My Notes to and for Dilli, Day 1

I did not start my day with a love letter to a Barsaati in Dilli, but it so happened that during the middle of a hot, gloomy day, a friend poured in a picture from one of the many social media accounts we follow, the picture and the note was a story of a certain Barsaati in Dilli, now inhabited by a young boy.

It was a letter of love to this Barsaati in particular and all the others that spread across Dilli, in general. The picture was a big one with windows encircling a room full of colors and runners on the floor. I quickly weaved a story in my head, about the boy who lives there. It was so quick that I almost forgot to realize that the note that came with it, below the picture was a note about me, and many like me who are young, and living out of Barsaatis across this city, which now has my heart.

I live in Dilli now, and I live in a Barsaati which is small, has a tiny kitchen and the bathroom which can fit me comfortably inside it. My Barsaati ends as soon as it begins, it does not have life sized windows and curved hallways like the one in the picture, but it is a Barsaati I love.

At the head of the queen sized bed which covers most of the floor space in my Barsaati, I have hung postcards, postcards with people, roads and colors inside them and sometimes when I am fast asleep at night, the paper tapes let the postcards go. The postcards then fly around for a little while and settle onto the dust beneath the head of my bed.

My Barsaati also accumulates a lot of dust, little particles of nothing, and bits of paper with hair tangled in them.

The first little furniture I got for my Barsaati was a book holder, a wooden holder from the Amar Colony market, with its wooden legs broken. The book holder sits beside my bed, on a smallish elevated platform that the room came with.

I love quilts, and so my Barsaati has come to love them too. They sit on my bed, hanging from the sides. I wake up and leave them as they are. During hot summer days, just like today, they spread themselves onto the bed I slept all night, and relax into the heat.

My Barsaati sees packages coming in, and going out. It sees men bringing liters of water every week, it sees friends like family walk in and out of itself. My Barsaati smells of Bengali daal, cut onions, and mixed pickle. Sometimes, it smells of rotten tomatoes that I forget to cook with, and fresh coriander I sit to cut. My Barsaati is moody during hot days and calm during the windy nights.

Pillows scattered around, and sneakers left unclean, my Barsaati smells of home, today, tomorrow and everyday.

When I leave my Barsaati, I hope to leave with it some stories, some smells, and some silence so that with the next human living here, she can weave stories of her own that smell like silences and also smell like noise.

New York, New York

There is always something happening in New York that one only comes to know after it is over. I starting realising it only, long after, I read it in this beautiful book my friend forced me to read by Bill Hayes. New York, they say, isn’t silent enough, but I would say it is enough to make you want you stop to look around for a moment and to rush for the next metro before it’s too late.

When I finally was able to recover my password for my WordPress account, I realized Budapest had passed out for me in a lull. I hadn’t written about it, my camera hadn’t taken enough pictures and I cannot recall enough streets. I did not want New York to pass off like dusk does, every day. In the blink of an eye, suddenly and sometimes all at once.

Being away from people you love, takes its toll. Takes a toll on all of yourself and then comes back with a lot of emptiness. The kind of emptiness which only hits you long after you have settled in. I feel that way now. Being hit and being used to being hit, both together amidst the big New York City. I have deleted all of what I have written and written again. Wrote all of it again only to realize that I was not very sure of how I wanted to really remember New York City.

Will it be like a quiet, busy morning filled with a lot of comfort or a rush of wind with its heat and coldness breezing and carrying me away? Will it be the old parts of the city or the busy streets with gigantic zebra-crossings? Will New York rest at the window sill on my tiny room filled with familiar smells from home or be busy with the new issues of colourful magazines and tall building doors I pass every day?

Maybe at the end, New York for me shall be in the little Italy of Manhattan, the big shops of SoHo, the blue and red umbrellas of Chinatown, the almost perfect distanced zebra-crossing from Times Square and the subway stops where numbers end and begin. Maybe I will keep writing about them, all of it and some of it a little more sometimes, till I don’t start feeling the familiar smells, my best friend’s blue wall, my people and their never-ending trails of thoughts, my grandmother’s bangle sound at the corner of the old sink, my sister and mother’s bright gleamy eyes and my baba’s mind full of dreams.

#3 Capturing styles while being distracted by bright colours!

