Bookish Sundays : Lines from a poem

January 18, 2015 by Lavanya

Emptiness, my bride who whistles, who listens? Last week, I came across a couple of lines by Slovene poet Tomaz Salamun in a talk by another poet. Something about these lines requires no context. I haven’t read the poem it belongs to; don’t even know which poem it belongs to. Yet, I thrill to these words suspended in internet ether. What are some of your favorite lines from a poem? Picture Credit: Not sure of the exact source; found it via […]

Categories: Art, Books, writing • Tags: beauty, Bookish Sundays, poem, poetry, Tomaz Salamun

Questions on Beauty : Undina from Undina’s Looking Glass

October 25, 2013 by Lavanya

I came to know Undina from Undina’s Looking Glass because of her desire to share what she finds beautiful, specifically, Annick Goutal’s Heure Exquise. I’ve heard her say before that when she loves a perfume, she doesn’t like to analyze why she loves it, and so I approached her for this project just a bit apprehensively. Yet since Undina is one who loves to tell it like it is, without mincing words, I was also very curious to hear what her thoughts on […]

Categories: Art, Books, Memories, Music, Scent, writing • Tags: art, beautifulness, beauty, Book, music, perfume, questions on beauty, Scent

A tale of two Irises : Invisible Ink and Lemon Candy

October 9, 2013 by Lavanya

I wrote most of this post a few weeks ago, but didn’t publish it because I wanted to try the perfumes in question again. And of course, as it often happens (doesn’t it?) , I promptly forgot about it. However, in the past few days I noted quite a few posts with titles beginning with “A tale of two..”. And then of course I remembered this post languishing in the drafts and decided it was time to dust it off, […]

Categories: Books, Perfume Review, Scent, Travel • Tags: Aedes, By Kilian, Iris, iris nazarena, Perfume Review, Prelude to Love, Scent

On what we find beautiful

September 24, 2013 by Lavanya

As a person who spends disproportionate amount of time contemplating beautiful things, I often discover patterns in what appeals to me.  When I first experience some ‘sensory thing’, I try to let that thing take over so I can hear my immediate visceral reaction to it. However, after the thing and after a while, I realize that the kind of sensoryness that I find beautiful seems to follow certain paths and patterns.  And then of course, I am curious about […]

Categories: Art, Books, Film, Music, Scent, writing • Tags: art, beautiful things, beauty, writing

Perfume from Ancient Indian Texts : Brihat-Samhita

August 30, 2013 by Lavanya

My husband has this uncanny talent of ferreting out obscure sources related to many of his interests- the ones he is passionate about, that is. When I mildly commented that he doesn’t take an active interest in perfume, the way I do with his interests, he protested. It seemed like an unfair accusation since he does accompany me to all my sniffathons and is always ready to sniff my wrist or arm. Yet, every action is tinged with a slight […]

Categories: Art, Books, History, Perfume Notes, Scent, writing • Tags: Ancient Indian texts, Brihat-Samhita, History of Perfume, perfume-making, perfumes, Varahamihira