My Favorite Things: Mirrors & Within - the Salon

I arrived in India on Dec 10 fatigued from my year of career ups and downs, motherhood, wifehood, househood, and the many other things that kept me busy, fulfilled and stressed during the year. Got on the plane at Dulles airport with a ten day old manicure, ten days since my last eyebrow grooming, carrying around weight I didn’t want but stress and exhaustion placed around all the wrong places, and the will to let go, release, escape into the sky and a new warm land.

We left the snowy chill of the US and Europe behind, landing in Bangalore on a balmy (chilly for them) day, pre-dawn . A few days of sleep, good food and walks in the fresh air, and I was eager for one of the highlights of every of my visits to India: the Mirrors and Within beauty salon in Bangalore.

Located in the Galleria of the Leela Palace Kempinski Hotel, this salon is a gem for me for several reasons. Foremost, the people. In particular, two women who manage and run the place: Mary and Pushpa. I first came to know them more than ten years ago when I first began traveling to India to visit my parents with some regularity. They were, at the time, at the beauty salon in Bangalore’s Oberoi hotel. When the new Leela Palace was opened, I was lucky enough, through my mother and her friends, to find them again.

I always get hair color,highlights, style; eyebrow threading, manicure and pedicure. Mary and Pushpa personally attend to me and this year, to Adriana who for the first time at this salon, also wanted a manicure and pedicure. The head and neck massage during the shampoo alone restored me- I felt negativity and stress seep out of my body and out the door and probably for the first time in the year, I fully breathed, relaxed my shoulders, unburdened my brain and softened my jaw. No worries,no cares. It was one of those times of purely being in the moment because nothing was more interesting nor compelling. To feel completely cared for, completely beautiful, fully connected and at peace – that is what I want to carry with me in this new year. Thank you, my friends Pushpa and Mary. Thank you, India.

PHOTO OF ADRIANA AT SALON from phone

Happy Grandparents' Day

"Grandparents are the footsteps to the future generations." -- Unknown

Photo: Adriana, my mother Margaret Koilpillai and me in India

Thank you to all grandparents, who love our children even more than we do, and who continue to give, nuture and teach. We love you.

Inspired by children; by family

One of my inspirations and motivations for this blog is to highlight the work of Anantha Ashram, my family’s nonprofit charity in south India that helps children, women and families who wouldn’t otherwise receive medical care, a home and education and the chance to improve their health and wellbeing. Each summer, my father, Samuel Koilpillai, the president and founder of Anantha Ashram, provides a report of accomplishments for Anantha Ashram and points out where we continue to need financial and other support. I want to share the key facts and figures with you, in my next few blog posts. Today, I highlight the work of the Children’s Home.

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Anantha Ashram’s Children’s Home continued to provide shelter, nurture and loving care to abandoned and destitute children. The level of services continued at about the same level in most areas—as the following table would show.

There were 34 admissions of new babies and older children in year 2009-10—compared to 26 in the previous year. As usual, most of the admissions were girl babies. You’ll be interested to know that since its inception in 1991 the Children’s Home has taken in 462 abandoned babies and orphaned and destitute children—a truly mission of mercy, made possible by your generous support.
The program to give children in adoption under Tamilnadu government’s mandate was continuing unabated as well. During fiscal year 2009-10, 26 new childless couples were made happy receiving a beautiful baby from Anantha Ashram under foster care agreements. And, for 51 children, their legal adoption was finalized at the courts entitling them to all rights with their adoptive parents—a remarkable accomplishment indeed.

At the end of the year, i.e., as of March 31, 2010, the Children’s Home family had 40 children. Of these, 16 were school-going kids. One of them had completed 10th standard, and another (Kumar, our “first-born son”) had completed “Plus 2” (12th standard). Kumar is now waiting for admission to the professional college. Thus, education of the children is now a significant focus of care by the Children’s Home, and a significant part of its budget. This budget would include special tuition fees for the several delayed-growth-and-development children who are doing poorly in school.

--- stay tuned... more to come!

You're Invited to the Jaya Designs Spring Fashion Show and Afternoon Tea - TOMORROW APRIL 11

Just one last reminder about the Jaya Designs event tomorrow, April 11, beginning at 2pm. You’ll definitely want to see the Fashion Show at 3pm, too! Hope to see you!

For those of you who won’t be able to attend tomorrow, check out the new items for Spring online at www.JayaDesigns.net, or contact me at JayaDesigns@verizon.net and I will be happy to arrange for you to see my new collection by appointment.

Happy Spring!
Jaya


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Date: Sunday, April 11
Time: 2-5 in the afternoon
Location: 18921 Celebrity Lane, Sandy Spring, Maryland 20860
Event: Browse new dresses, tops, skirts, suits, Evening Bags!, photographs and Indian art from the Jaya Designs Maharajah Collection
Buy on site or place your orders
Refresh: Afternoon tea
Celebrate: Spring, friendship, beauty, style
Contribute: Portion of the proceeds will be donated to help children of Anantha Ashram in Hosur, India

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Elegance and Pam athai

My blog, as you know, is about more than fashion design. It's about designing life in its totality. Integral to a well-designed life are the people it includes - they are essential to providing balance, perspective, harmony, color - the elements of good design. My mother, whose life (and sarees!) inspires Jaya Designs, has a friendship that to me embodies one of the pillars of her own well-designed life. this is her close and warm relationship with my aunt, Pam ("Pam athai", in the Tamil reference to "aunty.")

