All posts filed under: PEOPLE

RootsandLeisure_NagaFashion

Traditional Naga Accessories Making a Fashionable Comeback

Published by Lungzeu

Mixing the old with the new is always refreshing ; today a lot of people are creating some pretty unique and stylish looks by accessorizing their outfits with traditional handmade jewelry. They look pretty spot on, as though they were meant to be all along. Here’s a curated list of how these fashionable folks are taking mix-and-match to a whole new level – by adorning modern ensembles with ethnic jewelry.  You can also buy some Naga traditional jewelry in modern designs on our Shop [link] Awomi from Sumi Naga tribe dressed her black turtleneck top with traditional Naga earrings and a necklace in fiery red (Red is a dominant color in most Naga ensembles, accessories & gears.) Members of the ‘Tetso Sisters’ (talented musicians from Nagaland), are seen playing up their looks with tasseled earrings in green and white. Traditional earrings are generally crafted in red color, so these new colors add a twist to the original jewelry form itself. Jorlim playing match-up by blending her lavender colored earrings with her pale blue dress, and a pink lacy stole. The little girl is looking …

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Artist Who Etches Memories on Canvas and Plates | Dina Hazarika Chowdhury

Published by Pooja Ghose

Have you ever felt envious of individuals who can capture stunning moments and sights in a tangible way, allowing them to preserve and share them with others? We certainly have. That’s why we love to showcase the work of talented artists like Dina Hazarika Chowdhury, a fine artist from Assam who creates beautiful paintings on canvas and ceramic plates. Dina hails from the cultural hub of Assam, Tezpur. She grew up in a small family but was deeply influenced by the traditions of a large, extended family. Dina fondly recalls attending family gatherings at her father’s ancestral home in Sibsagar. Currently, she resides in Gurgaon after marrying two years ago. Dina Hazarika Chowdhury specializes in taking nostalgic memory snapshots of cities and rural landscapes and transforming them into beautiful artwork. Tell us how you arrived at this point – as an artist who is happily running her own venture from home. Well, I explored many (career) paths before settling on this one – into the world of fine art. At one point, I wanted to …

Preciousmelove | Shipping Out Unique Fashion Items Made in Nagaland

Published by Lungzeu

Preciousmelove is an all girls team from Nagaland running a clothing and accessories business including dolls and vintage clothes. The team is led by Zuboni Humtsoe, a young dynamic entrepreneur and is supported by Humtsoe’s elder sister, Lozano Humtsoe. Zuboni is also the recipient of the prestigious ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar 2016’ owing to the success of PML and its role in empowering women involved with the project. The team at R&L sat down to interview the talented sister duo to know more about Preciousmelove’s work. About the founders: Zuboni, a political science graduate from Kalindi College, DU, is the proprietor of Preciousmelove, with a brief work experience at Convergys India which helped her understand the nuances of customer service. A dreamer like no other, she hustles and handles various facets of business from marketing, management, creative direction, content writing, designing, photography to public relations. Zuboni says she has taken inspiration from entrepreneurs like Walt Disney, Mark Zuckerberg and Ratan Tata. On the other hand, Lozano worked as part of the cabin crew in Kingfisher Airlines for …

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Meet Mangka Mayanglambam – An Inspirational Manipuri Folk Performer.

Published by Shweta Rao

Indian classical music has reached international fame and recognized at a global level. But, the Indian folk culture, talking of the existing in predominantly rural communities today, does not enjoy the same celebratory status. Partly, because tribal and folk music is not taught in disciplinary formats similar to Indian classical music. Fortunately, that’s changing today, as Indian youths are picking up folk music to express themselves on various platforms and sustaining their roots and culture for the ages to come. Today at R&L, we showcase an important folk performer, Mangka, who’s a musical revolution that state youth forums are rejoicing over. She has put Manipuri folk singing on the international map and is the voice that has popularized Manipuri folk song form, Pena. Meet Mangka Mayanglambam – Folk Song Artist and Performer at the Laihui Ensemble from Imphal, Manipur. Mangka acquired the knowledge of folk music from her father, Mangangsana, a renowned Pena artist and recipient of Ustad Bismilah Khan Yuva Puraskar in 2008. Mangka started learning Moirang Sai and Basok (a rare traditional female performing …

