As a cis-het man, I've always been a little bit jealous of the warmth and the closeness that feminity allows for amongst people who idenitify as women. There's no or perhaps fewer of the trappings that have come to define the friendship you see in male friends groups; the pretense, the bravado and the constant depricating humour that's often used to mask our true feelings. You can come exactly as you are, lay bare your soul and leave having experienced an intoxicating combination of empathy and love. Despite whatever's going on in your life, female friends groups provide a space for women to unplug; to vent and even to rage, when required.

While male friendships have their own charms, there's something intrinsically nurturing and supportive about the female variation. It's a safety net like no other that allows for deeper connection and even a better understanding of yourself and your place in the world around you.

Photographer Tarun Kalyani 's recent photoseries in collaboration with home decor brand Akupara's founder Palak Singh aims to distill precisely this. Through a series of moody indoor vignettes, it paints a delicate picture of the vulnerability, tenderness and togetherness that makes up the essence of female friendships.

It's a window into a world of soft, understated compassion; of boisterous laughter and outrageously brash tongue-in-cheek-impudence; of wry smiles and inside jokes — all bolstered by an ever-strengthening bond of mutual connection and adoration. It's a beautiful tribute to what every single man has seen but rarely ever truly experienced for himself.

You can take a look at the whole photoshoot here.

You can follow Akupara here.

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