Home sweet home!

An arte fact made with paper mâché 

If you live in big city, you will know how space crunched the cities are becoming by the day. Finding work is not difficult but being able to buy a roof on the head where one can live with dignity is a dream many urban people are finding impossible to achieve! 

I Came across this interesting artefact made with paper mâché that reflects the very primal need of human beings; to own a home and "settle down". In city like Mumbai that is home to many people from across the country, the struggle of everyday existence is evident in every nook and corner. The city has layers and layers that unfold if you care enough to dig the surface of all the glamour and glitz that attracts so many people to the city chasing an elusive dream of better opportunities, every day! And no matter how hard the struggle, everybody just wants to have a house of their own! 

Dancing like a butterfly!

Captured this butterfly at Hanging Gardens, Mumbai 

Remember the days of wide eyed wonder of running frantically after a dancing butterfly, catching and holding it gently and then let it go and marvel at those stunning colours left on the finger tips and be mightily chuffed about that fleeting, colourful treasure that no amount of money under the Sun could ever buy? 

Trying to capture shot of a butterfly is no different! One has to be very agile in chase and follow butterfly's every graceful move without disturbing its rhythm, get close enough and visualise the field of view and possibly timing of the next move and ensure "the moment" is not lost. 

They say, butterflies signify transformation, spiritual growth. Well, I don't know much about that but for me they are beautiful angels who make my day with their sheer beauty, graceful dance and gentle being! And I am very fortunate to be always surrounded by them wherever I go, sometimes, even in the house! 

Hypnotic Sunset by Marine lines

Gorgeous Sunset at the Marine lines, Mumbai

There is something hypnotic about Sunsets! Sea, like rain is an addiction for me and watching Sunset is my Nature therapy that invariably always makes me feel rejuvenated in body, mind and soul! 

Have you ever seen a Sunset by the sea? I am always blown away watching this everyday miracle. Witnessing gorgeous palette of blazing red, gold, purple, orange, pink and yellow of evening sky, the mesmerizing play of light,  the vastness of sky and the stunning abstracts that keep changing hues is sheer BLISS and should be experienced with complete meditative silence! The best part is, each Sunset brings in different palette, rhythm and energy and if you are crazy about Nature like me, you would agree, no two Sunsets are ever alike. 

My red chilly pickle

Red chillies being cured for making pickle

India is Nation of pickles! Take any household and you will be surprised to learn variety of pickles made with vegetables and fruits. 

Kitchen is the place where I find my daily dose of colour therapy. Vegetables, fruits, condiments, spices provide such sensory overload with their colours, textures, taste and aroma. Cooking becomes almost a divine experience when food is understood well and celebrated the way it should be. And the best compliment I invariably receive is when friends and family raid my kitchen and fight for all the seasonal pickle jars that I am expected to make round the year. There is no joy like sharing one's food with loved ones.   

Lines in Nature

Abstract Art created by lines and colours on palm leaf

I am fascinated by Nature; the mystic beauty of abundant colours, forms, textures, tones, lines and perspectives! 

This image was captured while shooting at Nature park, Dharavi, Mumbai. The sheer gradations of greens to yellows and those diagonal lines were simply captivating! Needless to say, I returned home rejuvenated; body, mind and soul, 

"There are no lines in nature, only areas of colour, one against another." Edouard Manet.

"Art is a line around your thoughts." Gustav Klimt.

"Generally speaking, the colour directly influences the soul. Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers and the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another purposively to cause vibrations in the soul." Wassily Kandinsky.

New beginnings!

These new, tender leaves ignite sense of hope on a completely dry tree! 

Have you ever seen a dry, barren tree? You look at it with glint of sadness and suddenly in some random branch you notice fragile, new leaves showing audacity of hope. This picture was taken at Hanging gardens, Mumbai. It somehow reminds me of my poem "Fragile yearnings" written few months back;

"Fragile yearnings"

As the edge of the day meets

Softly falling evening again,

Someone somewhere

Is holding on to threadbare hope

Haunted by loneliness,

Wanting to complete 

The story left unfinished,

Longing for that one chance

To say words that remained unsaid,

Dying to hold her,

Look into her deep eyes,

Feel scent of her glowing skin

Aching to have those

Long, soulful conversations,

Make her laugh endlessly

And see her blush!

As the edge of the day meets

Softly falling evening again,

Someone somewhere

Is seething with pain

Remembering his last piercing gaze

His eyes brimming with tears,

Unable to express deluge of feelings 

Frozen in that heavy, thundering silence

And she, stunned by that gaze

That changed everything between them forever,

Witnessing silently 

Both of them die a little at that very moment! 

© "Fragile yearnings" Simi Mehta, 18/09/2015

The "Cutting Chai"

"The Cutting Chai", picture taken at Kala Ghoda Art Festival 

Despite the increasing craze for exotic lattes and frappes, the quintessential "cutting chai" still is Mumbai's preferred drink and dominates the streets. Whether you are passing by a busy road, by lanes or a railway station in any part of the city, the sight of a "tapri" (a small cart selling tea), the fragrance of piping hot tea being brewed and poured into a big tumbler to serve people and the precision in the way the tea passes from that tumbler to the glasses; an Art that can be acquired only with experience, is difficult to miss! 

Sipping a "Cutting chai" languidly at the roadside "tapri" with friends and witnessing life around is one of the ways to enjoy and explore this stunningly beautiful metropolis, Mumbai.