Saturday Feeling: Ghosts, horror and all things spooky
Nothing animates the imagination as much as horror—whether one decides to watch anime, read stories, go on ghost walks or just watch content that send chills up the spine
If you have any association with hill towns, you’re likely to have grown up with stories that send shivers down the spine. In Coonoor, where I spent most of my childhood summer holidays and still consider “home" (if that term ever really applies to any place), there’s a large bungalow on the edge of the sharply curving Orange Grove Road that’s been falling to pieces slowly over the last three decades. Despite the rush for real estate, no one has the courage to buy it because it’s inhabited by the spirit of a local woman abandoned by a British officer. She’s generally benevolent and appears to young, uncommitted men—passersby who’ve had a few too many at the nearby Coonoor Club have reported seeing her try to hitch a lift to Wellington Cantonment, where the rascally officer is said to have lived—unless anyone enters her home.
Maybe it’s the shifting mists, moody weather and narrow paths to nowhere that fire up the imagination, but hill towns love their ghost stories. Even in the plains, there’s no escape from ghostly tales—my father still talks about the ghoul that had taken up residence in the moringa tree in his grandfather’s backyard in Tirupur, identified only by the red glow of its beedis among the branches at night. My terrifyingly rational grandmother, too, tended to sheepishly agree that moringa trees were unnecessarily welcoming of pisaasis, as manic ghouls and banshees are known in Telugu. We ate meals in fear of an unspecified type of spectre grabbing us, unfinished plate and all (this was clearly a lie since I rarely finished my food and haven’t been gobbled up by a ghost).
Given this abundance of “real" ghosts in my childhood, it’s easy to understand why horror holds no thrill for me. Yet, spooks, phantoms and things that thrive in the shadows are the mainstay of our stories ahead of Halloween. We go on a ghost walk, explore horror anime and cosmic dread, and meet content creators who specialize in the paranormal.
Nothing animates the imagination like horror—not only is the creator building a whole new world, we also have to participate to make these flights of fancy truly chilling. It’s probably also the philosophical aspect of facing fear, manifesting courage, and choosing to walk down Orange Grove Road or leave the dreaded aubergine on the plate, instead of wavering and complying, that makes horror so appealing. So, enjoy our take on thrills and chills, along with our other writing—reviews, opinion, reportage and ideas.
‘Thamma’ review: All teeth, no bite
One of several things franchise filmmaking has taken from us is the satisfaction of seeing entire stories play out. When a filmmaker always has one eye on the future, the easiest thing is to keep all options open. Decision-making is replaced by decision-deferring and the audience is stuck in storytelling hell, writes Uday Bhatia in his review of Thamma. Aditya Sarpotdar's cautious Thamma, starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna, is a rare stumble for the Maddock horrorverse, which includes Amar Kaushik’s Stree, Bhediya and Stree 2, and Sarpotdar’s Munjya. At the end of its 149 minutes, very little has actually transpired. Thamma opens with a bright comic idea but rapidly loses the plot. The film keeps baring its teeth but never once draws blood.
All grown up, but no longer fun
The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, launched earlier this month, feels solid, reliable and built to last. At first glance, it looks and feels the same as its previous version. But it has a slightly larger outer display, a new hinge design that feels more reassuring, an official IP68 durability rating against dust and splashes for the first time on any foldable phone, a bigger battery, a new generation processor, and faster charging (both wired and wireless). All of this makes one thing clear: Google thinks design is central to its vision of a foldable phone. The problem? The new Fold is also heavier, safer — and a bit less daring than before, writes Shouvik Das.
The world’s most beautiful coffee house
Budapest’s iconic New York Café has survived wars, communism, and now lines of influencers looking for Instagram moments. It remains one of the world’s most beautiful coffeehouses with shimmering gold leaf on the arches, frescoes dancing across the ceiling and sparkling chandeliers. It looks more like a ballroom than a café, decorated with mirrors that double the light and velvet drapes to soften the gilt. The New York Café gets 2,500 visitors a day, most of them tourists. The queues start forming well before opening time and remain all day. It may be an Instagrammable hotspot now, but Budapest’s most glamorous coffee house was once the city’s intellectual heartbeat, writes Teja Lele.
Why Fernando Garcia loves Indian embroidery
Fernando Garcia, the co-creative director of Oscar de la Renta and Monse Maison, was recently in India touring ateliers that help bring his ideas to life. Garcia, who has been working with luxury ateliers in Mumbai for close to a decade, tells Dhara Vora Sabhnani that fine Indian threadwork resembles “a new fabric". It’s the kind of work that cannot be replicated on machines, he believes, as embroiderers here create textures that woven fabrics can never achieve. His favourite is bugle bead embroidery, which he uses almost every season because he loves the “the mirror energy that it has and the weight it has; it feels expensive no matter what the season".
Where to find the best coffee in Mysuru
Mysuru has long been called “heritage city", “sandalwood city" and “yoga city", alongside the more unflattering “laid-back" and “sleepy hollow". Separated from Bengaluru by about 130 km, it has unwittingly played second fiddle, but lately, people from across the country have been drawn to its relaxed vibe, clean wide boulevards and better quality of life. A consequence of this migration is the explosion of cafes, delis and new-age bakeries that sit alongside the age-old favourites. Anita Rao Kashi goes looking for the best coffee, croissants and mysorepak in Mysuru.
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