April 29th, 2012
When I first moved to Bombay a little over two years ago, I worked as a stylist (sometimes styling assistant). Fortunately or unfortunately, I was always a slightly better photographer.
April 12th, 2012
I ran a projector booth at Sunburn for a neat, nifty little website called Festival Sherpa. It was totally unlike my previous Incredibooths but seemed to work like lumen-ous magic on the intoxicated, enthusiastic festival attendees. I was lucky to have free reign to do as I pleased and I’m pretty stoked with the results. At one or several points, we even had a queue. All photos to go up on the Festival Sherpa facebook page any moment now.
April 1st, 2012
Kids are the best.
Mums are pretty good too.
Incredibooth at Marriott Courtyard Sunday Brunch Wedding Fair.
March 22nd, 2012
Tomorrow we move back to Bandra. There is nothing I will miss about Seven Bungalows, least of all the traffic at Juhu Circle and being accosted by hijras every morning, except maybe my chaatwala and the easy access to Goa Bhavan.
I love the absence of squawking socialites and bad music at Goa Bhavan, the small mess hall in the ground floor of the guesthouse with the same name in Juhu. It may not have menus and the lighting may be all too white but the Konkan food isn’t short of glorious, some of the best seafood I’ve eaten – juicy, tender prawns, fresh bombil and hearty fish thalis. And they add lots of chopped chillies and coriander to their fragrant, tangy solkadi.
The two of us eat till we keel over, but our table full of food – a fish thali with fish curry, rice, dal, a superb potato bhaji and crispy mandeli; two plates of fried bombay duck and fried mackeral, and a bowl of prawn curry with chapatis plus soft drinks sets up back only about four hundred rupees. It’s a taste of home, if say your home has simple, freshly prepared, fabulous Konkan food.
xxx
March 13th, 2012
I’m not particularly adept at the sort of portrait photography I like to leaf through. Let’s change this yeah?
Thank you Kuks for being a fantastic model.
March 12th, 2012
Last month, I officially launched Incredibooth. What this mostly entailed was making a facebook page for it, because of course, I’ve run photobooths before this but there’s nothing like a spiffy card (made by the talented Amrita Bagchi) and facebook to let the world know about it.
The response has been pretty great, so I’ve been out and about researching backdrops. Now I say this quite sincerely – I have never been so horrified in my life. Of course, they’re so darn kitsch that I secretly love them. I’d like to own one but I can’t choose.
Everybody on twitter seemed to love them too. My favourites:
“There’s a wicked hippy post modern vibe to them.” – @electrocowbell
“The perfect sky is just a canvas away!” and “Do they come with the model?” – @tarasphotograph
March 12th, 2012
My brand new friend Amrit from Stereogum has been working on only the coolest film - in which bunch of Indian (or Indophile) indie cats from the bands we love go in search of the best dosa in New York.
It features Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend), Vijay Iyer (Vijay Iyer Trio), Ashok Kondabolu and Himanshu Suri (Das Racist), Alan Palomo (Neon Indian), Anand Wilder (Yeasayer) and himself. It’s set in Manhattan, Queens, and in Amrit’s brother’s band’s van decorated like an Indian disco.
Peep the trailer.
‘DOSA HUNT is superficially a food doc, but on a deeper level it’s a cultural snapshot, and exploration. And it’s funny, too. I’m excited about what it’s become.’ – Amrit
February 21st, 2012
Kajol.
Spotted in Yogyakarta. Indonesia loves Bollywood.
February 18th, 2012
Last weekend, we shot the Mahindra Blues Festival 2012 to make a documentary that will be screened on TV this weekend – at 10:30 PM on Saturday, and on Sunday at 4:30 and 11:30 PM, on Times Now.
It featuring conversations with and performances by Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Ana Popovic, John Lee Hooker Jr. and Robert Randolph, and lots of other good shit.
Watch, watch, watch (please).
February 17th, 2012
Michael looks happy to be eaten over dinner.
February 14th, 2012
I scrawled Go to the Versova Koli Seafood Festival in my goals list for 2012. Yes, I’m highly unambitious/uninventive like that. I learned of the three day festival from some Bombay food blogs and vowed to keep my ears and eyes open. Then I missed the first two days of it but a darling friend serendipitously tweeted about it.
