SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
This is intended to be a Spot the Difference puzzle for you since you know our handcrafted ornaments well and have been further famil...

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
This is intended to be a Spot the Difference puzzle for you since you know our handcrafted ornaments well and have been further familiarised with them over the past eight odd years that we've been on Facebook. 

Look carefully at the given photograph. It shows you what you assume to be the Mayurpur 'Jhapta' Earring. In fact, for all intents and purposes it is. But there are vital differences in detailing and form that will be apparent when you compare both intimately. These you have to reveal and describe. We'll help you a bit with that: 

Regarding the form, this jhapta dul is longer, four-and-a-half inches top to bottom, and the crescentic tiers are narrower, more compressed, making the earring slender and elegant but without the coverage of the original.

That's the wonder of bespoke jewellery: much more special, more emotion driven, more symbolic, and ultimately more rewarding than any kind of made-to-measure ornaments, and worlds apart from the readymades. Even while ordering your favourites — and the Mayurpur Jhapta Dul certainly is one — the details can be tweaked to make the ornament specific to you while universal in its beauty. This dazzling four-step naksha earring epitomises that unique characteristic of bespoke handmade jewellery.

REGULATIONS
Now, what  you have to do is spot all the differences in detailing between this and the original Mayurpur Earring that we'd posted here on 27th August, 2015 and describe them individually for us. To make things easier, we'll tell you how many such differences there are : three — so that you don't go hunting for them with a microscope. Let us know the three differences in detailing in words of your choice that have to describe in full the variations. There can't be any shortcuts here. You have to be specific.

*Just to perk things up, three of the correct answers, the names chosen through a lottery, will each be awarded a single guinea-gold coin of one gram. 

*Only one answer per friend will be accepted and any edit on the answer will automatically disqualify it, so we request you organise your reply before posting it. 

*For inclusion in the lottery, answers can be given in till midnight (IST) of Tuesday, 17th May, 2022. All answers to be sent to our Inbox, please.

*The comments section will be open for your general observations but the SPOT THE DIFFERENCE answers will have to be inboxed. 

Things are looking up across the world. We thought we might, in a very small way, share the hope and joy going around with just a touch of gold. Also, this isn't some marketing gimmick involving tawdry gifts. We respect your artistic acuity and your taste ; also your innate aesthetic sensibilities. You know how to separate wheat from chaff, just as you know God's in the details. It's those details that you, with your discerning eyes, will examine here. 

Have fun! And Best of Luck to You.

Towards the end of January we’d confessed to you we still had the earrings with the KajalLata necklace to make. We’d also mentioned showcasing them once they’d been delivered, and that they were of...

Towards the end of January we’d confessed to you we still had the earrings with the KajalLata necklace to make. We’d also mentioned showcasing them once they’d been delivered, and that they were of a unique full-kaan design.

Truth is, we botched our own specifications a bit and created it as a kaan with a two-tiered earring attached when our drawings called for it to have three distinct steps.

Well, we redid the earring segments and this is the final jewel that was delivered to Ms.Rittika Mallick, a practicing psychologist whose mother insisted they come to us for the KajalLata parure. This is the first purchase they’ve made from our showroom and, as it stands, remains a very rare and somewhat esoteric design to debut their custom with, though one that’ll remain in time with her family as an unequivocally precious heirloom.

The kaan part of the ornament is entirely made up of a single kohl container (sans its stem) in jaal-karai and cloisonné enamelling. The mirror-polished back panel remains, as do the painted, multicoloured mina flowers that are such a marvellous counterpoint to the wire-work. The chhela borders and bridges of the outer case have also been retained.

From this dramatic cover for the ear we go to the earring which of course is detachable. Right below the kaan is the primal third-eye piece that’s patinated with lampblack like the necklace and ratan-choor. After it is a miniaturized version of the jaal-karai KajalLata. To complete the jewel, finally, is a tiny jhumka with a simple ball fringe. That too is antique polished, making the idea clear : the earring's modern-ancient-modern-ancient idiom allows for it to be worn with either side of the necklace.

Also, because the cascade of drops separates easily, the kaan can be worn with any conventional jhumka while the earring part too can attach itself to whatever pasha you choose.

The original ear ornament to match the KajalLata necklace was a wide kanbala that also accommodated a kamal-chain within it. But Rittika quite decisively chose the full-kaan with three steps that had been specially drawn for her as an alternative to the kanbala. And so, having been created exclusively for her, and even though it’s part of the KajalLata set, tradition prevails and we call the jewel by her name.

Rittika knows ambivalence well — she’s a professional psychologist. This ear ornament has two distinct sides to it and incorporates within its character both the ancient and the modern. It’s a recherché jewel alright but one with its duality easily evident. In fact, it wears its contrasting personality with proud candour. The veracity of the ornament is its crowning glory. Also, being in a profession that has so much to do with the mental state, Rittika will surely agree that far far above such monumental jewels hand-wrought with great thought and skill in sinless guinea gold lies the greatest jewel of all — our humanity.

Sometimes I wear these earrings on their own ; not with the guluband. When he's on a campaign far away and I have no reason to wear a necklace to bed, I let the presence of his absence distill itse...

Sometimes I wear these earrings on their own ; not with the guluband. When he's on a campaign far away and I have no reason to wear a necklace to bed, I let the presence of his absence distill itself onto my bare neck. Solitude is no less an ornament for those who've grown to love while wanting not to.

The magic tree, in its intricate pierced naksha, is as alive as ever, its gravidity bright and palpable. I can feel the flowers bloom : the rubies, turquoise, pearls, corals and emeralds all decorating the plant with an ethereal vividness. But more than the beauty of the garden, it's the psittacene drama that I find rapturous. The royal parrots — their ruby eyes alert and sparkling — that have always so dutifully guarded the guluband's three panels are here no longer at their posts and now perch atop the ratna-briksha in a partnership so perfect that it can only be borne out of love. 'Love over duty?' comes to mind, a reprimand forms itself, and is almost immediately followed by 'Perhaps, love is duty.'

