#flowers market in india

[ferrantte]

lotus flower bouquet by naveli choyal via slowroads 🪷🪷

[as-spring-came-in-october]

Phoolmandi

There are dried leaves floating in the sluggish water, next to what's supposed to be a drain.

A couple of old men sit under an unbroken tent, sipping chai and reading the day's newspaper.

A discarded piece of the 'Sunday Times' lies on the road, half drenched in water and half in aroma.

In the street across, there's chatter and autos and cycles pass by with utmost difficulty, crunching abandoned flowers.

The footpath gleams like a kaleidoscope.

Welcome to the Phoolmandi.

A man, half naked, pierces his fingers making the 100th garland of the day.

A young man, timidly buys a gulaab, in hushed tones.

There is a little girl playing with her friends adorning herself with yellow and orange marigolds. "I, too, am a Queen", she softly whispers.

A vendor, passes by the road, too unbothered, living the same mundane life. Flowers here and flowers there, his senses no longer catch the smell of 'rajnigandha'

A middle aged man, tired of his everyday routine, crosses the very same street on his way to the chai ki dukaan. He drops a piece of the 'Sunday Times' on his way to his one room apartment.

The windows to his room open, a woman in a red saree looks at the phoolmandi, and gently puts the mogre ka gajra in her hair.

By @its-ener

[omegaincense]

Embracing the Versatility: Exploring the 8 Uses of Champa Incense Sticks

 To Buy Incense Online- Click here

[julymusings]

Jason Todd x South Asian!Reader HCs

requested | reader is fem, i tried to keep it non-specific so it applies to the whole region, not just india, hopefully i succeeded😬

i looooved writing this it was so much fun. drop an ask with anything else you want to see!!

batboys x south asian!reader masterlist

When you show him Bollywood movies, at first he’s like “Why are these so damn long?” But watches them anyway because you’re so excited to show him

He obviously sobs at K3G (because he has daddy AND big brother issues)

But his favorite is probably 3 Idiots or Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (he just seems like the type to looove an underdog story am I right)

Since Jason likes cooking, he’s learning how to make all your favorite foods. He’s eaten a lot of Indian food before (duh, it’s New Jersey), so he’s familiar with the flavors and spices, but some dishes are easier than others. He tries to make dosa after you mentioned liking it but it does not go well

He’s trying so hard to impress you but they all keep breaking😭 and the ones that don’t break come out burnt. When he finally relents and lets you help him, you hold his hand and guide him to make the proper movements; pouring the batter, spreading it into a circle, and gently flipping it so it doesn’t break

He loves chai, and is always experimenting with different recipes and flavors and asking you to test them

You're taking him to the Indian market so often, by the end of the month he knows the names for all the vegetables and spices in your language and where to find them

He thinks you with mehendi/henna is the most attractive thing ever

Your friend’s getting married? Of course he’ll feed you while your mehendi’s drying, you don't even have to ask

When it's still fresh and at its darkest color he's actually going batshit insane (pun intended); he loves interlacing your fingers together and seeing the contrast of your dark, decorated fingers against his large, strong ones. His phone background is a selfie of you guys where your faces are squished side-by-side and one of your mehendi'd hands is cupping his cheek

And when you're on top of him, the sight of your adorned hands pressed flat against his bare chest, flushed and heaving...he thinks it belongs in a museum

He just loves doing little acts of service; one day you’re complaining offhandedly to him about how the price of eyebrow threading keeps going up, a week later you’ve forgotten all about it but he’s like “I learned how to thread your eyebrows”

He figured it would be easy enough, and as someone who’s life often depends on steady, surgical aim and precision, it is

Roy’s walking around looking messed up as fuck for a couple weeks but that’s beside the point because he’s got the hang of it now 

When it comes to putting on a sari, he'll put the pins in the hard to reach places if you ask, but for the most part he just loves watching you put it on. he thinks it's so cute the way you scrunch your face in focus as you make the folds and tuck in the fabric with such concentration (Jason Todd domesticity agenda)

One night you're getting dressed up for some party, but no matter what you do and how many times you take it off and try to re-drape it, it just won't come out good and you get so frustrated and teary-eyed that he has to intervene

He makes you take a break, brings you a snack, and kisses you until you feel better, and then he pulls up a youtube video to do it for you— but he can't do it either😭

So you both decide to give up and you wear a lehenga instead

It’s a fairly modest one, and even though he's seen you wearing more-revealing clothes (and none at all), he's going crazy over that one inch sliver of exposed skin on your midriff

He already loves seeing you dressed up in traditional wear but if you put jasmine flowers in your hair with it??? The fragrance coming from you makes him feral. It lingers in your hair for a couple days and he can’t stop following you around and sniffing you LMAO