To me, this is many of those things that makes Bombay great. The fishermen and their feisty wives in glitzy traditional garb welcome the rest of us mortals into their territory and serve up good old fashioned Koli cuisine at fair prices. (Un)naturally, we ate everything we could possibly shove down our gullets.
The crab flesh was sweet, the shrimp chilli fry – a delightful accompaniment to the dense rice bhakris, the clamshells were meaty, the samosas were piping hot and the beer went down a treat, but the fish reigned supreme – fabulously flavoursome seer fish or surmai, and bombay duck or bombil that almost burst out of its crispy rawa batter.
Despite being held on massive grounds with (countless) numbered stalls with live song and dance performances, throbbing crowds and an electric atmosphere, the festival still manages to feel very local. It’s a banquet and block party that the fishing community seemed incredibly proud of hosting, and I’m a big fan of big feasts. The festival is held annually around the third or fourth weekend in January, and next time I promise to remind people about it (unless I miss the first three days).
I’m sorry about the last two photos, I’ve only included to show them how although we were two photographers, neither of us could care less about composition during this seafood inhalation/annihilation.
February 9th, 2012
Yesterday I froze my butt off on a Bombay terrace seven storeys high that had beautiful trees and grass. We had afternoon tea with cake and tiny sandwich triangles and heard a man about the history of typewriters in India. Godrej Archives have been holding a series of interesting talks at Godrej Bhavan and last evening’s was as insightful as it was delightful.
I know this is not unusual for some, but it felt totally surreal. A lovely bit of nature in the sky to enjoy an actual winter’s day. More green roofs in Bombay please.
February 7th, 2012
Calcutta Blues.
Above, from India’s jazz age (an absolute beauty), or what I took from the Taj Mahal Foxtrot talk by Naresh Fernandes at Kala Ghoda. If you are interested in jazz, or more specifically Bombay’s jazz history, read the blog or get the book.
Below. Nicolas Jaar samples Calcutta.
February 4th, 2012
The foreign cultural institutions – Goethe, Alliance Francaise, etc organise some of the best and cleverest cultural events in the country. Nearly two years after the Goethe Institute took over the gorgeous, crumbling, duck egg blue, cream and gold Edward Theatre to showcase Godard and Becker films, the British Council has partnered up with B.L.O.T (unsurprisingly) to bring UK’s leading audio-visual artists The Light Surgeons, a pioneering collective of designers and filmmakers, to the more-than-a-century old Kalbadevi theatre.
And so the event on the night of 10th February in Bombay.
LDN-REDUX by The Light Surgeons is an audiovisual performance that explores the landscape and architecture of London through a combination of live video remix and live electronic musical score. To read about the Light Surgeons in better detail, hop over to Wild City.
EyeMyth is a festival of moving images that visualize and celebrate sound and music. It looks at the past, present and future of visual music. Curated from the work of established and emerging film makers, musicians and new media artists from around the world – the programming showcases a diversity of approaches and techniques in the creation of engaging audiovisual content.
New Culture Mash-Up is an experimental, live audiovisual project by B.L.O.T. and electronica producer Nucleya. The performance slices and recomposes Indian and global popular culture in various media with electronic music to create a new form of Indian storytelling.
B.L.O.T. or Basic Love of Things, are a Delhi based musical duo that consists of Gaurav Malakar and Avinash Kumar who have their hands in all sorts of amazing pies (Grey Garden/Greenhouse/Unbox Festival amongst other things – click click click). But I digress.
The independent theatre may be a total gem but it normally shows dreadful films from the eighties, so it’s nice to have a reason to revisit that isn’t Dharmendra. Book tickets here.
P.s. I’m super excited.
January 29th, 2012
Not much of a fashion photographer part 1.
January 28th, 2012
I write about Indian design fairly regularly, but I’ve never had the chance to write about the kind I feel is most significant. These are two Indian innovations, that are affordable, effective and hugely important, especially as they can be accessed in rural areas.
The first is a brilliant innovation story in The Guardian. After it highlights shocking statistics about what most Indian women use as sanitary protection, it tells the remarkable and brave tale of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a social entrepreneur who with much research and experimentation, invented a low cost sanitary pad, and simultaneously created jobs for women in villages.
Another great invention is Mitti Cool.
Invented by Manshuk Lal Raghavjibhai Prajapati, a traditional clay craftsman from Wankaner, a village in Gujarat; is a refrigerator made of clay that keeps food fresh and chilled, without the use of electricity.