The parlour window opens to a vast vista of an unending range of verdant hills with a single meandering river causing a spectacularly anfractuous valley to wind through its centre. The palace, high on its own mound, is scarcely in touch with the teeming humanity that enlivens the village far below. Yet, every afternoon I wait till the mauve cloud goes by for the bishudi to raise its distintive timbre to the wind. There's a longing to the sound that my heart seems to find a strange affiliation with. But when the nagara answers the flute with playfully amorous energy, its roll reverberating across the undulating landscape as if to return to the hills their lost heartbeat, mine too quickens to its pace, lifting me away from my seclusion and casting me among the womenfolk of the town, dancing with them and singing in merriment the Laman songs of simple love. To match the rhythm of the music and singing, I flick the ghungroos on my earrings and willingly go into a blissful trance.

I wear parts of his umlakh, his crown, him, as my personal adornment. The three chains that affix the panel to the helix of my ear are needed to ensure the jewel never comes undone. Though far, far away, he stays close, whispers sweet nothings that are everything to me. Filtered through the guinea gold floriation of the frieze, I hear his love. And I feel his fragrant breath on mine. 

"Radhe! Firmly reject this shrewd son of the king of Vraja, O immoral girl! Listen! Don't be weak! I'm saying it for Your own good. Don't submit to Him!"

Such advice from her loyal sakhi Lali...

"Radhe! Firmly reject this shrewd son of the king of Vraja, O immoral girl! Listen! Don't be weak! I'm saying it for Your own good. Don't submit to Him!"

Such advice from her loyal sakhi Lalita may not have fallen on deaf ears but did precious little to alter the course of the love to end all love or, if you will, the love above all love.

This karna-veshtana is evidence that the modern-day Radhika Gupta — for whom her husband, Tridib, got the jewel made bespoke for their anniversary — is as much in love with and is equally loved by her life partner as the Radha of Indian mythology.

In Dubai the two of them, with their fiercely talented daughter Dhriti, have now made their home after Tridib’s international finance-management career saw them travel across four countries through the last ten years. That blazingly successful stint makes Radhika just as much Mahalakshmi for she, no doubt, has been the greatest contributor to her husband’s remarkable ascension. A graduate first-class and a B.Ed to boot, Radhika has not only been a popular teacher but a guiding force as well behind her daughter’s emergence as a brilliant pianist.

This kaan was ordered a year ago. Taking its design cues from the Kumudini Kaan-Jhumka of 2017 vintage, it differentiates in its meticulous detailing.

A single enlarged halud-chameli takes pride of place surrounded by sweet sandhya-malatis and a rose sprig. The anfractuous floriated infill is protected by a line of naksha-topas which again is bordered by a continuous row of water snowflakes (this feature’s from the earlier jewel). All of this is framed by an uninterrupted edging of orbs with tin-karai finials.

The jhumka, with its two-tiered ball border and single ball-jhur fringe is a perfect match for the kaan, it’s domed form decorated with scrolling naksha the flowers and foliage of which resemble those of the kaan but which have deliberately been varied ever-so-slightly to ensure the jhumka succeeds just as spectacularly on its own with any pasha of your fancy.

This is not the stuff of clinquant romance. Guinea gold jewels such as these connote love everlasting of the kind that makes spiritual the very act and action of love-making. The ornament covers the entire ear and, as the karna-veshtana, becomes part of Radha’s floral adornment.

Realised entirely in virtuoso pierced-naksha, the Radhika Kaan-Jhumka is for all you who believe in transcendental love and are willing to submit yourself to its gloriously liberating, even transformative, force. It’s what made a mischievous Radha Gupta become the beauteous ‘Radhika’ — a name given her by her devoted husband in pure affection, and by which she allows only him to call her. 

In August last year when we released the Gulistan Choker there weren't any matching earrings to it. It's heartening to know then that when at last a pair was made, it was a pasha and not a dangler ...

In August last year when we released the Gulistan Choker there weren't any matching earrings to it. It's heartening to know then that when at last a pair was made, it was a pasha and not a dangler or kanbala or jhumka, and was created bespoke for a young lady who'd selected Gulistan and felt a companion piece for the ears was imperative.

That pashas are no longer considered to be fuddy-duddy accessories is evident from the fact that we've been doing an increasing number of them as stand-alone jewels or matched to necklaces of various kinds — all for young girls, and many of them to-be brides. That alone is a very comforting thought — that the timelessness of certain kinds of fine hand-wrought jewellery is now being acknowledged universally. There's hope for Bengal jewel-craft as a valuable decorative art form, still.

The pasha's a simplification of the Gulistan choker's primary articulation of a rose garden — there the Gulistan of Sa’di of Shiraz reimagined as the poet's fragrant golap bagan : "rich with meaning, fragrant with wisdom, and glorious in its articulation of a ‘Gulistan’ as the paradise we choose for ourselves when we walk the path of truth and beauty." — that here becomes a guldasta of three fresh roses mixed with acanthus sprigs and sundry vines. There's no more space for further articulation and the chased rope and ball border both frame the bouquet well while the meticulously crafted pierced naksha makes certain the roses can be smelt.

There's merit in that. The young — like Sampanna for whom this jewel was made and after whom it's named — are virtuous. They've woken up and smelt the roses. And then chosen to immortalise them in pure guinea-gold as a recherché jewel. In doing so, they've, knowingly or unknowingly, immortalised themselves.

The start of many a family's history can be traced back to a single extraordinary goyna. Sampanna is of just that kind. 

The Ramnagarer Shonar Haathi Sita-Har, the one we opened the year with, finds its companion piece at last in these earrings. The necklace took fourteen months in manufacture; this, sixty days more....

The Ramnagarer Shonar Haathi Sita-Har, the one we opened the year with, finds its companion piece at last in these earrings. The necklace took fourteen months in manufacture; this, sixty days more. Of those, just to prevent the elephants turning inwards required three experimentations with stringing and finally the weighing down of the pachyderms by filling them with golden lac.

