Silver for the festivals

When I write all these blogs I am myself surprised at the amount of silver and gold that we use in our daily lives. I think that we have taken it for granted and we dont even realise it.

As I wrote earlier, offering poojas is a major custom in India.

In TamilNadu, mostly we use silver utensils because we believe that it is in a pure form. Meaning we use stainless steel to eat our every day food. So we dont offer anything in that.

Big engraved, repoussed plates are used to keep fruits. Silver lamps are used in different sizes.

A small utensil called Utharani is used to offer the food to the God.

Even an incense-stick holder can be in silver.

Earlier I had written about the repousse in silver sembu. That is used for the pooja.

Food like payasam(made with jaggery and dhal and milk), or sarkarai pongal (a sweetened rice) all are offered in silver bowls.

Even the powder that we apply on our forehead after the pooja is kept in silver bowls.

Again as I said, all depends on one's financial status.

In some temples, I have seen dry fruits stored in big silver vessels.

Navrathna Ring

In our state TamilNadu, men also wear jewellery.  Whether they like it or not, most men wear the Navrathna ring. Nav means nine, and there are nine different gemstones in it. In Hinduism we also believe that there are nine Gods each representing a planet. Most of the temples have these nine deities and when we visit the temple we also worship these Deities.

The gemstones are Diamond, ruby,pearl, red coral, emerald, yellow sapphire, blue sapphire, hessonite, and Cat’s eye.

The settings of the stone also have to be in a particular order.

The navrathna stones are believed to bring luck, protect you against bad external forces and diseases.

The rings that men wear are usually big and they are done with a minimum of 24 gms of 22kt gold.

Melting silver - one of the traditional method

How Gold and Silver are melted in traditional methods.

Most of the times I feel the olden methods are always hassle free.

http://www.myidentityforwomen.com/gallery.html

Hand made jewellery

I went to the Commercial street again:) . I told you that I love to window shop there.

As usual went through the artery streets looking for something interesting.

Found an old lady selling hand made jewellery.

Its difficult to believe that you can buy such good designs on the streets. She does not have a shop. Just a wood stand that holds all jewellery.

In India, especially in our state Tamilnadu usually balloons and small toys for kids are found displayed in this wood stand. Its portable so the vendors usually carry them with their hands and balanced on their shoulders.
Mostly in festivals you will find these vendors, or outside temples.

I was surprised to see so many jewellery hanging out there:)

I asked her if it was handmade, she said in Hindi, yes hand made. Such creativity.

How to start a business?

This topic is written for women in India. But I think its a generic information so would suit others too.

http://www.myidentityforwomen.com/how-to-start-a-business-.html

Jewellery lane in Bangalore, India

I always love to visit the Commercial street in Bangalore. This has been a fashion street for many years. Though there are so many malls that have come all over Bangalore, I feel this street still holds its charm. You get all types of designer salwars and sarees etc. This street is also popular for footwear. These are sold on either sides of the street. And you will find such beautiful designs which very much attracts college girls crowd. These are available in latest designs and at very affordable cost. Quality check is in your hands. 

But what really lures me atleast once a week there is the arrival of newly designed jewellery on the street on either side. I have never seen this array of jewellery (as far as I have travelled) displayed on the street. You will find atleast 50 shops displaying different jewellery.

Especially Diwali time you should visit this street. Its chaos everywhere. Trending jewellery and clothes are everywhere.

Wire mesh bracelet

My friend wanted to get a bracelet in gold and we went to a reputed shop in Bangalore.

Generally I accompany my friends or cousins to the gold jewellery shops since I have technical knowledge to a certain extent.

We were shown beautiful antique designs. We were unable to make our minds up.

If the design is beautiful, the stone weight and their rate was high or the labour charges were very high.

We could not get all together. I know its asking too much. Beautiful design, less labour charges, less stone charges; we cannot get all.

So we decided on a beautiful mesh bangle. It had a very beautiful finish, a lovely design, very less stone so less charges for the stone, but the labour charge was more.

But we also had to see the budget. Others were exceeding the budget so we settled on this and bought it.