Every year just as we prepare to bid adieu to the old year, almost everyone frantically looks for a calendar. Sunny Deol’s catchy tareekh dialogue from the movie Damini has become a meme we like to repeat each year when we look for calendars. Some people are happy with complimentary calendars that come with purchases at stores, while others look for calendars from banks where the fonts and dates are visible from across the room.
As the 90s ended and we entered the new millennium, it was a matter of pride to have received a calendar with top models posing at stupendously picturesque beaches, from the ‘king of good times’, making everyone want to have a beach body. When the king fell from grace, it made for hilarious memes on the coveted calendars. Giving tough competition each year was Daboo Ratnani’s calendar shoot with leading actors of B-town. But then, not all are fortunate to have received these calendars. .
It doesn’t hurt to have a stylish calendar, either a desktop or wall-mounted. If it comes wrapped with a cause to support, the calendars touch a lot of buyers’ hearts. These are those handful of people who buy calendars to support a cause or simply because the pictures tell a story that is close to their heart.
Wildlife love
An image of the tigers in the calendar featuring images by VVS
So VV Subrahmanyam’s wildlife photography appealed so much to his friend Venkateshwaran, a body builder, that he made a calendar out of the animal photos on Subrahmanyam’s social media timeline and presented it to him. “I love wild animals and their personalities. The photos that Subrahmanyam posts shows the animals in their many moods — some happy, some lazing and some in their usual element. And what better way to say I appreciate his photography than bringing out a calendar,” says Venkateshwaran.
Recycling seeds
Garima Capoor with her husband Sumat Nanda
Then there is one made by Garima Capoor and husband Sumat Nanda of http://plantables.store, when the couple decided to try something new with their seed paper business.
Garima decided to make a seed calendar and put it up for sale on their website. She says: “Within our limited timeframe and marketing resources, we were able to reach a cross section of buyers. We first did a seed paper invitation for our wedding since we didn’t like the idea of wedding invites landing in the waste bin. The seed paper used to make the calendars have seeds embedded in them.”
The seed calendar by Garima Capoor and Sumat Nanda
Giving a gist of the process, Garima explains, “The seeds are added when the handmade paper is getting done. The seeds are dehydrated to an extent that they don’t stick out. We used seeds of marigold, basil and and wild flowers. The paper has to be soaked and made into a pulp before they are planted.”
Nomadic dates
Neelima Vallangi
Travel writer and photographer Neelima Vallangi’s calendar, at http://travelwithneelima.com, will appeal to anyone with wanderlust.
Every picture she has used for the 12 months showcases a new India. These are non-commercial spots of the country that are far more beautiful than the locales shown in movies, travellers’ diaries and blogs. Neelima calls herself a nomad. After having sold her permanent place of dwelling, she decided to dedicate her time to travel and to document the lesser known locales from unimaginable heights and dangerous treks.
“This is what I love doing. I am such a nomad that I don’t have a single calendar I’ve printed in the last four years. If anything is left after selling them, it’s distributed among friends and family. I live out of a backpack so it makes no sense to hoard,” she says.
Neelima’s is a bespoke calendar because these places are hidden gems one wouldn’t find easily on Instagram. She brings my attention to the picture used for the month of June. Photographed from an extreme height in the Himalayas, the image shows three trekkers at a distance — almost like three black dots in a bucket of white cotton candy. Each month of her calendar narrates a story that no one has seen but would like to have a date there for sure.
