Lounge Loves: Crispy waffles, matches with art-print covers, and more
The list includes Stephen Graham Jones' novel The Only Good Indians and an Instagram page for vintage watches
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Business News/ Lounge / Art And Culture/ Lounge Loves: Crispy waffles, matches with art-print covers, and more
The waffle of my dreams
A decade ago, Bombay Waffle Co., a matchbox-sized waffle-only place, opened in Bandra West, Mumbai. It served light, crispy, airy waffles cooked to perfection. I was so impressed I befriended the founder, Karishma Dalal, to understand how she made them. She said they were prepared traditionally in a cast-iron wafflemaker, and she followed that recipe. It closed within months, leaving a large waffle-sized hole in my sweet-loving palate. About two months ago, Dalal started a café, Bōkka Coffee, in the same area. It offers sweet and savoury waffles prepared with overnight fermented dough that gives a faint tangy taste. I got the plain one with a chocolate dip that ended my long search for the best waffle in the city. —Jahnabee Borah
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During a recent visit to the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru, what was supposed to be a quick peek into the museum shop led to many purchases, of which my favourites have to be boxes of oversized matches with art-print covers. I got two boxes each of the 3.9-inch matchsticks—one with cover art by Gond artist Jangarh Singh Shyam and the other with a 19th century print of a detail from the Taj Mahal from a presumably unknown artist, both from MAP’s extensive collection. At the last minute, I couldn’t resist picking up a box of the massive 6.9-inch matches as well, with a print of Shyam Sundar Lal Agarwal’s famous poster Chanchalta. They now form part of a growing collection of novelty matchboxes, alongside a set called Out Of Print, featuring the covers of banned books. —Shrabonti Bagchi
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Revenge served cold
In 2020, American horror writer Stephen Graham Jones created quite a stir with his novel The Only Good Indians. And, having just finished reading it, I can see what the fuss was all about. It is an intimate study of modern Native American life, as well as a relentless exercise in dread. Four Blackfeet friends massacre a herd of elk that they were not supposed to. A decade later, they are hunted down in turn, along with their families, by an entity that is the embodiment of their belief system. A Blackfoot Man himself, Jones is adept at mixing Stephen King-like scene-setting and dialogue with a knowing Native American imaginary. I finished the novel (320 pages long) in a single sitting, and I am still having nightmares. —Bibek Bhattacharya
Timeless classics
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Buying things off Instagram isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But I recently found an Instagram handle that brought me closer to one of my most cherished passions: vintage watches. The Stone Age Antiques is a shopping and retail page that has a beautiful collection of antiques, souvenirs. And, most importantly, old watches. Some of these are pre-owned classics—a Tissot, Rado, Ricoh, rare Seiko models or India’s very own HMT—while others are more modern designs, from the likes of Timex and Citizen. I first picked up an old, unused Timex Expedition timepiece, followed by an HMT Gautam, which has an octagonal dial and is one of the classiest mechanical watches you can find today. Both are in decent working condition. The Stone Age Antiques, which is based in Kerala, usually ships items in safe packaging within a week. —Nitin Sreedhar
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