Rural Indian Fashion

Not in a hurry.. 

The pace is calming; for urbaners a bit stressful to see the ease, androgynous I must say, they wear sort of men's shirts with cuffs and collars as the upper garment with the sari.

Kediyu 

Graceful Indian men's wear, androgynous again, absolutely love Indian rural fashion, whether its tradition or innovation its quite genuine!

Fluo femmes 

If you work with color and love textile India's the place to be!

Chai wala 

Indian tea, absolutely eco - ps: that's his bin at the bottom for disposing earthen cups.

A Bite of Summer

I'm spending a lot of precious time with my family; missed out on this while growing up. Of course I miss traveling, sharing the culture wonders of India & the rising of the western sun. But this is as much fun, its like a 'discover the family' journey.

So, grab my camera & give you a snippet of our wonderful hot & humid Mumbai summer.
Would you like to share some melon?

slurping it up! 

How do you beat the summer heat?...

Bombay Boots!

A Bombayite doesn't really know 'winter', well this time we're getting it. The sharp chill has opened doors to winter fashions in a city where an over shirt would get you looks from locals, to say 'you're NOT from Mumbai'.
I love winter and look wistfully at my bags of woolies from travels in cooler climes, stacked away in labelled boxes. The sultry weather makes them redundant.
Out they come now... for Mumbai it's not a passing wave, its WINTER! A popular suburban street lined with 'all styles available' summer wear & flipflops round the year, now stocks boots and furry bed-room slippers to my surprise, quite unusual for Mumbai.

Its a blast of color. Oddly enough I saw girls flopping around in these on a local train station.

 

Boots on Bombay streets.. it's a sight! Folks have been trotting around in them since zara & co. are the new fashion dictators here. It's even managed to trickle down to the street in next to no time.

These springtime verdure flipflops sit cheek-by-jowl with chill weather footwear, the Bombayite is not quite sure when winter checks out.

Vintage Wheels!

I didn't think machines would find their way to this blog,  ok not cars at least! Two little beauties - a Vee-dub beetle & a Topolino stole my heart, perched neatly side by side, pretty as you please.  There was a run coming up over the weekend.
And so on a hot Sunday morning I was at this Vintage car rally, watching Bombay's old gold driving up to a hill town close by.
I thought it'd be an interesting opportunity to spot folks in vintage attire with their cars. The Parsis sometimes come out togged in period costumes & jewels. Not many this time, but the cars were  fascinating .. better than the new toys on roads today. I mean they had an identity, individuality & character. They had style. And they had expressions (yes, still talking of the cars).  

Must-ASH-io Moda

Each time I dig into my photo-box I manage to get out something new.
This time the crazy mustache 'design' and ash smeared bodies has me amazed at how Indian moda sticks to a definite style and innovates with such ease!

Polka dotted turban, a wild mustache & the red highlight!

Visible inspiration! yes I'm sure you have a smile pasted or having a good laugh.
 

 The Ash men

 I love the silhouette; bulky head and minimal tapering torso.

Funk Monks!

La Fiera di Pushkar..

So much to share about Pushkar, it spills over into a second post..

Food, people, costume, faith, rituals, tolerance, an intact culture and the hippy-ness of settlers from other lands. Temple bells & Bob Marley juxtaposed; apple crumble, tarts & cakes on a cart; Dali & Kikasso, India's Picasso, the chutzpah.

Gal watching! 

This handsome Rajasthani was soaking in the sun & getting an eyeful of damsels passing by! Blissfully unaware till someone nudged him, 'settle your whiskers, you're being clicked.'

There's something alike in the man & his beast; can't say what but I felt the men even walked like camels & they were as unflappable.

Langot

Scientific/comfortable Indian clothing (I like how it contrasts with the next picture)

I don't know if this gets you between the eyes, those pants, they were   b-l-i-n-d-i-n-g. Daring, I'd say, but then who's afraid of color in India!

Food for everyone! Like I said, the sense of sharing was a lesson for us city folk.

Ram Ram sa! Ram Ram sa! they chanted as they circumambulated the town until the swollen moon shone bright.

I used to work with an Italian design house crazy about 'fluo' colors, they could never quite get enough of 'fluo'; this would be their 'fluo' paradiso!

The urban encroach dilutes the style they know best.

 

'Behroopiya Dusroopiya'
You've got to pay to photograph this little costume artist for his painstaking Shiva avatar!

Tea in traditional clay cups (kulhar); frugal pleasures of Indian chai!

The sun sets on the cattle fair!

Pushkarma

The Pushkar mela was on my list of must visits for years .. am I glad I finally made it.

It's the India of angrez books and tourists, something we choose to wave off in dismissal. When a firang remarks about the snake charmers, camels, cattle, dust, color, dirt, crowds, sadhus, bathing in the holy waters, I'd look at them like they'd grown two heads. But hey, it's all here!

We are probably as droll to the locals at the fair as they seem to us. Indians from metros are considered as phoren as foreigners by the village folk.

There's much to observe in the face & demeanour, stories & character etched out; of endurance, patience, of giving, calm, distress maybe, hardship and an honest living. I noticed a lot of giving & sharing (the poor giving alms) and and some taking too (touts), it seemed to balance & come full circle in subtle ways.

The Rajasthani  persona is oh-so perfectly chiseled; poise and simple perfection, I'd sit and gaze for hours; entertaining too for the surprises their guises sprang as I sat & watched from the chaiwalla's. And this chaiwalla was a piece of work, he'd make fancy ginger-honey-lemon tea for foreign visitors & shoo away the locals unceremoniously. I didn't care for him but his shop offered a vantage point to people-watch.

 Nihang Sikhs (Punjab)

 

--- Its a photographer's paradise.. and the COLOR can send you reeling.