The Beautiful Kashmiris !

Captivating ! Isnt it !
I recently saw my kashmiri friends dressed for a marriage in their traditional Kashmiri ornaments which prompted me to write this post.

Kashmir is inhabited by people from different communities like the Kashmiri Pandit, Ladakhi and Dogra tribes. This post is more about the dress and ornaments of the Kashmiri women - the muslim inhabitant in Kashmir as well as the Kashmiri Pandit.

This is a picture of an actress in a hindi movie. ( Couldnt find a clearer picture of a Kashmiri lady )


Here are some information on the picture -

Image: Sharmila Tagore in Shakti Samanta's Kashmir Ki Kali (1964). Religion unknown. Most likely a Muslim lady.

Tchand're Taa'che - Moon Headgear. Kashmiri Pandit woman also wear it.

Kan'waaj'e - Ear Rings - Typically worn by the muslim women.

The women are sometimes very handsome. The parda-nashins are, of course, very rarely seen. The men wear a long shirt called firan, which in the case of Hindus has long, narrow sleeves, and Muhammadans short, full ones. The Hindu woman or Punditani wears a girdle and has a white cap, whereas the Mussulman! wears a red head-dress. The black hair of young girls is braided in many thin strands, covering the back and forming a semi-circle, with a knot of hair hanging down the back, and stretching sometimes nearly to the feet.

- John Collett, A Guide for Visitors to Kashmir (1984)Here is a picture of Pandit Nehru's mother - a Kashmiri Pandit lady.

Notice her ear ornaments. The Kashmiri Pandit women wear the Dejharoo, Athroo as a symbol of their marriage - much like the mangal sutra is worn by women in some states of India.

The dejharoo is a pair of gold pendants, hanging on a silk thread or gold chain which passes through holes in the ears pieced at the top end of the lobes. You can read a very good description of the dejhoor over here.

I find the varied culture of the various states in India very fascinating. Some other day , some other post , I might put up something on the dressing of women of some other state.

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Note and Acknowlegement : A lot of information on this post, including the pictures are from this site http://www.searchkashmir.org

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Another day at the boring office !

Work environment are places where some work gets done. Also it’s a place to interact, collaborate, fight, grow, and live! Most of us who are career oriented realize that among the mundane work, the boring bosses and un-understandable rules and regulations of the office, we all get to meet interesting new people with interesting ways of thinking and interesting sense of humour.

I remember one of my friends telling me this anecdote that had happened in his project. BTW, let me tell you that I have been a software engineer all my life.

And this particular project of his had not been keeping well for almost years. They had a young, fun-loving boss, who took care of a team of 40 noisy, cheerful, sharp youngsters who, in between their wise cracks and silly jokes and endless leg pullings, just managed to keep the project alive. All the old team members, who had actually created the product, had left the team resigned about the saleability of the product. Everyone in the company knew the product was outdated and no amount of customization would help the product.

Once in a while when there would be a client visit to check out this product and the young boys and girls would somehow manage to tailor the product, wash it up, dress it and comb it and get it ready to showcase like a beautiful young bride. And once in a while when the bride just did not dress up or look presentable, the team would be left frustrated( they would wonder when this product would be obsoleted ) - like on this particular day, this very young talented youngster, lets say-Krish, got fed up and gave up on the product. After working day and night on the product for two weeks, with not much progress, he decided he did not want to work on this stupid product and went home on a two day leave.

The manager came the next day and saw there was no one working on the product demo scheduled for the next day. Also, he heard that Krish had gone home in a huff on a two day leave. Shaking his head helplessly with a smile, praying to God to give him the strength and humor to handle the situation, he sent his car to pick this funny boy up from his house.

Krish couldnt have had a worse nightmare.

He changed into a clean pair of clothes and grumpily sat in his boss's car.

When Krish reached office, the whole team and his boss were at the door were waiting for him at the door, with a mischievous smile on their faces. Well, they just needed to have a pooja thali to welcome him, he thought silently in his mind, keeping his gaze awry.

The boss, notices the boy's looks, his disheveled hair, his unshaven beard ( the boy had not taken care of himself for the last two weeks ) , tells him - Boy, Where were you ? This product needs to be readied. You are the best person we have !

Giving the boy another look, he says with a smile- Also what are you doing to yourself. Take care of yourself –its high time you shaved your beard !!

The Boy already tired of the funny boss and the product and the non fruitful work he was doing and thinking about the product that was waiting for him with a defiant mocking smile, nonchalantly replies –

Uh ! The product - will see what I can do.

He looks up from the product and looks at his boss’s face, looks back at the product, and says with a mischievous smile – Well! The beard - cannot be shaved off now - Only trimmed and shaped - will do my best though.

The boss chuckles at the joke and leaves the boy to complete his job.

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Dodda..

Words fail me as I try to describe my grand mom. Let me try and put down my earliest memories of her. Imagine a house like I have described here.

In this house,On the left side of the house lived my grand mom ( with my grandpa when he was alive ) and her children ( before they were married ) and on the right side lived my grandpa's brother and his family.

After the long trek home when we reached our house, we would be greeted with a huge exclamation, heartfelt happiness of both the set of grandparents. As we would settle down, we would be served breakfast by my grandmom. She was our loving Dodda.

With a smile on her face and grit and determination as she carried herself through the house maneuvering her arthritis infected legs, she ordered the workers around and got her work done. She knew her neighbors well and she was well in control of her environment.

Life when the children were growing up must have been tough - Grand pa was a Yakshagana artist and would be on tour for months together. Taking care of the household and the children alone , even though my other grandpa was around, must have been tough for her.

The last few years of her life , she stayed with her children - 2-3 months at a stretch she would stay with each of her children. The best part of her was the way she would blend herself into the culture of the family and become an asset to the house. She had an excellent memory and learnt like a child. She knew the names of all the cricketers - Indian, Australian and a few from other countries by name and loved watching cricket matches. She recognised models and could tell a Aishwarya Rai and a Sushmita Sen. She knew where each of her grandchildren lived ( US, Australia or parts of India ) and where they worked ( Wipro, Infosys etc. ) .

She would spend time watching her favorite kannada serials. She had a great sense of humour and would laugh like a child at any joke. She was 85 this year.

Last few months had been tough for her. She had had strokes in her head which would leave her immobile for a few days - but then she would recover. But this time she decided to move on to the other world. On the next day of Diwali, she suffered another stroke - and was hospitalized. And somehow at the back of everyone's minds and hearts, as well as her own heart, I guess she knew her job in this world is done - and I am sure she proud of who she had been and how she had carried herself. On Tuesday morning, she had a heart attack and passed away peacefully in her bed.

Its hard to believe that the silent, strong, child-like presence Dodda had at my parents or my aunt’s houses will not be around anymore - It has been tough even typing that up. Dodda, I will always miss you for the respect, determination, and dignity with which you carried yourself and when I am at your age – one thing that I am going to strive at - is to live a life of dignity the way you have.

Once again , Dodda we will miss you !

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Splashes of Colours ...

When we had visited Ooty about two years back, we had been to this fascinating church called the St. Stephen's church, perched on one of the hills there.


There were many things that were beautiful in this church, but the one thing that really caught my eye were the glass paintings on the windows. I have always found glass paintings fascinating - coz the paintings look more beautiful when light passes through them and enlivens the paintings. Check them out..


I know these paintings would be depicting a scene out of Jesus's life. How I wish I knew what these paintings are saying...

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