Lounge Loves: Cold ‘jalebi’, Karaoke auto and more

A Home on Wheels

People may complain of small homes in Mumbai, but they also manage just fine in a tiny space. Perhaps the struggle feels lighter when you make peace with it. Take Satyawan Gite, an autorickshaw driver, who has turned his vehicle into a “1RK auto” (1 room kitchen), almost like a home on wheels. It has a washbasin with a soap dispenser and a mirror, potted plants, a fruit basket in case his passengers want a quick bite, and wait for it, a karaoke system. Gite can be spotted in Western suburbs, crooning to old Hindi songs while waiting at traffic signals. He also offers free rides to senior citizens. If you need some cheer, look him up on Instagram @satyawan450.

—Rituparna Roy

Apartment Drama in Doodles

A recent conversation on the WhatsApp group of my book club took a hilarious turn as we started discussing apartment politics about a specific issue that never fails to raise hackles: figuring out whose pet left a stinking mess on the lawn/paved path/corridor. Several anecdotes about extremely motivated Poop Patrols from apartments across Bengaluru were exchanged (who knew CCTV cameras could be so useful in the matter?) . A few days later, one of the members of the book club, a professional cartoonist, turned the conversation into a delightful comic on her Instagram page (@doodleodrama). We still can’t remember how this became the hot topic of the day for a book club, but the results were spectacular.

—Shrabonti Bagchi

Cold Jalebi is a Vibe Too

This photo does no justice to how delicious this murukku-lookalike jalebi is. It’s not your usual piping-hot, syrup-dripping sweet coil. This one is cold, deliciously crunchy, and spun so thin that you barely register the first bite before you’ve reached for a second—and then a third. A colleague introduced me to this sweet delight on a slow Monday afternoon at the office. Turns out it’s a seasonal speciality called Sindhi Ghewar at Chaina Ram, the old and much-loved mithai shop in Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk. Soon after I raved about it to my father who has an unapologetic sweet tooth, he made a beeline for the shop. Now my entire family is bingeing on this cold jalebi—most of them dunking it into glasses of milk. I prefer it just as it is: crisp, delicate and dangerously easy to demolish a few of them in one sitting.

—Pooja Singh

Cathy’s Song

The 1975 track Wuthering Heights is a typically strange and fascinating song by Kate Bush, written when its creator was 18 after she’d watched a TV adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel. The song is from the point of view of Catherine, whom Bush imagines as a ghost haunting Heathcliff (Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy/I’ve come home, I’m so cold/Let me in your window). Bush’s piercing vocal and unique sense of drama is perfect for this stormy, jagged romance novel, which has a new screen adaptation out this weekend, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. There are numerous videos for the Kate Bush song, but I’d recommend an excellent fan-made one on J.T. Michaelson’s YouTube channel that uses clips from the 1992 film version starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche.

—Uday Bhatia