India, as always, is full of life and your experience it with bells and whistles on! A land of contrasts, we visited the Gangetic plains where the winter/spring was just beginning to give way to the fast approaching summer and the temperatures were touching 40 deg C. However as it was festival season, it was celebration time! The ability of people to enjoy life despite everything-weather, circumstance, ability, etc- never ceases to amaze us. It continues to inspire us to do as much as we can to help our artisans as we expand our ranges.  (We expand on that in our next blog) We love that intricate design and bright colour in every hue permeates every aspect of life here. India festival celebrations © Jasmine White London

We visited the holy town of Rishikesh in the Himalayan foothills which is spiritually tranquil and also full of visiting tourists. It has popular adventure camps and is also one of the well known destinations for Yoga in India. Being a Hatha Yoga student, this was of particular interest. The relative coolness of the weather in the Himalayas was a welcome break from the 40deg C heat earlier. Rishikesh being a spiritual destination, the prayers in the evenings on the Ghats of the river are a must see, and very inspiring.

 

                  The gratitude of people for all that the river gives is worth seeing. As we took a road trip we feasted our eyes on the various modes of transport which those of you who follow us will know is a big inspiration, especially for our design range ‘Indian Street/Horn Please’. (More on that in another blog). India festival celebrations © Jasmine White London All in all, a very inspiring trip during a very hot season to two very interesting destinations. Stream flowing in the Himalayas © Jasmine White London