DakshinaChitra - Living Traditions in a Changing Society ...



       Dakshinachitra located on the scenic East Coast Road in Chennai is a non-profit organization of the Madras Craft Foundation created for the promotion and preservation of  the cultures of the diverse people of India with emphasis on Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. A variety of old South Indian houses are re-built inside the place without losing the originality. Materials used during the era are kept inside the house to provide an overview of the history of South Indian states. It is a great place to visit with family and kids if one wants to know, understand and appreciate the old traditions that are out of place today.

     Around 20 houses are recreated which include the Potter's house of  Tamil Nadu, Ikat Weaver's house of Andhra Pradesh, Chikmagalur House of Karnataka, Syrian Christian house of Kerala etc., Apart from the houses, there is a crafts bazaar where crafts people from across India demonstrate their craft and sell traditional craft items directly to the public. Also, there are a number of activities like dance performances, puppet shows, art exhibitions, fun activities like tarot card reading with parrots, pottery making etc.,  and craft workshops organized within Dhakshinachitra for children and other visitors as well.

  

On the way to Dakshinachitra - The scenic East Coast Road ...

 Large Terracotta Elephants standing in welcome at the entrance...  

Lush greenery that is in abundant in the area...

The reception lobby where many interesting terracotta pieces are placed...



Love the bird bath and the urli...

 

 

 

 Love the brick wall ... and the simple and elegant wooden windows...

Love the beautiful arch made of bricks above the window as well..  

An attention-grabbing water hole in the shape of an elephant / cattle head...  

A map of the entire area... There are printed maps available at the reception itself .. It is better to have one in hand when you visit the place since the area is vast and spread across acres of land... 

Loved this interesting wooden sign with terracotta plate and cutlery to the restaurant 'kanali' .. 

 

 An entire street of  houses is recreated to form the Tamil Nadu section - It contains an original Nattukotai Chettiar Merchant House from Chettinad, a Brahmin House from Ambur of Tirunelveli District, an Agriculturist's house from Thanjavur district, a Weaver's house from Kanchipuram, Potter's House and Basket Weavers' Houses from Chengalpattu District.

 

 

Articles like baskets, plates etc., used in earlier times are exhibited inside the houses... Aren't the colors used on the walls lovely ? 

Entrance to the Nattukottai Chettiar Merchant House from Chettinad - Pillars made of wood, primarily imported teak and the roof tiles used distinguish these houses.  

 A vessel ( used to store water ?? ) inside the house .. .

  

You can try the gradma's grinding technique inside one of the Tamilian houses ...

Reminds me of my maternal grandmother using the same to grind grains years ago....  

A weaver demonstrates the art of weaving Kanchipuram saris usiing a pit-loom  inside the weaver's house ...

  A syrian christian house of Kottayam District ... 

The Ikat Weaver's House of Koyalagudam, Andhra Pradesh ...

Love the vibrant doors and windows.....

 

Love the metal door knocker ...  

 

Weavers' Houses made of stone  from IIkal in North Karnataka ...

 

Chikmagalur House of Karnataka ...

 

All Images : Mine. Copy right belongs to Liven Things Up.

Please do not re-use or copy without written permission.

 

Note :  Please plan the visit to the place for at least 2-3 hours since the area is vast. Wear sandals as you will have to walk a lot. The place can be very hot during summer even though there are abundant trees in the area.

 

For the Garden ~ From Shopo.in ...

     By now, I am sure that most the bloggers and non-bloggers would have heard of the great online shopping website Shopo. For those who donot know, Shopo is a market place for Indian handicrafts and designer products. Be it apparel or home decor products or jewellery , they have items in almost every category one can imagine !!! If you are looking for something unique and Indian, then this is definitely the place to be. It is also one of my favorite online shopping sites that I frequently visit, and the first thing I look for is their latest garden products. So, when Shopo asked me to feature some of their products, naturally I accepted, and I wanted to do the post on one of my favorite topics- Gardening !!!

 

Here are my favorite picks from the Garden Section of Shopo.in ... Hope you like them as well.. ;-) ;-)

 

 Quirky Watering Cans from An Indian Summer .

 Handmade Bird Houses from Elan - Love the little metal bird on top...

  Metal Railing Planters in bright colors from Green Essence .

Garden markers from Elan ... Btwn.. Who does not love chalkboard works ??  

 Jungle Fever Collection of terracotta planters from Nature Nurturer .

 Pretty Mini Planter from An Indian Summer ... Looks like a pineapple right ?

 Metallic Planters and Garden Mushroom from Green Somethings ...  

 Write on me Planters from Poppadum Art .

 

Note : This is not a paid review or feature. All Image Copyrights belong to Shopo . You can visit the Shopo website here and follow Shopo on facebook here.

Gardening in Small Spaces ~ Simple Vertical Garden Ideas !!!

     A couple of weeks back, when I had been to a nursery that I haunt at times, I found these beautiful vertical gardening concepts and I simply had to share them with you all !! Vertical gardening solutions can be very useful when there is not enough space at a home to spare for a garden.  

Idea #1 : A wooden mesh or a wire mesh can be used to house planters. These semicircular planters have two holes at the back and can be nailed or tied to the mesh. This is a great solution if you do not like hammering nails to the walls. These planters can also be fastened to fences, grills etc., What a lovely idea isn’t it ?

 Planters fastened to a mesh made of Bamboo stems ....!!!!

A fern plant in a wall sconce planter .... !!!

Idea #2 : These lovely colorful planters from ‘Options’  are available in 9 different colors . They can either be fixed to the wall or can be used as regular planters. They have matching drip plates as well . The approximate price of these planters along with the plates is ~100. These planters are available at Green Sentei , Shakambari Gardens , Odyssey etc., 

 There is a transparent clamp that is available to fix the planter to the wall.

Love the colorful planters lined up on the wall .. !! 

Idea #3 : A vertical plant stand made of metal or wood, used to hang colorful hanging pots is also a good space saving option.

Vertical Plant Stand made of bamboo stems ...!!

The Hook with which the pot is hung is seen here in the picture ... !!

Love these purple flowers.... yellow and purple form a great combination ...!!

This is nowhere related to vertical gardening , but I simply had to post the picture of this multi-tiered planter that has many varieties of plants in it… ;-) ;-).

Hope these simple ideas inspired you enough to create your own vertical garden at home. If you do try out something like this, send the pictures to liventhingzup@gmail.com - I would be delighted to see them ;-) ;-) .