Focus On Travel: Seattle Vacation

I wish this was the echeck-list for my upcoming trip, but unfortunately it is not.

I will be heading to a place that is damp, cold and bitter this time of year.

I will be heading to Seattle, Washingtom for the next two weeks
so please visit the archive for your enlightenment.

Seattle is the northernmost major city in the continental United States, and the largest city in the Pacific Northwest and in the state of Washington. A seaport situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington, about 100 miles (160 km) south of the Canada – United States border, it is named after Chief Seattle, of the Duwamish and Suquamish native tribes. Seattle is the center of the Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue metropolitan statistical area, the 15th largest in the United States, and the largest in the northwestern United States. Seattle is the county seat of King County and is the major economic, cultural and educational center in the region. As of April 2009, the city's population was approximately 617,000 within a metropolitan area of 4,158,000. The Port of Seattle and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport are major gateways to Asia, Alaska, and the rest of the world.

Seattle is on the I-5 corridor, about 170 miles (270 km) north of Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington and 140 miles (230 km) south of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. The city of Victoria, British Columbia's capital, is about 110 miles (180 km) to the northwest (about 90 miles (140 km) by passenger ferry) while the eastern Washington hub city of Spokane lies 280 miles (450 km) to the east.

The Seattle area has been inhabited for at least 4,000 years, but white settlement began only in the mid-19th century. The first permanent European-descended settlers, Arthur A. Denny and those subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived November 13, 1851. Early settlements in the area were called "New York-Alki" ("Alki" meaning "by and by" in Chinook Jargon) and "Duwamps". In 1853, Doc Maynard suggested that the main settlement be renamed "Seattle", an anglicized rendition of the name of Sealth, the chief of the two local tribes. From 1869 until 1982, Seattle was known as the "Queen City". Seattle's current official nickname is the "Emerald City", the result of a contest held in 1981; the reference is to the lush evergreen forests of the area. Seattle is also referred to informally as the "Gateway to Alaska", "Rain City", and "Jet City", the last from the local influence of Boeing. Seattle residents are known as Seattleites.

Seattle is the birthplace of rock legend Jimi Hendrix and the rock music style known as "grunge," which was made famous by local groups Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. Bruce Lee and his son Brandon are both buried at Lakeview cemetery.

Seattle has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption; coffee companies founded or based in Seattle include Starbucks, Seattle's Best Coffee, and Tully's. There are also many successful independent artisanal espresso roasters and cafes.

Focus On Art: Despicable Portraits

RGB Art Studios Comes to us from CT/NYC. These abstract art portraits come to us from the imagination of R. Barbera. We find them to have great whimsy and character. These pieces are very affordable at $6.00-$20.00 and suggest pairing in a group of 6 or more for great impact.

Pick them up HERE

Focus On: Robots

A robot is a virtual or mechanical artificial agent. In practice, it is usually an electro-mechanical machine which is guided by computer or electronic programming, and is thus able to do tasks on its own. Another common characteristic is that by its appearance or movements, a robot often conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own.

Focus On: Shriners

The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, commonly known as Shriners and abbreviated A.A.O.N.M.S., established in 1870 is an appendant body to Freemasonry, based in the United States. The organization is best-known for the Shriners Hospitals for Children they administer and the red fezzes that members wear.

Focus On Music: Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg (April 2, 1928 – March 2, 1991) was a french poet-songwriter, singer, actor, novelist, painter and director. Gainsbourg’s varied style and individuality made him difficult to categorize. Although famous in France for many years, he did not achieve his first No. 1 album until 1979, when he released Aux Armes et caetera more than twenty years after his music career had begun. But since the 1980s, his legacy has been firmly established.

He was born in Paris, France the son of Jewish Russian parents. He had one daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, from his marriage to Jane Birkin.

His early songs were influenced by Boris Vian. However, Gainsbourg wanted to break free from old-fashioned chanson and explore new musical grounds, influenced by British and American pop. During his career, he wrote the soundtracks for more than 40 movies.

