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Mint
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Saturday Feeling: Of monsoon greens, 'Indian Summers', and other stories to read this weekend
We started work on this week's cover with the simple idea of asking food specialists to name their favourite monsoon ingredient, use it in a recipe, and perhaps share a memory associated with it. But as with most Lounge stories, we discovered there's a lot more to monsoon greens. Behind the simplicity of the ingredients and recipes the writers, researchers and culinary experts shared lies a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of food habits and nature in India. News of the monsoon treats the annual weather system as an economic indicator, as a sign of prosperity to come, often overlooking its cultural connotations. During this season, an abundance of edible greens, veggies and fungi—thunder mushrooms and dragon stalk yam to name a few—becomes available, and hyperlocal cuisines make the best use of them. Many of these nutritious ingredients pop up for a short time and have to be harvested with care so that they survive the rest of the year. From the north-east to the west, what emerges is the fact that monsoon specialties are delicious, unique, and closely tied to patterns of regeneration, traditional knowledge, and sustainable water and land management. To eat seasonal is to try and understand the world we live in. And these recipes are also perfect if you're looking for new ideas for accompaniments to your spiced chai to warm you up when it rains. Cover of Mint Lounge dated 19 July 2025. Gideon Haigh, one of the game's sharpest writers, has published a new collection of essays, Indian Summers, on the storied history of cricket's biggest rivalry today, India vs Australia. The Australian writer is known for his deeply researched books and these essays provide a historical and sociopolitical look at the India-Australia game for both hardcore and casual cricket fans alike. It showcases the best of a man whose writings have described the game with wit, wisdom and humility for over three decades, writes Aditya Mani Jha. Read more. Gandhinagar-based textile design studio Morii Design has been working with women in 12 villages in Gujarat to preserve rabari embroidery as well as reimagine folk patchwork and motifs, embroidery techniques and block printing with modern flair. With the onset of machines that could master and replicate even complex handmade techniques, regional and rural thread-works unknowingly began to recede into oblivion. And efforts like these rekindle both pride and interest among the artisans, writes Radhika Iyengar. Read more. On a still May morning, as the mist rises gently from the waters of Dal Lake, a lone shikara glides across its surface. Unlike most tourists drawn by lake's beauty, 69-year-old Ellis Hubertina Spaanderman wants to clean up Kashmir's Dal Lake—one plastic bottle at a time. She first visited Kashmir 20 years ago, and wanted to do her bit to preserve its pristine beauty, she tells Yaqoob Ali and Majid Maqbool, which led to her sole initiative to pick up any trash she finds. Srinagar's Dal Lake faces severe ecological degradation due to increased urbanisation, overtourism, unchecked sewage, pollution and invasive species. Ellis' actions have moved local tour operators, houseboat owners and businesses to make an effort to address garbage and waste disposal in the city. Read more. Three Indian art galleries—Jhaveri Contemporary, Vadehra Art Gallery and Chemould Prescott Road—came together to spotlight South Asian artists in London last month as part London Gallery Weekend. 'Many international collectors are attracted to the India story,' says Amrita Jhaveri of Jhaveri Contemporary. In a city where interest in contemporary artists from the subcontinent is growing steadily, this could be a catalyst for greater interest, writes Anindo Sen. Jhaveri Contemporary hosted a group exhibition by Muhanned Cader, Seher Shah and Lubna Chowdhary, while Vadehra showed work by contemporary artist Biraaj Dodiya and Chemould Prescott Road had a solo exhibition by Rashid Rana. Read more. Sweetness is the unsung hero that brings balance and harmony to every drink. Traditionally achieved with syrups, bartenders are now experimenting with a range of sweeteners to add complexity, depth and unique character, Sayoni Bhaduri writes. There are technicalities integral to the composition of a drink—sugars (from sucrose or fructose) add structure to the drink and round off sharpness of other tastes such as acidity, bitterness or alcohol burn—and provide a smooth mouthfeel and texture. Many bars have taken to creating their own cordials, syrups and shrubs to gain flexibility, while crafting cocktails that are more precise, balanced and distinctive. Read more. Running is the easiest, most convenient and affordable activity out there is what enthusiasts will tell you—but as anyone who has ever walked, let alone run, in India knows, it is neither convenient nor easy given the state of our infrastructure. As for running being affordable, that's untrue too. Regular running shoes, on average, cost ₹ 10,000 a pair. A decent GPS watch starts at ₹ 22,000. Add to that the costs of training with a coach or running group, nutrition and hydration supplements, running accessories such as socks, sipper, sunglasses, recovery gear, ever-rising race fees… and you realise that running comes with a hefty price tag, writes Shrenik Avlani. Read more.