The first time you get a kurta for him, it’s actually impossible to find one that fits because he’s so big and buff (drool) so you just end up buying the fabric and getting it custom stitched

There's only a few scraps of the fabric left and you get the wonderful idea of braiding the scraps into a bracelet so you have something to match with him and it makes him go crazy

Early on in your relationship, you’re a little afraid to have oil in your hair in front of him because you’re worried he’ll think the smell is too strong

Jason is probably familiar with the practice of hair oiling from his time with Talia (but you don’t know that yet)

He actually LOVES when you oil your hair around him. Just something about him being the only one who gets to see you when you’re comfy and unready is so intimate to him and makes him feel so special and trusted and loved🥹

Time for some of my physical touch x touch starved!Jason propaganda

After a particularly difficult night of patrolling, he comes to you stressed and anxious and unsure what to do with himself. So you make him sit on the floor in front of your bed, warm up some of the oil, and seat yourself on the edge of the mattress. He leans back against your legs and you massage the warm oil into his scalp. It feels heavenly. You’re using the perfect amount of pressure, hitting all the right spots, and it feels so good he wants to cry. Later, when you pull him into the shower to shampoo it out, he actually does cry, hoping the water falling from the shower head hides the tears (it doesn’t, and it breaks your heart)

(If you were raised Hindu) I think he'd be very interested in the belief in reincarnation, past & future lives, oneness with the universe, etc...it might help him make some sense of his coming back

You bring mediation into his life, and that also really helps him

You wear Kajal/kohl/surma on your eyes, and whenever he’s looking especially good, or before he goes out as red hood, you smudge some onto your finger and put a mark behind his ear, just to be safe (it’s believed to deflect jealousy/bad intentions from others) (yes I’m superstitious sue me)

Or you just tie a black thread around his ankle

When you first explain to him that you want him to wear a black thread around his ankle because of a superstition, he thinks you’re joking. He can’t believe you actually believe in that 

But he can’t say no to you and he secretly likes that you also have one so it feels like you’re matching 

He considers it a good luck charm, not because he believes the superstition but because it’s from you

[transmutationisms]

in addition to being prone to an obvious naturalistic fallacy, the oft-repeated claim that various supplements / herbs / botanicals are being somehow suppressed by pharmaceutical interests seeking to protect their own profits ('they would rather sell you a pill') belies a clear misunderstanding of the relationship between 'industrial' pharmacology and plant matter. bioprospecting, the search for plants and molecular components of plants that can be developed into commercial products, has been one of the economic motivations and rationalisations for european colonialism and imperialism since the so-called 'age of exploration'. state-funded bioprospectors specifically sought 'exotic' plants that could be imported to europe and sold as food or materia medica—often both, as in the cases of coffee or chocolate—or, even better, cultivated in 'economic' botanical gardens attached to universities, medical schools, or royal palaces and scientific institutions.

this fundamental attitude toward the knowledge systems and medical practices of colonised people—the position, characterising eg much 'ethnobotany', that such knowledge is a resource for imperialist powers and pharmaceutical manufacturers to mine and profit from—is not some kind of bygone historical relic. for example, since the 1880s companies including pfizer, bristol-myers squibb, and unilever have sought to create pharmaceuticals from african medicinal plants, such as strophanthus, cryptolepis, and grains of paradise. in india, state-created databases of valuable 'traditional' medicines have appeared partly in response to a revival of bioprospecting since the 1980s, in an increasingly bureaucratised form characterised by profit-sharing agreements between scientists and local communities that has nonetheless been referred to as "biocapitalism". a 1990 paper published in the proceedings of the novartis foundation symposium (then the ciba foundation symposium) spelled out this form of epistemic colonialism quite bluntly:

Ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, folk medicine and traditional medicine can provide information that is useful as a 'pre-screen' to select plants for experimental pharmacological studies.

there is no inherent oppositional relationship between pharmaceutical industry and 'natural' or plant-based cures. there are of course plenty of examples of bioprospecting that failed to translate into consumer markets: ginseng, introduced to europe in the 17th century through the mercantile system and the east india company, found only limited success in european pharmacology. and there are cases in which knowledge with potential market value has actually been suppressed for other reasons: the peacock flower, used as an abortifacient in the west indies, was 'discovered' by colonial bioprospectors in the 18th century; the plant itself moved easily to europe, but knowledge of its use in reproductive medicine became the subject of a "culturally cultivated ignorance," resulting from a combination of funding priorities, national policies, colonial trade patterns, gender politics, and the functioning of scientific institutions. this form of knowledge suppression was never the result of a conflict wherein bioprospectors or pharmacists viewed the peacock flower as a threat to their own profits; on the contrary, they essentially sacrificed potential financial benefits as a result of the political and social factors that made abortifacient knowledge 'unknowable' in certain state and commercial contexts.

exploitation of plant matter in pharmacology is not a frictionless or infallible process. but the sort of conspiratorial thinking that attempts to position plant therapeutics and 'big pharma' as oppositional or competitive forces is an ahistorical and opportunistic example of appealing to nominally anti-capitalist rhetoric without any deeper understanding of the actual mechanisms of capitalism and colonialism at play. this is of course true whether or not the person making such claims has any personal financial stake in them, though it is of course also true that, often, they do hold such stakes.