His most famous song, Je t'aime ... moi non plus, was vocally very erotic. Originally recorded with Brigitte Bardot, it was released with a different female singer, future wife Jane Birkin, when Bardot backed out. Considered too "hot", the song was censored in various countries and in France even the toned-down version was suppressed.

In 1978 he recorded a reggae version of "La Marseillaise", "Aux Armes et cetera", with Bob Marley's band in Jamaica, which resulted in him getting death threats from right wing veterans of the Algerian War of Independence.

Serge Gainsbourg died on March 2, 1991 and was buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, in Paris.

click any track to listen

Flesh And Ink: The Tattoo

A tattoo is a marking made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment for decorative or other reasons. Tattoos on humans are a type of decorative body modification, while tattoos on animals are most commonly used for identification or branding. The first written reference to the word, "tattoo" (or Samoan "Tatau") appears in the journal of Joseph Banks, the naturalist aboard Cook's ship "The Endeavour", in 1769: "I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humor or disposition".

Tattooing has been practiced for centuries worldwide. The Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, traditionally wore facial tattoos. Today one can find Berbers of Tamazgha (North Africa), Māori of New Zealand, Arabic people in East-Turkey and Atayal of Taiwan with facial tattoos. Tattooing was widespread among Polynesian peoples and among certain tribal groups in the Taiwan, Philippines, Borneo, Mentawai Islands, Africa, North America, South America, Mesoamerica, Europe, Japan, Cambodia, New Zealand and Micronesia. Despite some taboos surrounding tattooing, the art continues to be popular in many parts of the world.

Focus On: The Pin-Up Model

A pin-up girl or pin-up model is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as pop culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display. Pin-up girls are glamour models, fashion models, and actresses.

Many pin ups were photographs of celebrities who were considered sex symbols. One of the most popular early pin-up girls was Betty Grable. Her poster was ubiquitous in the lockers of G.I.s during World War II. Other pin-ups were artwork, often depicting idealized versions of what some thought a particularly beautiful or attractive woman should look like. An early example of the latter type was the Gibson girl, drawn by Charles Dana Gibson. The genre also gave rise to several well-known artists specializing in the field, including Alberto Vargas and George Petty, and numerous lesser artists such as Art Frahm.

Self Depricating Humor

Self-deprecating humor is humor which relies on the observation of something negative about the person delivering it. Many comedians use self-deprecating humor to avoid seeming arrogant or pompous, and to help the audience identify with them. In this way, its use could be seen as an application of the rhetorical concept of ethos. Rodney Dangerfield was best known for his self-deprecating humor in his stand up acts, with his famous line "I get no respect."

Focus On Music: Phoenix

The French group Phoenix draw elements from their eclectic '80s upbringing to arrive at a satisfying synthesis of rock and synthesizers. Vocalist Thomas Mars, bassist Deck d'Arcy, and guitarist Christian Mazzalai were a garage band based out of Mars' house in the suburbs of Paris. Mazzalai's older brother Branco joined the band on guitar when his band Darlin' disbanded in 1995.

The group got its touring start on the French bar circuit doing Hank Williams and Prince covers to drunken audiences. Two years later the band took on the name Phoenix and pressed 500 copies of a single on its own label, Ghettoblaster. The A-side was a punk rock song and the other a chugging Krautrocker, hinting at their eclectic tastes. Shortly after, they were signed to the Paris-based Source Records. Phoenix became well acquainted with labelmates Air when they acted as their backing band on several U.K. TV appearances. The result of the electronic exposure was a single called "Heatwave," which was very similar in approach to '70s disco.

United, the group's debut album, appeared in 2000 on Astralwerks and was recorded over two months. The album featured guest appearances from friends and family, including Thomas Bangalter (Daft Punk), Philippe Zdar (Cassius), and d'Arcy's mother's choral society on the track "Funky Squaredance." From that point, they issued Alphabetical (2004), It's Never Been Like That (2006), and their mainstream breakthrough, the critically adored Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009). Part of the extended break between the third and fourth albums was due to Mars becoming a father (with his partner, director Sofia Coppola, Rovi).

click on any track below to listen

Focus On Art: Damien Weighill

Damien was abandoned at birth, deep in the idyllic woodlands of the North East of England where he was adopted by a local clan of bigfoot. His youth was spent making brief and indistinct appearances on campers’ home videos and learning a rudimentary form of communication which the bigfoot called drawing.

