Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Antz Store, Bengaluru

The store in Indiranagar, Bengaluru
The entrance

The serene green rooftop cafe

The lovely mouth watering non-alcoholic baverages

Interesting bamboo magazine holder

Bamboo at the cafe
The steps to the cafe .. with quotes and sticky ants :)
Cafe .. this way
Beautiful Bodo textiles photo frames
Bamboo craft
Black pottery mugs

Bit of home linen




Endi silk stole
Coin bags


Beautiful Mizo handloom
Assamese silk stoles








There are some places you just connect to instantly. Such is the amazing "The Ants Store", in Indiaranagar, Bengaluru.

The ANT - The Action North-East Trust
is a non profit public charitable trust in the Chirang District of Assam, India. They work at the grass root level with the villagers on issues of health, women’s empowerment, information, livelihoods and sensitizing people to press for their entitlements from the government ; village pharmacists through women volunteers & community laboratory technicians; women’s groups; alternate income opportunities through weaving, agriculture and off farm activities; information collection & distribution in user-friendly ways.

For once, during my studies in NID, Ahmedabad, I got a chance to work with Dr. Sunil Kaul, who is running The ANT in Assam. Being from Bongaigaon, Assam, a close by town to Chirang, I had the advantage and the luck to visit the place and spend some time there.

The ANTs Store in Bangalore, is a store housing beautiful craft products belonging to the North-Eastern India. It also houses a beautiful cafe called The Ants Cafe and it is very famous amongst world travelers, Designers, writers, craft enthusiasts and a lot of people who are looking for a peaceful place to sit and forget the rest of the world.

The ANTs work on the core values of Ahimsa, Truth, Honesty, Humility, Trust and Love. Which the place so much reflects in every step.