Sheena Bharwani's home decor

Sheena Bharwani's home is a labour of love. It underwent extensive renovation over the last 6 years and retains a meticulously planned, practical and aesthetic aura. Architecturally the old structure has gained by a magnificent arched façade which reminds of the Vidhan Sabha and Cannaught Place all at once. The vibrant deep chrome yellow and white exteriors are inspired by an Italian fishing village Burano, where the houses are coded in 12 different colours to identify the family tree that has extended all over the little island village.

Nothing, absolutely nothing from the old house has been discarded. Most of the furniture is antique or remodelled antique, treasured over the years dating from the exodus from Pakistan, or picked up from Kabariwallas and antique shops in Mumbai.

Curtains, all made to order with Chikan work butas, embellish each room of the house. Big windows everywhere lit by the green potted plants fluttering in the breeze outside, add natural luminosity to each room.

Light and electricity have really been used thoughtfully. The solar panels on the roof heat up all running water supplies, and glass-cubed roof over staircase, central lobby and corridors leading to bedrooms bring in the oh so welcome sunlight into every corner of the house. Electricity has virtually no part to play during the day, as the house is so well stocked on natural light.

The drawing room with a special ‘Laila-Majnu’ seat for 2 special friends who get oblivious to all else when blessed with each other’s company is a warm corner. The etched glass sliding partition between the drawing room and central lobby gives a nice open feel. Hand-crafted ceramic-tile topped side tables, one with an onyx lamp which was refashioned from a matka from Lahore are delightful.

Brass plaques of Ganpati in jovial celebration, singing and dancing, picked up from Orissa, now framed against dazzling red add a festive flavour to the otherwise Europeanised room. A full length Burano lace table cloth set against burgundy on a corner round table subtly ties up with the Ganpatis on the wall. Bamboo shoots standing tall in a cut-glass vase, announce the good energy in the house. A writing desk which converts into a bar is a thoughtful addition with small parties in mind. It also hosts an antique silver candle stand and coloured glass tulips.

The central lobby basks in the sunlight that filters through the glass-cubed roof and reflects off the sponged sun-yellow wall of the staircase. Chikan and appliqué cushion covers, all made to order like the Chikan curtains in each room add the Lucknowi nafaasat here too.

The dining hall with a 80 year old dining table which sparkles as new was retrieved from Sheena’s maternal home as were the doors that form her bathroom cabinet as well as bathroom door. These landmarks from the British era actually fanned Sheena and Sheela’s fancy to redo the house entirely according to this period theme. Modern practicality and aesthetics have added to the original theme in a big way. In the dining hall itself, the Cuckoo clock got by Sheela from Black Forest in Germany is right out of a English storybook illustration. The life-sized embroidered girl on the mantelpiece is equally British-flavoured, all handmade by the daughter of the house of course!

Madhur who is not a student of fashion communication at NIFT Mumbai has left a bevy of art work on the walls. In Krishen’s bedroom rust fern-prints on off-white walls add a lovely glow to the study den cum bedroom.

The master bedroom upstairs is as airy and well lit naturally as the rest of the house with a flowering Gulmohar peeping from the ventilator and onion-pink Chikan embroidered curtains breezily adding the lived in touch. An elaborate throw-over picked up from Karachi is a close reminder of our Gujrati artisans’ connection with the undivided India’s cultural give and take.

The verandah upstairs opening into a open to the sky aangan is a place where one can spend a lifetime looking up at the blue sky. A cast iron winding staircase leading to the roof with matching grill as a boundary adds to the period look.

Corporate Social Responsibilty - Is it for real?

Philanthropy makes business sense to corporate Lucknow

Anisha Sharma

While Bill Gates and Warren Buffets of the world pursue philanthropic interests, Indian corporate houses are equally aware of living up to their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Tata, Infosys, Wipro, Reliance, Ranbaxy, Hindalco, NTPC, ONGC and IOC among others set the trend. Lucknow's CRS scene is also upbeat because, corporates also validate their brand's presence by sharing their booty with society. Obviously enough, CSR makes good sense for business! Shall we say, Cheers to this symbiotic arrangement?

IIM Lucknow's Prof Debashish Chatterjee spells the tenet: "Corporate houses are units of society. And as you gain from society, you should be giving back." That is exactly how JRD Tata saw it, way back in the previous century. Some visionary! Jayant Krishna, heading Tata's TCS-Lucknow airs: "JRD Tata always believed that 'What comes from the people should go back to the people many times over." "As a matter of fact, a significant part of the profits of Tata Sons Limited is ploughed back to enrich the nation through various philanthropic trusts," he continues, apparently proud to belong to the magnanimous organisation.

