Brain Matters

Thanks to a post in BangBangBangalore, I got to know that there is a Brain Museum in this city. We went there this morning bursting with curiosity. We stared slightly dazed and bewildered at different kinds of largely unlabelled brain specimens on the shelves and threw wild speculations at each other. 

Then to our luck Prof. Shankar, the man who had created the museum, came in and asked us, ‘Would you like to touch a real human brain?’
What do you make of someone who asks you a question like that? But Prof. Shankar was serious. And he had already decided we were going to touch a brain. He opened a basin in the corner, removed a human brain and two hearts and placed it on a tray in front of us.

He asked us to hold it and placed it in our hands, he showed us how a brain was placed inside a human skull, he explained the structure of the brain to us.

Then, he asked us to wash our hands and walked with us around the museum explaining the different kinds of brains on display there. We got to see the brain of a person with an aneurysm, a schizophrenic’s brain, a cross-section of a speckled brain eaten up by tapeworms, the damaged brain of a person in a scooter accident, brain with green moss like stuff growing in it and many many more brains each one exhibited there for a specific reason. There was a duck’s brain, a tiny rat’s brain and the small smooth white brain of a four-week baby. 

Disturbing, some of you might say, I thought I would never be able to stomach holding a human brain in my hands, but I did, and thanks largely to Prof.Shankar’s enthusiastic and fascinating explanations, both P and I left the museum with a feeling of awareness and a sense of awe for what is within us which enables us to function as we do.

Thank you also Andy Deemer, BangBangBangalore has indeed taken me, a true blue Bangalorean beyond the Bull Temple. Who knows, one day I might even visit the Rajkumar Memorial.

The Brain Museum is at NIMHANS, near the library. It is open on Saturdays 10am-3pm.

Two boys

These two boys, urchins, came and watched us draw at the Sunday Pencil Jam session at Kempegowda Museum. Later I saw that one of the boys and procured himself an old tissue paper and a ball-point pen refill and was trying to draw. The other Jammers and I gave the boys paper and pens to draw with. Later they came back and solemnly returned the pens and papers to me. At first I couldn't make out what it was that the boys had drawn until one of the Jammers pointed out that both the boys had drawn each other. You can see it - ears, eyes nose, mouth and also the hands :-)

Picture of the boys taken by Prabha on her cellphone.

One Day

Priya at 42. Chubby, curly and very very happy.

The Ferrero Rocher Garden

I like to cultivate my Ferrero Rocher Garden.

I love chocolate. It inspires me :-)

A Morning of Sketching

Here are some pictures from the Pencil Jam session at Venkatappa Museum:

I just ate up all the chocolate and ogled at the other's drawings.

This is a page out of the sketchbook of George, one of the brains behind Pencil Jam.

If you are in Bangalore, come join us for a Sunday morning of drawing.

More details here >

Say it with Flowers

The lovely people at The Key Bunch blog are celebrating their anniversary by saying it with flowers. Join the celebrations by clicking here>>>

A beautiful blog - Lyndie Dourthe

It's Back!

A Gilaas of Chai

Sunday

Here are some pictures of an unusual seed pod I found on a Sunday morning walk at Lalbagh.

This one was found closer to home.

Isn't it gorgeous?

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Here are some pics from the walk:

Look at this!

An impromptu installation done by the dada of 1 Shanti Road, above
and the essence of Sunday Benglur below.

Lush tropical stuff

and the rarity of vast empty space.

Outside, at the gates, this man sells a variety of fresh sprouts

Which I make into a salad for lunch. Ah! Simple and healthy.

ps: We also ate a high calorie South Indian breakfast, but it was over before I could say 'click'.
;-)

Sunday

Sunday morning I felt these ominous rumblings of a cold, so I hastily made myself lots of cups of ginger chair using a mix and match of these lovely ingredients.

Then I floated around my studio 

Got philosophical as I gazed out at my garden

Contemplated on the beauty of my big fat tentacled Aloe Vera

Contemplated on the serene beauty of my Big Fat Dangerously Clawed Fatcat.

And looked through some treasured gifts. Here a bunch of beautiful cat postcards by Etienne Delessert.

And exquisite vintage lace hankies gifted to me long ago...

And Arches watercolour paper given to me by an artist friend yesterday  (just look at the utterly gorgeous texture and the edges! ) -

This is a pretty little trinket picked up during a walk down Brigade Road this week...

Then I browsed through this. The cover is better than the story, but that's my opinion with a cold in my head.

Then I made more Masala Chai

And made these utterly delicious and easy, pan fried Fennel Drop biscuits (from a recipe in one of Anjum Anand's books).
As you can see I've indulged in an absolutely useless, self- indulgent and enjoyable blog post (which we probably all need to do once in a while), and I feel so much better already. It must be the plate full of Fennel biscuits, oops, and the Masala Chai too! :)

Morning Surprise!

So much for once swearing that I’d never get sentimental about blogging or bloggers. I always thought myself an unsentimental kind of babe - a non- hugger who sniffs with disdain at excessive displays of emotion. But I have to shove my steel armour aside this time and I have to get teary eyed in this post when I talk about the utter thoughtfulness of virtual friends I haven’t even met in real life.
What they do for me! They send me seed pods and lovingly handmade Christmas gifts; they send me ‘fan mail’, they actually buy my paintings… When they are in Bangalore, they make it a point to come visit me and even indulge my strange requests in the name of art. When I want to know about art terminology or related stuff, they take the time to share their knowledge in detail with me…

Aneri Maasi shares an enthusiasm of pretty feet with me which you can see here and here. Yes, please do click! As you can see, one simply can’t help but gush over them. This is the reason I LOVE being a woman! I may indulge in pedicures, but I have never ever seen nails around here imprinted with pretty designs in my part of the world.
Then yesterday, I got a surprise package in the mail. I wondered who it could be. When I opened it, there was a ‘handwritten letter’ from Aneri on beautiful green paper. Yes! I am going to repeat that – Handwritten! Beautiful stationery! (Who takes that much time these days and that too for someone they’ve never met?) And there was a gift – a package of pretty nail stickers!!!! You cannot find a happier babe typing out this blog post :-) Hyuk hyuk hyuk...My feet are wriggling their toes in anticipation for their monthly pedicure with a cherry on top this time – nail stickers! And yeah, of course it will be splashed all over my blog when it happens.

Thank you Aneri. This was so kind and thoughtful of you. And yes, you get a handwritten letter and a little surprise back in the mail from me.

The Deliberately Mismatched Tea Cup

I would like to take a few minutes to show off my happiest find from my weekend in Hyderabad - my giant deliberately mismatched tea cup and saucer. Isn't it pretty?
:)