After difficult teenage years where he was teased for his lack of body hair and found it difficult to buy stylish footwear for his cursedly proportional feet, Damien headed South for the the bright lights of the circus.

Rejected by the Circus Master because the size of his feet were wholly unremarkable in this unfamiliar human world, Damien was forced to get by on his only other talent. To this day he can be found peddling crackpot drawings from his luxury penthouse cave in the East of London.

Damien is represented in the UK by Jelly

Focus On Music: The Remix

Today, remixing involves "repositioning" an old hit to suit the present-day musical tastes amidst digital drums, synths, rap sequences, and so on. Nothing is blasphemous in a remix, with diverse musical styles and languages making for an unorthodox concoction. "Remixes are new arrangements and textures based on a primary, full-length theme. New lead instruments may be used, instruments may be pulled out of the mix, or entirely new melodies may be added," goes one definition of remix music.

This takes us to a realm beyond our judgment about the banality of remixes, to the cultural context in which they emerge. Remixes, clearly, emerge at the point of interaction between two worlds — a hallowed musical tradition and the New Age hip-hop. Remixes, perhaps, reflect a yearning or an anxiety to be "cool" even while not letting go what one chooses to identify as one's "heritage". It is significant that Bally Sagoo, who could well be called the guru of the genre, is described as a "guy of a new attitude for a new age, an artiste at home with various cultures, yet very rooted".

Talking about the many layers of "appropriation and cultural exchange" one sees in Hindi remixes and what they signify to the Indian-American youth, Peter Kvetko, a scholar, writes: "The playful re-appropriation of the past is also a yearning for more immediate connections to a time that may seem better, more meaningful, more genuine... The effect is to allow the listener to reclaim the past for the purpose of the present, not simply to imagine what it was "then" but to participate in the "then" by actually performing it... Diasporic cultural production takes place at the intersection of multiple social, historical, and technological fields." This, perhaps, can be extended to a multiple-rooted generation within India that is keen on an Indian beat that leads on to an international sound.

click and track below to listen

Focus On Art: Ellen Lohse

Ellen Lohse graduated from Rhode Island School of Design on scholarship but is self taught in what she has been doing since then.  Ellen worked for a spell as a book designer while she waited  for her drem job of working for National Geographic photographing the highest mountaintops and Jane Goodall with the chimpanzees.

Ellen likes to travel by plane, train, automobile, subway, on foot, or most of the time by sketchbook and pencil.

Here we focus on a mesmerizing collection from her kitschy, interpretation of pop culture icons.  Her endless array of work, acrylic paintings, brought us instantly back to some of my fondest childhood memories and the TV shows, movies and characters that were a part of it.

purchase her work HERE

Focus On Festivals: Holi

Holi, also called the Festival of Colors, is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Srilanka, and countries with large Hindu diaspora populations, such as Suriname, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, the UK, USA, Mauritius, and Fiji. In West Bengal of India and Bangladesh it is known as Dolyatra (Doul Jatra) or Basanta-Utsab ("spring festival"). The most celebrated Holi is that of the Braj region, in locations connected to the god Krishna: Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandagaon, and Barsana. These places have become tourist destinations during the festive season of Holi, which lasts here to up to sixteen days.

Focus On Festivals: Dia De Los Muertos

More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish Conquistadors landed in what is now Mexico, they encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death.

It was a ritual the indigenous people had been practicing at least 3,000 years. A ritual the Spaniards would try unsuccessfully to eradicate.  A ritual known today as Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The ritual is celebrated in Mexico and certain parts of the United States, including the Valley. 

Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake.

In rural Mexico, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried. They decorate gravesites with marigold flowers and candles. They bring toys for dead children and bottles of tequila to adults. They sit on picnic blankets next to gravesites and eat the favorite food of their loved ones.

"We disguise with faces painted as a skeleton, because on this day age, race, title, name brands or gender doesn't matter. We are all the same, on this day strangers share the pain and joy that connects us all. Yes, we are all the same, the difference is the memories we create for our loved ones to share when we are fiscally gone."

