I’ve just come back from Brussels and Amsterdam, where I spent a week with my family. Getting everyone in the same place at the same time is a logistical miracle. My cousin brother and his girlfriend live in New York, my aunt is in Chandigarh, and my mother is usually too busy working to sit through an entire meal with me. So the fact that we managed to share unhurried breakfasts and aimless afternoons felt like an achievement in itself.
We’re not the “crack-of-dawn, 15,000-step-itinerary” kind of travellers. We leave the house at eleven, sometimes closer to noon, and take things as they come. In Brussels, that meant stumbling into bakeries and spending far too long debating croissant versus pain au chocolat. In Amsterdam, it meant long canal walks punctuated by fries, beer, and the occasional wrong turn that everyone insisted was “part of the plan”. One afternoon we went to a park and ended up sitting on the grass for three hours doing absolutely nothing, which, depending on who you ask, was either peak relaxation or a complete waste of a day abroad.
People usually look horrified when I explain our travel style: there's no tightly packed itineraries, no early alarms, and certainly no rush to check off museums or landmarks. We find more joy in the slower bits: a street musician; a chatty shopkeeper; watching cyclists manage near-accidents with impressive calm. It’s less about conquering the city and more about letting the city carry on while you observe from the sidelines.
That attitude — noticing the details, refusing the checklist — is also how I like to think about culture. Which is why this week we focus less on the obvious and more on the moments in between.
Where The River Meets The Sea: Anupa Mehta Contemporary Art, Mumbai
In their latest group show, 'Where the River Meets the Sea', six women artists transform textile art into a site of feminist reflection and resistance. From embroidered portraits honouring everyday women to kasavu weaves reframing caste and heritage to quilts resurrecting Goan oral histories, the works cut, join, mend, and re-purpose cloth as an archive of personal and political memory. The exhibition argues that techniques long relegated to 'care work' are also radical tools for storytelling and reckoning. It's on view at Anupa Mehta Contemporary Art, Mumbai, until September 11.
Follow them here.
Six Mile To Seoul by Rahul Rajkhowa & Jimmy Brown
What do Guwahati’s Six Mile and Seoul’s backstreets have in common? On 'Six Mile to Seoul', Indian rapper Rahul Rajkhowa and Korean R&B singer Jimmy Brown craft a compact, six-track EP that braids Assamese cadence, Hinglish rap, and velvet-smooth K-R&B. The record feels like a lived conversation, built on trust, late-night file swaps, and shared melodies across time zones. Glossy yet intimate, it’s an after-hours soundtrack that resists genre clichés while sketching a tender world of its own.
Listen to it here.
The Taste of Summer by Sambit Dattachaudhuri
Kolkata-based filmmaker Sambit Dattachaudhuri’s short film 'The Taste of Summer' unfolds in the small, in-between moments that define us. A young woman’s return home during a nor’wester storm brings back memories of mango-laden summers, everyday rituals, and an ache for what’s been lost. With echoes of Kundera’s lítost and French nostalgie, the film captures longing as both torment and tenderness, reimagining memory as something we can remake.
Watch it here.
Delhi Contemporary Art Week
The 8th edition of Delhi Contemporary Art Week returns with six women-led galleries presenting a sweeping curatorial vision at Bikaner House. Highlights include a sculpture show designed by Untitled Design (winners of the ID Honors 2025), Priyanshi Saxena’s 'Taqiya Qalaam' reimagining language and truth, and individual gallery presentations spanning exile cartographies, radical margins, and poetic subversions.
Check it out here.
Bombay Zine Fest
South Asia’s first-ever zine fest is back for its 9th edition. Since 2017, Bombay Zine Fest has celebrated the DIY power of self-publishing, bringing together makers and readers in an independent, self-funded festival. Applications for tablers are now open.
Learn more here.
Cord Studio's Festive Edit
Cord turns to cinema for inspiration, placing Tillotama Shome at the centre of its latest collection. Known for her striking presence across art-house and commercial films, Tillotama embodies Cord’s ethos: garments rooted in craft yet unafraid of bold storytelling. This edit celebrates the intersection of art, culture, and cinema.
Check it out here.
Here's more from Homegrown:
Disturbing Search Trends After The Kolkata Rape-Murder Are Symptoms Of A Larger Malaise
What A 19th-Century Colonial Calcutta Murder Tells Us About Intimate Partner Violence
Investigating The Twisted Murders Of India's Most Notorious Serial Killers