This Week In Culture: Your Favourite Artists Favourite Artist, Queer Desire, & Much More

Everyday, I freshen up and head out for breakfast. I don't cook in the morning except for making my coffee that I enjoy with a smoke. As far as I can look into my recent past, a South Indian breakfast is how I've started my day.

I'm told constantly by people that eating outside everyday isn't good for me, which I do register, logically, but as soon as I wake up, my body naturally falls into the rhythm of showering and heading out like it has been doing since my college years, when I had breakfast at a tiffin centre near St. Mary's in Hyderabad and going in for my classes everyday. I'm following the same basic routine years later. This is my morning ritual and I quite enjoy it as well.

Until this one day I go out per usual and literally everything's closed. I didn't realize that there was a strike that day and I freak out out about the fact that I had to, on this unfortunate day, make breakfast. Now, I do know how to cook, but the break in my pattern had shaken me a little bit. I remember it was a Wednesday because I had just made one of the best egg sandwiches I had ever eaten in my life. "I should do this more often," I said, only to ride straight back to my usual Dosa spot the next morning.

I think about this now because we have a few new voices here at Homegrown. And even though I enjoy writing and working at Homegrown exposes me to something cool everyday, I was kind of set in my ways and had fallen into a monotony of sorts. Until a new writer here wrote an article about 'Bathrooms in Mumbai' that blew my mind. I couldn't have imagined such a piece that caught me off guard with its absurdity but still felt refreshingly 'Homegrown'. It was the egg sandwich to my masala dosa that I didn't realize I needed.

We are entering a new era and I'm super excited to find out what comes with this new team. I hope you are too. Here's what we have for you in our Culture Bulletin this week:

Mirchi By Kimaya Singh

Mirchi is the brainchild of Inega-signed model Kimaya Singh, who has worked extensively with several reputable Indian labels. Her brand has an eccentric, almost camp-like design language; glamorous but bratty. Mirchi's debut collection consists of limited edition pieces - from handcrafted skirts to tank tops and denim totes to the most iconic sequined Blue Lays Bag. Following a slow fashion, made-to-order approach in their production, the brand has an exciting, spicy appeal that really stands out among a sea of understated fashion trends.

Check out Mirchi's debut collection here.

Zubaan - A Home-Art Cafe In Bangalore

Founded by husband-wife duo Jasna and Labeeb, Zubaan cafe is a quaint hangout space in Koramangala, Bangalore. Presented like an extention of their home, the cafe offers authentic Falafels and Kahwa to Saudi Champagne and Maqloob, the Levantine Cuisine following the founder's Middle Eastern roots. The space also hosts a monthly lecture community table series called Kahwa aur Kitabein that sparks discussions around, culture cuisine and politics.

Find out the theme for this month's community table here.

Indian Artists Share Their Favourite Album

When Beyonce said, "Nobody listens to a body of work anymore," in her HBO documentary, she was kinda right. A lot of work goes behind actualising a vision into an album. The rise and fall of viral hit singles are a regular phenomenon but the listening experience of an album really stays with you. It's a journey you take with the artist as your travel guide come out different more often than not by the end of it. Homegrown asked some of your favourite Indian artists about an album that impacted them deeply.

Click here to find out wha they said.

Independent Publishing Houses In India

Publishing houses are like the record labels of literature. Just like niche labels that focus on a particular genre produce some of the best underground releases, so do publishing houses that gives voice to a certain cohort, empowering unheard voices and stories and making them accessible. From weird fiction to feminism and anti-caste ideology to sexuality, we've curated a list of homegrown publishing houses that hold space for untold and stigmatized narratives.

Find them here.

Organic Perfume Oils By Soma Ayurvedic

Sourcing its adaptogens and herbs from the lush forests of Kerala, Soma Ayurvedic is a beauty and lifestyle brand that creates perfumes based on the cities of India. Capturing the essence of a place like in a fragrance like the Mysore sandalwood, Delhi Oudh and Bombay Fleur, the brand uses ayurveda to formulate natural and long lasting perfume oils, each crafted with decadent notes that encapsulate the spirit of a city.

Go through their catalogue here.

A Thousand Years Of Dreaming By Debashish Paul

Debashish Paul’s first solo exhibition 'A Thousand Years Of Dreaming' at Emami Art, Kolkata is centred around the film Hazaro Saalon ka Sapna that explores queer desire in the backdrop of a small town where men often have to conceal their identities and relationships due to the stigma against homosexuality. Using performance stills, drawings, sculptures & garments, the artist creates metaphors to build a narrative around the queer identity and how it interacts in a heteronormative society.

Find out about the exhibition here.

If you enjoyed reading this, here's more from Homegrown:

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Sukaavani Studio's Fruit & Vegetable Paper Aims To Inspire Play Through Immersive Craft

From Heritage Bungalows To The Best Puchka Spots: 145 East's Homegrown Guide To Kolkata