Whispers from my heart.....

"My momma always said, life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get".

I love this line from the movie "Forest Gump" and I think it still holds good for many of us. While we are busy making plans, life has something else in store for us. As I was writing this  the news of the barbaric Peshawar shooting broke and it left me thinking even more about the surprises and uncertainties that life throws at us. Having said that one cannot stop dreaming or hoping for a better future, right? My life would stop the day I stopped dreaming and my hope would end, the day I stopped believing. I think it's time to count our blessings and start appreciating the littlest things in life. I look forward to a fabulous 2015 as I tell myself - "Everyday do something that will take you an inch closer to a better tomorrow".

I also take this opportunity to thank all my readers for making "Sage&Slingback" what it is. I attribute it's success to your unconditional love and support. Interesting projects are in the pipeline and some big announcements will be made in early 2015.  I request your continued support in the coming years and I wish you all an exciting year ahead -  a year that is filled with hope, happiness and a better tomorrow!

Bollywood & I:

My earlier posts for this year have been a little profound. I was digging on the many aspects of life, precisely happiness and peace. I take a break from my soul searching phase and want to end this year with a lighthearted post.  Accept my creative madness with a dash of smile and I am sure you will enjoy my natter.

Irrespective of the notion that bollywood is for dim wits, I have no qualms in admitting that I am crazy about bollywood movies. While my friends spent their pocket money on fast food and make up, as a teenager, I saved mine to buy copies of Filmfare & Stardust. Apparently people who know me well, know that I thrive on bollywood and everything about it fascinates me. Masala, melodrama, item songs, running around the tree and breaking into songs - I embrace it with open arms. 

I am sure I am going to lose a handful of readers after this candid confession, but it's a less known fact about me that I am a huge Salman Khan fan. I was in my first  year of engineering when "Maine Pyar kiya" was released and like any other teenager of my times I was completely "fida" over him and since then I have remained a Salman Khan loyalist. I take his failures personally and celebrate his successes as if they were my own. Though I don't watch every movie of his, I religiously follow his professional carrier graph, indulge in his personal gossips and remember his birthday - Dec 27th every year.

Every time I talk passionately about my liking for him, eyes are rolled, faces are made and I am sniggered at. People waste no time in throwing the most obvious questions at me. "How can you like a guy who has injured 4 and killed 1 in a drunken state?, How can you like a guy who ill treats all his girlfriends?, How can you like a guy who is insensitive to animals?" they argue. I stand there without an answer or a counter argument. All I know is that behind his bad boy image there is a heart of gold that is less publicized, a heart that reaches out to those less fortunate ones in the name of hope, care & happiness, a heart that believes in Being Human!

Forbes, India recently ranked Salman as the current superstar of bollywood. The quote read: A quest for redemption: Though entangled in court cases and mired in controversy, Salman Khan's super stardom is now being channeled into a genuine effort to do good.

Salman, Sundari and 3 Idiots:

Recently, one of the Indian channels on television had a rerun of the 2009 blockbuster movie, Raj Kumar Hirani's  "3 idiots". Normally, I don't watch hindi movie reruns, but with this one, I paused and decided to watch the rest.  A few minutes into the movie I realized that I was smiling. The memories of the 2009 days loomed large. It reminded me of my conversation with my gynecologist.

"Dr. Bennett - Can I have my baby on Dec 25th or say precisely on Dec 27th ?" - I asked him.  Little did he know about my hidden agenda. After a couple of check up's he told me that I could bring her to this world any day after Dec 27th. I was quite disappointed  with his answer but the prospect of seeing my Sundari soon cheered me up, after all I had waited for 14 long years to see her. 

"3 Idiots" was about to release on the 25th & I wanted to watch the movie as it was a part of my "to do before my Sundari is born" list,  27th was Salman's birthday whom I wanted Sundari to share her birthday with. Though I ended up watching 3 idiots, first day first show on 25th, my latter wish of Sundari sharing her birthday with Salman Khan on Dec 27th was not fulfilled. Even to this day I blame it on Dr. Benette - shucks, I missed it by a day, I tell myself. It's been 5 years since "3 idiots" was released and ironically as Raju Hirani is all geared up for his next  release "PK" this month, Sundari will be turning 5 and Salman is all set to step in to his big 50.