[eatmangoesnekkid]

The answer to the ugliness of the world is beauty. Pure beauty. Deep beauty. Real beauty. Do not dare lose connection to beauty. Be part of the frequency that elevates our global world by discovering beauty in everyday life like when you are sweeping outside the front of your home, picking out a bouquet of flowers, precisely sorting out your vitamins or medicine in a pill box, preparing a stunning meal from scratch to share with your child, lover, friend, father, or neighbor, retraining your nervous system to eat slowly, or trotting carefree through the farmer’s market. Be motivated to expect more from life than common narratives. Invite yourself to not waste your free time this week running up your screen time and get into the beauty, pleasure, and play of living. Put on your sassy hot pink bimbo or hoochie dress (that was me yesterday with leggings and long socks on–I live in Amsterdam where it is still cold in June) and have fun in a dance class. Sense yourself as a Goddess. You are allowed to live inside your own personal mythos, guilt-free. –India Ame'ye

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

The Painted Woolly Bat (Kerivoula picta): this bat species has a stunning orange-and-black appearance

Kerivoula picta is commonly known as the painted woolly bat, thanks to its strikingly colorful appearance and thick, curly fur. Researchers believe that its orange coloration might actually serve as camouflage, to some extent, as it has been reported that the bats can easily blend in with dried leaves and flowers when they are roosting.

For several months each year, these bats form small family units that generally contain two adults and one pup. They often reconnect with the same reproductive partner over multiple breeding seasons.

This species is increasingly threatened by the international demand for so-called "bat décor:"

... painted woolly bats (Kerivoula picta) are collected and killed in their native habitat in South and Southeast Asia and sold as décor globally. The United States is a major and growing market for this trade: The U.S. has imported hundreds of painted woolly bats over recent years. As this species is not bred in captivity, all the bats are taken from the wild.

Painted woolly bat populations are declining. The International Union for Conservation of Nature assessed the species as “near threatened,” yet few nations within the species’ range offer the bats effective protection from killing. The bats live in China, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Given that they only produce one offspring at a time, painted woolly bats are particularly vulnerable to trade. Scientists have been raising concerns about the potential harms of the bat décor trade for nearly a decade, yet the market has only grown. Online listings offering painted woolly bats for sale are plentiful on major ecommerce websites.

This article provides more information about the threats that this species is currently facing and the ongoing efforts to protect it.

Sources & More Info:

Bat Conservation International: Kerivoula picta

Thai National Parks: Painted Bat

Mammal Study: The Ecology and Monogamous System of the Painted Woolly Bat, Kerivoula picta

Ecology and Evolution: Bat Mating Systems

Cambridge University Press: Growing Concern Over Trade in Bat Souvenirs from Southeast Asia

European Journal of Wildlife Research: Dying for Décor

Center for Biological Diversity: Endangered Species Act Protections Sought for Painted Woolly Bats

Center for Biological Diversity: Going to Bat for Painted Woolly Bats

UC Davis: E-Sales of a Wild Bat Sold as Décor Threaten Species

[jomiddlemarch]

Silly things do cease to be silly

George Knightley was well aware the household staff at Hartfield had been much in favor of his engagement to Emma, even more so when they learnt the marriage would not lead to Emma’s departure from the estate but rather his stabilizing arrival, but he admitted to some surprise when he arrived in the afternoon for a visit and was positively hurried to the drawing room by the butler, a circumspect man of indeterminate age moving with the alacrity of a boy whose transgression was about to be found out by a stern nurse. 

“Godspeed, sir,” the man muttered before closing the door silently.

“My dear Emma—” he began, approaching her calmly, something of a feat given the way she was striding about the room, her curls bouncing with an unearthly energy, her hazel eyes wild. He’d never known India muslin could flap so dramatically.

“I’m being driven to distraction, Mr. Knightley, and I don’t see how I can bear it though I don’t see how it won’t be borne! I vow I’m likely to tear my hair out and scream myself hoarse and I know you shall tell me I’m not behaving with any degree of decorum, but the time for decorum is long, long gone!” she exclaimed, trembling beneath his hands when he took hold of hers in their usual greeting, shuddering when he pulled her into a gentle embrace. It was an indication of the vast affection he held for her that the sensation of her heaving bosom pressed to his chest, the hint of her slender waist he felt as he stroked her back only evoked tenderness in him, nothing libidinous. He told himself that, to keep anything remotely carnal at bay, and he also calculated the acreage he meant to plant with rye instead of barley and the projected profit if the market held.

