to take their brand Ship Kala forward which has beautiful collection of handicraft sarees and ethnic wear. Arvind feels that it is high time that artisans get their due, and he wants to take Ship Kala to foreign shores for his patrons.

Must admit had loads of fun amidst Sarrafs, Sarees & Surat!

If you are a saree buff, visit their website: http://www.triveniethnics.com and order some for the festive season, I must tell you, you would be turning your friends Green with just one click! Rest Triveni Saree will do!