Moving on...

Yesterday, I shifted into my own house. It’s a rented 1BHK apartment. It’s small and airy and bright. It’s mine.

I grew up in an extremely protective family, with parents who took care of everything we needed. And then I went to live in a hostel where everything was easily available. When I did shift into an apartment, it was with a couple of other friends. We were students living on a minimal budget, but we did not want more than we needed, and life was simple. We lived out of a couple of suitcases, and the first one to buy a cupboard to keep her stuff was considered vain. Then I got married and shifted into my husband’s home. For four years, that was my home too. We bought a lot of stuff we did not need. I have already told you that story.

There is something not many relationship experts tell you. When there is clutter in a house, it invariable finds its way into your relationships. And closed spaces with too many things in them start dying. They cannot survive too much too soon. Too many things, too many thoughts, too many broken promises - We can’t survive gluttony. It’s self-serving, and very destructive. And most of all, it affects your relationship with yourself.

But for the first time in my life, I am living alone. And living alone is not the same as living on your own. There is a subtle but important difference. When you live alone, you live with yourself. When there is no other relationship to lean on, you have yourself. You fly solo. And that’s the most important commitment you make: Longer than a marriage, deeper than friendship, sweeter than motherhood. If you can smile when you look at your face in the mirror, and feel happy, your relationship with yourself is going well.

The apartment I rented was bare walls when I moved in. On the third floor. The door bell doesn’t work. The kitchen tap is leaking. The windows don’t shut properly. I don’t have a working kitchen yet, or an internet connection. The bathroom was left dirty by the previous tenants. And still, when I spent a big part of yesterday with the most important people in my life helping me set up my house, it was one of the happiest days of my life. I woke up this morning and said hello to the best Monday ever. A yellow and red living room, a blue themed bedroom, and a country style kitchen ... And this time friends, no clutter.

Life In two Suitcases

Image Courtesy


There comes a time in everyone’s life, when they are given an opportunity to turn everything upside down, and inside out. When life breaks off from its course, and you get a chance to start all over again. Everybody gets that chance. But very few notice it.
My name is Pratishtha Durga. I am a wannabe fashion blogger. I say “Wannabe” because my thoughts are too random, my opinions too scattered, and my style, indecisive. I make a couple of posts every couple of months, and then get too busy, doing nothing in general.
Last year, on 6th October, my life turned upside down, and inside out. My ailing mother fell in the bathroom, and lay there, conscious and helpless, for hours… waiting for my father to come back home and rescue her. She suffered a cranial fracture and a hemorrhage that resulted in a month long painful bedridden stage, finally leading to her demise on 15th November. Her right side was paralyzed after the fall, and a week later, she lost her voice. She must have had so much to say, so many more stories to tell. But she died… unable to speak, unable to share, unable to move. She took her stories, her pain, but left behind a gift that all the treasure in the world could not have bought. She left behind a chance for me to change my life.
For months, perhaps years, I have known that I carry around nothing but excess baggage. I spent all my money on meaningless things, most of which I forgot about as soon as I bought them. As the excess baggage in my life grew, my desire to travel started fading away. It’s common wisdom that if you have to travel far, you must travel light. I had a beautiful wardrobe, I had great books, and I had unusual things to decorate my house. And I had mediocrity. No drive, no passion, no desire to find my own stories and travel destinations. I believed I was happy, and I probably was. But then, more things happened that washed away that illusion. And for a while, life felt fruitless, useless.
I realized that nothing hurts more than untold stories and broken promises you made to yourself. Watching my mother’s lifeless body made me wake up to my life all over again. My mother was a story teller. She could weave stars and constellations out of words and take you places you’d never have dreamed existed. And you could see those stars in her eyes. Her lips would curl up in a faint smile and her eyes would well up with the memories of places she had only visited in her thoughts. I want to go to all those places and more. And I want to discover new stories in new places.
I truly believe that you can start your life over gain, whenever you want. That you can make it what you want it to be. It has taken me a while to start defining what I want from my life. What I truly want is to rid my life of the extra baggage I have accumulated over the years, and only hang on to things that I value the most. I want to write my life’s story all over again. And this time, I want my life to fit into just TWO SUITCASES.
And I want to share my story with all of you. And if it can help you dream, if it can help you change the course of your life, I would be twice as happy. From today, as often as I can, I will be writing posts on what I am doing to make my life different. I will try and give shapes to my dreams, and then I will just go ahead and make them come true. And you all will be my partners on this special journey. I would love to hear from you and get help from you in defining my life’s new course. You and I, we will embark on this journey together. Let’s begin!

The Great Wall Of Mumbai!