“Don’t tear out your hair, darling Emma,” he said. “I’ve a particular fondness for those curls.”

“They’re fake. It takes Susan two hours with the irons or I’ve got to sleep in rags,” she murmured against his frock-coat. “My hair’s straight as a stick, another disappointment—”

“Nothing about you is a disappointment to me. Though I’m concerned to find you in such a state,” he said. “Is it happening too quickly? We might extend the engagement if that would set your mind at ease. I’ve waited long enough, I shouldn’t mind waiting longer if it would make you happy, dearest.”

“I should mind, most dreadfully,” she said. She looked up at him and for the thousandth time, he thought how her face looked like a flower. “And you shouldn’t wait any longer than the next fortnight. How I shall bear it, I cannot say—”

“What’s troubling you then?”

“The wedding-breakfast. And Papa,” she replied. “I have reviewed the menu with him a dozen times and he frets over something new each time. When I include all the dishes he suggests, the table groans and then he worries we’d all get sick from a surfeit of rich foods. When I make the menu very simple, very plain, barely more than an invalid’s board, he worries we’ll starve. And he won’t countenance anything made with lemon!”

George nodded. It was not a tremendous shock that Emma’s father, who was beset by anxieties most frequently related to meals and their relative risk to the health of all he held dear, would be distressed about the upcoming wedding-breakfast though George attributed Emma’s response to a bride’s nerves. What was called for then, was to remind her that she was to be a bride, his bride and then, his beloved wife.

“Why are you dismayed about the lemon?” he asked.

“Because it’s your favorite and now I’ve ruined it, for I meant to surprise you with lemon syllabub, and now you won’t have anything sweet you like,” Emma said.

It was obvious what he must do next, so he leaned down and kissed her frowning lips very softly, tasting her with more boldness than he had previously allowed himself, so that when they parted, the furrow in her brow was gone and the expression in her eyes was one of dazed wonder.

“I have everything sweet that I like already. And after the wedding-breakfast, I shan’t have to mind my manners when it comes to my appetite,” he said.

After she’d poured out the tea the housekeeper herself had brought in after ascertaining that Miss Woodhouse would like to offer Mr. Knightley some refreshment but before she’d taken a sip from her own cup, George spoke.

“I also quite enjoy honey.”

“Isn’t that rather sticky?” Emma said, her eyes nearly amber, but so marvelously innocent. “I always get some on my fingers and then I’ve got to lick it off.”

“Indeed,” George said. “I’ve often found myself in the same situation. We shall need to help each other, won’t we?”

Written for Janeuary 2025 @janeuary-month, Day 10, prompt: wedding-breakfast

[greensagephase]

Fanart for Nonviolent Communication

Thank you to @lauraolar14 @sunsetdoodler @desb3ar @thrillercore

@zoopzaper @miguelsbackmeat @llumetrii @faretheeoscar

@zaherirle @sh1mma @dinoswallowedsoap and @mercynguyen

for the beautiful fanart!! With an official post solely dedicated to the fanart, I wanted to mention you all directly. I've said it to each of you many times, but thank you, thank you, thank you for the beautiful and lovely fanart!!! It means so much to me and I'm so, so, so grateful for the amazing and sweet support!! 🥹❤️

Part One "No Fever" "A Really Good Cook"

Part Two "Two Random Coffee Cups"

Part Five "So Serious"

Part Six Miguel's Ofrenda

Part Seven "Two Hot Drinks" "Merry Christmas" Miguel Receives Food

Part Eight Seconds Tick By Miguel is Found

Part Nine Recovering Miguel Cleaning Miguel's Face at the Infirmary Grumpy Miguel Eating Hospital Food Scars n All - Reader's view of Miguel! A Helping Hand Miguel's Response to the Steamed Carrot (GIF)

Part Ten Trying to Not Make a Sound Ternura - Miguel Observing Y/N Peaceful Sleeping Hand Feeding Miguel! Miguel Smelling Reader's Sweatshirt Miguel Peacefully Sleeping Dreamy Sleeping

Part Eleven Late Night Kids Talk - Reader and Her Peter Caught Dancing "I Wondered if Maybe... I Wasn't Enough" "Mwah!" Pinky Squeeze The Pinky Squeeze, A Sleeping Miguel, and Peter Sketches

Thanksgiving One-Shot Peter B., Mayday, Miguel, and Lyla Miguel and Reader - Various Scenes Miguel Caught Staring

Blanca Navidad (Christmas) One-Shot "... heard, appreciated, and ... loved." - Various Sketches

New Year's One-Shot Drying Tears New Year's Photo

Part Twelve Pinky Squeeze Thinking

Valentine's Day One-Shot Various Sketches

Part Thirteen Comforting Miguel after His Nightmare Holding Hands So Beautifully Strange A Silent Offering

Part Fifteen Miggy and VapoRub

Part Sixteen "Have You Seen My Hair Tie?" (Animatic) "You Got Me Something?"