- Deisy Marquez-Zavodny

Focus On Food: Indian Cuisine

Indian food is as diverse collection of cuisines of many ethnic and cultural groups in India. Tradition, ethnicity, geographic location, religion and individual preference


Street Fare
With its huge migrant population, Mumbai is the city for a slew of sidewalk snacks, dished out in fresh and generous platefuls. Aficionados swear by Chowpatty beach, but almost any street stall will do, if the chef is an experienced hand at this fine art. Of course, if you're a stickler for hygiene, sanitized versions can be found in most up market restaurants, properly served on bone china and followed up with finger bowls to wash away the grease from your hands. But most citizens agree that street food is just not the same without a free helping of, well, harmless germs.

Puri
The most popular is bhelpuri : crispy crunchy semolina, puffed rice, onion and potato garnished with an assortment of spicy chutneys, coriander and a squeeze of lime. Variations include sev puri, -- bhel served canap style - and dahi puri, doused in sweet yogurt.

Bhaji
Don't take their word for it, however, unless you have a tried and tested constitution. Or better still opt for the relatively safer cooked snacks like pao bhaji and vada pao.

Pao
Actually, pao bhaji is more than a snack; it's a staple. The bhaji is essentially a runny vegetable stew accompanied by soft bread buns or pao liberally soaked in sinful amounts of melted butter.  The dish is prepared in the open air on a huge iron griddle: chopped vegetables, spices and slabs of butter cook quickly on the hot surface and are poured bubbling into plates accompanied by generous helpings of buttered bread.  Certainly not for the calorie conscious, but for the common man its generally cheap, fresh and perfectly safe when served piping hot.

Poor Mans Snack
The other favourite of the hungry Mumbaiwallah is vada pao, a spicy, deep fried potato dumpling sandwiched between the cheeks of a soft fat pao and slathered with spicy chutney. This is the quintessential poor man's snack, popular amongst migrant labourers and impoverished urchins.
One piece for breakfast generally costs Rs 4.00 which is less than the price of a bus ticket and will see you through until late afternoon.

Kulfi
Yet another Chowpatty special, Kulfi is hand churned ice-cream made with condensed milk and oriental flavourings such as nutmeg and cardamom. The most popular is the pale green pistachio kulfi but the plain "malai" or cream variety is as much in demand.

Idlis and Dosas
This is South Indian fast food at its best. Idlis are steaming hot rice cakes served with a curry called sambar and some subtly spiced coconut chutney. Dosas are huge crepes with a pungent potato filling, also served with sambar and chutney. Both these are meals by themselves, and serve as the standard lunch for thousands of office goers.

Chinese
In Mumbai, streetside Chinese food is humorously called Chindian: mostly noodles or chow fan soaked in pungent curries laced with green chilies. Despite the cultural mishmash this is surprisingly tasty stuff but can take its toll on a sensitive stomach.

Focus On Travel: India Part Deux

Australian designer Megan Park escapes the hectic pace and crowds of Delhi, her home away from home for three months a year, at the enchanting Neemrana Fort Palace in nearby (two hours by car) Alwar. "Stay in the shish mahal, or room of mirrors," she advises. "The couple who restored the fort also installed a good ayurvedic spa, with traditional massage and steam body treatments." More information available at Neemrana Fort Palace.  http://www.neemranahotels.com/.

The silk bed coverings and 22-karat-gold jewelry that Alayne Patrick sources in India have made her Brooklyn shop Layla, left, a destination for New York shoppers. On her supply runs to Delhi, the stylist and boutique owner hits Andraab Treasures in Hauz Khas Village (a warren of twisting medieval alleys lined with merchants), where finds include high-quality pashminas, spice, saris and sandals. Layla, 86 Hoyt St., Brooklyn, (718) 222-1933; Andraab Treasures, Hauz Khas Village, Delhi; Village Bistro, Hauz Khas Village, Delhi, 011-91-11-2685-3857

Trust Anuj Desai, the India-born former editor in chief of BlackBook Magazine, to be able to name not one, but two boutique hotels in Delhi, a city most people will tell you has none. The 224-room Park is conveniently located in the Connaught Place shopping center, but Desai recommends the Manor, left. Situated in Friends Colony, a former suburb now absorbed by the growing megalopolis, it may be less central, but that's its charm. With only ten rooms, it's a veritable oasis in this bustling city of 13.8 million. More information available at the Park, www.theparkhotels.com, and the Manor.  http://www.themanordelhi.com/.