There is not a time in my memory when my mother and Pam athai didn't sit together and even from afar, we could tell they were huddled in strategy to keep their children out of harm's way and on the (very) straight and narrow path. We could be visiting in our homes, in a crowded taxi in India or as tourists visiting Buckingham Palace... they would still be together - poised classically... sarees draped just so, stuffed handbags hoisted, one hand on furrowed forehead and another protectively guarding the precious handbag,sunglasses perched. Elegance and anxiety personified. Bosses, children, husbands, grandchildren, in-laws... no person in their realm escaped being the topic of their huddle. In their soft midst, troubles were willed away through sheer force of their belief and prayer.

My mother and Pam athai are my earliest influences of style, grace, willfulness, pure love... the truly feminine and the truly strong. Groomed, coifed, draped perfectly - they are still the ideal to which I aspire. We lost Pam athai last week to a very long struggle with leukemia, to which she not so much succumbed as surrendered to with faith. The shock of the loss of her physical presence has left us gasping for air, as if the earth has contracted and the oxygen has left it. We look up and see her through our ethereal visions of our Pam athai happy, whole and praying for us to be happy, impeccable, to live each moment with utter integrity and much more - to be all we can be and live the very best versions of ourselves according to not just our own power, but higher powers that are all around and of which she is now part. These are the images that will prevail. We hold onto that. Thank you, Pam athai.

Refreshing like Coconut Water

When I am in India, I try to buy only things unique to India. This includes Indian music; literature… while we were at the Leela Palace Hotel http://www.theleela.com/hotel-bangalore.html, I made my way, slowly and deliciously, through the Oxford Bookstore in the adjacent shopping plaza, and picked up a few freshly published paperbacks by Indian authors that seemed interesting and spoke to me for whatever reason. The first,

Coconut Water, by Sujatha Viswanathan (Stellar Publishers, 2009), http://www.stellarpublishers.com jumped up to greet me with its refreshing cover art of the apt coconut tree on a blue water shore. Indeed, if my December trip to India had a theme, I think it would be coconut – I found myself attracted to all things coconut. (More next time about how that has influenced my Jaya Designs!)

Ms. Viswanathan’s novel is nicely written, even if the story seems a bit too pat, maybe even contrived and several times I found myself cringing at yet another description of her principal character, Chitra’s, perfect husband, marriage and life of wealth (from the emerald necklace her mother in law to be purchased for her for the wedding; to her seemingly effortless opening of a chain of organic restaurants in the US once she and her husband had settled here). Yet it took me back to the sounds, smells and sights of India’s streets and villages and shops and fashions and people… you might enjoy it too. It was an entertaining and quick read. If you do read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Note: The information and opinion presented in this blog and its posts are exclusive and personal to the author and guest authors and are not intended to represent any other entity, business or individual.

The Flower Ladies

My daughter and I ventured out early one rainy morning while we were in India last month to visit one of my favorite places – the open market in Hosur (where my parents now live, outside Bangalore, in Tamilnadu, south India). Vendors set out their beautiful lineup of vegetables, fruits, flowers… and wait patiently as customers mill about, choosing their pieces and performing the requisite bargaining ritual to get a better price. I stood mesmerized by the colors, the feelings, the voices of the vendors talking to each other, the bustle of them getting settled in their stalls, trying to get protection from the rain that day. My camera pointed everywhere, each scene a portrait. Adriana had her camera, too, and actually caused quite the delighted stir as she carefully set herself up for each shot. As I surveyed the karmic, orderly chaos, I found myself stopping at a row of ladies neatly seated with mounds of flowers to sell. Some of them were expertly stringing them together for garlands and hairpieces – Indian women wear flowers absolutely everywhere, every day, and flowers are gifts to gods, so their purchase is common. The fragrance of those jasmine and tuberoses is something I conjure all winter back at home in Maryland… it is the essence of India to me. And then something else struck me – each of these vendors, and many others we see on the roads especially in the early mornings, are dependent on their day’s sales success in ways we can’t even imagine. Many of them will feed their families… or not… depending on how much they sell. They show up every day and with visible pride in their work, they offer it to customers like us with patience and grace. How much do they earn? Will it be enough for their basic needs today… tomorrow? I admire them so much. They inspire me to keep going, one day at a time and build a life.

Do you know people who inspire you with those qualities? Tell me about them.

Note: The information and opinion presented in this blog and its posts are exclusive and personal to the author and guest authors and are not intended to represent any other entity, business or individual.

What inspires you?

Remember I said I had no background in fashion and this is a BRAND new venture for me? In the spirit of not being a complete moron about it, I attended a basic fashion flat drawing class organized by G Street Fabrics in Falls Church, Virginia, this past weekend. My challenge: translating the beautiful designs in my head onto paper in some sort of legible form so the tailors have some way of understanding me! (I've spent my life focused on writing and photography - not drawing!) The six hour class was taught by a beautiful fashion designer named Raia Kaouk, who is getting her start in the U.S. after being trained in her home country and spending time in Paris for training. She gave the 6 of us in the class a great overview of the basics of drawing, inspiring us with her portfolio, which includes her wedding dress! She was inspired by Louis XVI (so we already have a lot in common... I'm inspired by Louis, too... Louis Vuitton!)

The key is to find a source of inspiration for fashion design. I found my inspiration in the silks and golds and lushness of Indian sarees and India itself. I'd like to share more of this inspiration with you in my upcoming posts. And I'd LOVE to hear from you - what inspires you? What inspires your clothing choices, your home decor, your travel, your work, your creativity? Please share with all of us by commenting to this blog post. And enjoy some of these photos from the Jaya Designs spring 2010 collection - called "Maharajah" - thanks! Find more at http://www.jayadesigns.net/

Note: The information and opinion presented in this blog and its posts are exclusive and personal to the author and guest authors and are not intended to represent any other entity, business or individual.