Bright colours have never been my cup of tea. Bright colours have never entered my wardrobe or I have never pulled them out when I needed clothes! Indigo on the other hand has been my favourite print. The very idea of Indigo blue has always made me happy. Styling contrasting outfits like these and two women carrying each look off with panache was something I was overjoyed about!

While shooting and experimenting with clothes, it sometimes so happens that everything is not under your control! on our Sunday, the situation was exactly that when the skirt I wanted to make Shubhanjana wear did not look right and the look that I wanted to create fell flat on the face. The two styles that happened rather randomly on Roshni and Shubhanjana on a Sunday were not only very impulsively styled but worked magically on both their body types.

  Roshni wore her indigo printed skirt as a dress as she tied it around the neck. I have always adored her sense of style which has mostly been baggy and comfortable. Making her experiment with this was a little scary but she was a sport and was ready with whatever I wanted her to try on. It was while shooting her that I realised about my changing interests. Not being a fashion blogger/model herself like Shubhanjana, I had to convince her really hard to come and let me take her pictures! and while I was at work, her expressions caught me and remained with me. For a while I even lost track that I wanted to capture clothes and not her expressions!

This dress which was originally a skirt is a kind of print one can wear all the time. Being the classic example of dressing up a normal everyday skirt, this look ended up being my favourite from all the other looks of hers. Also, portraying this Indo-western vibe, with my worn out Fabindia chappals, she carried it with grace.

Look 2

Shubhanjana is never hard to style! this look was actually the styling which was done by all three minds and it would be unfair if I said I did much. Bright colours have never been my thing. It was Roshni who suggested Shubhanjana to wear what she did and I had the pencil skirt in my bag. This pencil skirt is a go-to. If there is any staple I actually have in my wardrobe that is, this pencil skirt. I don’t remember anymore when and from where I got it from though, hence you can guess it’s age!

I have no idea how the pencil skirt fit this beautiful tall woman! and orange is not a colour I would ever be able to carry! I think sometimes in life one needs to experiment and I am forever astonished with this woman’s ability to agree to random bits of clothing I want her to wear! This outfit actually inspired me to want to wear orange myself!

 

I suggest everyone to have this pencil skirt and it will be your best friend to wear with a loose t-shirt or even with a blue formal shirt. I being a very boring person on most days always prefer a loose t-shirt over any thing else. If I had to carry something to a desolate island, it would my a t-shirt, hence I honestly believe anything can be dressed up and down with one.

Black is the colour to choose when you are confused and worried about what to put on and look put together in!A pencil skirt can work wonders no matter what shape and size you are! also remember to opt for a midi one, if you can.

 

 

Capturing Fashion #2

Trying to style someone who already has a very distinct and personal sense of style, was something I didn’t really think through. As I saw this woman coming from far away with a big bag and constantly wiping dripping sweat off of her forehead, I was reminded of those endless conversations where I kept randomly picking out closet staples and asking her whether she had another of those in a different, absurd colour.

This woman is a tall, dark, beautiful young woman I had the pleasure to meet during Apeejay Kolkata Literary Meet. She was not just a treat to look at but ended up being one of the most obedient people I have ever met. For the better part of a Sunday she decided to reserve her opinions completely like abruptly switching off neon light and sat there following each and every absurd idea I wanted her to implement.

Look 1

She was my doll and I was dolling her up. At least I was really trying my best to. The first look was something i was really confident about and secretly I knew she was not, at all. Who ever pairs a flared long skirt with a straight-fit kurta? honestly, the initial idea was a pencil skirt beneath but somehow I just because random and wanted her to try out this flared skirt instead. Do you want to see how it turned out?

The silver neck piece came out from her bag, adding just the right amount of accessory to her outfit. This might be a drab outfit to some, I am generally a very drab person. But, this outfit carries the elegance which Shubhanjana pulled off brilliantly. This look could work very well, for any party or gathering where the mother always asks us to wear something ‘appropriate for the occasion’ !

As she sat three on the stool with her white sneakers peeping out, that tall frame of hers just stood out. The straight fit kurta from Fabindia still looked straight and the kurta which is generally what I wear to every wedding miraculously fit her right!

That was supposed to be the first look and I think she nailed it more than I did with the little styling that I was able to do. That silver choker like neck piece added a little more glam than I expected and my reward for the first outfit was as Shubhanjana suddenly smiled in between the shots saying “Damn man! this look really worked”.