The pearl strands interspersed with gold ball-beads echo those of the necklace and the pashas are the Sita-Har's side-pieces. Everything's identical (and made to relevant scale) save a small detail : the elephant's pearl-strung anklets have here become ones that sport triple-pearl jhurs. Also, the pearl string on the headdress has been done away with because the gathai-mukto emerges directly from the haathi and a pearl crown would've crowded things up unnecessarily.

The length of the earrings is generous and they'll likely be shoulder-dusters for many. The good thing is that you can alter the length to your need by just adding or removing pearls from the five strings. For a change of colour, you're free to re-do the strands with precious gem beads of chuni or panna or blue sapphire, if you so wish.

It's significant, the posting of this piece today. It's Sunday and not yet daybreak in Calcutta. And it's not the Pujas, but we imagine it to be. Maa Durga, when she returns to her Kailash abode on a Robi-baar will do so on her assigned vahana. But we've readied the Ramnagarer Shonar Haathi for her. She can't possibly refuse. Travelling on this regal elephant she'll bring peace and happiness and prosperity to all in this world.

And when the jet engines start up and the elegant aircraft in its white livery taxies towards the runway, the Dum Dum airport old terminal tearfully waving goodbye, and the pilot announces much too fast and in a rigorously rehearsed voice, "Ladies and Gentleman, As-Salaam-Alaikum! Welcome on board this Emirates flight EK571 to Dubai . . .", we'll know it's not a Boeing 777 she's seated in but on our Shonar Haathi that's grown wings and will fly her to the Middle East and then to England safely and pleasantly. Throughout the way, and back in her island residence, she'll know she dwells truly in the garba-griha of our heart, and that this is her home, her real and beautiful home that she must soon return to, and one day, also soon, return to forever. 

In the morning, in front of the elders, the parrot

Starts mimicking the sounds

Of last night’s love play.

Embarrassed she claps her hands,

“Dance! Dance!”she orders the chil...

In the morning, in front of the elders, the parrot

Starts mimicking the sounds

Of last night’s love play.

Embarrassed she claps her hands,

“Dance! Dance!”she orders the children.

The chatter of the parrot is lost

in the jingle of her earrings.

This poem, 'The Parrot', by Amaru, one of the supreme early lyric (Sanskrit) poets of India, has been tampered with. We’ve changed the last word, an article of jewellery, to ‘earrings’ from ‘bangles’. This in order to suit our purpose, for while the mudras in classical Indian dance may well cause gold bangles to jingle, the physicality of each such performance would also result in earrings like these swinging about to the tempo of the movement and thereby emitting their own sweet music from the double row of kadamphul jhumurs, with polished discs in between, that edge the jewel.

The embroidery of scrolling floriated naksha, faceted half-topas, and rows of mihi-rejis and paktar are seen in bands on the skirt. The border of chhela inverted mangoes and a finial of sorts of two large naksha ones hold the garment in place while Manipuri highlights at the top and bottom lighten the busy patterning.The tops are also Manipuri-style pradips.

An ornament for intrepid lovers, this. But even if you don’t have a pet parrot that’ll tell on you, be careful the euphonious ring of your Chaahat-Chaniya earrings don’t give you away. And if all this sounds somewhat ambiguous — what ‘chaahat’, why ‘chaniya’? — wait for the necklace, of which these are the matching kanbalas, to make its appearance over the weekend for a more complete picture of the half-parure.

Handcrafted in rich yellow guinea-gold and given that earthy polish so essential to its bohemian spirit, this pair of earrings captures the complete abandonment of celestial love and asks you the question central to your soul : Have you loved without shame, without fear, without loathing, without reticence, ever?

After that barrage of recaps during the Dhanteras–Diwali period, a return to sanity warrants an ornament small but significant. Here’s a jewel modelled on the traditional ‘tarkulia’ surya-motif sil...

After that barrage of recaps during the Dhanteras–Diwali period, a return to sanity warrants an ornament small but significant. Here’s a jewel modelled on the traditional ‘tarkulia’ surya-motif silver discal earrings from Central India but given an elaborate if serene jhumka, that’s detachable, to enhance its power as a stand-alone goyna.

The openwork central boss has chhela wire rays radiating out from the single naksha sunflower. Around this is an ekka-tar surround and then a halo of graduated double orbs. That's three kinds of karigari commingling effortlessly to give us the pashas.

The jhumka is a mirror-polished dome capped with a large katai-flower. The critical aspect of it is that the plain surface reflects light dramatically, becoming in itself a sun-like entity. A ring-reji border and two rows of big-and-small ball beads reflect the idiom of the ‘tarkulia’ pasha and then a notched bezel enables the captivating double-row single-ball fringe that makes the pasha and the jhumka cohere with the natural harmony of their designs. Yet both parts are eminently wearable as separate ornaments, the jhumkas with any plain gold tops.

To support the ‘tarkulia’ from leaning away from the ear and to ease any stress that the downward pull of the jhumka might exert upon the lobe, a simple pearl and gold tana is provided that is also detachable, the rings (adjustable) fixing to the earring posts while the hook clamps on to the helix to keep the ensemble firmly in place. The pearls on the tana can be changed to chains if you want an all-gold look but just a touch of mukto never appears out of place on a fine gold jewel.

There’s no overt heliolatry required of us to make this splendid ‘tarkulia’– jhumka our own. The surya is an enduring motif in all our cultures. In this distinct jhumka-pasha, the solar symbolism becomes us. In harnessing the power of the sun –– the fact that it's the source of light and life –– the jewel brings about a oneness of nature with us women as the vital creative force of the universe. 

More than five years after we’d featured the Pillsbury Necklace on this page, comes this pair of matched earrings in the form of lahari kanbalas.

This time it’s in season. The necklace was “o...

More than five years after we’d featured the Pillsbury Necklace on this page, comes this pair of matched earrings in the form of lahari kanbalas.

This time it’s in season. The necklace was “our interpretation of the very western cardigan clip or sweater guard/pin or shawl clasp that’s actually pretty old school jewellery, introduced in the 1950s to hold caplets and open-buttoned cardigans together using two brooch-like ends over attached alligator clips bridged with decorative chains.” But that jewel was introduced to you in August, 2017, in the middle of a rather humid monsoon. Today's is bang in the middle of winter.

