notes from Jaipur..

Arrived in Jaipur a few days ago on the not so luxurious Jaipur Express, but just in time to catch the last few days of the Jaipur literary festival , held at Diggy Palace Hotel, which is beautiful and enjoyed sipping chai and wandering between book readings and debates,and browsing the bookshop.. what a treat , and treated myself to these ..

Love Jaipur..the best guide books for India by Fiona Caulfield

The Gentle Author

'“Mickey the Midget” a hero of the London Blitz' 

'Myra Love, Maori Princess'

Whilst having my morning read of The Guardian Online today I came across this article about The Gentle Author, an Eastend Blogger  who writes daily about  places or people who surround him in Spitalfields, recording its history and  their stories. His portraits of the people around him are described as “ lovingly drawn portraits of remarkable, ordinary folk, from Maurice Franklin, a 93-year-old wood-turner, to Myra Love, who lives in a one bedroom flat in Bethnal Green but also happens to be a Maori Princess. There is a chestnut seller, a jewel thief, a pigeon flyer, curry chefs, trendsetters, oddballs, artists, umbrella makers and Sandra Esquilant, the landlady of the Golden Heart, who is in many locals' eyes the de facto Queen of Spitalfields”

The annonymous bloggers work has now been published in a book called Spitalfields Life:

“Everything you seek in London can be found in this book – street life, street art, markets, diverse food, immigrant culture, ancient houses and history, pageants and parades, rituals and customs, traditional trades and old family businesses.”

I've chosen a few pictures from his Blog Spitalfields Life that I love, including Myra Love, who is mentioned above, a Maori princess living in a one bedroom flat..just goes to show you never know who your neighbours are!

17th Century Inspiration

We Love: These  inspiring abstract paintings. Though they have been compared to more modern works from artists such as Paul Klee and Kazimir Malevich they are in fact works created by  Hindu tantra divotees from various northern Indian cities, and are a pictoral tradition dating back to 1600.

The art works, painted on salvaged paper a foot high, enchanted  French poet Franck Andre Jamme , who spent years tracking them down across the deserts of Rajasthan befriending tantrikas in order to  understand their meditative art form.

The works were exhibited in Paris in 1994 where Jamme wrote:

“Perhaps rarely in the universal history of painting have works at once so mysterious and simple, yet so powerful and pure, ever been produced — a bit as if, here, man’s genius had been able to assemble almost everything in almost nothing.”

They have now come into print in “Tantra Song” (Sigolo)


From www.antiquesandboutiques.com Tailor made Tours and Personal Shopping Tours in Barcelona