BBA Gratitude Challenge :: Indian Carnelian

The month of November is a month for giving thanks, and the BBA team challenged us to stop, give thanks and create something inspired by our gratitude. Yes I am aware that today is actually December, but I just have not had a chance to get to this blog post until now!

Ok, so on with the show. As those of you who follow me regularly know, I have been doing an on-going series on things to be thankful for while traveling in India. 

I recently gave you my top 10 reasons to be thankful while in India, with my top reason being traveling with my mother-in-law. 

Yep, you read that correctly. I really love spending time with my mother-in-law. She and I haggled with a guy for some strings of carnelian who was sitting right on the front steps of a place called Fatehpur Sikri. 

This is one of the best preserved collection of Mughal architecture in India. It was built in the 1500s by one of the Rajput Rajas, and served as the capital between 1571 and 1585 - a very short time. What is so interesting about the city is that it rather perfectly preserved since it was abandoned in 1585, they say mostly due to it's lack of a water supply. In its hay day it included royal palaces, harem, courts, a mosque, private quarters for the Raj. Akbar, the ruling Raj of the time, was seeking to revive the splendors of Persian court, and planned the complex on Persian principles. It is gorgeous architecture. The complex has independent pavilions on the ground level in patterns derived from Arab and central Asian tent encampments. And there is a large open air market with stunning columns and roof ... still standing. The city spreads out over nearly two miles long and one mile wide, and today is India's version of a ghost town. What is left are red sandstone structures to a time past. 

So my piece that I've created for giving thanks is from the carnelian I purchased for 100 Rupee (roughly $2.50). I wanted it to be a bit rustic, so I used knotted hemp cord with the strings of carnelian chips. It reminds me of my time in India, learning about the culture of the country where my mother-in-law grew up.