Compiled by Aradhna Wal & Naina Manjrekar
Clare Arni On Art
I would like to recommend Venugopal VG and his stop-motion animated video Elusive Entry. He is a talented artist who combines his technically skilled and beautiful drawings with stop-motion animation. His work was part of a show I saw in Bengaluru, curated by Lina Vincent, called I Am Here, about the self portrait through the use of the moving image. Apart from his technique, his ideas captured my imagination. He says so himself, “The self is involved in chasing the intangible urban dream.” This is a question being faced by many of us in India as the country goes through rapid changes.
Arni Is A Bengaluru-Based Photographer
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Mridula Koshy On Books
Waiting for the Barbarians takes its shape from allegory, a form J M Coetzee is known to employ. On recent rereading I was astonished again by how very un-allegorical he can be, accreting meaning and nuance – an endless dimensionality – to ethical and moral dilemmas. Whereas allegories are so often about resolution through simplification. Perhaps this old-fashioned form with its need to impose tidiness on the world is the very ground from which to resist tidiness.
Koshy Is A Delhi-Based Writer
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Warren Mendonsa On Music
Field Music is a British band with a very British sound that reminds me of The Beatles. They have very hooky melodies that are easy to sing along to. However, there is also some very intricate music going on simultaneously. They are more of an album band than a group that produces one-off hits. My favourite album is Measure. Then there is the US-based Tedeschi Trucks Band. Their debut, Revelator, won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Blues Album.
Mendonsa Is A Mumbai-Based Guitarist And Composer
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Purab Kohli On Film
I love wildlife movies, but there is one I found particularly captivating: a documentary that I watched recently called And Man Created Dog. Unlike the usual wildlife documentaries, it does not only show the life cycle of an animal but also the evolution of a relationship through history. It shows how man and dog have co-evolved. More than a simple narrative, it’s about man and his best friend contributing to each others’ social development. I love animals, so I guess I enjoyed a dog’s life.
Kohli Is A Bollywood Actor
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Gaurav Sachdeva On Food
I recommend a place already well known. The Big Chill Café, in Khan Market, New Delhi. My wife introduced me to it. Though I’ve only had the pastas there, I love the food. The spaghetti or penne go very well with a side order of garlic bread. They have some delicious exotic mocktails too. The place is very casual. People feel relaxed, instead of being suffocated by a formal atmosphere. The posters they have, from classic movies and ads to contemporary pop-culture, add to the charm of the place. The clientèle is mainly young professionals and college-goers.
Sachdeva Is The General Manager Of Spice Water Trail, New Delhi