Part Seventeen Miguel at the Flower Market Bedtime Story The Birthday Girl

Other Fanart Inspired by NC Peter and his support for SpiderReader "I Bite" (Animatic) Miguel (Possibly) Dancing due to his Record Player (Animatic) Mayday's "Miggle" Nickname and Sweatshirts - Ask Thread Promise Me Miguel - AU by my lovely friend Ana🥰 Record Player Peter's Photo "But I am leaving for India!" Bridgerton x Miguel (Animatic) In Love Slow Dancing Spicy Miguel and Reader (wip)

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

What joy exceeds that of a business expense account that can be blamelessly used to buy $30 worth of senseless beauty? Because, market research!

I've been researching goldwork embroidery, which is normally $$$ because it's made with real gold and silver, and in a moment of weakness I saw this fabric using synthetic gold on sale, and 🥺 can have little a salami? Especially since I still haven't earned the green velvet couch of my dreams?

It's from this shop from northern India, and now on sale for even LESS than I bought it for.

The flower buds are made of sequins, and the flowers have SECRET sequins hiding UNDER the embroidery, so just when you think you've seen all its sparkle, POW! Even more secret sparkle!

[nabihahahahahaha]

Why no woman is safe in your country? Hate to say that but India sucks! I always wanted to visit to India someday but it's the Capital of rapists.....👎👎

I will also suggest you to not visit India it's not safe specially alone

"There's crime in every country, including India, and I accept the fact that it's not safe. It's increasing day by day because the government worships those rapists. Like in the case of Bilkis Bano, her rapists are still free, and this case happened on 3rd March 2002. They are the rapists of Bilkis Bano. See how they're wearing flower garlands. If the government had worn them milestones around their necks and hanged them in the main market until birds had eaten their flesh, instead of these flowers, no one would have the courage to do this again."

Moumita debnath case happened on 9 August today is 18 August let's see how long it goes government of India is the one who's supporting rapists.

Here's the information why they did this to her and why there's no justice cause the main lead is son of MLA

[srbachchan]

DAY 5539(i)

Jalsa, Mumbai              April 16/17,  2023                Sun/Mon  8:19AM

WELL WISHER SPECIAL 

they all come from different walks of life and in different modes and moods , express at times the expectation, at times the joy , at times the inform to the others they come with .. but they come , and I am blessed ..

posters they make to display their love ..

 .. no idea what the tattoo on her arm depicts .. seems from a foreign country .. wonder what she will go back with after this visit .. talk well of India ..  

.. he or she would never know what the fuss is all about  .. !!!

.. nor this fellow ..

.. some marketing here .. entrepreneur stuff .. 

a bus passes by and the elderly wonder ..

.. national integration .. !!!

cute .. how did he get there ..??

distant horizons ..

..  .. aged but inquisitive ..

.. how did he get in there .. haha .. smart guy .. actually good move by him , safe from the crowds ..

.. bought one 

head gears of difference .. the summer heat .. !!!

.. a fly on the guy and but .. no the mobile of greater interest .. !!!

.. really .. ??

the mango season by the gate .. and the blossomed flowers  ..

oh dear a bit of a worry for this one .. 

.. NO .. no do not do that little girl .. that is not allowed .. its dangerous .. 

the middle markers painted for beautification 

.. oh dear .. need to be careful .. wonder if this is allowed, but how to take the family out .. and HEY .. never put the child in the front .. it is dangerous .. if unfortunately an accident happens , she will get hurt  ..

mere saamne waali khidki mein ... मेरे सामने वाली खिड़की में  ... !!!!

Amitabh Bachchan

[ramayantika]

~ The one deceived

»»————> ◐◐◐◐◐◐◐◐◐◐◐◐◐◐◐<————««

O lovers, enchanters of your sweet maidens, must you keep in mind to never displease the queen of your hearts.

'She who adorns herself in fine silks and jewels, awaits you at night hiding from the entire town in the heart of the forest where fierce beasts lay, she must never be kept await for long and certainly must not be left alone if ever your eyes droop for a night. Who knows someone else might snatch the beauty away?

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫

With dark eyes not blue lotus

she fashions a welcome garland.

