Venus of Riddhima

My culture and traditions are an important part of my upbringing. While I don’t blindly follow these traditions, I do derive a lot of inspiration from the traditional ways of living and clothing. India had been known as the golden bird before the British in its flourishing days, artisans and creator poured their creativity in everything that was made. Whether it is the carvings on temple walls or jewelry in gold and gems or simply the creation of patterns on woven silk that was created keeping the wearer in mind, each piece was a creation that drew inspiration from nature, abundance and the festivity that were prevailing all the time.

My wearable “rakkodi” has the traditional red bindi on it that signifies prosperity, long live and the very essence of a woman in the Indian culture.

Having learnt classical Indian Dance for close to 15 years, I have realized that it has been a great medium of expression of feeling and thought for me. Emoting to music is something that I have been able to do. Too much of “abhinaya” , my teacher used to say.

I also have a weakness for antique jewelry, (possibly inherited from my mother), and have always enjoyed analyzing pieces that my mother collected. I love analyzing the pieces for the kind of work done on it, understanding the style and perfection that creator wanted to achieve. I guess these two vastly differing reasons form the basis of my wearable piece. My inspiration is the rakkodi that sits on the back of the head. It is originally a round, gem-studded piece of jewelry that has a small clip to pass the hair through and to hold it in place at the back of the head is very often inherited. In my case , this was a piece that my mother was given by her grandmother, before it came into my possession. This was a piece that I wore as a part of my classical dance attire and it has a scientific reason associated with it. It is used to protect the medulla oblongata of the head. It is very fascinating to know that each piece of ornament that is worn as a part of the classical dance attire has some kind of significance that is backed by a scientific reason.