Vikram Chatwal, the New York-based hotelier whose upcoming wedding to Priya Sachdev will be a seven-day, three-city affair complete with a masked ball at the island palace of Jag Mandir, loves India for its contrasts. "You can be anything you want," he says. "You can be decadent, spiritual, a backpacker. The country contains so many different worlds." That's why you might find him dining on tandoori delicacies with friend Chelsea Clinton at Bukhara in Delhi one night, and getting cozy with tigers the next at Aman-i-Khás, a wild but luxe tented resort on the edge of Ranthambhore National Park.   http://www.amanresorts.com/
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When London-based illustrator Tanya Ling returns to Calcutta she stays at the 125-year-old Oberoi Grand. Its neoclassical façade houses a host of modern luxuries, including a beautiful full-size pool.  Colonial flourishes are evident throughout, from the ballroom to the tennis courts. "It feels very Raj-y," says Ling. "You can still feel the days gone by there." More information available at the Oberoi Grand, www.oberoikolata.com, and the Saturday Club.  http://www.saturday-club.com/.

Focus On Music: Thieves Like Us

The darkly stylish electronic/post-punk threesome Thieves Like Us are named for the 1984 New Order song (as opposed to the 1974 Robert Altman film), and they take more than just their moniker from Manchester's darkly stylish electronic/post-punk pioneers. Their timely, '80s-indebted approach has garnered comparisons to numerous dance-pop acts of the late 2000s, including Hot Chip and Crystal Castles, but their mix of gloom and glitter may be most closely aesthetically aligned with the seedy electro-disco revisionists of the Italians Do It Better axis (Glass Candy, the Chromatics), groups who employ the tools and techniques of dance music but seem more interested in evoking hazily decadent atmospheres than inspiring actual dancing. Swedes Pontus Berghe (drums) and Björn Berglund (keyboards) met the American Andy Grier (vocals) in Berlin's Mauer Park in 2002, and the trio began hitting the nightlife together, a gang of unregistered expats struggling with the language and culture of a foreign metropolis. Uninspired by the city's techno-oriented club scene, they took matters into their own hands by DJing together, and eventually starting to produce their own electronic music.

Somewhat ironically, considering that their tastes tended toward the Teutonic -- including vintage Krautrock and David Bowie and Iggy Pop (particularly, one imagines, the arty glam-punk of their Berlin periods), in addition to hip-hop, Factory Records post-punk, and French touch house -- they failed to find favor with German clubgoers, and they eventually relocated to New York City. Their first recording, the ambivalently hedonistic, Daft Punk-influenced filter-disco calling card "Drugs in My Body," made the rounds for several years, seeing 12" releases on two Swedish labels in 2005 and 2006 before cropping up on Paris' tastemaking Kitsuné Music in 2007. That same year the trio self-issued an ambient/instrumental album, recorded in Berlin and titled Berlin, Alex, but it wasn't until late 2008 that their proper debut full-length, the moody Play Music, appeared on Austria's Seayou Records, with a North American release on Shelflife in April 2009. The delay was due in part to the bandmembers living in different international cities for different periods of time, but by 2009 they had all landed together in Paris.

click any track from the releases
"Again and Again" and "Play Music" below to listen

Text courtesy: K. Ross Hoffman, All Music Guide

Focus On Travel: India

No trip to the northwestern state of Rajasthan is complete without a night at Delwara village's Devi Garh hotel. The Delhi-based Poddar family renovated this eighteenth-century palace-fortress over a ten-year period, and their painstaking attention to detail is evident in 39 sparsely decorated but unmistakably posh suites, boasting floors inlaid with semiprecious stones and walls painted with miniature Krishnas. Liz Hurley threw a 40th-birthday bash for consort Arun Nayar here, and when PR executive Vanessa von Bismarck, who recommends the presidential suite, checked in over the holidays, she spied Paris Vogue's Carine Roitfeld. More information available at Devi Garh, http://www.deviresorts.com/.




