Thursday 18 April 2019

Book Haul: Books of March 2019.


Hello! 
Time to throw it back to some glorious books I bought in the month of March. 
March overall was a good month, book wise and other wise. I read a ton of good books and even bought a handful of great books. 
I've already shared my Faber Stories book haul before, these are the other books I picked up, all of them Indian books. 
Some Chughtai. 
Some true crime. 
A memoir. 
A text in translation.
A masala read. 
A good mix! 

Let's see some of the beauties I've added to my shelves lately. 


Chughtai has been one of my absolute favourites for years now. I first read her when I was 14 and she blew my mind. So far though, I've only read her short stories. So when I saw some of her full length novels had been translated, I jumped on it. There are a few more I'd like to eventually get my hands on. But these two are a good place to start. Both of these are set in the Bollywood of the 40s and 50s and I can't wait to get to these. 


This looks so much like Guru Dutt and Nadira.
Doesn't it? 



If you haven't read Chughtai before, please do. Start with her iconic short stories. They are brilliant.



I am a huge, huge fan of the show, so I just couldn't resist this book. 


I had been meaning to read this little book for a while now, finally got my hands on it and picked it up and read it. 





BOOKS BOUGHT/// 

1. A Very Strange Man by Ismat Chughtai 

2. Masooma by " 

3. Crime Patrol by Annup Sonii and Oswald Pereira 

4. The Music of Solitude by Krishna Sobti 

5. Aftertaste by Namita Devidayal 

6. Small Acts of Freedom by Gurmehar Kaur 


Saturday 13 April 2019

Vignettes/// Spring has Sprung 2019.






Spring in all her glory. 
Flowers everywhere you look. 
Iced drinks. 
Greenery. 
New leaves. 

All good things! 

Friday 12 April 2019

Jewellery Haul: Earrings and Rings from Vastriyan by Bidisha Biswas Sarkar.


Hello! 

Today I want to share the cutest little jewellery with you from Vastriyan. 
I spotted Vastiryan's jewellery on Instagram at some point last year and I kept seeing her beautiful designs and wanting some of my own. I finally got a few pieces of from her back in February and I am so in love with everything I got from her. 
First up, everything is so well made and flawless and the quality is exceptional. 
And obviously, everything is super stunning, from the jewellery itself to even the way in which it was packaged. 
:) 




Look at this embroidered pair of studs.  I love how the colours pop against the black. 
So pretty. 


These tiny lotus earrings with ghunghroos are perfect to wear when you don't want to wear something huge on your ears. 


I also got these two embroidered rings. 
So gorgeous. 
These are adjustable and light weight and so lovely. 




I wore the bigger earring on my birthday, a lovely mix of painting and crochet and ghunghroo
They sit very comfortably on the ears but they are a tiny bit heavy, so perhaps not meant to wear all day long. I wore them for 6-7 hours and then switched to a lighter pair. So gorgeous though. 


So lovely! 
Do check out Bidisha's work on her Instagram, DM her to order. 
Check her out here. 



She also sent me bookmark as a thank you note! 
So gorgeous. 

Thursday 11 April 2019

Book Haul: Faber Stories.

Hello!

Want to hear a little secret? 
I love mini books. 
You know tiny little books that are now being released by pretty much every publisher, I love those. 
The Penguin Little Black Classics.
The Vintage Minis.
The Penguin Moderns. 
&
Now, the Faber Stories. 
I am here for it all. 

I so far have got 8 of these darling little books and I know for a fact I will be getting more. 
Let's see the ones I've already added to my shelves. 


Here they are in all their beauty. 
Mini books are such a great idea, a quick and easy way to sample a new writer's work. Or a quick read when life is far too busy for a full length book. 
Plus, these tiny books sit in a handbag of any size which is a plus in my book. 












BOOKS BOUGHT/// 

1. Come Rain or Come Shine by Kazua Ishiguro 

2. Mary Ventura and The Ninth Kingdom by Silvia Plath 

3. Mr. Salary by Sally Rooney 

4. The Lydia Steptoe Stories by Djuna Barnes 

5. Mrs. Fox by Sarah Hall 

6. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor 

7. Daughter of Passion by Julia O'Faolin 

8. The Forester's Daughter by Claire Keegan 

I got all of these books off of Amazon and paid 94 bucks for most of them and 113 for others. 
:) 

Wednesday 10 April 2019

Travel Diary: Bibi ka Maqbara at Dusk.


Hello! 

I spent my birthday evening at Bibi Ka Maqbara. 
A tomb of Aurganzeb's first wife- Dilras Bano Begum, that her son- Azam Khan built for her in 1678. 
A lot like the Taj Mahal, much smaller and far less opulent but still stunning. 
I haven't seen the Taj Mahal yet, both my parents have, and as we were strolling down the path towards the tomb, both of them couldn't stop marvelling at just how similar these two monuments were. My parents, were also saying how sad it is that visits to the Taj at night are no longer allowed. My Dad was fortunate to see the Taj Mahal during a full moon night back in 1968 and it is one of his most cherished memories. 

Back to Bibi ka Maqbara, we got here just as dusk was settling in, golden hour. I was a little worried that we might not get to see all of it in proper light, even though the place is open till 9:00 PM, it isn't sufficiently lit up. 
But we have an hour or so of sunlight left and we got to stroll leisurely and take in the beauty. 


I am glad we chose to visit it when we did, as the sun was setting. Because it would have been far too hot to walk around and take in the sights in the scorching sun, it had been a very hot day, even though it was only February. 

Plus the monument looked absolutely stunning during golden hour. 



Some of the details up close. 



The moon was already out and it was a magical sight. 

I wish the place were a little better maintained. It looked a little worse for wear. 
Though some repairs were on while we were visiting. 

We were here for around an hour and a half and it was more than enough time to look around and even sit for a bit and take in the sunset. 

Sunday 7 April 2019

Stationery Sunday: Washi Tape Haul from Ali Express.


Hello! 

It has been absolute ages since I did a Stationery Sunday post on here, so let's fix that shall we? 

I got these gorgeous Washi Tape sets from Ali Express. 
I love how these Washi Tapes come in a set of 5 and in similar colour family. 
It makes doing up my planner pages of the week very easy and keeps them all in the same colour family. 





Green Leaves. 
Coral Fruits. 
Lavender. 
Yellow Flowers. 

So utterly pretty! 

A look inside..