Lounge Loves: The real history of food, pottery in the hills and more

Not Just a Calendar

Talking about a calendar two months into the new year might seem odd. But this one, bought from @Papertails_Official on Instagram, has taken a life of its own. Each month’s page features a painting of women reading. The back of each page carries a short description of the painting and the artist’s name. January’s painting was of an Indian woman with a book resting on her knee, from the 1800s. Artist unknown. February is called Girl Reading (1907) by Finnish modernist painter Helene Schjerfbeck. I have placed the calendar on my desk to have an inspiring work view. Once the month is over, you can cut along the perforated calendar lines and turn the artwork into a bookmark. I tend to give old books with new bookmarks, and finding the right one is always a struggle. Not for the next 12 book-gifts now.

—Shephali Bhatt

Of Many Tongues

Last week, an ambulance was rolling into the ER bay in The Pitt while Dr Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) was scolding her mother on the phone in Tamil again. Two senior nurses are often gossiping in Tagalog, something bilingual or trilingual people do all the time. Dr Trinity Santos (Isa Briones) speaks Tagalog too, and was singing a regional lullaby to an abandoned baby in last week’s episode. The show has a doctor on the spectrum who just needed some quiet and darkness once; the charge nurse has a thick Pittsburgh accent; a deaf patient is struggling to have herself understood due to the lack of interpreters. It’s details like this that endear the show to wide audiences. The Pitt doesn’t make things obvious or repeat itself. Sometimes if you blink, you might miss something, which is why the inclusivity doesn’t seem forced.

—Dakshayani Kumaramangalam

Pottery in the Hills

Since 2003, my Coorg trips have followed a predictable script: family visits, the same local eateries and walks through coffee estates. This year, I broke the cycle. Guided by a lucky Instagram find, I headed to Bolcha, a pottery studio atop a hill within the local dental college grounds. The space is guarded by a ceramic cat sculpture so lifelike you’ll instinctively try to pet it. Inside, two Santiniketan-trained artists lead one-on-one sessions in wheel throwing and hand-building. Surrounded by their charming wares, my friend and I spent the afternoon crafting an ashtray and a bowl. In three weeks, I’ll pick up my fired pieces: the perfect mementos of a Coorg trip finally done differently.

—Ghazal Chengappa

The Real History of Food

Storytelling has overtaken the world of food—menus are the size of notebooks, and chefs often tell you how they climbed three mountains to find an ancient leaf to garnish the plate. A lot of talk, and little useful information. In contrast is YouTube channel @HistoricallyTempered where four historians and educators, including Janaki Nair and Ajay Cadambi, tell us what people ate in the past. It’s for children aged 12 and up, but it’s fun for anyone to see what the Cholas or Harappans ate, and how historians have figured out food habits from fossilised remains. They also offer insights into the painstaking work of paleobotanists and bioarchaeologists who piece together our daily histories.

—Shalini Umachandran