It’s not as if the jewel needed matched earrings ; it could be worn with a whole plethora of kan-pashas or jhola-duls in similar workmanship. Also, because of the chains playing such a central role in the construct of the necklace — they’re what the eyes rest on — it can have matched earrings of any kind.

For this design, we chose to replicate in miniature the necklace in the lower arrangement of the kanbala. What you see is the four bichha-ball chains suspended between two inverted kalkas, still containing three kinds of karigari— reji-paktar, Manipuri, and, instead of katai, ball-work. The ball edgings are staggered differently on both sides of the chains with a difference in ball-sizes as well and a single large ball-drop is seen to hold centre-stage right at the bottom. This ball is reflected in the one hanging from the kalka pasha which falls between the plain bichha chains that act as suspender cables for the lower arrangement.

The paisley pasha is detachable and can be worn separately. When the kanbala’s desired, you simply have to affix the chain-kalka segment.

To its merit, the kalka-ball pasha as a stand-alone jewel may not be lavish but certainly is no pushover either. When worn independently, it functions well as an ornate ear ornament, both distinct and sophisticated. With the kanbala, it’s simply scintillating.

These are earrings that ingeniously use a trio of paisleys, some simple chhela chains, and a couple of ball-drops to create a matched masterpiece to a well-received but differently-ordered necklace, and at the same time to birth a rara avis of a kanbala that foregoes all the usual tropes of such an iconic ornament form and establishes a clear-cut idiom for itself. The Lahari Kanbala, with this Paisley Pillsbury model, has entered the pantheon of modern classics in handcrafted fine gold jewellery from Bengal by redefining what a true-blue kanbala can be. 

 Modelled on the jhapta-dul and created in volume like a kanbala, this disciplined, dramatic two-step earring is blessed with the gift of space and balance, the two crescentic tiers hanging fr...

 Modelled on the jhapta-dul and created in volume like a kanbala, this disciplined, dramatic two-step earring is blessed with the gift of space and balance, the two crescentic tiers hanging freely on rings. The Priya necklace, much admired by the first-time customer who got this made bespoke, was asked to be referenced for its elements, and so you see graduated Neem-Chameli flowers crowd both the new moons. The detailing, as usual, is noteworthy, and perhaps the single greatest reason why the earrings succeed and are distinct. For instance, note how the first crescent has a calibrated ball-karai border on both edges while the second goes without the karai on the lower edge because more space is required to allow the pearl-and-gold ball-jhur fringe its play. A six-petalled flower holds sway in the centre of the larger crescent, each petal of which holds within it a sat-karaiphul. This breaks the monotony of continuous Neem-Chameli rows and introduces a significant polished surface among the more intricate patterns. It also allows for a pearl to be included in the middle that then balances those of the jhur and the one in the centre of the topa-ball pasha, polished as well, that also lines things up with an outlined flower that's mirrored in the canopy of the pearl drop at the bottom of the earring.

Clean lines, generous voids that make them airy, pearl touches on rich guinea gold, and the fragrance of cork flowers blooming way beyond their season — all these attributes result in making the earrings majestic and unique. Handcrafted with skill and utter sincerity, they're named — as tradition demands — after the daughter (for whom they're meant) of the customer who ordered them. 

Often enough we’re asked to design to match an accessory to a main ornament and sometimes, though rarely, the other way round as well. In both cases it’s important to study the ornament with which ...

Often enough we’re asked to design to match an accessory to a main ornament and sometimes, though rarely, the other way round as well. In both cases it’s important to study the ornament with which the new jewel is being paired for nuances of style and workmanship to ensure a cogent design that, if not enthralling, will at least be remarkable, and replete with individual merit. But such qualification of stellar craftsmanship is not enough –– the jewel also has to suit the wearer-owner.

This stylized butterfly has for its jewelled wings the carefully reproportioned scrolling motifs of the segments flanking the centrepiece of the joroa collar to which it has been commissioned to be a matched earring.

We’re grateful for any order from you, always. But if we don’t exceed your expectations, and surprise and delight you with what we create bespoke for you, the very basis of your decision to come to us in the first place is lost.

We were asked to make matched earrings : we created aliferous ones! – Style. We were asked to make matched earrings : we decided upon kanbalas! –– Form. We were asked to make matched earrings : we replicated the swirls, the stones (and their combination) and the pavé setting –– Technique.

A butterfly, symbolic of your elegant freedom, came into being, despite not being requested, playfully floating on its plain bichha restraints, its antennae curled into collets of red stone, its proboscis unfurled, ready to ingest the sweet nectar of universal admiration.The body is encrusted with bands of the same red stones, and a single drop dangles spontaneously from it just as the one from the cluster top does, though, in the latter, there’s a rice pearl affixed as an extension to it that brilliantly modulates the space between the chains.

In life, we get to choose the colours with which to make vibrant our time on earth. It’s the butterfly’s fate to be only red and white and that too a white from cubic zirconium and a glassy chemical red because that's what the necklace is set with. Had we had the lenience, we’d have decorated it in zircon, rubies and pearls. Still, it’s bright and beautiful, and imbued with an infectious reverse biophilia –– it seems to love humans and truly comes into its own only when at home on a human ear. And from there it wants to travel places not just to see but to be seen.

Unlike the actual projapoti with its short life span, this joroa version in exquisite cutwork is ageless. And it makes you immortal too by embodying your spirit in the everlasting beauty of its guinea-gold craftsmanship.

When it willingly forsakes its freedom to give you wings, you know jewels of such virtuous character can only become heirlooms, most cherished, loved and revered. 

A Loreto girl, Mili Mary D’Cruze was destined to lead. There wasn’t any ‘climbing the corporate ladder’ for her because she made certain she started at the top, as an administrative officer in a bl...

