Happy Birthday Your Holiness

With his hand on my head we walked together three steps closer to the chair he was to occupy. I couldn’t lift my neck to watch that roohani face and dreamt of rubbing my nose against his. Reading my mind, he smiled. At the edge of the table he picked up a packet and unwrapped the book showing it to the audience in the packed IHC hall. My head was still bent when he came and handed me ‘that copy’ of the Tibet House book which had been designed by me – and printed at #ishtihaar His Holiness The Dalai Lama smiled while looking at me and patted my shoulder on the way back as we walked the aisle together – a dozen Rimpoche’s alongside. Thanks Your Holiness, may you live forever and see a peaceful world. Years earlier I was blessed to get a private audience with him at McLeodganj. He is charming and his face glows. More images on our website.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama releasing the book 'Tibet House' designed and printed by Rajinder Arora-Ishtihaar

Lado Bai

If you don’t know Lado Bai, you won’t know how maternal love can transform art. Lado churns the very earth and its souls with her visuals. Simplistic to a tee, yet stunningly profound, her art and the Bhil form are nothing short of poetry in visuals. Designing these kinds of indigenous art projects satiate me to the core. Salutes to the master artist Lado Bai. 

Lado Bai show at Ojas

Ishtihaar Calendar

A dialogue from the popular film ‘Dead Poets Society’ reminds us “Medicine, law, engineering… are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life, but poetry, beauty, romance, love… these are what we stay alive for…”  Indeed, poetry and beauty is what we live for; poetry is what inspires generations to voice their aspirations. So here is something to cheer us up in corona times.

‘Verses from the Valley’ is our tribute to the revered poets from Kashmir and their celebrated poetry. Ishtihaar Calendar for 2022 is a small collection of select verses by mystics, sufi saints, social reformers and poets of this incredibly beautiful place, rightly called Firdaus or Paradise.