Petals she strews—

not various species of jasmine

but smiles.

Water she offers from ripe

moistened breasts

rather than ceremonial jars.

With only her own body

she makes for her

lover an

auspicious welcome.

~ Erotic Love Poems from India

A tightly knotted braid pinned by jewelled pins moves like a serpent by her waist. She carefully arranges flowers in her hair, just the way he likes. She spent months apart from him, and now is the time to bring long lost romance back into their lives -- of sweet nothings, stolen kisses, teasing words and the bliss of just being around your lover.

The morning was spent in perfuming the hair and the body. His favourite scent: the rain perfused soil. It always enchanted him when she passed by the busy market place in front of him. She usually preferred a light scent of roses, but today she has to make him heady as soon as he catches a whiff of air around him.

A necklace decked with moonstones sits on her making her look dazzling. Her wrists are adorned with glass bangles, and a shy smile teases her lips when her friends tease her on the various ways glass bangles can be broken tonight.

"Quiet. You must not speak like this. He's a gentle lover," she admonishes them with a stern look that soon melts into a beautiful blush and her friends once again start teasing her.

"You look perfect now. If you decorate yourself anymore, your dazzling form shall blind him as soon as he enters the house," says a friend, dabbing a kohl dot behind the jewelled maiden's ear to ward off the evil eye.

»»——⍟——«« ♧♧ »»——⍟——««

The letter in betel leaves 🥀

Handmaiden bears a large plate on her tender hands.

Soft silks from lands far and wide,

jewels crafted in nothing but perfection,

perfume extracted from only exotic flowers and oils,

But what pleases the bejewelled beauty?

A silver box revealing a richly stuffed Kaushal paan.

'In separation I have burned for several moons, and my heart wailed in agony. Where do I carry this ocean of love when you are the shore that binds me to you? Oh, my dearest, my lovely moon, it is you I desire. Come meet my by the riverside near the sweet-smelling jasmine bower.'

.・。.・゜✭・»»——⍟——««.・✫・゜・。.

झांझर झमके सुन झमके आधी रात को

उसको तोको न रोको तोको न रोको

आधी रात को।

𝐎𝐡, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭,

𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐲𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬,

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭.

𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞,

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬...

'We sipped on moon-gleam at midnight.

And the moon rose in our eyes, at midnight.'

-- Delicate as the moonstone, bangle laden wrists

alert the love god who stands ever ready with love arrows.

She traverses down the narrow forest path,

Her feet leave behind fresh red footprints on earth,

And jingling anklets make the serpents steer off her way.

-- The jasmine bower fresh and fragrant as ever,

Fireflies adorn the bushes like earthen lamps in a house's courtyard.

The moon unveiled shines on the resplendent maiden

And like the chakora, she fills her eyes with the moonbeams,

In each, a vision of the man prisoned in heart.

-- The forest grows still.

Doe eyes search for him in every corner of the forest.

Is he playing games today? Must I walk and search for him now?

The love god too has dozed off, his bow and arrows discarded beside.

The garland around her neck now frail,

Tiny buds fall down and mingle with the earth...

»»————>○○○○○○○○○○○○<————««

And, rasikas, here we behold a man who did not keep his promise. Sends the extravagant betel leaf and promises of giving a beautiful night, but gives in to the sweet embrace of slumber while the beauty awaits in the forest, her once radiant face now pale in fear and annoyance.

Oh, the pain of shattered dreams filled of love, sweet words, passionate touches and long nights. How can one scorn a woman this way after long nights of loneliness?

Chuckle in mirth my friends, for the man dreams of kissing her lips in his sleep. Who shall tell him about his lover's wrath at dawn break tomorrow?

*******

Breathing hard into the lotus calyx

Annoyed at his care less actions,

She wipes an angry tear from her soft cheek.

Tosses away the wretched droopy garland,

Flings the silver anklet far across the room.

Red lips that should have been kissed curse the sun.

Arms that should have been curled around his neck

Lay bare bereft of bangles on the silken sheets.

Her bosom that should have carried drops of perspiration from a sweet night of love

That should have been kissed tenderly, Adorned with a chain of bites

Now heave in anger, wanting a respite.

The love god scoffs at the man yet deep in sleep

Who makes love the scorned woman in waking.

The love goddess pitifully caresses the heart broken girl,

And winces when the moon-like beauty sends

A silver box encasing an empty betel leaf and a lone anklet

»»——⍟——««

Tags: @ratna-the-furball @swayamev @inexhaustible-sources-of-magic @pulihora @arachneofthoughts @krishna-priyatama @yehsahihai @reallythoughtfulwizard @ketchup-jar-ka @manujanolavu @morally-gayy @celestesinsight @desi-cleopatra

I used a lot of references from kamasutra for this and probably this is one of my in a way most explicit lol

[ronovegrail]

[Genshin Analysis] Tulip-Mania

Emilie's SQ was very fun and interesting, but the one thing I couldn't get out of my head was the historical influences it had so I wanted to talk a bit about it.