A high five:

December is a month of jingle bells, celebrations and many memories.  All bundled up in her cozy fleece, my Sundari came home on the cold morning of Jan 1st, 2010. We welcomed her with an aarthi while Bhimsen Jhoshi's song " Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma" played in the background. It has been 5 years since then and the journey has been the most fulfilling one. She brought happiness to my life and now it was my turn to celebrate her and her big 5 through this post. Recently I had hosted a holiday/ pre birthday bash for her and her little friends. Here are the snippets from her dress up party.

Home made orange - chocolate bundt cake: 

A pinterest favorite: Santa Hats

You can never go wrong with an Ina Garten ( Barefoot Contessa) recipe : Heirloom tomatoes topped with pesto cream cheese.

Seen here in Alice & Olivia outfit and a bow statement neck piece from Anthropologie.

Sundari & Strawberri:

As I end this post, I will leave all of you pondering over this line from Salman's recent movie KICK. This describes him and my liking for him very aptly I guess - "Mere baare mei jyaada socho mat. Mein sab ki dil mein aata hoon, samaj mei nahi".

The dark knight(s)

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind"

Spoken by the lovesick Helena, who has been abandoned by her beloved Demetrius because he loves the more beautiful Hermia, Helena believes that love has the power to transform something ugly into something beautiful.

Alexander McQueen had this famous line from Shakespeare's ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ tattooed on his upper arm. Like Helena, he considered love to be the most exalted of human emotions. He is the only designer who made his audiences react emotionally during his shows. "I don't want to do a cocktail party , I would rather have people leave my show vomiting. I prefer extreme reactions, be it happy, sad, repelled or disgusted “- he had once remarked. This unconventional fashion genius brought high voltage drama and extravaganza to the catwalk.

"I think there is beauty in everything. What normal people would perceive as ugly, I can usually see something of beauty in it." - I remember ending my first post on Sage&Slingback in 2012 with this quote of his. And now after 2 years, it gives me immense joy to showcase the works of my all time favorite British designer Mr. Alexander McQueen along with my other favorite Indian designer Mr. Kallol Datta who share the same design philosophy that " there is beauty in everything".

He didn't have the slightest inclination towards fashion and applied to design school on a whim. In a short span of time, Kallol Datta has been able to carve out a distinct niche for himself in the rapidly diversifying Indian fashion scene. His design aesthetic without being excessive speaks volumes about his ideology which focuses on making "sexless clothes" for all sorts of people. He believes that there should be no restrictions on how people choose to dress themselves, a belief that was strengthened during his formative years in the Middle East where men, women and children all wore similar clothes, mostly

loose robes in a neutral color palette of blacks and whites. "Shiny objects distract me - I believe in bling free, bling less, bling to death and the likes. The details in the garment, the shape and the form of the piece hold more importance to me" claims Mr. Datta. His love for all things unconventional has led him to an almost ANTI- fashion take on fashion and got him rave reviews. What sets him apart is his conviction in his work, his willingness to step aside from the mainstream brouhaha and do something that he truly believes in.

The comparisons between McQueen and Kallol are strong and inevitable as they both made a huge impact through their avant-garde dressing and quirky sense of style. This post is an attempt to discuss and showcase their design aesthetics which elevated them to instant fame.

Mr. Alexander McQueen's rise from Sevile Row to the head designer at Givenchy (succeeding John Galliano) in a short span caused a stir in the fashion industry. He is no more but continues to be in our heart through his work.

ALEXANDER McQUEEN:


The creator of the controversial "Bumster".

He designed from the side, that way he got the worst angle of the body ( the bumps, lumps & the S- bend of the back). That way he got the cut and proportion and silhouette that works all the way around the body.

He put antlers on the model and draped a $3500 lace around it. He brought theatrical drama to the catwalk.

The sari inspired dress

He was walking on the beach and found thousands of shells. He thought they were so beautiful and wanted to make something out of them. So he decided to make a dress out of them.

