We have been posting about memories the Royal Tour has been bringing back and a post on the Queen’s 90th birthday is along similar lines. It reminds us of a time when we lived in Ooty, in the Nilgiris, or Blue Mountains, in South India.
The Mountains in Ooty are not quite as high as the Himalayas, but are very pleasant and are also known for their beauty, the lake and tea estates, amongst other things.
Picking strawberries, Plums from the plum trees in the back, peaches in a friend’s garden, picnicking on the picturesque spots such as Doddabetta and Lamb’s Rock, visiting nearby elephant sanctuary in Kodaikanal, travelling up using the narrow gauge Nilgiri ‘Blue Hills’ train, and enjoying beautiful flowers including hydrangeas and morning glory in the garden is a fond memory.
Picturesque Emerald Lake
As children we were intrigued with the Queen’s head being featured on British stamps, (as most other stamps we came across were pretty varied)-the only difference appeared to be the colours of the stamps. These consistently appeared from time to time as and when new stamps were issued. Quite similar to those stamps, the quiet dignity with which Her Majesty carries on with her duties year after year (several of them in any given day), almost seems to tie in with consistent regularity of the appearance of those stamps.
Having seen the Royal family constantly equated to ‘any other family’ and knowing that a lot more is expected of them despite this ‘equation’, we would like to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday with sincere congratulations.
As quoted by someone quite rightly on being the longest reigning Monarch, the Queen has had ‘a singular reign, and a singularly successful reign at that’. And we think it is fitting that we use the image that made the stamps from our childhood in the Nilgiri Hills so intriguing and unwaveringly constant. Happy birthday, Your Majesty! (All images of the queen Courtesy Twitter; images of Ooty, Courtesy Wikipedia)
As the Royals visit the mountain Kingdom of Bhutan, it reminds us of an idyllic childhood spent for a while in the mountains in India, just on the other side in equally beautiful Arunachal Pradesh. The mountains we looked onto towards the west were the kingdom of Bhutan. The beauty of the mountains, pristine streams flowing through the valleys, children and people wearing Baku (traditional dress) all reminds us of the beauty of untouched nature we grew up with there which continues to inspire us.
Bhutan is well known for being a very friendly neighbour to India and we are pleased that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting the country. It is naturally protected by the Himalayan moutons which form its boundary.
We recall the pretty traditional clothes and patterns that the locals wear which brightens the atmosphere up, despite the weather being increasingly cold with altitude. We also love the beautiful weaves that that the traditional shawls are made of. These are very special and as with all artisanal products, are handwoven and labour intensive.
We drank yaks milk, as there are no cows here and there is not a rickshaw to be seen. Single file traffic crawling up the mountains due to the incline is often in convoys and quite restricted. Hence our fascination for rickshaws, trucks and autos (tuk tuks) as we had never seen them in the mountains before. It used to take us all day to start from the plains all the way up to the high mountains where we lived in a beautiful valley high up in the mountains. This part of India is called Arunachal Pradesh, and this means ‘Land of the Rising Sun’. (All photos are courtesy of Arunachal Tourism and The Duke and Duchess’ photos are from Tatler.) The untouched beauty of the mountains was brought home by the Royal Tour, and we are pleased the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have experienced this part of the world as well.
Hopefully the Royal couple will go back inspired from the mountains as well. This is a nostalgic post, but tells you a little bit about some of our inspiration that derives from the Himalayan mountains.
Its lovely to see the Royal Tourof India going so well-it looks like it is with sheer delight that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have taken to the bright and beautiful country that is India if the images on BBC News/Daily Mail/Hello Magazine/NDTV/Tatler are anything to go by!
We love this picture of the Duchess in the hand block print dress in Tatler the best! (Photos of the Duchess Courtesy Tatler)
You can see more pictures of their tour on BBC News here
The first day of the Royals Tour in India didn’t just involve floral garlands and meeting celebrities from Bollywood, but also visiting the site of the Mumbai attacks in 2008 including the famous Taj Mahal Hotel.
What caught our eye most, and we can’t help it, is the beautiful array of dresses worn by the Duchess, including the lovely hand block printed dress which we think is very elegant. Its in keeping with our ethos of an ‘artisanal chic‘ lifestyle-which is true of Jasmine White London product ranges-both homeware and attire which promotes ethical production values and allows rural communities to survive. We recently launched new designs in Ikat and Hand Block prints, the Gaia, Freya and Laxmi range and are delighted to see some similar designs on the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton.
Our hand block print range is coming soon…so email us if you would like to reserve any items before they arrive on enquiries@jasminewhitelondon.com
The Mountains in Ooty are not quite as high as the Himalayas, but are very pleasant and are also known for their beauty, the lake and tea estates, amongst other things.
Picking strawberries, Plums from the plum trees in the back, peaches in a friend’s garden, picnicking on the picturesque spots such as Doddabetta and Lamb’s Rock, visiting nearby elephant sanctuary in Kodaikanal, travelling up using the narrow gauge Nilgiri ‘Blue Hills’ train, and enjoying beautiful flowers including hydrangeas and morning glory in the garden is a fond memory.
The Mountains in Ooty are not quite as high as the Himalayas, but are very pleasant and are also known for their beauty, the lake and tea estates, amongst other things.
Picking strawberries, Plums from the plum trees in the back, peaches in a friend’s garden, picnicking on the picturesque spots such as Doddabetta and Lamb’s Rock, visiting nearby elephant sanctuary in Kodaikanal, travelling up using the narrow gauge Nilgiri ‘Blue Hills’ train, and enjoying beautiful flowers including hydrangeas and morning glory in the garden is a fond memory.