First of all, you might have thought that making the SQ in Sumeru instead of Fontaine was strange but considering what is behind it it makes perfect sense.

The story was a reference to the Tulip-Mania that struck the Netherlands during the Dutch Golden Age.

The Netherlands after gaining the independence from Spain developed the most prominent overseas trade and with the East India Company it managed to carry out activities with Asia and in this case, the Ottoman Empire

Perhaps this is also why the quest is located in Port Ormos, where we first met Dori, a character inspired by many countries from the Ottoman Empire.

Tulips have its origin in the Middle East and it was particularly valuable in the Ottoman Empire as decoration for both religious and political power.

When arriving to Netherlands, the tulips were first reserved for the palaces but eventually botanists would get to study them and make numerous discoveries

The tulip bulbs would be stolen and the black market of the flowers started. By 1630 it would have become a botanist market too and a method to earn quick money thanks to these “exotic flowers”

It all went down when the tulip Semper Augustus came into the picture. A special tulips with red and white mosaic pattern that could only be born from some bulbs from specific tulips meant for status and not as an actual flower.

The tulip was seen as the King of Tulips and was given its name from the title of August, or Semper August, Ever "majestic", "great" or "venerable"

The business was made from the bulbs that speculated their value based on the color and the uniqueness from the flowers that were born from them, even if the flower was never secure to even bloom.

The trick was to drag as many people as you could to buy your bulbs and those people to drag more people in the same trade, like a pyramid scheme where the sooner you joined the more money you would make.

Soon they created a speculative bubble that caused hundreds of people to spend all their money to try get their hands on one of these flowers, which could cost as much as actual houses

It all exploded in 1637 when the prices reached their top and there were more people trying to sell the flower than the people that wanted to buy them. The flowers lost all it's value and the economy crashed leading to bankruptcy and debt in all sectors, leading to deaths, suicides and a lot of poverty.

Funny enough, what caused the Semper Augustus to have such a beautiful mosaic pattern was actually a virus, the flower that was so valued and revered by all was actually merely a sick tulip.

The historian Schrevelius only 10 years later after the mania wrote: “I don’t know what kind of angry spirit was called up from Hell to poison the world”

This I believe is shown through the origin of said flower in the quest: A delusion, god residue, while not a virus it maintains that sickly origin that almost ruins that image of the beautiful flower.

With each subsequent generation, the bulbs would become more and more degraded, until one day they would be too weak to flower and the genetic line would die off.

This was believed to be the first speculative bubble and while it didn't affect the economic growth in the Netherlands it stuck as a comparison each time we gave a higher price deviated from its intrinsic value.

[yuyuyuann]

Because sameface syndrome is so common especially depicting Asians, I put together a quick and small reference for how to draw different types of faces.

Remember that "Asian" includes Southeast Asia, India, and west Asia as well! We're all not held to the beauty standards marketed by westernised Asian media exports! Even "mainstream" north eastern Asians do not always have the long face and white skin that you see in movies.

The opening image is a more photographic depiction of some different face shapes, but for a simpler image, eyebrow fashion is actually a good place to find face shapes. (Apparently styling the eyebrows to compliment the face shape is a thing. Who knew)

Averages of faces over a few countries. I do NOT recommend using these averages to reference characters, because every individual is unique. If you point at the "Filipino" square to say, "This is the faceclaim for my Filipino character!", you're once again in the Asian sameface hole. However, it's just a reminder that there are many, many different ethnicities that fall under the "Asian" category.

This eye shapes chart is quite simplified, and the appearance will change slightly depending if the eye is double or single lid. However, these are classic archetypes that are commonly identified in Chinese culture.

Translation, left -> right

Row 1:

Zuifeng eye (or fox eye) rarely seen

Danfeng eye (or phoenix eye) rarely seen

Peach flower

Row 2:

Apricot eye

Round eye

Hanging eye

Row 3:

Upper tilt eye

Willow leaf eye

Thin eye

I feel it's really important to note that the first two eye types, Fox and Phoenix, are the ones most commonly portrayed on Asian characters. However, they are actually the LEAST commonly seen in real life. Most people have some combination of the two lower rows.

Last but not least, people are not all lily white like in commerical ads. Makeup foundation swatches are a good place to reference skin tones in general, but I grabbed this image from Shiseido, a popular beauty store chain in Asia. Look at those variety of tones.