It's not money alone that makes all the difference - sharing of resources, time and energy also means a lot. Vivek Sinha heading a Lucknow branch of Standard Chartered Bank says, "We believe and work for AIDS awareness and prevention, and eye-donations." Now that's something! TCS on the other hand goes about donating blood, distributing computers to underprivileged schools and hospitals, and runs adult literacy centres etc, while Sahara India is busy beautifying city-crossroads and extending literacy and vocational training to slum-dwellers. Participating in the Polio drive, supporting Kargil martyrs' families, arranging for mass-weddings, are just some of the other activities on Sahara's CSR agenda, according to its Corporate Communications head, Abhijit Sarkar. He encapsulates the vision as "An urge to imporove the lot of the socially and economically marginalised members of our society, and facilitate a life of dignity and respect for them." Sounds profound, no? Admen would have us believe that charitable activities are also a positive way of strengthening the brand’s image in public memory. BN Pande heading the city-branch of a national ad firm says, “Charity work definitely earns goodwill and respect for the brand, which furthers the business too.” So the wheel of abundance keeps moving.

Without doubt, CSR seems to be gaining ground in Lucknow. As a home-grown organic-agricultural corporate firm, Organic India, makes its mark on the global market with its Tulsi tea, it is quick to look at ways to further its credo of ‘unique and successful business modality, committed to service, sanctity and integrity.’ Its CEO RB Singh takes the sustainable business model further with a tree-plantation drive for a ‘Clean Green Lucknow’. “Also, through sharing our know-how in organic agriculture with green-fingered Lucknowites by helping them grow organic veggies at home,” adds Singh. Now that’s a new one!

So, as corporate houses raise their CSR quotient to enrich society, admen applaud the business practice, and the cycle of abundance goes on as per new-age Guru Deepak Chopra. While corporate houses do their bit, is anything stopping the small time businessmen in Nawabi Lucknow to share their money, know how, time or energy to make a positive difference to society, in their own special way? By the looks of it, Lucknow’s getting philanthropic already…

Sufi Song: Charkha by Wadali brothers (Puran Chand Wadali and Pyare Lal Wadali) and Lakhwinder Wadali

Sufi music is still flourishing in Punjab. Here is a video from the Wadali family :-)

Valley of Flowers, Himalaya

In the Himalayan region of Garhwal, in Uttranchal state, the captivating Valley of Flowers is a paradise on Earth. With a touch of mystique and divine solitude, it inspires equanimity. A World Heritage Site since the year 1988, the Valley of Flowers has enraptured mountaineers and botanists alike much longer. More

Getting to know Ajmer Sharif with Pranav Khullar

To enter the sanctum of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti to offer the customary ‘chadar’, the ornamental spread, is to touch the core of the Sufi, the one for who the heart is the true shrine of God. You enter a sacred space where all distinctions dissolve, where the “power of now”, as Eckhart Tolle puts it, seems to draw into its vortex all other outer preoccupations of the mind. Such is the magnetic call of the heart of the Khwaja that seekers and pilgrims alike have sought inspiration and blessings from Ajmer Sharif through centuries.

The spectacle of the nazrana or offerings at the tomb is symbolic of human ego bowing down to the austere and compassionate spirit of the Khwaja. You can feel your heart expand as you experience liberation suffused with a mystical love even as the mehfils and the qawwalis rise to a crescendo, creating the right ambience.

The Urs of Ajmer serves as an annual reminder of the need to humble the individual self in the presence of the divine. For such was the faith of the Khwaja himself in the need to surrender to God through service to others while leading a strict spartan life himself, that this became the Sufi way of transcending the ego.

The stress on generous sharing and serving is embodied in the cooking and serving of large quantities of kheer. The milk pudding is prepared in two large cauldrons to be distributed later as ‘tabarruk’, the blessed food. His uncommon love for the common man, his defining religion in the context of service to all, has earned the Khwaja the epithet of Garib Nawaz, the benefactor of the poor.

While his own simple life was a living example of all that he believed in, his teachings reflect a rare compassion for all, transcending all barriers. He would say: “Develop river-like generosity, sun-like affection and earth-like hospitality.” His message was carried forward by Chisti Silsilah disciples like Bakhtiar Kaki, Baba Farid and Nizamuddin Auliya. More

Why Shiva loves Saavan, finds out Seema Burman

When Shiva tried to swallow the poison that emerged from the churning ocean, he experienced intense heat.