So, things are a little better. Thanks for all your kind words. My mom is a little better, though it's a long, painful road to recovery.

I needed a pick-me-up. So Tarun and I went for the Mumbai Wall Project. It's a collaborative street graffiti project, wherein people are invited to come and paint the walls along a particular street in Mumbai. The paints and other material is provided by the organizers. I did a simple pretty design. Not bad for a first attempt at graffiti. Tarun and his two friends - Niharika and Kunal- made the Pakman.

Sorry for being MiA

Hi. I haven't posted in a while. I was away for a serious family emergency. My mom had a nasty fall, and being already weak, she suffered from a life-threatening head injury. She seems a little better now. But I might not be back in action for some time. Meanwhile, I'd try and visit your lovely blogs and post my comments. Take care.

The Future Of Fashion - Tech Couture

As one fashion week after another speeds by, my ADD is kicking in, and I am suddenly intrigued by a less talked about aspect of fashion – Tech Couture. From designer Manel Torres exploring the possibility of spray-on clothing, to the development of “smart” second skin clothing which has interactive fragrance technology permanently built into the clothing: examples include clothing and jewellery that release scents such as menthol, which could help alleviate medical problems including asthma attacks.
That science and fashion interact on such close front is exciting, and not just from an academic point of view. To break free from the current conventions of fabrics and silhouettes, and to be able to explore unthinkable dimensions, and through fashion!

All this isn’t some distant science fantasy. In fact, some of these innovations have already been seen on the runway. Hussein Chalayan’s 2008 collection featured LED dresses: a video dress displaying a time-lapsed image of a rose opening up and closing, with an array of colours and light, made possible by 15,000 LEDs embedded in the fabric. In 2007, Chalayan’s collection featured clothes that changed shape: zippers closing, cloth bunching and hemlines rising, with the assistance of micro-controllers, switches and motors.






Dresses changed shape as the audience gasped


If this is just the beginning, I can’t really wait to see what the future of Tech-couture will be!

LIFW SS 2010- Celebrating 10 years of Fashion

The first day of Lakme Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010 had an unusual and timeless treat for the fashion lovers in the city - a spectacular show called “Lakmé and IMG celebrate 10 years of fashion”
presented by Samira Habitats. Covering the past 10 years of the fashion week, the theme of the show was Then - Now – Forever: with 20 Lakme Grand Finale designers presenting their looks from “back then”, to now and then finally, the timeless, “forever” looks. The show ran for a full 45 minutes and featured some stunning designs from some of India’s most well-known and prolific designers. Though every design that made a round of the runway is worth writing about, there are some creations that made a noticeable impact on the fashion fraternity present.

Bobby and Manju Grover’s Forever design, a chiffon shot silk grey gown with a metallic Lurex laser cutwork bodice with a dramatic headgear.


Monapali’s Forever, a white net sari with a kantha and mirror work borders.


Rohit Bal’s Forever, his favourite 16 tiered full circle kurta in ivory.



Arjun Khanna’s Forever, a mirror work embellished jacket teamed with a crushed panelled lehenga with gold motifs.


J J Valaya’s Forever, a floral ruffled headgear cum choli with white zardozi lehenga.


Tarun Tahiliani’s fringed dress and gown with corded off- shoulder neckline for Now and for Forever, a draped bronze satin backless dress.


Malini Ramani’s Forever, a fierce, tiger stripes backless mini in gold and black.


Ritu Beri’s dramatic Spanish inspired skirt, presented as her Forever design.


Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s Forever design, a velvet chiffon multi print skirt, blouse and bolero in earthy tones.


Finally, as 20 of India’s most creative minds took the stage, there was, as expected, a standing ovation, marking the end of the fashion event of the decade.  

All Images Courtesy www.lakmefashionweek.co.in

Kolkata Fashion Week - Ritu Kumar

The Czarina of Indian Haute Couture, Ritu Kumar, presented her collection on the first day of the Kolkata Fashion Week. Featuring her characteristic designs with exquisite blending of the Indian handicrafts with contemporary mediums, Kumar’s collection opened in black and gold, with varied silhouettes to suit the modern Indian woman. The collection comprised of evening gowns, long tunics, chogas, kutchi gathered coats worn over loose pants, all incorporating the exquisite skills of a hugely skilled designer. The theme was taken further by marrying the Indian aesthetic with coats, trench and bomber jackets, all trimmed with leather and worn with tights and boots. The color palette was rich and vivid, in the true Ritu Kumar style. The designer called her collection a tribute to the craftsmen of West Bengal, as she marked it as a celebration of forty years of the Ritu Kumar label.