Fabulous brickwork in downtown Burlington, Vermont

Framed

In the works

Saw this beautiful photo in a magazine on a flight. Beautiful reds, oranges and golden yellows to evoke Fall. Here is my first pass, it does need to be finished ( a lot).

Colorful Walls

Rediscovering Austin

today R, I, A and Mummy went to Town Lake Trail / Lady Bird Lake trail to kick start our four day weekend. Since our trip to Santa Fe was cancelled because of the wildfires in New Mexico, we decided to enjoy some local scenery instead. Of course with triple digit temperatures almost everyday and one of the hottest Junes on record behind us, we left for our little excursion early in the morning. Even at 8.30 am, the day felt warm and humid, though tolerable in the shade. We enjoyed feeding the ducks, turtles, fishes and of course the pigeons and crows, a first time for me and R since there are some things you can only do with kids. Its revealing how much the presence of A in our lives has made us slow down and enjoy the moment more than before. Earlier we would have walked along the trail briskly, with a passing glance at the ducks, and the beautiful vistas of downtown that you can see from various points on the trail. Now that we have to adjust A's much slower pace and his curiosity of the world around him, we see such things anew and come to appreciate it better. We were able to take plenty of photos of the serene waters and the gleaming skyline, made all the more beautiful because of the cloudy skies. In some ways, we felt like we saw something new in Austin. Taking Mummy around town has also had a similar effect. We pause and look at the trees and the terrain, and see it as not just the background for our lives, but something beautiful that should be appreciated and rejoiced in. 

finally finished!

Having Mummy here has definitely helped in more ways than one. I was finally able to complete these drawings that I had started last September and March respectively. 

Menavlicha Wada, near Wai

The tortoise at the entrance of the main temple room. Maharashtrian religious carvings are usually austere and not overtly ornate. Perhaps it is the basalt stone that does not lend itself to decorous stonework unlike the marble temples of Rajasthan. Perhaps it is the austere aesthetics of the patron.

The main deity is in a sunken room. I wonder if the room gets filled with water when the river floods in the monsoons.

I don’t have photographs since I was not allowed to take any inside the Wada, but this wada has 7 courtyards. I guess seven was an impressive number. A man’s wealth was judged by how many courtyards his house had in that time. We saw about 2 and also got to go upstairs to see Nana Phadnavis’s bed with the hand operated fan over it. The ceilings of the rooms were elaborately carved with a repetitive jaali cum flower motif, similar to a 'fleur-de-lis' shape. The windows in the bedroom were small, set inside the thick wada walls, they let in just enough sun to light up the room. You wouldn't be able to read a book in that light and you weren't supposed to. Reading, writing, sewing were all supposed to take place in the corridors adjoining the courtyards. The indoor-outdoor spaces where you spent time with the family, received guests - had lots of light and were very well ventilated. It was fascinating to see how the building functioned as both house and a barricadable fort.