Mint
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Best of the Week: From Primetime to Purpose
In the 2000s and early 2010s, before the internet took over our lives, television remained the dominant medium across Indian households. Nearly 48% of homes owned a TV, according to the 2011 census. From cities to villages, it was the nation's window to the world. Bollywood stars often turned to TV, usually game or reality shows, to connect with the masses. But one show stood apart: Aamir Khan's Satyameva Jayate. Unlike celebrity-led shows that revolved around prize money, this one tackled hard-hitting social issues like female infanticide, dowry, and honour killings, bringing experts and citizens together for frank, empathetic conversations. Khan used his stardom to start dialogue, not just draw eyeballs. His latest film, Sitaare Zameen Par, carries that same spirit. Dubbed a spiritual successor to Taare Zameen Par, it's an adaptation of the Spanish film Champions and features actors with developmental disorders like autism, Down syndrome, and Asperger's. The film opens space for honest conversation around disability. It avoids the 'Rain Man syndrome', a tendency to portray autistic characters as savants, and treats its characters with dignity, not pity. The syndrome is named after the 1988 film of the same name. Mental health is still not talked about enough in India, especially in adults and women. As Mint Lounge's Divya Naik reports, autism in women often goes undiagnosed because of long-standing gender biases. Art may exist to entertain, but the best of it also pushes us to reflect. In that regard, Sitaare Zameen Par succeeds. I'm no film critic, but I hope you take a moment to reflect on the issues it raises. Mental health affects children and adults alike. In rural India, ASHA workers are swapping weighing scales for smartphones. Using Shishu Mapan, an AI app that estimates a baby's weight from a short video, frontline workers can now spot early malnutrition signs without bulky tools or the internet. Built by Wadhwani AI, it's one of several new tools, like MAAP and Child Growth Monitor, helping track child growth more accurately in hard-to-reach areas. These offline-friendly innovations ease the load on health workers and improve data reliability. When integrated into public systems, they could transform child healthcare across India. India is charting an ambitious course to become a global shipbuilding powerhouse, unveiling plans to establish eight shipbuilding clusters along its vast coastline. Five will be greenfield projects in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, while three existing facilities, in Gujarat and Kerala, will be expanded. The initiative, part of the Maritime India Vision 2030 and 2047, aims to boost India's share of global shipbuilding from under 1% to 7% by 2030 and 69% by 2047. Blackstone, Kedaara, Advent, and Warburg Pincus are in talks to buy a 40–100% stake in Axis Finance, valuing it at $800 million–$1 billion. Axis Bank is selling to meet RBI rules that cap bank ownership in NBFCs at 20%. Earlier IPO and merger plans were dropped. Axis Finance had ₹ 36,962 crore in AUM as of December 2024, with 47% in retail loans. It posted ₹ 3,014 crore in revenue and ₹ 494 crore profit in nine months. UPI AutoPay is quietly reshaping the subscription economy in India. What began as a tool for easier bill payments has turned into a key growth lever for startups across edtech, wellness, fintech and entertainment. With Indians spending over 7 hours online daily, and mobile internet driving 58% of that time, recurring payments are becoming the norm, and AutoPay is making it seamless, even for ₹ 99-a-month services in tier-2 towns. But as millions sign up, concerns are emerging over tricky cancellations and auto-debits gone wrong. Can India's subscription surge stay user-friendly as it scales? From ghost hamlets turning livable to districts shedding decades-old social biases, Tamil Nadu's industrial strategy is quietly rewriting its rural future. Factories from the likes of Tata, Ola, and VinFast aren't just bringing jobs, they're bringing back peace, delaying child marriages, and flipping old preferences for a boy child. Behind this shift is a deliberate push by the state to take industries away from Chennai and into the hinterlands. But convincing investors hasn't been easy, as some deals were almost lost. And while this model has opened up new frontiers, it's also bumping up against old challenges. So, what's Tamil Nadu doing right, and what still holds it back? Is the index options craze finally forcing Sebi to tighten the screws? After several attempts to cool down the F&O frenzy, including higher lot sizes and stricter position limits, the regulator may now rethink the weekly expiry format altogether. A shift to fortnightly expiries and just one expiry per fortnight is being considered if volumes don't fall meaningfully soon. This comes amid fears of fallout from the Jane Street episode, which rocked capital market stocks. But is this just a speed bump or the start of a structural reset? Retail participation remains strong, will that be enough to keep the options momentum going? 