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Rattanamol Johal on Art
Akram Zaatari’s latest work, Letter to a Refusing Pilot, which premiered in the Lebanese Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, ties together a number of crucial aesthetic and political concerns. It revolves around a three-decade-old rumour about an Israeli pilot who refused to bomb a target in South Lebanon, knowing it was a school, since he had once been a student there. Zaatari reveals his personal connections to the school in question, while confronting the viewer with a series of disturbing disjunctions between fact and legend, reality and representation, a forgotten past and a perpetually conflicted present.
Johal is an independent curator and art writer
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S Irfan Habib on Books
Raza Rumi’s Delhi by Heart picturesquely describes the city’s past and the present. It has meticulously-researched chapters on Delhi, particularly some of its obscure Sufi and literary medieval past. It engages with the tensions of the present with utmost sensitivity. Rumi is a strong voice for religious and cultural pluralism and the book truly mirrors his concerns, literally from the heart.
Habib is a Delhi-based historian
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Arsh Sharma on Music
The artist I am listening to currently is Noisia, specifically their album Split the Atom. What makes them really exciting is the number of territories their music covers. From mind-bending basslines to hard-hitting drum to really slow sound design-based tunes, they seem to cover most of the grounds in left-of-centre electronic music. Add to that a really hard-hitting sound and incredible production, which makes it a perennial favourite.
Sharma is vocalist and guitarist for Fuzz Culture
[/box]Kabir Chowdhry on Film
Santa Sangre, directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, takes surrealism to a nightmarish dimension. This psychedelic journey is both bloody and poetic. The film has a carnivalesque quality, with its dwarfs and trapeze artist who spiral a familial tragedy, of children inheriting their parents’ emotional baggage. Rich in ideas, it has a demented quality. Despite the sordidness of its theme, though, the film retains an unshakeable moral centre. It’s a roller coaster ride that is both vertiginous and provocative.
Chowdhry is the director of Good Morning
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Chuba Longkumer on Food
I am a regular at Stone, the Italian Segment of Moet’s in Defence Colony, Delhi. The place has a very cosy ambience to it. The interiors are done in a very natural manner, using wooden floorings, earthen tones and warm shades of brown and white. They have a peculiar way of cooking seafood in Italian style which makes it delectable, hence misti di mare alla griglia (grilled seafood platter with lemon butter sauce) is my favourite. On the side, sautéed grilled vegetables cooked in olive oil and Italian herbs serves appropriate. Their chicken Caesar salad along with a glass of Jacob’s Creek defines fine dining for me.
Longkumer is the owner of Nagaland’s Kitchen, Delhi
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