Ganpati Bappa 2018

Regardless where you reside, you are bound to be overtaken by the festive enthusiasm, where decorating is a natural extension and essence of the festival. My festive fervor shines through my decor choices. Bringing my signature luxe touch on this year's Bappa settings with rich and complex accents of brass is a pure delight. 

To ignite a new romance and unfold new décor stories at the herald of this festival, I moved forward in that eureka moment and revamped this wall in spurt of the moment. Now the new strong background strengthens the point of focus and spiritual ambience in our temple room. Here is the look of our last year's décor. 

More is marvelous when it comes to brass. I am addicted to brass and I use it often and sometimes unnecessarily. Best of the brass pieces are out on the table that add a visual delight in the company of our eco-friendly Ganesha. The strikingly bold and glamorous paintings of our daughter gives this setting a riotous splash on the wall. The ikat framed mirrors from our recent Egypt tour add enough razzle-dazzle.

Do check out her growing feed on Instagram here.. from where she also takes up orders of painting.

Despite the fact, how people love Ganesha, worship him with all their heart and hold genuine respect for him, how I wish we could maintain quiet dignity to this festive without commercializing it. The viral videos on social medias of throwing away statues of worshipped Bappa has dampen my heart and spirit of the festival. 

Ending the post with a hope and a prayer that more people can make a move towards celebrating this festival more eco-friendly way in coming years. Until we meet again stay connected on my Facebook and Instagram handles, toodles! 

Ganesh Chaturthi Wishes

Wishing you all joyous and glorious festivities 'Pinkz Passion' style. May Ganesha always shower his love and blessings on all of us. Here are some eye-candy images to begin the festival. 

'Happy Ganesha Chaturthi'

Here are the vignettes of Ganesh Chaturthi special if you missed on my social feeds. 

And we welcomed Bappa......

The décor demon inside me is hard to tame when the festivity ranks supreme. This year also the spirit of the festivities has created quite a stir in our home, and as a result of that great fervor, a seized corner in our temple room is breathing elegance in the presence of our eco-friendly Ganesha. 

Traditional theme has been injected in every corner anchoring my brass pieces.  My artist daughter’s artwork as a backdrop does not only rivet the attention but also gives a powerful impact on this year’s setting.

The same set of Bandhani dupattas used for décor here and here are called in service to imbue more color and draw the eye. Don’t miss the frolicking troupe of ‘Ganeshas’ with brass diyas (that I used freely mixing unexpectedly) adding festive touch on the table.  And the garland adorning on the “bajoth” of ‘Ganesha’ is actually a “toran” (door garland) that adds a decorative tone on the setting.
The tall wooden Ganesha statue is graced in the center as a great impetus. The dark and soft color contrast make both idols stand out. In between the festivity chaos and complete madhouse, the traditional ladoo recipe has been dumped and new (an easy peasy) coconut ladoo recipe (stolen from YouTube) has taken care of his cravings.  

Few traditional, pretty and colorful decorating, relevant to the celebration has surprisingly created a spiritual ambience in our temple room. I love it especially when the lit up candles cast a warm glow in the room throughout our prayers.  From my end, I am leaving no stone unturned to please our darling little “Ganesha” this year :).

 

Up next on the blog is our first giveaway, stay glued on facebook page or Instagram feed so you don't miss out any details on the post or more decorating ventures. Until we meet again, toodles!

Eco-friendly Ganesha!

Ganesh Chaturthi, one of the most talked about festival, brings to mind joy, fervor, extra zeal, pomp and gaiety.  The festival has created quite a stir in our home as well and the thrill and delight in equal measure has propelled us into a festive mode.  

Just like last year, our daughter has rescued us this year also by carving out our own excellent ‘Bappa’ for the festivities. Moulded with her labor of love, he is ready to be surrounded by love throughout his stay and shower his blessings.

 

This year, we are celebrating with double the joy as with extra time on hand, she managed to make 2 idols :). Unlike last year’s bappa placed on a flower, this year, he will be taking his seat on a leaf.

