About

Saraswati Mela was an ancient fair of India where on the fifth day of every month, scholars, artists, kings, queens, nobles and common men and women gathered to discuss and debate ideas and ideologies. It was in homage to the patron goddess of arts and erudition – Saraswati. It finds mention in the Kamasutra, by the pioneer Indian philosopher Mahirshi Vatysayan.
I find it endearing and inspiring that a society held such festivals of knowledge not only as a right but as a sacred duty of every citizen.

I have often been captivated in my life, trembling with anticipation as I stood on the threshold across which lay grandeur, awe and joy. Places of pure magic that have expanded my world, large enough to dream and also shrunk it, small and near enough to feel, to believe..

Books have led me there, music has, films have..

Saraswati Mela is a very personal cartographical journey of tracing all the things which have brought beauty to me, anchored me as I felt adrift trying to carve meaning out of the raw block of living.

It is a very personal celebration of arts and the written word..
Hope you find something to carry back from here.

 

– Shubhangie Mishra

 

Saraswati Mela is inspired by the phenomenal work of Maria Popova in the form of the breathtaking themarginalian.org . But as is the rule of life, while looking at the moon you don’t want to be the moon, but rather find your own way through the moonlit terrain.

The picture on the front page is me touching the oldest door in all of Rome at Temple of the deified Romulus captured by art historian, teacher and an excellent guide Peter Kos.