A Loreto girl, Mili Mary D’Cruze was destined to lead. There wasn’t any ‘climbing the corporate ladder’ for her because she made certain she started at the top, as an administrative officer in a blue chip company. Wildly successful, she still held close a secret passion, preventing it from detracting her from her shining career in industry. Not for long. Love came by and swept her off her feet. The joys of motherhood followed, and her infant daughter, Avisha, proved epiphanic. Mili Mary’s love for fashion and decoration now seemed to pull her away from her job and the feeling deep within that her creativity needed a language, both unique and universal, to converse with a wider world began to get stronger and more athletic. She took the plunge. Naming her online store after her child, Avisha’s Couture became, instantly, the darling of discerning women who found tastefully niche apparel, accessories, and decorative articles now within easy reach. The boutique store, housed in Mili Mary’s own marvellous home, has become quite an internet phenomenon, and the feisty, beautiful lady is indeed holistically living her dream.

Facebook brought Mrs.D’Cruze to us. She wanted to order for herself the Punkah Necklace that she’d seen on our page but for the earrings desired a full–Kaan with Jhumka, made bespoke.

The idiom for the Kaan needed to be the same as that of that iconic neckpiece but evolved to address Mrs.D’Cruze’s commanding and creative character. She’s a warrior, she is. At once fiercely independent, a caring wife, and doting mother who had the courage and confidence to close the curtains on her lucrative corporate career, marry for love, bear a child and bring her up (she’s five years old, now) with undivided attention, and then dramatically draw open the drapes to reveal a beautifully decorated world where she’s the heroine who takes centre stage and addresses the audience in a voice as powerful as it is pulchritudinous — her fulgent feminacy stands out as the innate character, the indestructible armour, of a true champion.

As such, when the kaan was designed, it morphed the tender shape of the punkah to that of a bow. The delicate fretwork, enamelled touches, and the seed pearl border all remain, but they’re now compressed into the firmness of a 'dhonuk'. The five-petalled flowers in maroon mina, with pearl centres, help admit thoughts of peace but the taut kamal-chain bowstring, with a single pearl in the middle, stakes claim to the brave warrior whose jewel this is. When they’re needed, the unseen arrows shall be dipped in love or war.

The kettledrum jhumkas are identical to the matched ones originally paired with the necklace.

Hand-wrought in rich guinea-gold and drawn in design with Mrs. D’Cruze’s unflagging strength of spirit as an inspiration to all of us independent women, the ornament is as unique as Mrs.D’Cruze unequivocally is. We are honoured to have had the opportunity to create a rare jewel for one who stands tall in her practice of 21st century Indian womanhood. The kaan-jhumka, naturally, is named after her.

Here, in her own words, is Mrs. Mili Mary D’Cruz.

“I follow A.Sirkar jewellery. Just love each creation and the creativity in general. Punkah was one of my favorites but I wanted something different and desired it to be designed by Brinda-di. It is said that when one has a strong desire for something and truly yearns for it, she/he will get it. And so, indeed, it happened that my Kaan was designed by her magical hands. It's like ‘tapasya kore paoa’. Just in love with it.”

This is the matching pair of earrings to the Vidita necklace you saw last week. Yes, and no. By that we mean, they are matched but aren't identical in their shape or form to that of the necklace. F...

This is the matching pair of earrings to the Vidita necklace you saw last week. Yes, and no. By that we mean, they are matched but aren't identical in their shape or form to that of the necklace. For one, the dandelion's gone, but the details of its 'puff' remain

More than three-and-a-half years after the Juna Mahal choker was presented to you here, come these rather reserved, matched pashas with two pairs of passionate parakeets again spi...

More than three-and-a-half years after the Juna Mahal choker was presented to you here, come these rather reserved, matched pashas with two pairs of passionate parakeets again spirited away from the Aam-Khass of that remarkable palace in South Rajasthan.Dungarpur

"Mirrikh par mushaira kar lo ki moon par Hum to ab apne sher sunaenge phone par." - - - - - - - - - - - Khalid Irfan

Something needs to be done. Romance is dying by each internet hour, losi...

"Mirrikh par mushaira kar lo ki moon par Hum to ab apne sher sunaenge phone par." - - - - - - - - - - - Khalid Irfan

Something needs to be done. Romance is dying by each internet hour, losing ground at ferocious pace to things like online Black Friday sales. Black indeed! Gone are the days when a jhapta could be worn to music soirees and housewarming parties, let alone grand wedding ceremonies. Ephemeral images on mobile phones might still reveal the brave who'd sport such an ornament on their head even if to elicit 'likes' and platitudinous comments. And given what's been doing the rounds for months now, the future seems uncertain.

Time then to set things straight. The jhapta makes a comeback as luxe and lissome earrings even though they're robust of volume. But, note carefully: there are nine new moons in each jhapta, the bottom seven and the solitary crescent below them harnessed with star (there's one gone amiss on the right earring) studded kamal chains to the main crescent moon. A katai paisley and a granulated infill characterise the smaller moons alternately and each has a ball border on their lower edge. The serrated split-ball fringe is welcome, especially its light tintinnabulation. A larger faceted ball in the central jhur makes things interesting.

The secret to this arrangement is in the 260-days sacred Mayan calendar, Tzolkin, derived from "the Mayan arithmetical model of astronomy applied to numerological timekeeping for divinatory purposes." In other words, we've co-opted a Mayan nine-moon cycle ---- a lunar series that can keep time and reveal the future ---- and incorporated it into a remarkable earring that follows the jhapta form but also represents time as a nonet of crescent moons speeding to eternity.

What has destiny in store for us tomorrow, next month, the coming year? Ask your spectacular and mysterious Tzolkin Naba Chandro Earrings.

It's a challenge making an ornament from an ornament in a photograph from a printed magazine or its digital version, even it's someone as legendary as Madhuri Dixit wearing it, and especially becau...

It's a challenge making an ornament from an ornament in a photograph from a printed magazine or its digital version, even it's someone as legendary as Madhuri Dixit wearing it, and especially because we, as a rule, do not replicate things from others' designs and only make an exception when you ask us to do so.Given that the photograph, in this case, was a hazy reproduction of the star wearing a certain kind of earring that we were asked to reproduce, the challenge became even more interesting considering the interpretations of form and details we'd have to resort to in order to create more than recreate what was there. And so we did. As what's here for you to see is whether we've been able to do justice to the original and forge ahead and bring forth a design so individualistic yet universal that no one but the most skeptical should disapprove.

