Lounge Loves: ‘Ink Girls’, ‘Rim jhim Gire Sawan’ and more

Songs Filled With Rain

My favourite rain song is Rim jhim Gire Sawan from the 1979 movie Manzil. Amitabh Bachchan in a double-breasted suit and tie, Moushumi Chatterjee in a printed blue sari and black blouse walking in rain, along Marine Drive. This Mumbai is not heaving with people, the sea is choppy and you can see an Ambassador or a red double-decker bus passing by. These past two weeks we have been drenched, sometimes in rain, but mostly in sweat. While watching children splash in water puddles brings a certain joy, there’s also a satisfaction to walking with an umbrella. It is its own kind of music. The sound of the rain changes as you move from an open area and walk under the trees. Maybe the Japanese have a word for it. While we are on songs, my second best is Bheegi Bheegi Raaton Mein from Ajanabee (1974).

—Nipa Charagi

Smooth Operator

Face exfoliants are not new to me, and finding a good one is always a task. This time, targeted ads came through. After a multitude of serums that did not live up to promises, I saw an ad for a “gentle scrub”. That did not convince me at all, but when I checked the reviews, they seemed to be out of the world. Since the product didn’t break the bank either, I decided to give it a go. ClayCo’s enzyme face scrub did not disappoint, and even ticked the cruelty-free box. I don’t need to use it too regularly, but when I do, it just takes a few minutes of gentle scrubbing and my face feels much clearer. It also helps that it comes in a bright pink tube that can distract my toddler for those few minutes.

—Dakshayani Kumaramangalam

The Good Fight

So this is what history feels like”, “One voice alone was not enough…we needed a symphony”—these words in Ink Girls (2023) seem emblematic of the events unfolding across the country when the youth is raising its voice and demanding accountability from the education system. The graphic novel for young adults by Marieke Nijkamp and Sylvia Bi follows a similar trajectory and centres around two young girls—11-year-old Cinzia, a printer’s apprentice, and Elena, also 11, heir to the throne. The book is set in the fictional city of Siannerra inspired by Italy during the Renaissance. According to Nijkamp, young people like Cinzia have always existed, striving to make the world a better place.

—Avantika Bhuyan

A Forest So Dear

The Warli and Agri people of Mumbai’s Aarey forest may have lived here for centuries, but interacting with them offers a reality check on how little we know about their world. Last weekend, during a visit to Aarey Milk Colony, we learned to roll bhakris from them while sipping tea and taking in the bounty of leafy greens growing in their kitchen gardens. Later, walking past mulberry trees, we learned about the many shoots and leaves they use to treat everything from stomach disorders to snake bites, and how to identify a leopard’s claw marks. After breakfast we walked into the paddy fields, ankle-deep in slush to sow the grass-like rice seedlings, small crabs scuttling between our legs. The skyscrapers in the distance were a stark reminder of how disconnected we are from the land that sustains us.

—Rituparna Roy