He found the bottom of the spine, the most erotic part of anyones  body - man or woman.

The 12 cm  high heels

KALLOL DATTA: 

The "blood bath" series:

 The underarm dress:

The "blood stripe" series:

Paranoia - Pronoia:

   The "self portrait" print:

"Cutlery & foetus" print:

Kallol's biggest fan, singer Sona Mohapatra in a "star print" outfit.

Quirky prints on his saris:

Sona Mohapatra: Dragon fly print
Sonam Kapoor: Clock print
Reshma Merchant : Cigarette print 

Kareena Kapoor was Kallol's showstopper at  the grand finale of LFW -2012.
She is seen here in a "mating snail" printed top.

Meet my photographer: Tanya Gupta

I'm a 17-year-old Electrical Engineering major at New York University. And though my passion lies in the sciences, I take pride in the fact that I'm so in touch with my left brain as well as my right brain - I devote almost all of my free time to photography, writing, and music. When I was 11, my dad invested in a Canon DSLR which I was instructed never to touch without his permission. As any pre-teen would, I rebelled and tinkered around with it whenever he wasn't around, and in time I learned more about the camera than my dad ever did - since then, I've done more justice to that camera than anyone ever has! I find that my favorite subjects to shoot are people, because there's something so raw and beautiful about capturing a moment in time, such as a momentary glance directly into the camera lens or the slight smile that appears before a burst of laughter, much more significant than anything film or writing could capture, in my opinion. I loved doing this shoot because of the venue, the quiet woods with trees through which the sun shone so subtly at 6 pm, which was around the time that we took the photos. Currently I live in Brooklyn and plan on minoring in photography or film. 

JUNE 2014, INDIA:

It was one of those gloomy days in Bangalore when I was sitting on my comfy couch watching the rain outside and enjoying a plate of hot aloo bondas and coffee. While I was carelessly browsing FB, something interesting caught my eye. I saw some stylish shots of some known faces. I became curious and wanted to know more about the photographer and in no time I realized that the pictures were styled and shot by Tanya, my friend Radhika’s gorgeous  daughter.

Whoa! I didn't know about this facet of Tanya, I thought to myself. The more I looked at the pictures, the more impressed I was. I liked the rawness in them and her eye for detail. My creative brain started working rapidly and the name KALLOL DATTA popped up many times. I wanted Tanya to photograph me in my Kallol Datta sari, I wanted her to capture the dark and edgy side of his designs. I wanted to send her a message immediately but then wondered- she is 17 and I am 44 - will she agree to do this photo shoot? Will she even consider me photo worthy? I was hesitant but soon enough I told myself that it does not hurt to ask. I sent her a lengthy FB message and waited to hear back from her.

In two days, I got a prompt reply from Tanya saying she is super excited to do a photo shoot with me and would want to meet me once I was back in Chicago.

SEPTEMBER 2014, CHICAGO:

"Jayashree aunty, I am really good at make up" - this 17 year old doe eyed beauty stated and in the same breath she continued " I like the freckles that I see on your face, let's not touch it but I would like to work on your eyes and lips. A high sleek pony tail, a thin silver nose ring, heavy brows, dark eyes and maroon lips is what I am thinking of, I want to give you an "ANGSTY" look." She sounded well researched and determined and I was completely bowled over by her conviction and how differently she looked at things.

Normally when you do a heavy eye, you keep your lip color mute but here she was, trying to go against the norm and experiment. Knowing her eagerness to try something different, I decided to give her a free hand and do exactly what she wanted me to do.

Amidst the chaos of Tanya packing her bags to move to New York to study engineering she made time for this shoot and sent me a message. The message read: " It's going to be a twilight shoot in a dense forest preserve - let's plan on meeting at 6 in the evening." The stylist in me was ready to be challenged. After playing for an hour with the shades of MAC and Yves St Laurent, we were ready for our twilight shoot.

The "mating snail"print on a saree:

Your sweat, blood & tears start smelling good to me & then I begin to fear, when the premature ventricular contractions occur - Blood Song.

Happy reading & Happy Halloween!