 

Look 2

This was actually the third look as we shot it at the end. I had the idea right in my head but I remember asking her at the last moment ” tui saree porte parish toh?” Being the disgusting amateur stylish that I was, I didn’t know how I would drape a saree. The only thing I was really excited about was the makeup for which i almost had to do nothing on her face because well, she is flawless.

This look is my absolute favourite. I think, always shall be. The blouse was a crop top that Roshni had sent me pictures of. It had floral designs on it which were almost invisible on a white colour. I wanted her to wear a pinkish, violet saree on it and she looked ravishing in front of a white wall.

This saree was not worn in a natural way, I though the pallu or Aachol around the neck would perhaps look nice. I think, people with tall frames and long necks look really nice with the pallu encircled around the neck. Honestly, I am none of the two and it still worked for me when I wore it.Her skin colour almost looked like it was made for the saree. The off-shoulder and knot were improvisations later made, you know, like the ones which come to everyone’s minds as they look at each other!

Every morning, as I have to get ready to go out, unless there is something I have bought the previous day itself, it is always a struggle to choose attires. With all these styling ideas, almost crippling me, I am nothing better in choosing for myself the clothes I wish to wear.

Shubhanjana was a treat. It was all about a little over the top and regal for her. The attempt was trying to keep it more wearable and     those metallic heels along with the saree would never have been possible if she hadn’t gotten them from Ajio! I wish she had a smaller shoe size.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fashion and styling is perhaps very everyday. Not really as much of a task we kind of bring them down to be. It could be just adding in a little extra amount of pattern or colours which are a bit more risky into, outfits and attires.

 

P.S. See you soon with the next set of ravishing women who inspire me each time with their sense of style! also let me know how you like this!

Woman with elegance- Shubhanjana Das

Pictures taken by – Nikkon Balial

Capturing fashion and emotions #1

This blog is a little different from the ones I generally write. Trying to weave stories and ideas of poetry, my blog has been written remembering all those tales and times I accidentally capture as I pass through life. This piece on the other hand, is a little insane, weirdly experimental and very unlike me. Over the years, as I crawled out of a pair of dungaree to an almost similar size of culottes, I looked at myself and noticed a change. Perhaps it was more in the mind than in the attire or it just might have been the other way round. Who knows?!

Thus, when the idea of photographing people with dynamic senses of style occurred to me, I was surprised and inactive at first. The people I wanted to photograph were of different kinds and I also culminated in me this bizarre idea of trying to style some of them as well. I am no fashion blogger and ruffles, patch-work and glittery glam are way out of my league. In a world where colours and patterns, my obsession with grey tried to peek and create something new. It was absurd and stupid but I kind of happened to like it.

The people I decided to focus my lens were varied. Some were very close friends of mine while others I had always seen as parts of social gatherings and I never had any clue about what they had been thinking. These were people who worked oversized, baggy, glitters, metallic, sheer and colours beautifully. I thought this could be a project and I began work like I had no other work in my life!

I have started this journey just yet and there are so many more people to know and click. Sitting there on the floor, the very first day and watching two phenomenal women dress up their hair in a bun and apply lipstick quickly on the upper lip, I decided this project was worth a shot, not just for capturing fashion but for clicking emotions away.

They say, when you start something new, ideas crop up as you embark on the journey. This photo series gave me an array of ideas which I had never thought of before. As I have never really studied photography, I honestly know nothing about it and it stays the same even after all these days. But, I wanted to capture moments, the sudden swirl of the hair, a pleat of the blue skirt or the silver neck piece that was missing a bead just like they were, through they monochromes and patterns..

The first two women I photographed had been an absolute treat. Both being very different from one another looked at fashion very differently. While I tried to style one, the other knew what she wanted to put on (mostly) and I couldn’t have been more pleased about that Sunday it all happened magically!

I don’t know whether anyone will ever read or appreciate this series but as Aryan was kind enough to lend me his room with white walls along with everything else we might have needed in the process and these wonderful women who willingly (well, almost) agreed to my random ideas which I came up with in the middle of the night, I am happy this journey worked out…

I shall be writing about each with their individual ideas of style, every week from now till there are enough women to bore everybody out. Look out for this series and let me know what you think about it !