He had to douse his body with cold water to neutralise the effect. Indra asked the skies to open up. To this day devotees pour water and milk on the Shivling and the rainy season is the time when kanwarias make the pilgrimage to Haridwar and back, after offering prayers to Shiva.

Namah Shivaya is the five syllable mantra that means 'Salutations to Shiva'. When Om is chanted before it then it becomes a six syllable mantra. The five syllables in this mantra stand for the five elements. Na stands for Shiva's hidden grace, Ma symbolises the world, Shi means Shiva, Va is the revealing grace and Ya is the soul. Adi Shankaracharya has said that Shiva means, “One who purifies the one who repeats His name.''

Ramakrishna Paramhansa had a vision of Shiva when he was visiting Benaras. When he was asked by the pundits of Benaras whether Shiva really lived in the holy city he replied, “I saw a tall white person with tawny matted hair walking with solemn steps to each pyre in the burning-ghat, raising carefully every jiva and imparting into his ear the mantra of supreme Brahmn. On the other side of the pyre the all-powerful Mahakali was untying all the knots of bondage, gross, subtle and causal of the jiva produced by past impressions and sending him to the indivisible sphere by opening with Her own hands the door to liberation.''

Shiva represents destruction; He is also Ashutosh or the One who is easily pleased. Shiva is the Supreme Reality who is our Inner Self. Shiva is the name of the eternal Consciousness that resides in all. More

Creativity? Answers from Osho

Creativity means enjoying any work as meditation; doing any work with deep love. Are you thinking that if you paint, you will feel creative? But painting is just as ordinary as cleaning the floor. You will be throwing colours on a canvas. Here you go on washing and cleaning the floor. What is the difference? Talking to somebody, you feel time is being wasted. You would like to write a great book; then you will be creative. But a friend has come: a little gossiping is perfectly beautiful. Be creative.

All the great scriptures are nothing but conversations of people who were creative. What do I go on doing here? Conversing. They will become gospels some day, but originally they are conversations. But i enjoy doing them. If you really love something, it is creative.

A man of understanding is continuously creative. Not that he is trying to be creative. The way he sits is a creative act. Watch him sitting. You will find in his movement a certain quality of dance, a certain dignity. Life consists of small things; just your ego goes on saying these are small things. You would like to do some great thing -- great poetry. You would like to become Shakespeare, Kalidas or Milton. It is your ego that is creating the trouble.

Drop the ego and everything is creative. Then everything is tremendously great. If you don't love, then your ego goes on saying, "This is not worthy of you." Cleaning is great. More

Spiritual muse: Learning from Nature - Bachi Karkaria

We think of higher things and beings only when we are down and out. This is one of the three lessons I learnt during a morning walk...

The seasons bring variety to my morning walk around Mumbai’ Five Gardens. The quality of light changes, new flowers splash across the branches, and different bird song filters out of the dense foliage

However, my eyes are usually lowered as I walk. This has little to do with my non-existent humility and everything to do with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s inability to lay and maintain a single level pavement. That and the inability of dogs, stray and pet, to keep their poo off it.

Thus it was that as I walked with downcast eyes, came upon a swathe of purple prose. No, call it poetry. The pavement and the road beyond it had been dyed like a royal robe, though not evenly Here, it was of deep rich hue, there, the fuchsia segued into a paler mauve. I marvelled over this unfamiliar beauty. The end-of summer breezes cover the pavements with the golden blooms of the copper pod tree, and the first showers do the same with the resplendent gulmohur, spreading out a red carpet which might be the envy of Cannes. But that recent morning, the night’s rainfall had changed the accustomed palette, it had brought down hundreds of jamuns .