Mitti Cool Fridge works on the principle of evaporation. Water from the upper chambers drips down the side and evaporates, removing any stored heat from the inside, rendering the chambers cool. The top upper chamber is used to store water and a small faucet is provided to tap the water out for drinking use. The lower chamber has two shelves where one can store fruit and vegetables or milk and buttermilk. In addition, the fresh foods retain their original taste.
Manshuk Lal has revolutionised refrigeration for those who cannot normally afford it, as as well as being low cost – the Mitti Cool fridge costs only Rs. 2500, it requires no maintenance. He has also invented Mitti Cool water filters, a clay pressure cooker and a non-stick clay skillet, all of which can be seen and read about on his excellent site. His journey to invention is on the about us page.
January 28th, 2012
(If your name is Jenny Zhao, stop reading and turn back.)
I get all sentimental about jewellery. I’ve always loved handmade jewellery, and most of what I own has been gifted to me, or bought during travels. I like every thing I own to have a story. I just spent two weeks in Indonesia, and in lovely, art filled Yogyakarta; I took a silversmithing class. I cut and shaped and melted and soldered and bent and polished and made a ring for my best friend. And in the Gili Islands, my amazing boyfriend found a round piece of pretty coral washed up ashore, and it fit me perfectly. It even has the big bumpy topside, and a smooth, thin band. Like a gift from nature.
January 25th, 2012
Cambodia would definitely be on the podium of my favourite places in the world competition though most travellers head to Siem Reap for its charm and its access to the magnificent but overrun temples of Angkor, or the capital, Phnom Penh. Those with a guidebook or a handset with google (wi-fi is everywhere) might head to sunny Sihanoukville, and the few who research further might find themselves in the Kampot province, in the once French colonized little towns of Kep and Kampot.
>>Get there by bus from the metros and get around on tuk tuks – a carriage pulled by a motorbike. You generally have to bargain a little bit, but they’re good people. It’s tempting to hold on the first keeper, but I definitely endorse spreading the wealth around. In Kep, a few tuk tuks have trouble getting up the hill where the hotels are all at though – and it is a total bitch on foot. This is Tara, one of my favourite tuk tuk drivers.
>>Hire a bicycle in Kampot, it only costs about a dollar and it’s a supremely easy town to ride around in. Be sure to be back where you want to be by sunset though because it isn’t well lit. We rode back in pitch black darkness over the creaky old bridge – not the best time at all.
>>American dollars are valid currency everywhere. Keep a fistful of small notes handy – ones and fives especially. Smaller change is usually in local currency – the Cambodian Riel, four thousand or so of which make a dollar.
>>Get drunk. Beer goes from fifty cents a pint.
>>Kampot has all these lovely initiatives like Epic Arts Cafe, which empowers deaf and disabled people by hiring them and selling delicious cafe food and awesome illustrated cards and other bits and bobs.
>>Get a massage. Kampot main street is lined with Blind Massage parlours. They are incredible skilled practitioners and have a brilliant sense of humour. The best massage I got in Cambodia (and I got millions) was on the beach on Koh Tonsay or Rabbit Island – a boat ride from Kep.
>>Visit Rabbit Island. It’s peaceful and pretty, and you can backfloat all day and even stay the night if you like.
>>Find the ink and paper drawings of French artist Vincent Broustet in his gallery space and wife’s attached salon Jolie Jolie – not a bad place to get pedicures or get waxed mid travels.
>>Swap an old book for an unread one. Everywhere we ate or stayed had a swap-a-book shelf, great for picking up classics, popular fiction or a travel guide to your next destination in South East Asia.
>>Pepper. Kampot is famous for pepper – buy all types, to take home for yourself and your friends. It’s fabulous pepper. There isn’t much to see on the pepper farms but it’s a worthy trek for the quality of black and white pepper. Or you can pick up some in the shops or restaurants.
>>Lazy seafood lunches in Kep. Kep is famous for crab. It has a crab market and a big crab statue near the promenade. The restaurant Kimly is best and for under ten dollars you can have a large plate of their specialty pepper crab and more than one drink. I had rock lobster in another joint for dinner and it cost about the same. The streets aren’t well lit but it is a very safe place and the restaurants are open even once night settles in.
>>Oh and the crab is hella fresh. You order and they then get it out from the sea while you simultaneously watch and marvel at the universe and think about how lucky you are. It takes a while to get all that flesh out, but the panoramic sunsets are something else.
