All posts filed under: Moms

Moms who Inspire

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“Nature Gives Me Creative Direction for My Recipes and Photoshoots” – Meet Chef and Food Stylist Akhrieno from Nagaland

  Our love for food and photography can take us places. This time it has taken us to art. We recently cam across this beautiful Instagram post by Akhrieno from Nagaland. It was a photo of a cake decorated with small whole mandarins, big green leaves, and lovely icing. It looked like a photo of a snow-covered town taken of some fictional world from a novel. Soft fragrant orange-scented cake coated with mandarin milk syrup, decorated with whole peeled satsuma mandarins | Baked and Styled by Akhrieno ‘Mustard.Seed’ We couldn’t help but check out more of her work, and by doing so, we were taken to this fascinating world of stories, as told by Akhrieno’s artwork, which had plenty of character and rustic charm. After filling our hearts with glee, we decided to finally reach out to their creator and find out her/his story! That’s when we found out that the artist behind was Akhrieno K Jamir from Nagaland, a full-time mom and food photographer, who used to be a professional chef in India and …

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We are Smitten by These Handwoven Mizo Puans (Mekhela) and Naupuakpuan ‘Baby Sling Wraps’ from ‘Zo Weave’ | Chat with Founder Malsawmi from Aizawl

  A striking thing about Mizo womenfolks – including the young fashion-forward ones, is the fact they love flaunting their ‘Mizo Puans’ which are traditional handwoven wraparounds (Mekhalas). Most interesting is the way how the younger generation is uplifting their traditional attire by incorporating them as fashion statement pieces – and inspiring many to copy the trend. All that being said, we are extremely excited to be chatting with Malsawmi, founder of ‘Zo Weave’ – a handwoven Puan brand from Mizoram. This mother of four is doing her bit to reinforce the efforts in the preservation of the Puan – while also employing local women weavers through this initiative. We talk about how ‘Zo Weave’ is keeping the love for Puans alive through her growing customer base – young and old. Another interesting revelation is on how she is reinventing the humble traditional Mizo ‘Naupuakpuan’ (baby Sling wrap) by incorporating modern floral designs and motifs (all handwoven) and is another hot selling item under her brand.  Malsawmi, founder of ‘Zo Weave’ Mizoram holding her child …

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Lockdown Special Recipe by Kristi Kikon | Popular ‘Naga Chow’ Made with Maggi Noodles

Hello there! It’s been a while since we’ve shared anything on our online blog. Our last post was published on the 26th of Jan, and we have been on an intentional break as we got caught up with our busy life. But all that while, we have been thinking hard about ‘de-stressing’, ‘taking it easy’, ‘time to chill’ and so many such ideas. And then COVID happens. Look at us! All locked inside our homes as we coalesce into this virtual community sharing our fears and thoughts – while trying hard to stay positive amidst all the chaos that is happening around us. These trying times have highlighted the importance of staying connected with like-minded individuals, sharing information, encouraging and supporting each other, and extending a helping hand to our neighbors and communities. Today’s ‘Instant Noodles’ recipe is a perfect demonstration of how the community can come together and make things happen! Here’s what happened: One of our readers, currently residing in Delhi during this lockdown, reached out to us expressing his desperate craving for …

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Winter Outfit Inspirations To Keep You Warm & Stylish by Lungzeu From Nagaland

With the temperature dropping low, make sure your style keeps up! In the chilly weather, our outfit decisions are mostly dependent on what can keep us warm and not what is stylish. To give a little inspiration on how to do both–stay warm and be stylish–we have Lungzeu of Naga Street Style with us. She curated three uber-chic looks for you to try out this winter. Head to the link in bio or below to know what they are!  Look 1: Keny Metha, Kohima. “When it comes to styling my winter outfits, I like to stick to my own aesthetics which is mostly semi-formals. I’ve recently come to love lavender and lilac colours, and I’m in love with this coat. I try to not use more than two colours, so I chose a brown turtleneck and a brown pleated skirt. When it comes to shoes, I always choose comfort since my job requires me to move around a lot. I styled a comfortable pair of sneakers here.”  Look 2: Manihra Krichena, Nagaland “I have been …

Shweta Verma from Goa is a Family Photographer Whose Pictures Will Leave You Smiling

Shweta Verma was originally from Bihar but now lives in Goa and is a family photographer. Her work stands out as she has an eye for capturing the true essence of each child and family. What started as street photography and taking pictures of her lovely daughter, her love for photography grew with each picture she took. She believes in creating history with her pictures. Something that each client can preserve and protect. She has a chat with us about what keeps her motivated and her process working with babies, children and lovely families.  Hello Shweta! Please introduce us to your life and photography. My name is Shweta Verma, I am originally from Bihar but now I stay in Panjim, Goa. I am an engineer by education but I left my consultant job to pursue photography as a profession when my daughter was born. What initially sparked your interest in photography? My initial days of photography were all about streets. It all started in the country my daughter was born in – Basel in Switzerland. …

