One can use this book in many ways. Just browse through it for sheer reading pleasure or to satisfy curiosity of, in how many different ways certain embroideries are done in other states of India. For example how blanket stitches or chain stitches are made in different regions along with other combinations of stitches. How differently from region to region a mirror is fixed on the material. One can also use this book as a help in deciding which embroidery style one would like to begin work, either to buy the embroidered goods or get the type of work done. Read through it or dip first into one chapter, then into another, and find out exactly what is involved in the motifs you think might interest you. Thus, appreciation of the efforts involved, automatically comes with knowledge and getting to know intimately the details of work creates aspirations for making such charming embroidered cloths. Kashmir to Kanyakumari contains more than 150 pages and has more than 150 photographs and illustrations detailing just about everything there is to know about Indian embroidery. To fully understand a particular motif, read through the technical details of related stitches listed in a sequel book in a separate chapter on stitches. Best of all, this book will introduce you to the talent you never realized you had. It may bring you face to face to that beautiful instinct of your own creative capabilities and urge.

Introduces Indian embroidery stitches and techniques, and shows examples of quilting, pattern-darning, counted-thread work, whitework, mirror work, metal work, applique, and patchwork

Sarees - the traditional dress of Indian women is saree - are more about tradition and culture than merely fashion. There is a legacy behind every type of saree that is popular in India. The different sarees come from the different regions of the country. Fashion keeps on changing, but the saree is the only attire which never changes, apart from its fabrics, patterns and colours. This book illustrates all of these sarees - a compilation that hasn't been undertaken before this book. Descriptions about the history, properties and manufacturing of each and every saree made in India are also included.

Indian Costumes provides a brief survey of how our people dressed themselves in the past and how they now dress themselves in the different regions of this country

In any conflict, the worst affected are always the women... The narrative around the Jammu-and-Kashmir insurgency continues to be built around the role of freedom fighters, insurgents and politicians – all of them, not surprisingly, men. Yet, women have played an extraordinary role in the history of Kashmir, in retaining Kashmiriyat – that long-forgotten ideal of mutual co-existence. Equally, as mothers, daughters, widows, fighters, martyrs and mujahids, they have been inseparable from the four-decade-old conflict. In The Land I Dream of, researcher Manisha Sobhrajani documents her encounters with women from disparate backgrounds across the troubled state. A Kashmiri Pandit forced into exile as a child; a mother-figure battling the establishment to give hope to thousands like her whose men have disappeared; an eighty-year-old who trained to fight tribal invaders in 1947 as part of Kashmir’s first women-only militia; and young Muslim women empowering themselves through entrepreneurship – the lives she chronicles bear witness not just to the suffering and apathy Kashmiri women have had to endure but also to their strength in the face of it all. Combining individual recollection with journalistic endeavour, this searingly personal account of loss and despair and equally of hope and optimism is a testament to the resilience of the women in one of the world’s most fractious regions.'

Papers presented at a seminar.

- This meticulously researched book traces the history of Phulkari through the ages, with over 350 pictures that bring to life the nearly lost craft - It shares instances of revival and innovation, and narrates the robustness with which Phulkari has re-entered the imagination of designers - The book is a source of inspiration for enterprising students of craft, institutions teaching art, craft, culture and history, as also a befitting tribute to a distinct cultural tradition. To a connoisseur of Phulkari embroidery, it is a mystique! Every stitch once placed on the fabric tells a story, a story that comes crafted in emotions taking the form of motifs. Phulkari from Punjab: Embroidery in Transition is the outcome of the authors' quest in search of these stories, their sojourns to the villages and by lanes of Punjab that are home to this form of craft. Meticulously researched, with text and pictures that bring to life the nearly lost craft, the book traces the history of Phulkari through the ages: the craft, the decline, the revival. It highlights the agonies of lost finesse and compulsions of commoditization that the practitioners of the art shared with the authors. And on a positive note, it shares instances of revival and innovation, narrates the robustness with which Phulkari has re-entered the imagination of designers. The book is not a mere chronicle of Phulkari embroidery but a lived experience that spanned over seven years. Stitch craft and its depiction is only one aspect of the narratives; while the canvas inter alia encapsulates rituals that sustain traditions, markets that process the craft, connoisseurs eager to conserve and institutions responsible for its sustenance. The book is a source of inspiration for enterprising students of craft, institutions teaching art, craft, culture and history as also a befitting tribute to a distinct cultural tradition. It offers glimpses of India's heritage and diverse treasure trove in the field of textile craft.