French jeweler Marie-Hélène de Taillac spends six months of the year in the Pink City of Jaipur sourcing stones and designing her collection. That's a long time to go without a fashion fix, which is why she partnered with Munnu Kasliwal of Gem Palace—the city's, nay India's, premier jeweler—to open Hot Pink, an airy boutique that stocks local labels like Manish Arora and Neeru Kumar. Hot Pink, Narain Niwas Palace, Jaipur, 011-91-141-510-8932







When Gillian Conroy and Danica Wilcox, alums of French and Japanese Vogue and partners in a new jewelry company, visit Jaipur (where their matte gold necklaces, cabochon labradorite earrings, and tourmaline rings are made), they invariably end up inside the Old City, searching for treasures at the Johari Bazaar. "It's colorful and chaotic, great for shopping for friends at home," says Conroy. "But be prepared to bargain hard." All that haggling can make a girl parched, so the duo quench their thirst at the nearby L.M.B. Hotel. Once refreshed, it's time for more shopping. Satayam, outside the City Palace gate, is their preferred tailor for made-to-measure clothes. More information available at Conroy & Wilcox, info@conroywilcox.com; Satayam, Laxman Dawra Road, Jaipur, 011-91-141-260-0555; L.M.B. Hotel, Johari Bazaar, Jaipur, 011-91-141-256-5844, info@lmbsweets.com.

New Yorkers hungry for a taste of home eat at Véda, the Delhi restaurant opened by the chefs at popular Manhattan Indian joint Dévi. But it isn't just Suvir Saran and Hemant Mathur's famous Gobi Manchurian that keeps the Jaislamer-marble tables packed. Rohit Bal, a fashion designer who's been called the Versace of India, has decorated the brick-walled space in spicy orange hues and plenty of mirrors—the better to spy the well-dressed locals.
Véda, H 27, Outer Circle, Connaught Place, Delhi, 011-91-11-5151-3940

For something wild, Deep Kailey recommends a trip to Madhya Pradesh, the "heart of India." The London-based stylist and managing director of Kim Jones' label stayed at a guest house in Kahna National Park, where "getting out really early in the morning meant seeing tigers." Hampi, left, is up next for this adventurer. The onetime capital of the large, rich Vijayanagara empire, it was destroyed in 1565 by marauding Moguls. The ruins are now a World Heritage Center—and a destination for today's time travelers. More information available at Kahna National Park, http://www.kanhanationalpark.com/.

Franco-Indian relations are cheery, thanks in part to Jean-François Lesage, the expatriate son of François Lesage, the famous haute couture embroiderer. While la mode occupies the elder Lesage (Chanel bought the family business in 2003), the son, a former art auctioneer, focuses on interiors. "We do not do fashion," he asserts. Instead, his company, Vastrakala Exports, has been supplying embroideries made in a converted house in Madras to museums, as well as the likes of Queen Elizabeth II, Catherine Deneuve, and Steven Spielberg. Visitors to the balmy city can call ahead to tour the workshop. More information available at Jean-François Lesage, Paris, 011-33-1-4450-0101.

Dries Van Noten turned to Japan for inspiration for his spring show, but India is a recurring motif for the Belgian designer. Among the saris he's collected, two stand out: a vintage style printed with images of Indian Ambassador cars and another in fuchsia emblazoned with gold brocade. Van Noten's favorite sources are the Calcutta markets, including the old (it opened in 1874) New Market, housed in a red-brick Victorian Gothic building with a clock tower. New Market, 19 Lindsay St., Calcutta

Focus On Sport: Bodybuilding

A peek into Indian history suggest that the land has nurtured body building since time immemorial when kings encouraged it as a sport with strongest awarded prestigious position in their courts. Body building was a national passion across India by 1500s and today’s modern bodybuilding techniques have their origins when the colonials copied the Indian techniques during their visits to India and later propagated them in the west.