Spot the difference between the two and your journey towards infinity begins right here, right now. Otherwise, everything follows the goyna in the photograph, albeit to our interpretation.

A cascade of chains emerges a chandrapuli of fine handcrafted patterns put together in the form of a half moon, at the centre of which there's an ekka-wire sun that doubles up as a pasha. The semi-circular fanlight echoes the chandrapuli shape and has a stone at its heart but is not stone-hearted by any measure.There's flexibility, sophistication, and a certain kind of licentious charm about the earrings and it dazzles when worn. Add to that the pizzazz inherent to the ornament, especially if you're dancing in them, and be sure these will be the showstoppers at any do in or out of town.

There's a secret the earrings harbour but we're not at liberty to tell you that. Just enjoy the guinea-gold jewel and by noticing every bit of it, uncover its mystery. Suffice it to say that when you do, you'll be filled with wonder.

We could name this after Madhuri Dixit considering the actual photograph is of her, but the more we think of it the more we feel Helen stirring within us. She's the one who'd carry this off best, is our opinion. So, we've christened her 'Helen' instead.

The indescribably beautiful matched earrings to the Sraboni choker of January, 2017 and Kukubha Ragini Necklace from August of the same year, this exotic jewel deserves a separate article on it see...

The indescribably beautiful matched earrings to the Sraboni choker of January, 2017 and Kukubha Ragini Necklace from August of the same year, this exotic jewel deserves a separate article on it seeing how popular it's been over the last couple of years. Everything's intact : the identical "naksha jora-mayur" from the centrepiece of both necklaces, and the "double-muchkunda phul jhumka", the detailing of the ball-karai border, and the familiar reddish polish. That leaves us the tops : an excellent example of how, even if you're dealing with the most iconic of ornaments and making a pair of earrings matched to them, you should never go by the rule book, but instead design something that alludes to the main goyna, while at the same time being of such bold currency that it works as an independent jewel as well.

And so it is that the earring succeeds spectacularly on both counts, and this is in no small part due to the katai-reji-paktar eye-shot (of a peacock's feather) tops that are individualistic in form yet integrated of purpose.

Those you who love amorous peacocks might want to consider these earrings with or without the necklace/s. Either way, you'll be ready for love.

“A legendary matriarch of the House of Naksha is reborn as a beautiful young girl, hand-wrought in pure guinea gold using techniques and instruments of trade more than a century old, and care...

“A legendary matriarch of the House of Naksha is reborn as a beautiful young girl, hand-wrought in pure guinea gold using techniques and instruments of trade more than a century old, and caressed into shape by loving hands that have kept the great heritage of Kolkata goldsmithery alive and well through a hundred years and hopefully, with your appreciation and patronage, will nurture it to the highest office among all Indian craft where it shall dwell happily ever after.” This is what we wrote as the end statement to the Navina Naksha Pendant in September 2017. It applies here as well as this pair of earrings is nothing but the progeny of Navina.

Being the identical twins as matched earrings to that timeless jewel, The Navina Naksha Dul is nothing new yet new. The double crescent with the traditional floral chasing on each is replicated but the padma pasha has a graduated lower surround of ball beads instead of the pearl-embedded chaktis of the pendant.The roundels, in this case, have thick posts behind the central flower in each to ensure the earrings aren’t pried out of the pierced earlobes because of the downward pull of the naksha crescents with their pearl-ball fringe and the polished jhumkas with their big drop-pearl clappers. The naksha motifs, triangular wire-ball scallop and the jhur-jhumka arrangement remains unchanged from the pendant.

It’s not as if a matched pair of earrings of the same scale is necessary to complement the Navina Pendant. In fact, not so at all. If anything, the pendant is a stand-alone jewel and these earrings are, too. Sometimes, we grow to love an ornament so fully and with so much of our soul invested in it that we feel we need to complete it by having a parure made of the same design. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a wonderful and, actually, prudent thought. Over time, bit by bit, you could add the handswear, tickly, and, if you so like, a khopa jewel as well. It's a ceaseless delight to include in life, at reasonable intervals, intensely personal effects as beautiful as these. A deserving ring or a single ratan-choor also would not be out of place.

There’s a critical aspect to this enterprise, though. The naksha-wallah who did the original must complete the later ornaments as well. Different hands wouldn’t have the same nuances of chasing and the identical motifs would feel at variance with the original, albeit minutely so. But you’re an expert at this now, a connoisseur of naksha and other kinds of recherché workmanship that make Bengal jewellery the institution it is. You would never compromise on the details. So, remember, don’t take too much time to get the whole set done. Virtuoso naksha-wallahs are rare. And mercurial as they are, their undiluted love for the art of chasing cannot be doubted or discounted. You will make your handcrafted guinea-gold masterpieces within your lifetime, yes, but be certain as well to make them within theirs.

Great beauty at times comes from a heavy heart. Flowers, in whatever form, have a habit of sharing our joys and sorrows, and the rose among them foremost in presenting itself in life and in death w...

Great beauty at times comes from a heavy heart. Flowers, in whatever form, have a habit of sharing our joys and sorrows, and the rose among them foremost in presenting itself in life and in death with equal charm and that distinctive fragrance that pervades just as much the wedding night as it does life's last journey.

Often enough, we're hurt by those close to us in ways we'd never have foreseen, so near were we to them that the larger picture, so to say, was far removed from our view. Then again, there are moments of shattering loss and betrayal we are not prepared for and the meaning of which we find not prehensible, however much we try to come to terms with them.

It's terrible to be reductive about such things and dismiss them as 'a passing phase' or just brush them aside with empty platitudes about 'clouds with silver linings', 'after the rain comes the sun', and so on and so forth. No, we have to deal with them here and now.

Choose an ornament for yourself that'll be your panacea during such times. It could be anything, big or small, old or new, an heirloom or of special make, but easily wearable, that you feel good in, and one which must answer to you and hold within it the magic of uplifting your spirits in dour and dark phases of your life. Write your own story and let that jewel be the deus ex machina that steps in to set things right for you.

