magazine cover

This is a cover I designed for the Hindi Samaj of Western Australia's annual mag – Bharat Bharati

Hindi Samaj is a friendly club dedicated to the expression and culture surrounding Hindi, Urdu and related dialects. 

I'm not a professional, just volunteered myself for a not for profit organisation.

If you live in Perth, Australia and would like a copy (cost is a hefty $2) let me know.

Lemme know what you think!!!!

—–

Due to subtle prompting by a good friend and fellow idiot savante, I have been convinced that an explanation needs to be put here about this cover.

*Girl is Radha, the symbolic lover of Lord Krishna (Krishna is love and learning and Radha is yearning and devotion). It has been taken out of a well known North Indian folk painting (Rajasthani/ Mogul school of art). She was actually painting a picture of her beloved Krishna which I took out and now she is painting a letter from her beloved language, the first sound "a" in the Devnagri script

*When kids in India first start learning Hindi, they are always taught– "a" for anaar– (pomegranate) so Hindi speakers will immediately recognise that and might find it endearing (or so I hope.)

*Devnagri is the character set used to write Hindi, Sanskrit and various related languages.

*Behind her is subtle writing- couplets by Kabir (a famous medieval poet from India).

*Lotus – is the symbol of enlightenment and spiritual blossoming in all Hindu, Buddhist and related traditions

*Henna Designs are employed in the background for the sake of creating Indian-ness

*The whole design of Radha and the patterns around her create a subtle "aamiya" or paisely shape as per Traditional Indian design.

*The border is a grungy, crooked version of the traditional border that goes around Rajasthani Miniture paintings. 

*I wanted to to make it rustic and old but graceful…let me know if you think I succeeded. )

-Tanushree

thicker than water

My cousin, Shikha, is a professional writer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is also the editor and founder of the reputable South Asian arts e-magazine, "Monsoon Magazine." 

She is in the process of writing a novel. I recently stumbled upon her blog and a piece of writing of hers I enjoyed reading.

My big sister's blog: Sugar on your Tongue

Excerpt – Silver Bangles

She hands me silver bangles and says, Don't forget

yourself.

–since then my heart has uttered a subliminal

chanting between each breath, shrieking like a

dog's silent high-pitch whistle: forget-me-not forget-me-not

forget-me-not forget-me-not