Focus On Architecture: India

The art of practicing architecture in India today is dominated by the desire to invent authenticity.

-Romi Khosla

Mughal art and architecture, a characteristic Indo-Islamic-Persian style that flourished on the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal empire.

This new style combined elements to India during the Delhi Sultanate (1192–1398) and had produced great monuments such as the Qutb Minar, with features of Persian art and architecture.

Mughal monuments are found chiefly in North India, but many remain in Pakistan.

In architecture the first great Mughal monument was the mausoleum to Humayun, erected during the reign of Akbar (1556–1605).

The tomb, which was built in the 1560s, was designed by a Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyas. It has an intricate ground plan with central octagonal chambers, joined by an archway with an elegant facade and surmounted by cupolas, kiosks, and pinnacles.

Akbar went on to build the entire city of Fatehpur Sikri (City of Victory) in which extensive use was made of the low arches and bulbous domes that characterize the Mughal style.

Built in 1571 the choice of the site of Sikri reflected Akbar's gratitude to a Muslim saint at Sikri for the birth of his son. Courtiers soon followed suit and built homes surrounding the palace and mosque.

It was Shah Jahan (1628–58) who perfected Mughal architecture and erected at Agra its most noble and famous building, the tomb of his favorite wife, which is known as the Taj Mahal.

A huge white marble building of simple, symmetrical plan, it is inlaid with colorful semiprecious materials and is set in an equally beautiful and symmetrical garden. The Taj Mahal continues the tradition of Mughal garden tombs, of which Humayun's tomb was the first.

Focus On Fashion: Indian Flair

Western culture is developing a grand love affair with the distinctive fashion style that is India. Along with Indian music and spirituality, Indian Clothing is having a huge impact on the mainstream identities of western style and culture. The latest designer shows from Armani, Fendi, and Miyake all draw on elements from the exotic Indian culture.Dries Van Noten, one of the new fashion leaders, recently presented a collection of layered chiffon wraps, dresses, saree, and kurta look-alikes.

The color palette these western designers are drawing from is as vibrant as a Rajasthan desert at sundown,using rich golds, reds, and greens.

Indian designers like Sunita Shankar, Vandanna Roy, Ritu Beri, Monisha Jaising, Ravi Bajaj and Krishna Mehta are leading the way in redefining Indian fashion. Rohit Bal presented his latest collection, Sanskrit, at a New York benefit gala organized by Children's Hope,and stunned the audiencewith exquisite embroidery, beadwork, and tie-dye fashions, with a decidedly Indian flair.

Fashion Street has been aptly described as common man's celebrated 'shopping arcade' It is haunted by youngsters and college going girls, who throng to the bazaar. The street is close to the famous Metro Cinema and Dhobi Talao.In fact, it is a huddle of little shops on Mahatma Gandhi Road.

Readymade garments are one of Mumbai's chief exportsand the surplus lands up at Fashion Street.They cost only a fraction of the priceand are grabbed by fashion conscious collegians fresh off the rack.Bargaining, of course is half the fun of buying. Begin at half the quoted price and work your way gradually upwards,then follow though with a thorough appraisal of the goods: much of the stuff hereis rejected by quality conscious importersand likely to have a missing button or crooked collar. But by and large the clothes are of good quality, trendy,and probably the cheapest anywhere in the world.So walk into Fashion Street and shop for your wardrobe.

Focus On Art: Jackson Pollock

 Jackson Pollock (1912-56)

The commanding figure of the Abstract Expressionist movement.
This manner of Action painting had in common with Surrealist theories of automatism
that it was supposed by artists and critics alike
to result in a direct expression or revelation.

Create your own work of art inspired by the great master, Jackson Pollock.
Click and drag your cursor across the canvas below to create a masterpiece.

Clicking your mouse button changes colors
and pressing the space bar erases your paining.

Focus On Film: Parsis

Here are some short films about the dying religion and sect known as Zoroastrians.

