This Week In Culture: Bengali Cheese, Glass Beams' Acid House Tribute, & More

Towards the end of production for Rubber Soul — the critically acclaimed 1965 album that propelled The Beatles from a successful pop act to an unparalleled musical phenomenon — John Lennon had trouble writing one more song that would complete the album. On the morning of October 21, 1965, exhausted after a night out and trying for five hours to write a new song, Lennon finally “gave up” and decided to “lay down.” “Then ‘Nowhere Man’ came, words and music, the whole damn thing,” Lennon recalled in a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine.

Recorded over the next two days in October, two months before the album’s release, “Nowhere Man” was the anti-Beatle song at the time — a deeply philosophical piece entirely unrelated to romance or love. Also the quintessential “anti-John” song according to fellow Beatle Paul McCartney, the song was about a man who’s feeling a little lost, who doesn’t know what he’s doing, and wondering where he’s going. In Lennon’s words, “Isn't he a bit like you and me?”

Transitioning from a fiercely independent freelance career as a writer and documentary photographer which required me to travel extensively to my first full-time desk job at Homegrown so I could finally focus on my book, I was feeling a lot like Lennon’s Nowhere Man earlier this year. But two weeks in, I feel inspired by the sheer breadth of the work we do at Homegrown, the diversity of the stories we cover, and the people we come across in the course of our day-to-day work life.

From a found-footage film about a woman's marriage, migration, and resilience to a design studio reclaiming and recontextualising a casteist slur, the running thread that connects the stories we covered this week on Homegrown is the idea that although we are shaped by our history, we do not have to be defined by it. If you’re also feeling a little lost and wondering where you are and where you are going, our Culture Bulletin is full of ideas and inspiration. Here's what we have for you this week:

Brown Brit by The Romantix

'Brown Brit', the deeply personal found-footage film by directorial duo The Romantix (aka Jay Stephen and Ralph Briscoe), traces the life of a woman (Stephen's mother) from her arranged marriage in the 80s to her life in the UK as an immigrant wife and mother of three daughters. But it's not only a personal story about one woman's marriage and motherhood — it's a universal story about marriage, migration, and how women hold it all together, often invisibly, one quiet act at a time.

Read Anahita's story about Brown Brit here.

Sakaré Is Bringing Cross-Cultural Desserts To Bengaluru's Culinary Landscape

Derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Sakara’, the word sugar was first called sucre in French, sucker in Arabic and Persian and finally became known as sugar in English. Paying homage to sugar's origins and recreating its journey across the world, Sakaré is a Dessert Dining Concept which was inspired from the experiences of M Jenny Clinta's journey as a chef and her journey from from a tiny island in the Andamans to the countryside of France in Normandy.

Read Disha's story about Sakaré here.

A Brief History of Bandel: The Bengali Cheese With A Colonial Past

On 20th May 1498, a Sunday, the Portuguese admiral Vasco da Gama’s fleet arrived in Kappudu near Calicut on the Malabar coast (now Kozhikode in Kerala). The Europeans had finally arrived in India — the age of colonisation had begun. Over the next four and a half centuries, they would shape the course of modern Indian history through brutal conquest and clever politics. Although it’s easy to forget now, the Portuguese were the first to colonise India, and they left a significant impact on the region’s history. Of the many influences they left on Indians, the most enduring one is on food — especially on the way Bengalis make and consume a particular kind of cottage cheese known as Bandel Cheese to this day.

Read the colonial history of Bandel Cheese here.

Homegrown Label Chamar's Mumbai Exhibit Is A Poignant Intersection Of Design & Activism

A gallery for functional design and art, Aequo in Colaba is a space designed for conversations at the intersection of art and culture. True to form, the latest exhibit at Aequo features a brand that has been working relentlessly at the interaction of design and activism: Chamar. The defiant label’s founder Sudheer Rajbhar has been working since 2017, to recontextualise the casteist term ‘Chamar’ from being derogatory to being rightfully associated with the intricate skilled leather work of the community. Through each collection, they seek out new ways to highlight and challenge the prevalent social injustices in the nation.

Read Fathima's story about Chamar Studio's latest exhibition here.

From Partition To Present: The Evolution Of South Asian Science Fiction Literature

What do you think of when you think of South Asian science fiction?

Growing up in the suburbs of Kolkata, my first foray into the highly imaginative genre was through Satyajit Ray’s ‘Professor Shonku’s Adventures’. The eponymous Professor Shonku invented fantastic drugs, gadgets, gizmos, and Macguffins that helped him against great adversaries on his exciting and thrilling adventures. But the exceptional polymath Ray wasn’t such an exception among Indian writers. Long before Ray introduced Professor Shonku on the pages of the Sandesh magazine in 1961, many Indian writers were already writing stories we now consider proto-science-fiction.

Read about the long history of South Asian Sci-Fi here.

Designer Dhruv Bandil's Latest Collection Blends Our Ancient Past With Modernity

Many homegrown artists take inspiration from India’s rich, ancient history — and how could they not? Despite the struggles of our past, our cultural legacy lives on through the preservation of our traditions, stories, and heritage sites. In the modern day, many contemporary artists use these relics of our past, creating something new out of our well-kept cultural archives. And yet, sometimes, inspiration can strike in the absence of what once was. Fashion designer Dhruv Bandil’s latest collection, ‘Awakening Kakanmath Kalavatis’, pays homage to archaeological ruins in Madhya Pradesh, his home state.

Read Pari's story about Dhruv Bandil's latest collection here.

Watch Glass Beams Pay Homage To The Father Of Acid House With Their Latest Cover

Glass Beams’ new track is a cover of Charanjit Singh’s Raga Bhairav from his 1982 seminal album 10 Ragas to a Disco Beat. A description under the music video reads, “Created in Mumbai in 1982, the original song is one of the earliest records to use the Roland TB 303 bass line synthesizer — the sound of acid house. Futuristic without intention, the album pre-dates the first acid house records of Chicago.”

Read Disha's story about the versatility of Indian classical Ragas here.

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