You've seen most of what's on this page as other independent ornaments. Here, the rose plaque with ball beading becomes a pasha from which the plain kettledrum jhumka is suspended. There's ball beading on these too but below them hundreds of pradip shikhas light the reflective domes and cast upon you the undying glow of happiness. The pierced naksha of the foliage on the disc is rich, yet the rose is wounded and hurting. But not for long. She'll revive, alright, and live to tell the tale of her triumph over life's usual trials and tribulations, and leave behind a memory trail of personal glory and love fulfilled.That's a given.

We are all ourselves, at some point of time, the story of the wounded rose. As the Zakhm-i-Gul of the title, we mould and strengthen ourselves in pure guinea gold and beckon the positive to come and merge with us as we cast far away from our minds the poison of blackness. If jewelry of truly sinless provenance should have the power to work wonders for its wearer, so should you have the same good magic deep within you to draw upon to realise how truly beautiful you are at any time, in any circumstance, anywhere. We are the Guls that never wither, never die. Our immortality is writ large across infinite timelines through which we live as we live and then live on as shining memory.

Your pansophy, and thus your greatness, is for all to see.

"I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short term weapon." --- Tom Stoppard

We don't know about the short term bit but, for ...

"I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short term weapon." --- Tom Stoppard

We don't know about the short term bit but, for certain, Mrs. Anisha Bhaduri's potent weapon of a pen has seen many battles, that mostly she's won, across the pages of Hindustan Times, The Statesman (where she spent a decade, half of which was as News Editor) in Kolkata, and then the China Daily of Hong Kong where she's now Editor, Web. Her academic credentials are impeccable: she's the first Indian woman to become a Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Fellow, which followed from her graduate work at the Indian Institute of Mass Communications and Masters from the Ateneo de Manila University (Konrad Adenauer Asian Centre for Journalism), Philippines. Add to that her professional triumphs ---- launching and leading the live digital edition of The Statesman, India's oldest English-language daily; first prize in a national literary contest for women writers held by the British Council in India; and the Pradyot Bhadra Young Journalist Award for Excellence ---- and you'll know smiling, quiet, soft-spoken Anisha as a force to reckon with in the muscular world of journalism, more so as we're in the era of post-truth politics and piceous populism. In articles of breathtaking range, she admonishes the young for being too preoccupied with doing and urges them towards a "culture of responsible contemplation", and takes down the so-called tiger mums for obsessing about elite schools for their toddlers, all the while tending to her eleven-year-old son and managing home for him as well as her husband.

When she commissioned us to design her a Kanbala, after having gotten to know us on Facebook, we did so in several variations knowing her keen creative eye. She chose, among those, this:

A kalka-infused delight with two curly brackets swinging freely from a paisley-ended hanger that has at its centre a large pearl drop (which you'll also see at the bottom); as also, separately, ball and ball-karai borders; a strung-pearl edging between ball clusters in the lower bracket; and finally, the aam-kalka pasha, the detailing of which sets the tone of the ornament. The wire-tied pearl beads sit snugly in their collets and help in balancing the gold and pearls so that at no time can the yellow-metal overpower the mukto. The clean lines, the repetitive richness of the kalkas, an unusual shape, splendidly calibrated solids and voids . . . they all add up to form the character of the kanbala: an unfussy marvel of a earring whose brevity of elements and effectiveness of shape and form sort of reflect the "beauty of a (her) simple life'' as the heroine, Kanika, of 'Other People's Lives' ---- the first story in 'She Writes', a compendium of twelve short stories (picked from four hundred submissions!!), penned by Anisha ---- realizes towards the end of the narrative. And so it is, a simple but powerful earring for a powerful but simple lady whose many accolades and achievements she will never let you know even if you know her well, such is her self-effacement, so coruscating her modesty. Yet she goes about her daily business of changing the world with unshakeable confidence and energy, and while doing so makes it evident that truth and beauty must be fought for ceaselessly by each of us in our own way. She chooses to do it with her self-belief, and her sunrise smile, with all the goodness of her heart and with every honest word she can unleash to make herself heard. We do it with gold. When someone like Anisha, a beautiful warrior for a better world and a champion of social and civic truth, selects us for her bespoke guinea-gold jewels, we feel honoured. We thank her deeply and sincerely, and in keeping with tradition, name the Kanbala after her.

The companion piece to the Princess Kaninika necklace, showcased here right after Poila Baisakh, these earrings in precious naboratna have been made to match the har, certainly, but designed in a m...

The companion piece to the Princess Kaninika necklace, showcased here right after Poila Baisakh, these earrings in precious naboratna have been made to match the har, certainly, but designed in a manner to be worn independently as well, or with some interesting joroa goyna from the yesteryears that may or may not have paired earrings or, even if they do, might be of a type too frumpy for your style. The cluster top is traditional, using all nine gems ; the three-stick suspension system is decidedly not. The hanger draws from the left endpiece of the necklace and the ruby flower sees a brave contrast with the turquoise furls alongside. The seven pearl strings can be varied in length to suit your profile and deliver the desired effect, especially if you’re wearing these danglers alone. Finally, the fanned out leaves and central blossom of the main lower bracket make general a specific bespoke design so that while wearing just the earrings no one will really think them to be part of a set while complementing the necklace perfectly when used as a matched ear ornament to it. The combination of stones, here too you will notice, is remarkably different and courageous, if we may say so, perfectly reflecting the personality of the young and very accomplished lady for whom it has been created. The pearl drop at the bottom balances the ample strings of the mid-section and adds length to the jewel without increasing its volume, at the same time giving the joroa the proper frame in which to speak. And speak it will, this pair of recherché gem-set earrings, in the one language of beauty and care and sincerity and love, for it is with these ingrained characteristics of art that they’ve been painstakingly wrought by hand in pure 22K gold. Your patronage of such designs and skill of making gives them the desired visibility and makes authentic Bengal jewellery one of the finest living craft traditions of the world and one that most strongly assures us that the future is, indeed, handmade.

Here's what we're going to sign off with this Puja week because we stay away from commercialising culture and will not impress upon you the ceaseless passion with which we pursue our calling in a t...