Focus On Religion: Zoroastrianism

Parsis, a very unique, distinct religious minority in India with numbers less than 60,000, a community which is likely to be wiped out in less than a hundred years at its present decent.A third of the Parsis remain unmarried, a third marry outside the community, a third marry very late in life(30-35 years, coupled with high divorce rates), and a large percentage of them in ages over 50, lead to a sharp decline in growth. By the year 2020, India will have achieved the distinction of being the most populated country on earth with 1200 million people. The population trend of the Parsis in Indiamimic that of the western world.

The Parsis have made an monumental impact on modern India whether it is in science, industry, medicine or politics. Today in the 21st century, we their belief to be playinga major role in their existence and survival. Whether they will embrace the 21st century, disregard their promise made to the ruler of Gujarat about taking converts and preaching their beliefs, identify leaders, and take the Parsi Panchayat to task by rooting out the old blood and getting leaders and visionaries in them, all lay within the palm of their hands. Their mantra should not be " Oh! how great we were", but instead " How much more can we achieve, and nothing will stop us".

According to the last census (1991), there are 76,342 Parsis in India with current numbers less than 70,000. The largest population (around 56,000) resides in Mumbai. The city registers 300 births and 900 deaths per year for them. At some point, the Parsis, will cease to be termed a community and will be labelled a 'tribe'. Such gestures may seem enormous to some, but when one asks a Parsi in India about the assistance and leadership provided by the Parsi Panchayat the story is very different.

The Bombay Parsi Panchayat with its immense wealth accumulated through the generous donations of the Parsis of yesteryears, hands out meager assistance to financially handicapped, aging or displaced Parsis.

Many newlywed Parsis wanting to start families of their own cannot locate decent housing within the city limits. Their attempts to acquire flats through the Panchayat never materialise, years afer the initial application. Instead, stories of affluent families occuping the same residences come to light and their only error being they did not know the murky process of selection. Stories of corruption and insider bribing abound.

A good beginning would be making cheap affordable housing to all newlywed Parsis to start families with. The Parsi Panchayat with its large parcels of land in and around Mumbai should jumpstart their rather slow corrupt process of housing for Parsis. Also the community as a whole should start accepting converts from families where one of the parents is a Zorastrian, provide education and financial assistance to all Zorastrians, educate young Parsis about their glorious past while giving them a concrete vision for their future.

 

The very race that migrated from Persia, holding to their belief in their prophet Zarathustra, arriving in a foreign land surviving for a 1000 years, impacting their host motherland, growing to adapt and prosper, now face their greatest challenge of "survival". 

  

I am energized from the fact that my community is noted. The big financial houses like the Tata's, Godrej's, Pallonji's, Wadias etc, should assume some leadership roles and provide direction for both, the youth and the elderly. This has to be a collective effort from every single Zorastrian, from all the four corners of the world. For its non-discriminatory charity to all. It’s love, compassion understanding, and tolerance towards all religions. 

read about my experience as a Parsi HERE

Focus On Art: Keith Haring

Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990)

Keith was an artist and social activist whose work
responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.

He achieved his first public attention
with chalk drawings in the subways of New York.

Focus On Style: Fashion Eyeglasses

I remember when I first learned I needed eyeglasses. I was in first grade and couldn't read the chalkboard our teacher had up. We were learning cursive and my penmanship was suffering.

Back then, those obnoxious lenses in front of your eyes were still a death wish. Popularity suicide. I xan still gear halls echoing, “Hey, four-eyes!”.

But nowadays, glasses have a whole new side to them. While, of course, there are still the “grandpa lenses” — which take up half your face and can only be pulled off by crazy celebrities like Gwen Stefani and Kanye West — eyeglasses serve a whole new purpose. Eyeglasses are to people now what sunglasses were 10 years ago: a stylish accessory. Notice all the brand name frames now from: Chanel, D&G and Juicy Couture.

People who don’t even need eyeglasses (and a big swarm of those who do but have gotten by avoiding them for so many years) are rushing to the doctor or their nearest designer retailer to grab a pair off the rack in order to avoid a bif drop in their cool quotient.

I hope this tends sticks around a while longer. Otherwise, I just might not see what is around the corner in terms of trends.