The Homegrown Editorial Team Picks Out Their Favourite Stories Of 2024

Homegrown has always been about creating, learning, and collaborating.

We’re a diverse group of people, all of whom bring our individual talents and quirks to the collective endeavour that is the digital publication you’re currently reading. 

I’ve been here for over three years and I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside some of the most talented writers and creatives that the country has to offer. We’re not always perfect — we can be chaotic, we can occasionally be a little silly, and we sometimes make mistakes. 

What sets us apart, however, is our nuanced understanding of the culture that shapes ourselves and the world around us. It’s the depth of our stories and narratives and our unyielding commitment to consistently defying both convention and definition.

Across every iteration of the team, we’ve strived to bring you compelling, engrossing, heartfelt, and impactful pieces of journalism that cut across the length and breadth of an ever-evolving Indian and South Asian cultural zeitgeist. 

This year, we’ve set the bar even higher than ever before. From Drishya’s deep dives into the complexity of Indian culinary art and history to Fathima’s effervescent yet comprehensive coverage of homegrown labels we would’ve definitely otherwise missed to Pari navigating us through the depth of her experiences as a third culture kid to Disha waxing lyrical about an obscure gem of an underground dark-wave synth-pop EP she unearthed during another late-night Bandcamp binge to Anhaita’s knack for identifying and spotlighting subcultural movements and shifts that are currently shaping the country, there’s an unmistakable spark that’s been lit this year that we’re all too keen to fan, feed, and nurture. 

And while we’re going to even more next year, it’s important to celebrate everything we’ve done to get here. So, without further ado, here are all the articles we’ve loved from the year that’s passed: 

Not Indian Enough: Navigating The Complexity Of Existing Outside The 'Desi' Binary

Mikhail Khan - Associate Editor

My favourite article of the year feels more than a little self-indulgent, considering the subject matter (and the fact that I’m on the fucking cover), but it’s a piece that resonated with me because of my own lived experiences as an Indian who doesn’t necessarily conform with most people’s notions of what ‘desi’ is. 

This is a piece that I had thought about writing for a while but could never really pull the trigger on. The biggest worry we had while brainstorming and conceptualising this was that we didn’t want it to seem whiney and entitled. We didn’t want people to read it and think, “Oh cry me a river, it’s two privileged fair people complaining about being fair-skinned and having accents.” We wanted to be self-aware about the fact that there are far bigger problems across the country while still capturing the complexity of being ‘othered’ when you’re really just as Indian as anyone else.

For my money, Anahita managed to thread that needle magnificently and captured how uncanny and unsettling it feels, not just for people who are ‘fair’, but even for people who come from the northernmost and southernmost parts of the country. 

The article fundamentally underlines the need to expand our idea of what it is to be ‘Indian’ and to transcend stereotypical notions of ‘desiness’ in order to create a cultural landscape that is well and truly inclusive.

The Aunty Bars Of Mumbai: How Secret Woman-Owned Speakeasies Defied Prohibition Laws In 1950

Drishya - Culture & Lifestyle Writer

I really loved Pari’s article about the prohibition-era women-run speakeasies — colloquially known as ‘aunty-bars’ — in Mumbai. At the intersection of women’s entrepreneurial spirit, women’s rights, the politics of consumption, addiction, and a lesser-known part of modern Indian history, the article delivered everything I expected from a micro-historical story. Pari’s conversational writing voice and the well-researched details are delightful to read. 

I particularly liked how it made me think about the dichotomy of women’s agency — how these 20th-century Indian women were basically running a bootleg empire out of their living rooms and how even modern women are often forced to act against their own self-interest for the financial well-being of their families.

Homegrown Photographers Tell Us About A Picture That Changed The Way They See The World

Anahita Ahluwalia - Editorial Intern

As a young writer, I have that one piece I read in high school that made me want to do this for the rest of my life. I think every artist can pinpoint the moment they fell in love with their craft. Disha captured that feeling so perfectly. Each story was so personal and raw, encapsulating the power of a photograph — not just as a moment, but as a spark that ignites a deeper understanding of self, identity, and expression. 

I don’t know much about photography, but Disha balanced the more technical elements with equal emotional weight. I always enjoy reading about the inner lives of artists and seeing a piece of them emerge from behind their art. Reading this made me realise how much a photograph can do — not just in terms of documenting life, but in shaping how we interpret and interact with life itself. 

What We Owe To Each Other: Why I Changed My Mind About Voting In India

Disha Bijolia - Culture and Identity Writer

Like the writer of this article, I too held on to the belief that voting was pointless. The patronizing dialogue around democracy and representation never quite clicked with me until Mikhail wrote ‘What We Owe To Each Other: Why I Changed My Mind About Voting In India’. The article dismantled the stubborn mindset I clung to for years, which was largely fueled by cynicism and a misguided sense of rebellion. The piece masterfully calls out the apathy and fatalism that so often lead people, especially the young, to disengage from democracy. It doesn’t sugarcoat the flaws of political systems or pretend there’s an easy fix; instead, it urges us to embrace the messy, imperfect nature of democracy as a call to action.

The article’s argument that social democracy underpins political democracy resonated with me deeply, as did its challenge to assess choices not in absolutes but in relative good. Reading it felt like holding a mirror to my own disillusionment, and the paradoxical nature of "nothing works so why should I try?" that keeps us stuck in the same place. It was elegant and powerful, and it left me inspired and even compelled — to act. 

Editor's Note -

This year, we also had a couple of writers leave the team: Sobhika Vasanthan, Vaaswat Sarkar, and Pari Pradhan. Even though they're not currently part of our publication, they left an indelible mark on the homegrown editorial team and laid much of the groundwork for what we've been able to do over the course of the rest of the year. These are three articles that represent some of what they contributed to our small, but formidable team in 2024:

Satvik Soni: Meet The Homegrown Creator Whose Radical Honesty Is Defying The Algorithm

Breaking Down Why The Casteist Slur 'Chapri' Isn't As Harmless As You Think It Is

Homegrown Game Studios Are Building A Bridge To Authentic Cultural Representation

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