There is definitely an appeal that adds allure to her handmade creations. It likewise also makes both of us happy to see her engaging herself in traditions.

We have left the polluting bandwagon of immersing our idol long back and now carrying out the most elaborated way to celebrate the festival.  The worshipped idol will be immersed in “kundi” or “urli” after the festivities and the water will be poured out in our own garden to feel his presence forever with us.

For those who want to "go-green" with this year's celebration, can use air-dry-clay from Michaels, which is sturdy and fits the bill perfectly for us to mould our idol. The easy to use and easy to smooth air-dry-clay softens with water and ideally flexible for variety of other sculptures as well. After drying the clay idol (about a day) she painted him with acrylic paint.

The excitement of “Ganesha’s” arrival is palpable and preparations are at the peak and hoping the same for those who celebrate the festival.  As I turn myself back on the festive mode, we will see you again next week with a post gargling about our unseen collection of “Gifted Ganesha”.  Until then stay connected on Facebook and Instagram, toodles!

Passion of Collection!

Who wouldn’t fall for his spellbinding and hypnotizing rotund and jolly appearance? For the one who utterly embodies divinity with chubby cheeks, sparkling eyes, benign smile curved lips and his innocent trunk face. The one who radiates an aura of his twinkling and gleaming personality, the one who excels all the masters and the one who is most worshipped divine being, we did...yes...with Ganesha.

As the whole world welcomes him for a grandest celebration, I could not select any better day to cap off my long held idea of a post to take you on a virtual tour of our proud collection of "Ganesha". Though, we (me and my husband Aj)  both being an avid collector, are deeply confident about our interest and tastes, the credit for taking personal interest in building our collection should be endowed to my husband, Aj. The collection reflects his well -travelled life of business and his deep resonated sense of taste to pick the right pieces. Perhaps, his discerning eye is intuitively drawn towards certain pieces. 

So, keep your eyes and heart open as eventually I steer you around our home.

      

As you draw in, you will see the masterful layering around the home with carefully chosen mix of brass belting out the saga of our truly precious collection. As our home gets ready for the festivity, few upbeat hues of the festivities are brought to life at my entrance way. You might settle with my thought; DNA for "Ganesha's" love runs in the family, his charm has catapulted magic for our artist daughter as well who drew these beautiful paintings adorning our entrance. 

                 

When celebrations start, a dash of dancing lights and flowers along with our inherent craving for brass transform our living room a focal place in our home. The curated cabinet, in our living room,  is a perfect discovery for homing our rare, treasured and sentimental pieces. A common thread of brass here stitches all together.

Periodically combing through what you have accumulated eases a challenge to balance the pieces. Grouping in ingenious ways permits each item a greater decorative value. Particularly this "Ganesha with kumkum" I remember as the first one coming home before we begin collecting. His gesture being in a shell makes him an adorable and an exclusive piece of our collection.

Embracing possibilities by detaching preconception leads me to a perfect pairing of some timeless brass which often authenticates a little sense of newness in my décor. The “Zula Ganesha” was plucked by me for a pooja celebration at home,  over a decade ago. The antique brass tray was scored from the “Gurjari Bazar” of India. It’s a fabulous plus to our collection and no wonder you often spot in my décor being my absolute favourite. Little elbow grease and tamarind worked its charm to give the sharpness and shine to the plate. 

I chew on modifying and styling collection, instead of being jumbled on a shelf taking up your space. One of such styling of the impeccable crew of brass Ganeshas are taking their grand entry on the blog especially for the collection post. Each figurine in the troupe of brass portrays the compassionate Ganesha frolicking different traditional instruments. 

Traditional and fanciful rare piece such as this “Ganesha writting Mahabharata”, resonate depicting stories of history. To add more reflective glamour on the festive season, I every so often fetch him and other brass knick-knacks on our coffee table for a cheerful look. 