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

Published by Roots & Leisure

“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 …

RootsandLeisure_StreetVendorThailand

Faces | Street Seller Selling Hipster Stuffs in the Streets of Thailand

Published by Pooja Ghose

“Spotted this man at the local ‘Night Market’ or ‘Pasar Malam’ in the streets of Greenway market at Hat Yai city, in southern Thailand. At first glance, he came across as a homeless man with ragged clothes; but when I went closer to take this photo, he actually turned out to be pretty cool, and spoke really well. I think he looks like Sinbad (the sailor) with his head scarf. More interestingly, he was selling some cool handmade stuffs  – clothes, bags and accessories made from organic materials. Me and my friends really loved his unique items. Sadly, we forgot to ask his name  – so we went back to the market the next day but we couldn’t find him anywhere. Hopefully we get to see him again at the night market.”  ~narrated by contributing photographer @lensakhaza_bwn 

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Meet the Man behind the Hottest Food Venture in Nagaland | Fat Fryday and Fit Fryday

Published by Roots & Leisure

  The food culture in Nagaland is becoming pretty progressive, as a growing tribe of young people are experimenting with various world cuisines and mixing it artfully with the local taste palate. The consumers are participating with equal zest by eating out more often; this is definitely a shift away from the earlier norm, where meals were generally had only at home or at a friend’s/relative’s place. As a result of all these, plenty of food ventures are sprouting in this part of the country with some really innovative themes. One such venture that we would like to talk about today is the one started by Pur Longkumer from Nagaland. It’s an interesting home based cloud kitchen serving two categories of food : Yummy comfort food under ‘Fat Fryday’ and yummy healthy food under ‘Fit Fryday.’ R&L caught up with Pur to learn more about them. Tell us a little bit about yourself. What was the first step you took to finally start this venture? I graduated in hospitality and tourism management from Queen Margaret University in Singapore …

RootsandLeisure_QuirkyCrafts

Meet Asano Peseyie from Nagaland – Founder of Quirky Qrafts

Published by Pooja Ghose

Remember those days in school when we used to exchange handmade cards? What an accomplishment it used to be – to be able to share a piece of our creativity with our best of friends! Sadly, we have outgrown that habit; not because we don’t care enough, but somehow we seemed to have gotten a little too busy for own good. But thanks to enterprising and creative people like Asano Peseyie, who with her cute little venture – Quirky Qrafts, is still serving organic love in various forms and shapes – as envelopes, pretty boxes and packages, cards, book marks and the list goes on . . . Meet Asano Peseyie, founder and creative head of Quirky Qrafts – a design and craft venture from Nagaland. A lot of artistry, designing and hard work goes into the process of making one-of-a-kind items that adds on to the essence of the token sent – and that’s exactly what Asano Peseyie strives to achieve through her venture. May this tribe of people grow in abundance and hope that through …

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Baking Bread for the Soul | Meet the Lovely Duo Behind Flour Flour Bakery in Chiang Mai

Published by Roots & Leisure

When we got introduced to Dontree Siribunjongsak, 27 and his girlfriend Namfon Udomlertlak, 29 through a friend, we were immediately drawn to their story about their obsession with baking – and their luscious breads. Less than a year ago, they started a bakery called ‘Flour Flour’ after calling it quits from their boring jobs; and by the looks of it, their passion venture has definitely taken wings in the right direction. Let’s meet the lovely duo behind ‘Flour Flour’ bakery in Chiang Mai, Thailand, who has turned baking bread into an experience of creating art – and now a dream venture. Hi Dontree, we are absolutely in love with your handmade bread! What’s so special about ‘Flour Flour’? Flour Flour is a bakery that attempts to create homely handmade bake stuff using local ingredients. Our aim is to make artisan bread [bread that is hand-crafted and not mass produced] of superior quality. We use natural fermentation technique to make our breads.What we make depends a lot on our mood or rather, what we want to eat on a …