Mushroom Ivory Part 2

I know I've written before about my OCD mushroom ritual, but I think I got a little closer to capturing their compelling alabaster veneer with the camera this time. Thus it had to be shared. There's something about their squishy, rubbery softness when you slice into their sublime purity. So disarmingly whole, when they gaze (un-quartered), face upwards, like a one-dimensional collage of organic circles.

Until they're cut.

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Then, deep, velvety eggplant tinged cores bristling with fibry detail, softly blemish the inner edges of these unabashedly pristine fans of creaminess.

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Whether it's mushrooms and tomatoes sandwiched between mustard-slapped bread, or mushrooms lightly sauteed and salted along with spinach, their robust smokiness is always enhanced by a burnished garlic clove that's literally melted into them in the pan.

Break a clove upon the edge of your knife, slide it onto the fat in the pan, and watch its flavour permeate.

Sacrifice the virginal mushrooms to this smoldering altar, till they are sullied by heat and poignancy into a completely different form.









smoky hues of brown and violet fuse together as they sizzle in a lemon zing.




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Lily Closure

Mom: "I'm throwing these lillies away because they've done their time"

Burnished sienna stripe a la caffeine

The staff at a staunchly frequented cafe gave us this impromptu minimalist rendition of a mocha. It's almost seeping through the foam, ink-like.

Lilies on the Dining Table

Three Lillies left from party a week ago. Have been taking in their scent everyday. Mom replaced them in reduced amount today. Each luscious curling petal seems to stand out more in the cool, diffused, Caravaggio-esque light.

Impromptu use of iPhone camera. Not only has someone borrowed D40x, but just capturing without bringing another clunky gadget into the equation can be very compelling. The more intelligent focussing system of the 3G makes it a worthwhile upgrade when
capturing details like floral anatomy. You're welcome, Steve.

Living Room: a Space to Blossom

This is the living room in my mother's home.

Although she and I are both fond of flowers as much as the next person, they're not part of our daily repertoire. I happened to bring these back from a shoot where someone had extra. I couldn't quite suppress the joy of how their varied, old-wordly charm enhanced the same quality in my mother's mahogany abode.

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The home my mother and I shared with her parents was full of the old-fashioned presence of lace, the beauty of golden afternoon sunlight, and filigree-like chandeliers. This afternoon with its gilded warmth and the haughty, fussy dignity of gladiolas seemed to exude the charm of a bygone era.


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Glints of gold light up my mother's hair as she adds ritual to the place with her late afternoon tea and cigarette. The deep, glinting ochre reflects everywhere. In this moment, it's truly a sanctum of comfortable elegance, exuding well-being and harmony. .

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While the benign warmth of cream, ochre and gold wash over the background, i love how the details of stem, flora and follicle get accentuated in a sort of back-lit frieze

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For the Love of a House

these are currently the only images I have to offer in honour of that breeding ground of my aesthetics:

|23 al-hamra, off shaheed-i-millat road|

sadly, these are images taken while we were packing to leave it. well, packing hardly describes the process of dismantling four generations of a family's life, belongings and heirlooms.

suffice it to say that even in its dismembered state,

it exuded the poise and elegance of a

sepia photograph •

• This lamp was part of a set, which, like many other things, had been there for as long as I can remember. It's amber glow, mellow and ochre like a sepia tone itself, seems to infuse the walls as an homage to memory.

A cacophony of sharp-angles, mirroring archways and a definitive split of colour made the dynamism of this home seem archaic to my brash, 80's infused childhood self.

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I wish I could do more justice to the memory of this house. I'm working on recovering old photographs from various sources in order to paint the bigger picture of the menagerie of intricate delicacy, propriety and grace that this was in its prime.
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Red: cast in cool

this house is truly remarkable. not only was it ahead of its time when it was first created, but there's an ownership of the aesthetics inside that make it stand out from many of the uber-minimalist creations that plague the territories of the rich in our complicated city.

limited motifs of colour, mere accents to the pervasive sharp-angled airiness, flicker about in unexpected harmonies that engage the visitor.

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a certain acerbic quality is perceived through the right angles and straight lines. this day seemed to reflect that through its cast of cyan. even though red punctuates every turn and corner, it's rendition seems to be cool rather than warm.

• happy sploshes of bold red spring out from within a contained geometrical grid of light, lucid composure.

all things green & alive

One of the worst things about being part of the "elite class" in a third-world country is that you tend to, despite your good intentions, underestimate the initiative of those who've put you on that pedestal.\I wouldn't say potential, worth or ability, but initiative - it goes along with "exposure," and "mentality." Favourite words of those [myself included] when justifying the difference in life, living conditions and circumstances between "us" and "them."

Therefore I must admit my surprise [and consequent shame thereupon] when I saw a degree of awareness towards the environment and organic, chemical-food at the annual flower show in Karachi on Sunday.

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I was cheered at the thought of, a). just being able to go to things like this now that i'm unemployed and, b). taking pictures and c). satisfying my infantile curiosity and journey into cooking through looking at fresh herbs.

The photo above is such a simple composition, but I love how the mid-tones are not so much darker than the highlights, giving the whole photo a sort of electrified feel. The light even casts that afternoon chiaroscuro on the purple ones in the corner. And, I just love visual variety stretched across a one-dimensional singular plane: a.k.a, a flat shot.

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But coming back to the organic food.



I was really happy when I saw the stall for "Sungold Organic," a family-run business of chemical-free, organic vegetables. With a farm in Malir, they deliver their robust produce to eager city-dwellers, who, like me, are suckers for the hipness of notions like organic. Of course, we must note that MOST of our locally grown produce isn't quite as tainted by chemicals as it is in the slick processing machine of first-world capitalism. That said, I am deeply appreciative of any efforts to make 100% organic food conveniently available here, and this is probably fueled by a the vehement insistence of the doctor towards the cessation of all eating of white, processed flour, and of as much processed foods as is possible.  The stall also housed a very earthily packaged line with things like whole-wheat aata, brown rice, etc.

The Sungold peeps weren't the only ones promoting organic food and cultivation, which was nice. Another stall with what seemed like a bunch of housewives [polite request to temporarily excuse stereotyping and judgement] had eagerly displayed their organically cultivated "kitchen garden" items. Pamphlets with how to keep soil rich and organic were also included. The jar in the photo above is a jar of pickled beetroot, which is part of their bottled line. I bought a rich, aromatic strawberry preserve, as well as lip-smackingly sour pickle accompaniment (a.k.a, achaar) made with tomatoes, red chillies, and much more.

Yum.

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