And that’s how I discovered how many jamun trees there are in Five Gardens. I had never noticed them before. Now, as gingerly skirted the slippery purple, I looked up to behold the magnificent trees that had nestled this benevolence. A philosophical amble does not normally accompany me as I stride through this sylvan enclave, but this time I found myself pondering over the lessons that had dropped from those mystic branches. More

Saavan in Vrindavan

Come rains and the month of Savan, Vrindavan is aglow in verdant greens inside temples dating 25 to 550 years! The artist’s palette will have fewer shades of green than Sri Radha-Krishna’s wardrobe flaunts. Be it Iskcon or Sri Radha Raman temple, Gopinathji or Radha-Vallabhji, Rangnathji or the dearest of them Sri Banke Bihari, greens the colour of gourd to pista green, to new leaves, to rice fields, to mango leaves, to mehandi hue, to parrot green, to lime and fluorescent green, to emerald and aquamarine…embellish the naughty persona of God who came to love and be loved as Sri Radha-Krishna.Visitors from Delhi zip up to Vrindavan in 2 hours on the well-maintained Delhi-Agra highway, and Sunday is the day when Delhites are here in large numbers. For other visitors from neighbouring and far-off cities and villages, even countries, each day is equally important ‘coz they’ve travelled far to meet the Lord of their hearts. The special train from Lucknow to Mathura has increased visitors to Mathura-Vrindavan from the city of Nawabs too. And yes we Lucknowites have a place in Vrindavan to call our very own! Shahji’s temple near Sri Radha Raman temple is a signature of Nawabi opulence, Italian and Rajasthani architectural flicks; experimentation that is a hallmark of Lucknowi monuments. Kundan Lal Shah ji from Chowk in Lucknow built this palace over 2 centuries back for Radha-Krishna, Chote Radha-Ramanji as they are fondly called. This palace with a huge gateway in red sandstone is reminiscent of the entrance to the Asafi and Hussainabad Imambaras. The arched gateway houses bright shops of knick knacks from haute-coutre for the Lord to music vcds and cassettes, tulsi jewellery and key-rings.

In the front courtyard an electronic display of tableaus brings to life episodes from Radha Krishna’s lives. Lilies blossom in gay abandon. This courtyard is a resting place for many travellers in the afternoon when the temple is closed as the Lord rests. Red sandstone steps take one up to the architectural beauty akin to the Taj Mahal in certain ways. Inlay portraits in Italian marble, enhanced with gems have stood the test of time and fine craftsmanship. The 12 twisted-pillars in the verandah from which the temple also gets its name ‘Tehre khambe wala mandir’, are made out of single pieces of marble. This pillared verandah has a Ras mandli nowadays performing the famous dance-drama everyday.

Chote Radha Raman greets devotees in his drawing room with a water fountain in front of him and Itr dipped cotton-buds on sticks to scent the air. Their bedroom is behind them and the famed Basanti room with Belgian glass chandeliers, glasses, mirrors and other royal finery that befits the ruler of all opulence, is on the other side. This Basanti room is specially used on Basant-Panchmi in Jan-Feb to celebrate His wedding anniversary. An impeccable garden with parrots and other birds, monkeys and squirrels exploring the shady greens, opens for the Lord’s frolic 2 days before Raksha-bandhan, Savan Purnima. Yellow sandstone garden walls with intricate jalis and windows overlook river Yamuna that saunters by Keshi ghat with its tortoise population sticking out their heads of the water like lotus buds.

There are still a few days for Janmashtmi celebrations but Savan is itself a glorious celebration in Mathura-Vrindavan. The material and spiritual worlds unravel together in Vrindavan where even Riksha-pullers say Radhe-Radhe and monkeys respond to Radhe-Radhe by not troubling visitors! Rabari, peda, khurchan meva-doodh, lassi, ghevar, chaat, kachori and glorious food at Iskcon’s restaurant Govinda add to visitors’ taste-buds’ memory.

The floral decoration or Phool Banglas at Mathura’s Janma-bhoomi temple or Dwarikadheesh temple or Banke Bihari ji or Iskcon or Radha Ramanji temples in Vrindavan are out of this world and must be witnessed to add to sensory and spiritual joy. Sri Radha Krishna in their finery seated in flower-laden silver swings are a treat for the senses and heart.

Savan brings with it untold moments of grandeur in Vraj bhoomi. A weekend trip would store memories for a lifetime…. And how about planting a tree as an offering to the Lord who dances here!

what is yoga?

"The word yoga is related to the English word yoke. Yoga is the union of body, mind, and spirit—the union of your individuality with the divine intelligence that orchestrates the universe. Yoga is a state of being in which the elements and forces that comprise your biological organism are in harmonious interaction with the elements of the cosmos."
: Deepak Chopra and David Simon
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga

what is 'dhyana'?

"As water takes the shape of its container, the mind when it contemplates
an object is transformed into the shape of that object. The mind which
thinks of the all-pervading divinity which it worships, is ultimately
through long-continued devotion transformed into the likeness of that
divinity."
BKS Iyengar
The Illustrated Light on Yoga