>>Eat tropical fruit. Roadside vendors sell the freshest cut fruit everywhere, and also deep fried tarantulas (which apparently taste like crisps). Another treat is sweet sticky rice in bamboo tubes.
>>Bodhi Villa was a special place. This tranquil resort in Kampot (was bustling when we arrived unannounced late at night but they put us up in the yoga hut for two dollars and moved us to a $12 bungalow the next morning) has such delicious food – order the beef loklak and chips, a pontoon on the river to tan on by the day and swim if the current’s alright, and for candlelight dinners by night. They also have an on site recording studio and offer interested punters, a variety of water sports.
>>Verandah Natural Resort is Kep’s best hotel. The bungalows are luxurious and it has the most gorgeous salt water pool. Our big balcony had a hammock to read in, and we swam all day and ate chips hanging off the pool edge (story of my life).
January 21st, 2012
To my boyfriend’s dismay, these are my favourite photos from my travels and the only ones I feel like sharing.
January 18th, 2012
Cuties. That is all.
January 15th, 2012
Before I left, I shot pictures of macarons, many pictures of many delicious macarons for Le 15 Patisserie and the lovely, enterprising Pooja Dhingra. Then I ate them all.
January 15th, 2012
I am most definitely back from South East Asia. God I missed Youtube. I’ve resolved to blog more and other such annual white lies so here I go.
One of my favourite cities got a favourite video. This video Let Calcutta Surprise You by design studio 100 Watts is a little bit magical.
Also I watched Oh The Places You’ll Go, then immediately registered for Burning Man.
December 3rd, 2011
A big, juicy collaboration between Bombay Electric and WETHEPPL, a collective of friends, artists, lovers, thinkers, sisters and brothers.
Sunday Ka Funday @ Bombay Electric from 2pm – 8pm!
Featuring…
* MIMOSAS AND SAMOSAS for the tastebuds
* THE TICKLE TRUNK Photo Booth Play with This is Sheena (that’s me!) at the live photo booth with a tickle trunk of goods to pop into.
* FASHION MIXTAPE NorBlack NorWhite produces this mixtape capsule collection, dedicated to electrify the soul and pay respect to Bombay people, mashups and sunshine.
* REMIXED MAAL by the Professor, Doctor and Engineer. Adapting their classic men’s goods to celebrate their textile loving sisters, the boys bring it hard with their remixed classic Camiz, Chuddies, UNT bags and Postman wallets. *
MINI GARDENS planted by Maaliwalli
* VISUAL ART, Projections, Posters, Prints + Fresh Originals by WE
* BEATS by Doctor Saab
RSVP here.
It’s gonna be amazing.
November 22nd, 2011
Cute girls at NH7 Weekender. The place was swarming with good looking creatures.
Also these guys. I’m generally the last to jump on the band wagon, but the Raggae Rajahs! Swoon! These dudes played the most dope, dirty, fun set in the dub station.
November 22nd, 2011
Bungalow 9 has upped its game! The sprawling bungalow tucked away in Bandra’s reclamation was once a tobacco rolling factory, and then as Pioneer Hall, served as a venue for Bandra’s best Goan parties. Its posh new avatar as a restaurant – with its sloping, high ceiling and wooden trusses, golden walls, wood furnishings and walls of vases is rather gorgeous. The tiles are newly laid, but the glorious original framework has remained.
The property which spans over 15000 square feet, has outdoor and indoors seating areas, a lounge with low seating, two private dining areas – one soon to be a wine lounge, and now a splendid terrace which I took an instant liking to. It is lovely and leafy, surrounded by mango trees.
I recently had a most delicious meal at Bungalow 9. Their menu is almost entirely new and it doesn’t seem like they will give up the multi cuisine tag anytime soon but my Korean gochujang chilli seafood soup and the prawn and water chestnut dimsums were a treat, and my main of steamed grouper, the catch of the day was perfection. The absolute highlights however were the creamy cold garlic soup with mango granita and a mushroom filo that burst with flavour, and a seemingly odd dessert of single origin Madagascar chocolate icecream with olive oil, sea salt and rosemary. Both really unexpected and sublime.
