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The best investment I made for winter this year was getting a heated blanket. Even as I was buying this not-so-cheap blanket, I could hear my late father’s voice in my head, telling me it was a splurge and that I didn’t really need it. It wasn’t until I used it for a week that I decided not to return it, and since then it’s been a smooth ride through the coldest nights, with me and my cat — who, I should say, loves it more than I do.
I’ve always been the black sheep of my family, the one calling out their orthodoxy, but getting comfortable with this heated blanket and not feeling guilty about choosing comfort over suffering during long winter nights (as God apparently intended) turned out to be harder than I expected. It was one of those moments where I saw, firsthand, how old ideas and traditional beliefs pull you in a certain direction, even when you’re trying to live differently or set your own values and priorities apart from your parents. That influence is insidious, and it’s real.
Still, none of that stands a chance against the delicious heat of this blanket, or the fact that my cats — who used to lounge all over the house — are now permanently stuck to me, curled up and cuddling through the night. Comfort, it turns out, can be its own form of rebellion.
Here's what we have for you this week:
Atharva’s new documentary examines the contradiction at the heart of Kerala’s ritual theatre where performers from marginalised Dalit communities are revered as gods onstage, only to return to systemic exclusion once the ritual ends. Rooted in the trance-like spectacle of Theyyam and filmed over three days in Kannur, the film positions its subjects at the centre — as individuals whose brief elevation during the ritual exposes the caste inequities that structure their everyday lives.
Check it out here.
Aditya Alamuru is a Bangalore-based producer and electronic music artist who performs under the moniker MALFNKTION. His work blends hip-hop, electronica, and Indian musical elements, drawing on samples, field recordings, and genre-bending production. On his new single, he leans into disco-led rhythms and basslines, layering funky samples and vinyl-style scratches to drive the track forward. The production is tight and percussive, built around groove and momentum, translating classic electronic cues into a contemporary club banger.
Listen to it here.
Mary Ann Alexander’s latest single is built around her view of love as a continuous process of learning. The song draws from her experience of growing up brown and learning to hold back affection, with R&B becoming the space where softness and emotional openness felt possible. Written over a beat sent remotely by producer ceebeaats, the track takes cues from 1990s and early 2000s R&B and uses the metaphor of loving someone like slowly reading a book. Directed by Madhavan Krishnesh, the music video uses choreographed movement, closeness, and touch to visualise intimacy.
Watch it here.
November Noon is reimagining what it means for Banarasi weaves to exist in contemporary wardrobes by prioritising both heritage and innovation. Led by Creative Director Priyanka Kaul, the November Noon's latest Umbre collection integrates traditional Varanasi Jala, Naka, and Jacquard techniques with custom cotton-silk blends, subtle tones, and unconventional textures sourced from weaving clusters beyond Banaras. Their process — deeply collaborative with master weavers, dyers, and textile artisans — challenges reductive narratives around Indian textiles embedding traditional craft within a forward-looking design language.
Check it out here.
In this feature, Drishya explores Kolkata’s fish markets as everyday spaces where Bengali food culture is shaped and sustained. Moving through wholesale hubs like Howrah and neighbourhood markets such as Maniktala and Ashu Babur Bajar, the article looks at how seasonality, live catch, bargaining, and sensory knowledge inform how the city eats. It also reflects on what is being lost as shopping shifts online, and why these markets continue to hold a cultural memory beyond their role in daily trade.
Read it here.
Yogesh Rai's new solo exhibition at Akara Contemporary in Mumbai presents new graphite works by the Jhansi-born artist, that trace the nuanced interplay of body, desire, and intimacy through repetition. On view till December 27, his drawings feature networks of coalesced limbs and layered forms, using tessellated bodyscapes to map sensation and build a visual language of attentivenes, into a sustained engagement with form, touch, and relational space.
Learn more about it here.
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