I often find myself challenging to balance the pieces without everyday being a feel at the brass store. To justify the correctness of each piece, I group with a great mix of style that is flexible and continuously evolving with different pieces. The "Idealistically sitting Ganesha" here on the vignette was fetched from an antique store boutique from Delhi. And the kettle, you are gazing at, is unexpectedly fetched from a yard sale rightly proving that one person’s trash becomes another person’s treasure.

We started feeding our passion by hunting and gathering aesthetically beautiful and elegant pieces such as this “Bal Ganesha”. Grouping him with few of my favourite things together builds a strong reason to stop by him and take a closer look. 

You don’t necessarily have to inherit an antique to love it and make it your own. This cutest “Nerdy Ganesha” is our most recent purchase from India. His sharp, smartened look made him a one of a fanciful gem of our collection.

For the collection journey, only part of our collected pieces were chosen here to share. But my tale of collection would never be complete without sharing our traditional and ethnic idols.

Raising the veil off of one of the classic “Wooden Ganesha” who was brought home as a treasured memory of our first purchase of a new home. This new age “Lotus seated Ganesha” came home recently as a gesture of our old school friendship by a dear friend. 

Along with few serene “Sitar playing Ganesha” and an infantile form of “Bal Ganesha”, we also own the most marvelous shade of blue ones. There are also few who a tug a string of our heart and often take numerous rounds in my regular décor on Facebook and Instagram pages.

Few multi-coloured idols of "Ganesha" also lend some personality, charm and whimsy to our collection.

A significant collection usually begin with just one item whether books, art, paintings or Ganesha, outline the personality of your home and reflect style and taste of the owners. Spark an interest in something you haven’t realised or considered collecting. Whatever and however you collect, just follow your heart. If you love something, you will always find a place for it. Love and surround yourself with your favorite pieces and live with it. 

Amid the plethora of fantastic treasures, I wrap up this journey of our collection. The tad-bit long post is a result of hours of styling, hundreds of clicking and finishing off final touches before festivities at our home. Now, as I am off to welcome our this year's Ganesha, wish you all the very happy Ganesh Chaturthi and a wonderful celebration, until we meet again, toodles!

Go Green Ganesha!

The herald of the auspicious arrival of “Ganpati Bappa” is imminent. As many states in India and probably across the globe Ganesha aficionados have started the groundwork in full swing for the preparation of the grandest and most expounded arrival for the festival.

Yes, we are also under his fever as he is coming with his little boy lost look to flabbergast us over his powerful impression and comforting plump belly to gobble down our “ladoos” for the poised celebration of 10 days of devotion and delight to bring fortune and joy in our lives. 

Ganesh 2015

I have lost the count of exact numbers of years that he is welcomed to our home now for the festival. Though, since last 2 years, we were puzzling over with new possibilities for his sculpture. Hit with a wave of confusion on his arrival for his figurine as it is difficult to find a perfect one to meet our purpose and also not to forget the struggle we had to face when we bid adieu.  After worshipping the deity for 10 days, his “visarjan” (immersion) was challenging being on the coldest sphere.

 

 

Our curiosity won out after few good thoughts and some scrolling on the web, which compelled the artist in the house to give her clever touches to mould him and form him to suit our desires.  As a result of our vision and courage to think differently we are able to go green with his figurine. The fruits of her labour created and moulded “Ganesha” with air dry clay from Michael’s Craft Store and few strokes of paint. She also whittled out a lotus base “aasana” for him.  

 

Ganesha 2014

The last year’s statue was a first attempt at going green but this year’s look bowled all of us out, we loved how he is adopting a little boy look. Being a clay model our practical requirement of his immersion is well served as on the last day we just soak him in a pot at home and the infused water with clay is also kept forever by pouring in our garden next day, that way he exists with us always.

Up next on the blog will be some over dose of brass and my collection show off.  Exclusively for the “Ganesh Chaturthi”, unveiling many new and existing Ganesha, so stay connected on facebook for more updates and some eye candy images of celebrations. Until we meet again, toodles!