Bungalows of Bandra is a mini series on my favourite spaces in Bandra, both personal and commercial that I hope to document over the next few months. If you know of a bungalow that should be written about, email me@thisissheena.com
November 22nd, 2011
False Ceiling is Bandra’s art gallery. The space, a passion project for Karthikeyan Ramachandran, also houses his creative design house Xtrathin, which has an artist residency program in another lovely bungalow in magical Kamshet. The gallery and studio occupy the top floor of a pretty Pali Village bungalow, that faces busy Ambedkar Road. The space is divided into four rooms – three of which are dedicated to the gallery. A family live downstairs.
I love the pastel exterior, the pretty details – especially the ornate balustrade, the high rafters and sloping roof. In the last room, which Karthik calls the Shalimar room, the furniture blends into the green and black tiled flooring. Fiza Khan, the talented, not-afraid-of-heights inhouse artist has painted a sexy fluorescent and black piece on one of the studio walls.
The exhibition will change this week to We Are Here curated by Rachel Murray, which includes a private viewing, most likely a live installation on November 25th. The two week show is part of Project India, a collaboration between the 1%-ers Art Collective and the Asia Art Project, a series of events and exhibitions across various venues in Bombay.
Bungalows of Bandra is a mini series on my favourite spaces in Bandra, both personal and commercial that I hope to document over the next few months. If you know of a bungalow that should be written about, email me@thisissheena.com
November 15th, 2011
My friend Monica works on a little big show called The Dewarists in which musicians from different walks of life collaborate on a song, and make it sound good. It’s the best show on Indian television – nicely shot and edited, and it showcases some of the best talent and most gorgeous places in this country.
She hosts the show, and is the common link throughout the series, but this week she was one of the collaborating artists with Shri (Badmarsh and Shri, Shri!) and Rajasthan Roots (with Kutle Khan!). I’m awed by the lady’s talent and I’m so happy to have her be one of the contributors to my (neverending) zine.
You can view all the previous episodes from the series here.
November 14th, 2011
I need a holiday from my weekend. On Saturday, one of my favourite people threw his birthday party in an apartment in Kala Ghoda, overlooking the beautiful Prince of Wales museum (I was obsessed). Gregory David Roberts once rented it out. Ten hours later, I ended up on another terrace in Bandra. On Sunday, I found myself on one of my best friends’ pretty yellow yacht Ciao Bella, followed by a long night at Olive Mahalaxmi. I am sunset and champagned out. Cause of death: open bar.
P.s. I’m so reliably middle brow.
P.P.s. I know I look like Degrassi meets Dynasty and not in a good way but suck it.
November 7th, 2011
If you’re not from around here, you probably wonder what music we listen to when it’s not Bollywood or classical. (Maybe you don’t but for the purposes of this post, let’s assume you do.)
This is a documentary from India’s biggest independent music festival – NH7 Weekender, which launched last year, and continues this year between the 18th and 20th of November in Pune, my sweet little hometown.
It is the first multi genre festival of its scale and my only gripe with this festival is that the lineup hasn’t changed much, there is so much indie awesomeness that doesn’t get to play festivals and be discovered by new, bigger audiences. Breakout stage perhaps? I’ve already seen everybody I want to see (with the exception of Imogen Heap) play live this year. Still a pretty cool documentary though.
November 7th, 2011
Suzette is adorable. The cosy little creperie down the road from the NCPA, is the place to spend an indulgently lazy afternoon by yourself (best and hugely important find in Bombay) reading or writing and eating their organic buckwheat Breton crepes with savoury or sweet fillings. I love the Bleu – blue cheese, fresh cream and toasted walnuts, the Mediterranee – grilled chicken, olive tapenade, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, and the Foret – pan seared mushrooms, creamed spinach, emmenthal. And the salads are amazing. They have excellent hot chocolate and their Belgian chocolate mousse is served in cutting chai glasses.
I popped into Suzette between sessions at Litfest and read The Ideal Guide to Sounding, Acting and Shrugging like the French while devouring a handsome homemade caramel crepe – just slightly salty and very delectable. Their design and branding is thoughtful, the menu is explicit, the decor is lovely, and the music is brilliant and very French. Service has always been great and quick though I’ve never been in the lunchtime rush hour and I wouldn’t. They have a selection of French books – city and language guides, novels and non fiction, magazines and a selection of the day’s papers. Plus they’re open between 9am and 11pm so they’re good for any meal.
You can see more of their menu here. Oh and the smoothies are called smoozies. Small joys.