Here's what we're going to sign off with this Puja week because we stay away from commercialising culture and will not impress upon you the ceaseless passion with which we pursue our calling in a time when your mind is steeped in thoughts of worship, your heart calls out to commingle with those whom you've felt are closest to you but whose company you've been bereft of for reasons of work and family, and your soul stirs with the beat of the dhak every morning and tells you you're home, you're home, you're home in the truest of all senses.

This jhumka is a homecoming too. Made for a young cine-star who recently got married, it's the companion piece to the necklace she wore on her wedding day but, while including some of the motifs from that goyna, isn't really an exact match. It also isn't a dangler at all but more a traditional earring made especially prominent by the wide umbrellas and is proportioned so that the wire, ball and katai pashas seem (and are a wee bit) larger than the width of the jhumkas. The distinct difference in the workmanship of the upper and lower part of the jewel is evident in the rusticity of the jhumka's pierced naksha phul-lata-pata scrolling against the clear fretwork of the three-tiered surround of the pasha that culminates in a double-ball border. What this fretwork frames is what connects it to the jhumka : a solitary raktakarabi in the centre of a plain hand-beaten plaque, the latter clearly showing it's rough-hewn character which speaks of a primal force that births all the gentle beauty that emanates from it. Beneath the chhata of the jhumka you'll see a festoon of gold kadamphul and this ties in with the raktakarabi as two of the favourite flowers of Ma Durga in a season in which we acknowledge as much her vanquishing of evil as we do her coming to her "Baap-er Bari".

The wedding earring of a vivacious, beautiful and gracious film personality whose name is another for Ma Lakshmi, this pair of jhumkas is nothing short of divine when you consider the nature of the motifs it works into its design and for whom, in celestial terms, the ornament has been made. Reasonably, the pair, handcrafted with the greatest of care and patience in deep yellow guinea-gold given a vermilion polish, will be one that'll be immortal.

"Aata gachhe Tota Pakhi Dalim gaachhe Mou Eto daki tobu katha Kou na keno Bou?" Jogindranath Sarkar's lovable rhyme for children, well known to lots of pre-internet Bengalis who've encountered many...

"Aata gachhe Tota Pakhi Dalim gaachhe Mou Eto daki tobu katha Kou na keno Bou?" Jogindranath Sarkar's lovable rhyme for children, well known to lots of pre-internet Bengalis who've encountered many of these little poems while growing up, comes alive in this recherché kaan-jhumka where the depiction of a parrot in a flowering custard-apple tree is an antithesis of the tree itself which is more a shrub that needs scant care to grow and is not really noted for its shapeliness. Instead, the carefully pierced naksha of flowers and curvy stems and leaves enchants with its intricacy, and the bird --- note its distinctive neck-rings and flowing tail --- is detailed immaculately to stand out in the arabesque. It is a known fact that parrots adore sitaphal, but in this guinea-gold verse, the tree and the tota pakhi are quite evidently in love with each other, and the ornament glows, as they do, as much in their individual beauty as in the beauty of their remarkable bonding. The bees in the pomegranate tree haven't the carriage to be included in the design --- and there isn't enough space to be frivolous --- but the ample foliage of the jhumka, also in perforated naksha, with its ball border and single ball-jhur scallop, more than makes up for it. The ball-karai edging on the kaan is another detail to be considered : it frames the goyna and contains it, not allowing the chased patterns to get out of hand. While a sort of nursery rhyme, the last two lines are significant in a very different way and have been lost over time as the poem, as recited, always ends with the question the husband asks of his bride, "I call you, call out to you, over and over / yet you stay silent and heed not my plea, pray why?" The missing words have been said to be either of these : "Gaye boro jaala Hoy na katha bola !" or "Katha koibo ki chholé Katha koité ga jwolé !" In both, the wife replies with a common refrain. She's pained to answer her husband. It seems the reason his entreaties are falling on deaf ears is because he's been guilty of causing her some sadness which cannot be assuaged by gifts (say, of sarees or jewellery) or through his obvious gift of the gab. Only genuine remorse and a humble asking for forgiveness may somewhat correct the matter, but that too depending on her willingness to absolve him of his grave misconduct without a fittingly long waiting period. It is most definitely not a 'Let's kiss and make up' scenario he finds himself in. Well, in so far as that furthers the aspect of who we are and choose to remain over time amidst the meaningful relationships we gather around us, we may hope at least to be like the parrot and the aata tree and hold our own in each other's company in life's every chapter with grace and beauty. This handcrafted kaan-jhumka, made to complement an elaborate choker we'll showcase later, speaks in the unerring voice of that symbiotic partnership, that attachment which comes about when we love each other enough to know we must forever live with pride and respect for each other's differences and find our happiness in that, no matter what.

In the halcyon days of the Bengali Zamindars, these elegant guinea gold Kanbalas would have been de rigueur for the ladies of the house. Today, however, they’ve become a precious rarity.
...

In the halcyon days of the Bengali Zamindars, these elegant guinea gold Kanbalas would have been de rigueur for the ladies of the house. Today, however, they’ve become a precious rarity.

Made by a line of all but extinct master artisans, these immaculately hand-chased, hand-crafted beauties give an altogether different spin to the word ‘earrings’ and are guaranteed ‘show-stoppers’ everywhere.

A four-step jhapta style pure 22K gold earring that's matched to the Mayurpur Necklace but is quite capable of carrying the evening all by itself. The riveting centerpiece of the har is repeated he...

A four-step jhapta style pure 22K gold earring that's matched to the Mayurpur Necklace but is quite capable of carrying the evening all by itself. The riveting centerpiece of the har is repeated here in a dramatic cascade of naksha crescents that culminates in a generous pearl and ball fringe, with a half jhumka and single oversized pearl drop as a fitting epilogue. You can wear just the earrings ---- they're lavish, and stunning. Pair them with trousers and a dark turtleneck, or a black mesh cocktail dress, or even a mermaid gown with a high neckline and boy!, will you sizzle ! Or just kill them all softly in a single colour crepe saree, slinky blouse, and the Mayurpur danglers.
You deserve to be centre stage.