This Week In Culture: Indian Designers At The Meta Gala, A Bombay Daak Takeover, & More

In Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Masque of the Red Death', Prince Prospero and a thousand other nobles quarantine themselves in a walled abbey to escape the Red Death — a terrible plague that is sweeping over the land. As common people succumb to the disease outside the castle-walls, the Prince hosts a masquerade ball to entertain his noble guests.

As I watched some of the world's most popular actors, musicians, athletes, and designers dress up for the Met Gala this year, I couldn't help but draw parallels between Prospero's masquerade ball and the iconic fundraising event in New York taking place against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Gaza strip. As dazzled as I was by their beautiful costumes celebrating the bespoke legacy of Black Dandyism, I could not shake a sense of cognitive dissonance. Something had to be so fundamentally wrong for us to indulge in this kind of pomp when so many innocent people are dying in so many parts of the world, right?

Well, not exactly. This week has brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war, and the urgency of the situation has shocked me out of my doomerism. As C.S. Lewis once said, art has always had to exist in the shadow of something more important. Humans have always created art amidst wars, struggles, famine, and myriad other emergencies because we wanted to experience beauty and did not — could not and would not — wait for perfect conditions that never come.

In hoping for the best, and in holding on to that indomitable human desire for beauty, here's what we have for you this week:

Indian Designers Embrace The Spirit Of Black Dandyism At The Met Gala

This year, designers like Sabyasachi, Manish Malhotra, Gaurav Gupta, and Prabal Gurung crafted some of the best looks of the night, making it clear that South Asian talent is not to be overlooked. Pari Pradhan surveys the South Asian representation in the Met Gala here.

Bombay Daak Takes Over The Conversation Room, Kolkata

In 2024, Chef Niyati Rao and restaurateur Sagar Neve took Mumbai's F&B scene by surprise with the launch of Bombay Daak — a cocktail bar aimed at reviving India's desi daaru-chakna drinking culture. This year, Bombay Daak is bringing that same energy to The Conversation Room in Kolkata on 9th May for an unmissable night of its signature daaru-chakna-inspired culinary storytelling. Learn more here.

Akhoi Brings Authentic Traditional Manipuri Flavours To Mumbai

"At Akhoi Kitchen, every dish is a journey back to my childhood in Manipur’s iconic Ima Keithel. The fragrant herbs, veggies, and fruits and the warm welcome of the Imas ignited my passion for authentic flavours," Lin Laishram says. Laishram is the founder of Akhoi, a new cloud kitchen serving authentic Manipuri dishes in Versova. Follow her here.

Rohin Raveendran’s ‘Kovarty’ Captures The Whimsy Of Falling In Love

Filmed on iPhone, Rohin Raveendran’s MAMI-select short film is a tale of love between a typewriter and its typist. ‘Kovarty’ is the story of a woman chiseling her identity and making it her own, Manasvini Sekar writes here.

Chaar Diwari Wrestles With Imposter Syndrome In His Latest Music Video

Who is Chaar Diwaari? This question seems easy to answer. In the years since his debut, we’ve come to know him as one of India’s most exciting rising artists. A simple Google search reveals that he’s Garv Taneja, a singer-songwriter-producer working under a moniker. He’s a rule-breaking multi-hyphenate, whom we ourselves proclaimed to be an artist spearheading India’s hip-hop revolution back in 2023. However, while all this may be true, Chaar Diwaari’s latest single, ‘FAREBI’, shows us there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye, Disha Bijolia writes here.

Spryk x BamBoy’s New Track Is A Love Letter To Humanity

‘Jiv Ekach Aahe’, the latest collaboration between Mumbai-based electronic music artist Spryk Tejas Nair and Music Producer/DJ/Emcee BamBoy, is an anthem of love and unity for all. It’s a reverberating call to rise above the hate, discrimination, and prejudices dividing societies across the world and find common ground in love and solidarity. Listen to the track here.

‘The Music Makers’ At APRE Art House Imagine The Futures Of Indian Art

In ‘The Music Makers’, on view at APRE Art House in Colaba till 25 May 2025, the artist is not just a creator but a builder of culture — silent, ambiguous, and reflective. The exhibition brings together 17 participating artists from the now-concluded Mumbai Artists In Residency (MAIR) program, presenting works shaped by the passing of aeroplanes and the blaze of sunsets which became their metronome — temporal markers of a practice attuned to ephemera. Learn more about the exhibition here.

A New Delhi Workshop Explores The Intersection Of Motherhood, Art-Making, And Care-Giving

How does one tend to a child and a canvas at once? What happens when care becomes both subject and structure in art making?

These are the questions that form the heart of Looking with other (m)others — a series of workshops led by Dr. Ruchika Wason Singh as part of her ongoing project, A.M.M.A.A. (The Archive for Mapping Mother Artists in Asia). Created as an extension of this larger archival endeavour, the workshops offer an intimate space for artist-mothers to gather, reflect, and share. Through storytelling, sensory exercises, and performative dialogues, participants explore the overlaps between studio practice, maternal labour, and the inner life of the artist. Learn more about the workshop here.

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