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‘My Role Model, My Inspiration, My Mother’—With Imtiyala Jamir

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes and all the mothers who don’t. For those who show up at work with milk stains on their dress and diapers in their handbags. For those mothers who cannot restrain tears from trickling down their cheeks when they hold their babies for the first time. To all mothers of all ages, of all shapes and sizes without whom life would have been insufferable, we would like to wish you everyday a very Happy Mother’s Day. Today we have Imtiyala Jamir, a freelance writer/copy editor based in Dimapur who, like most of us, grew up under the guidance of her mother, a designer. Our wardrobe as a kid was our mother’s own closet. Here is a chat with Imti about her stylist mother who has always been her style icon, and someone she looks up to. Imtiyala Jamir (right) with her fashionista mom (left) An introduction for our special lady, your mother, would be nice to start things off. My mother Achila …

Young Mom from Nagaland is Trending on Instagram with Her Stylish Traditional Looks | A Chat with “Mekhala Mama”

If you’re following North East Indian fashion on Instagram, chances are you’ve come across “Mekhla Mama” and her super stylish traditional outfits that command attention. At first, we were delighted by her strong sense of individual style. However, as we continued to see her consistently striking looks, our fascination grew and turned to curiosity about the person behind the avatar. We couldn’t help but wonder where she gets her inspiration from, as each style exuded a level of consistency and authenticity that must stem from a personal motivation.  So here we are, chatting up with the lady herself to know all about the person behind the face, and to dig deeper into the message she is trying to convey through her “Mekhala Mama” avatar. R&L: Could you share a bit about yourself and what you do? Mekhala Mama:  My name is Theyie Keditsu and I was born and brought up in Kohima, Nagaland. I currently teach at Kohima College, Department of English. This will be my 12th year of teaching college. I’ve taught in Pfütsero …

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“My Mom’s Galho Restaurant Inspired Me to Open This Cafe” Pelevotuo Solo, Owner of “Mom and I” Cafe in Kohima

Growing up in Nagaland, dining out meant visiting the local “Chow & Momo” restaurants or being invited to a friend’s or relative’s house for dinner or tea. However, the food scene has significantly evolved over time, with new cafes, restaurants, lounges, and bakeries popping up every month. Today, one can be spoiled for choice with the abundance of options available. What’s interesting to note is that most of these places have been founded and managed by passionate youngsters in Nagaland. It’s pretty fascinating and cool, isn’t it? The best part is that these founders often have interesting personal stories behind their food ventures. Today, we meet with Pelevotuo Solo, who runs a Galho restaurant in Kohima called ‘Mom and I’ Cafe.  We chat with Pelevotuo Solo, owner of “Mom & I” cafe in Kohima Nagaland, to find out why all love this humble cafe. R&L: Hi Pelevotuo, tell us the story behind your cafe “Mom and I” in Kohima. Pelevotuo: I was born and brought up in Kohima, Nagaland and I have a Master’s Degree in …

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An Artist and a Mom-In-Motion from Bangalore | Praaggya Sharma

Artist Praaggya Sharma had been moving from one city to another from the time she was born at her uncle’s house in Bareilly, U.P until in 2010, she settled down in Bangalore. While her literal transition had come to a halt with her husband and a family of her own, she found a medium of metaphormosis- colours on a canvas! Painting, she realized was something that would keep her evolving constantly. Before you got into the world of painting and art, what did you do? I have lived over many states, cities and small towns as my family kept moving. I was born in Uttar Pradesh and we moved to Rajasthan because of my father’s work. However we made another move to Delhi  where I did my schooling and my two siblings were born. After I was done with school, we moved to Ahmedabad for a year.  In 2004, my family moved again to Chandigarh where I finished my college. Then, I went to IMT Nagpur for my MBA. After that, for a year, I …

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Spilling Intricate Poetry on Paper : Tialila Kikon on her new release ‘Paper Cranes’.

“There’s nothing more rare, more precious than a heart that can appreciate and uplift another” – Tialila Poetries are unstoppable gateways to innumerous human emotions and feelings that otherwise don’t find an outlet within us. These spontaneous creations go on to hold even more importance when they stand to represent a collective cause. One such important Indian contemporary poet, is Tialila Kikon. Kikon’s work picks up twigs of life, love, hope and humanity, and builds simple yet sanguine poetry with them. Her poems were published in ‘Feminist Voices Across Cultures: A Poetry Anthology‘ and some of her Tanka poems appeared in ‘Winter Writes: Poems, Stories & Sagas’. She also has a Kindle eBook published by the Whitesboro Group of Writers, New York. Her poems ‘Indeed’ and ‘Children of Conflict’ were selected among 300 other poems submitted by poets from around the world and displayed at the Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre, Vancouver, Canada on 12th March 2016 at the WIN-UNESCO World Poetry Month Celebration on the theme of Love and World Peace. In this short …