- HOMEGROWN WORLD
- #HGCREATORS
- #HGEXPLORE
- #HGVOICES
- #HGSHOP
- CAREERS
- ABOUT US
- CONTACT US
I think I conducted more interviews this week than I have in any single week during my entire tenure at Homegrown, and I remember thinking, midweek, that the shy nine-year-old version of me would find this completely unthinkable. Having to introduce myself to a stranger, not just carry a conversation but actually moderate one, and sometimes even coax closed-off people out of their shells, she would have found all of that impossible to imagine.
It's strange to sit with that contrast. I don't think I ever consciously decided to become someone who could do this, it feels more like something I grew into by simply doing it again and again, one uncomfortable conversation at a time, until the discomfort turned into something closer to instinct. There's a particular kind of confidence that only shows up after you've done the thing enough times to stop bracing for it.
I've been questioning the road ahead in my life a lot lately, and sometimes just thinking about the scale of the changes I might be facing feels overwhelming, like a task I don't quite feel ready to take on. But there's something comforting in knowing that if nine-year-old Avani could learn to raise her hand in class, then I can figure out how to do the bigger things too, one smaller step at a time.
Anyway, as I ramble on, this week's curation is made to bring out the confidence and boldness in you — from Hulo talking about his journey as an artist, to a reading list of Panther's Paw Publication's anti-caste literature, to Minaxi's genre-blending EP and Abhishek Chaudhary's inside-joke movie posters for the cinephiles among all of you. Here's what what we have for you:
Independent singer-songwriter Hulo (Aditya Majumdar) opens up about dropping out of an economics degree in the Netherlands, rebuilding himself as a musician in Berlin's genre-blurring scene, and why no creative dream survives without community. From ad-libbing his way through forgotten lyrics on stage to renaming himself after his grandmother's nickname for him, it's a look at what it actually takes to chase art for a living. Read more here.
Brooklyn four-piece Minaxi build their debut EP Darbar-e-Ishq at the crossroads of late-80s British shoegaze and Hindustani/Sufi devotional music. With walls of guitar noise that give way to Urdu vocals, urban grief, and long meditative drones, before a back half of remixes from Simon Scott, Rajah Betta, The Phalanx, and SG Deadbeat pull it apart into sub-bass and modular textures. It's a record built for headphones at 3am. Read more here.
A look at Nagpur-based Panther's Paw Publication, founded by writer Yogesh Maitreya in 2016 and named for the radical Dalit Panthers movement. Disha rounds up five titles from its catalog — from Maitreya's own writing on Ambedkarite music and a caste-lens reading of Kumar Sanu, to Jaywant Hire's translated 1989 short stories, Suraj Telange's poetry on caste and capital, and four foundational essays by B.R. Ambedkar himself — as entry points into anti-caste literature.
Berlin-based artist Abhishek Chaudhary reimagines classic film posters not as marketing tools but as memory triggers — capturing the scene, feeling, or fragment of a movie that actually stayed with viewers, rather than its cast or plot. His take on Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro's chaotic climax, restaged as a Last Supper with Draupadi's corpse at the center, is the standout: a poster that works like an inside joke only fellow fans will get. Read more here.
While clearing out her late father's belongings, Denmark-based illustrator Radhika Chitalia couldn't bring herself to discard his passport — so she painted its sixteen empty pages instead, drawing on Mughal miniature art's blues and greens. What began as something just for her and her family, made with no audience in mind, turned into a piece that resonated widely online, with others reaching out to say it inspired them to do the same with objects their own loved ones left behind. Read more here.FA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Sabyasachi Mukherjee kick off a multi-year collaboration with a Byzantine-inspired High Jewellery collection debuting at New York Fashion Week — pieces drawing on Roman sculpture, Byzantine carvings, and Islamic art, all conceived and handcrafted in India. Rather than treating Indian craftsmanship as a source of exotic inspiration, the partnership frames it as an active author in the shared global history of luxury and cultural exchange. Read more here.
Delhi label Gully Labs steps beyond footwear with 'Kara', its debut apparel line named for the Sanskrit word for "to do" — clothing engineered around how coffee and paddy plantation workers actually move, bend, and shelter themselves outdoors. Pleated backs that open on a reach, squat-friendly trousers, coconut-shell buttons, and paddy-field embroidery were all put through their paces by dancers at the preview, turning what could've been decorative workwear cosplay into genuinely functional design. Read more here.
Read Rhea's dead-serious, deeply unserious ranking of the Delhi Metro's best eating spots — from Dohful's cookies at Hauz Khas to the ritual KFC popcorn chicken before an overnight bus at Kashmiri Gate, plus sweet corn at INA and chole bhature waiting right outside Civil Lines. Complete with invented "DMRC laws" governing why a corn stall spontaneously appears every forty metres of transfer corridor. Read more here.
One Night in TOKi-o takes over Katha Crafthouse, Hyderabad on September 11th, as Boilermaker — ranked #8 on Asia's Best Bars list takes over. Presented by Toki Suntory Whisky in association with Homegrown, visitors can expect a Mizu Izakaya menu by Chef Lakhan Jethani, DJ sets from ANSWER and vinyl spins by Doris, plus a live art station by The Art Curry. Get your tickets here.
Superhealth's Koramangala hospital hosts HOSPITA/ITY, vol.001 this Saturday — a bold experiment reimagining hospitality. After clinical hours, Bengaluru's independent artists take over: Youth in Asia's classical-jazz fusion, E# 's rock and metal, and Sahil Godara's closing DJ set, alongside Taan.ai's official launch, curated by experience partner Localhost. Know more here.
