"I have never been to the North East of India. Ever. But I have always known it through the crafts that my maternal family carried and cherished from their sojourns in Assam. My maternal grandfather’s work took him all over India and so his family experienced different cultures wherever they lived.
Come winter, and my Nani would pull out Naga blankets to snuggle and warm ourselves. The colors and the patterns were so beautiful and so different from the ones surrounding me as I spent my early childhood years in Gujarat. Whenever my ma would open her big trunk where she kept all her prized possessions and heirlooms, her mekhla chadar would always fill me with yearning to visit a place that existed in my mother’s memories. It was a beautiful fabric with pretty red and green motifs that she got as a gift for her wedding.
In the house, there were some formidable metal weapons with red feathers standing in the corner and a traditional Japi adorning the walls. As a curious child, I would always have questions and my Nani or ma would narrate stories about those pieces, how they got them and their significance.
Now, when I wear my beautiful bird earrings lovingly crafted by NEST, I hope to visit this beautiful part of India that has gradually assimilated and lived in my mind as a collage of memories of my family and images seen on the media."
Thank you Gunjan for the lovely images and hope your long time pending desire of travelling in the North-East and to collect memories of your own comes true soon.
Gunjan Singh is a product manager at International Baccalaureate Organization and lives in Utrecht, Netherlands.