I try to visit amritsar once every year to spend some time at the Golden Temple.
Whether it is sitting on the marble banks of the temple tank (the city gets its name from this water body — Amrit Sarovar — or the sacred pool), listening to kirtans, praying within the bejewelled sanctum sanctorum, partaking in the langar, or witnessing the return of the night palki of the Guru Granth Sahib back to its resting place in the akal Takht, I find that there is such sukoon here. Now, after my private preview of the Partition Museum that’s a work in progress, I have found one more reason to love the city, and to keep coming back.
I first heard of the museum last year when its co-founder and CEO Mallika ahluwalia came up to me and started chatting at a FICCI summit on the creative industries that we were both a part of. I had been talking on stage about the pop-up museums I had curated in the past in Vikhroli, Mumbai. Mallika shared that she was in fact building a permanent museum in amritsar and invited me to visit, and so here I am, some months later, swirling a buttery kulcha around a plate of piping-hot channa at the famous Brothers Dhaba, while discussing love, life and partition narratives with her.
Some hours earlier, I am awestruck as I encounter the imposing facade of the Town Hall, in which the Partition Museum will be housed once finished. Right now, a small section with four galleries is open to the public while the other rooms are getting ready. By the end of this year, the museum will expand to 10 galleries spread over two floors, a giftshop, an events space and an archiving centre.
Bu hikaye Verve dergisinin May 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Verve dergisinin May 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Making Amends
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Diamonds With Provenance
In keeping with the company’s commitment to environmental and social responsibility, Anisa Kamadoli Costa, chief sustainability officer at Tiffany & Co. and chairman and president at The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, enlightens Shirin Mehta on the efforts that make the jewellery giant an industry leader in transparency
SARTORIAL ECONOMICS
Sisters Tashi and Tara Mitra demonstrate to Akanksha Pandey how deviating from the mainstream can bend the way we think, live and dress
NOTES TO SELF
An anthropomorphized tiger’s perspective, a viscerally worded futuristic interpretation of loss, a critique of performative activism, a meta reflection on the earth’s crises. Told through different lenses, Janaki Lenin, Indrapramit Das, Keshava Guha and Roshan Ali’s stories — written exclusively for Verve — attempt to make sense of the fraught reality that we exist in today
The Eternal Optimist
As Generation X and xennials grapple with fully transitioning to conscious living, young millennials and Generation Z are leading the charge to reverse human-caused environmental damage. Sahar Mansoor, founder and CEO of the Bengaluru-based zero-waste social enterprise Bare Necessities, has a simple overarching philosophy: consume less and stay positive. Verve gets deeper into the mindset of the action-oriented earth advocate
Redemption SONGS
Indian music festivals have been demonstrating a refreshing sense of responsibility in terms of their ecological impact. Interacting with stakeholders who strive to make these large-scale events greener, Akhil Sood investigates the reasons behind the improved attitudes of audiences and the increase in corporate support.
earth hour
Crafted using nature’s elements, these dials draw inspiration from the many heterogeneous materials and hues around us.Verve turns its lens onto a mesmerising few
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Children are holding adults accountable for both the grim future they are facing and the toll this is taking on their mental health. Madhumita Bhattacharyya initiates conversations with families of young climate activists and observes the extent to which parenting has changed in the face of catastrophe
NATURAL JUSTICE
Most of us are only just waking up to the urgency of climatic action. When the stakes are so high, what can individual action solve? Mridula Mary Paul, an environmental policy expert, is proof of the tenacity needed to effect systemic change. It’s not glamorous, and the rewards are few and far between, but that doesn’t stop her from aiming big, finds Anandita Bhalerao
Along For The Ride
Navigating Indian streets as a woman is hard enough. But what is it like while riding a bicycle? Bengaluru-based Shreya Dasgupta, a regular cyclist, speaks to five urban women about the pros and cons of this increasingly popular means of transport.
