When you enter Kashmira Daruwalla’s Feng Shui shop (Hideout) in the normally busy Prince Plaza in Egmore, chances are you’ll be transported into a different world. Colourful Chinese products, like The Three-legged Frog, Kuan Kong and Fuk Luk Sau, will peer off the shelves at you as you make your way around. “These are energised Feng Shui products, that bring good fortune,” Kashmira tells us. This makes sense — after all, the Chinese art of Feng Shui is based on the understanding of nature and balancing energy.
Daruwalla has been practicing Feng Shui and running the shop for more than 15 years now and she believes it is as much a science as it is art. It’s been a long journey for Kashmira, who learnt this art from globally popular Feng Shui practitioner Lillian Too from Malaysia, .
“Feng Shui is becoming popular day by day. We advise people to buy products and place them according to the ancient Feng Shui laws,” she adds. She also says that people between 25 and 80 years of age and especially those who are going to start a new business, build or renovate their house, have been coming here regularly. Ironically, not many youngsters visit the shop.
There are a huge number of Feng Shui products that are being sold and each of these product has its own benefits and uses. The most popular among these are The Laughing Buddha that brings good health, wealth and happiness, The Bamboo plant that brings good health and wealth and the Fuk Luk Sau, the three Chinese men who also bring good health and wealth, the Kuan Kong is known as the God of wealth. Some other Feng Shui products include The Orange Tree (Wealth), Phoenix (Opportunities in professional life), Ducks (Good relationship between husband and wife), 3 Legged Frog (Financial luck), Kuan Yin Mother (Baby luck and Peace of mind), Fu Dogs (Remove Negative energy) and Double Fish (Education).
Each of these products, depending on what they are to be used for have to be kept in a specific place or direction, as directed by the experts. An important point to be kept in mind while purchasing a product is that the size of these products should be based on the size of the house, office or wherever it is to be kept.
One cannot keep a small Laughing Buddha statue in a huge house, as the positive energy doesn’t spread throughout the house but instead only surrounds that one room where it has been kept.
When she started off in 1997 she didn’t expect the shop to flourish to this extent and she says she is extremely happy with this. When asked about her future plans, Kashmira Daruwalla says she is planning to teach Feng Shui to those aspiring to learn it. She says that she is happy to see that people are willing to learn the art of Feng Shui. “From my personal experience I know how effective Feng Shui is and that only if you experience is the same will you understand its value,” she adds.