(And for the love of god please do not make your asian characters literally yellow. I will manifest on your doorstep with a pickaxe)

And that's all I have for now. Obviously not a comprehensive guide, because my cultural knowledge is limited to my own demographic, (and because nothing can comprehensively cover the wonderful variety of humans), but hopefully it can help a bit.

And very importantly, I don't advocate for any one feature over another, we are beautiful because of our differences.

[mariacallous]

Colombia and the United States nearly went to war last weekend, but if you blinked, you might have missed it. Piqued by Colombia’s refusal to accept U.S. military flights bearing shackled detainees, U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday posted on social media a blistering broadside of threats, including 25 percent tariffs on all Colombian exports, later upped to 50 percent after another heated exchange with Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Tucked away at the very bottom of the list, however, was an item that deserves more attention than it received. Briefly, it reads “IEEPA [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] Treasury, Banking and Financial Sanctions to be fully imposed.”

The implications of these words are easily missed. Most attention focused on the tariffs on popular Colombian exports such as coffee and cut flowers, which are easy for the average person to understand. Additional threats to restrict (or revoke) visas for members of Colombia’s government, and to conduct rigorous entry shakedowns for visiting Colombian nationals, were measures that would usually be aimed at a long-standing adversary, such as China, over some deep-seated dispute—as opposed to an economic and military partner, such as Colombia, raising a limited objection.

But the proposed banking sanctions went a giant leap further, toying with what, in economic policy, has often been called the “nuclear option.”

The details were, of course, as vague as a hastily posted threat can be. But taken at face value, the language implied all-but-wartime steps to treat Colombia as an enemy state, possibly freezing its assets (including reserve holdings of U.S. Treasurys) and cut it off from the U.S. financial system and all dollar-denominated transactions.

These are the kinds of measures imposed on countries such as North Korea and Iran or fundraising networks for al Qaeda. Even after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, U.S. officials hesitated to impose such draconian sanctions on Russia, worried they might be considered an act of war—though they ended up pulling the trigger.

One reason U.S. officials wavered, in the case of Russia, involved the potential disruptions such a drastic cutoff could create for U.S. banks and businesses. A more profound concern, however, relates to America’s role as a trusted custodian of the world’s largest financial markets and reserve currency.

The effectiveness of U.S. financial sanctions depends on the perception that they are outliers in an otherwise predictable, rules-based order. Most countries, and most investors, have to believe that it would never happen to them. Sanctions on North Korea? That could never be me. Iran? Same. China or Russia? Things get a little trickier if (like Saudi Arabia or India) you do a lot of trade or investment with them or don’t always see eye to eye with the United States. But Colombia? Canada? Denmark? That could be anyone, tomorrow, based on Trump’s latest whim.

There are compelling reasons why most countries hold U.S. dollar reserves. The United States has the world’s largest and most liquid financial markets, allowing them to put their money in and out of those markets easily. It still has the world’s largest economy, ensuring that someone will always demand dollars to pay for the goods and services it produces—which mean other markets, for global commodities, are denominated in dollars, too. The United States is assumed to be good for its debts, and in moments of economic uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, scared investors tend to abandon other assets and rush into U.S. Treasurys as a safe refuge.

But what if that safe refuge turns into a knife at your throat? Previously, that threat was reserved for rogue states and as a punishment for extreme actions such as invasions of a sovereign neighbor. Now, it seems, it might be anybody, on any given day, who happens to run afoul of Trump. Dollar holders may begin to consider alternatives, even if they come with some cost and inconvenience. Like many cataclysmic changes, it might happen gradually—and then suddenly.

Now, to be fair, dollar hegemony is not an unalloyed boon for the U.S. economy: The desire of so many foreign countries to hold dollars as reserves plays a key role in driving chronic U.S. trade deficits. But the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” (to use the SpaceX euphemism for “explosion”) of the dollar wouldn’t be a good thing either. It would translate into financial pain and a dramatically lower standard of living for millions of Americans.

Either the dollar would fall, making everyday imports a lot more expensive, or the U.S. Federal Reserve would have to hike interest rates, pushing the economy into recession. A real dollar crisis would probably mean both.

The latest standoff appears to have ended as quickly as it escalated. Trump claims that Colombia backed down, though which country actually conceded what may not become clear until flights resume. In fact, both countries had a strong incentive to fudge their differences and “agree to disagree,” if only to step away from the brink.

But to the extent that Trump walks away the perceived victor, he will be strongly tempted to make such threats again. And similar disputes—with Denmark over Greenland, the European Union over social media regulation, and Canada over Trump’s bizarre insistence that it become the 51st U.S. state—lie just around the corner. If threats of “nuclear” banking sanctions become the president’s go-to ultimatum, with friend and foe alike, Washington will be playing a very dangerous game indeed.