'What's the price of a song if no one's paying?' That's the existential crisis hitting India's audio streaming world. Big players like Wynk and Resso have bowed out, while Spotify slashes per-stream payouts. Why? Because Indians still love free music. Out of 192 million streamers, just 12 million are actually paying! The ad-supported model? It's crumbling under poor monetisation and rising content costs. AI bots, cluttered indie scenes, and short-form content fads are adding fuel to the fire. But can this be a turning point? Could a unified push towards paid models save the tune? If we truly value music, maybe it's time we stop freeloading and start subscribing. What if the forecast you saw yesterday is no longer true today? That's the new reality, says IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra. Thanks to climate change, predicting India's weather is becoming a race against time, lead times have halved, and extreme, hyper-local weather is rewriting the rulebook. From freak heatwaves to flash floods, lightning storms to disappearing western disturbances, the chaos is real, and it's hurting lives, crops, and the economy. In just the first 9 months of 2024, extreme weather struck 93% of the time. Still, Mohapatra remains hopeful, citing a 40–50% rise in forecast accuracy. But the big question remains: in a warming world, how long before prediction becomes pure guesswork? Is India's tech bellwether losing steam? TCS kicked off the Q1 earnings season with a rare miss, marking its third straight quarter of declining revenue. Global jitters, cautious clients, and a cooling India business, especially the BSNL slowdown, hit hard. Revenue dropped to $7.42 billion, trailing analyst expectations, with local revenues plunging 31%. CEO Krithivasan flagged delays in project starts and decision-making. While net profit rose 5.3%, aided by tax perks, wage hike plans remain uncertain, hinting at margin management over employee morale. With GenAI creeping in and global demand cloudy, is this the new normal for India's IT giants, or a temporary tech timeout? And what does this mean for peers reporting next week? Is IndusInd Bank rebuilding, or firefighting? After a ₹ 1,959 crore derivatives fiasco and CEO exit, the bank has tapped headhunters to fill key mid-to-senior roles, including CFO and heads of risk, retail, and corporate lending. But here's the twist—many are joining for the paycheck, not passion. With a 30% hike in demand and uncertain retention, is this a quick fix or a long-term strategy? Interestingly, the bank is also quietly building a CEO-ready succession bench, hinting at deeper leadership gaps. Will this shake-up steady the ship or stir more churn? And with RBI keeping a watch, will IndusInd's next chapter be one of redemption or repeat risks? That's all for this week, I hope you have a pleasant weekend! If you have feedback, want to talk about food, or have anything else to say about our journalism, write to me at or reply to this mail. You can also write to feedback@ Subscriber Experience Team
Mint
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
This pop-up series in Bengaluru wants to bring back the joy of cooking
In a city like Bengaluru that's teeming with restaurants, bars and breweries as big as playgrounds, few establishments have managed to capture the fondness and loyalty of its people as Kopitiam Lah has. Designed after Malaysia's unassuming coffee shops or kopitiams, the restaurant that's located in Indiranagar, has in a span of few months earned its spot as one of the city's happier places; it's the one where you go to yap endlessly with your gang while sipping on cups of kopi or cold milo and plates of kaya toast. Now, as it turns a year old, Kopitiam Lah's team, led by Joonie Tan, is celebrating the milestone by hosting a series that stays true to the essence of every kopitiam – of camaraderie, warmth, and joy of simple, good food. Called 'Masak Masak' — a Malay term that translates simply to 'play cooking" or more vividly into 'childhood games that involve cooking" — the series over the next few weekends will have chefs from around the country taking over Kopitiam Lah's kitchens to cook dishes that hold their personal stories. ''Masak Masak' is inspired by those childhood moments where you'd play chef with toy pans and plastic eggs — pure imagination, no rules. We're bringing that playfulness into the real kitchen by inviting chefs to create, experiment, and enjoy the process with us," tells Tan in an email interview with Mint Lounge. Recalling her favourite childhood memories of 'standing on a stool, pretending to stir soup in a pot with nothing more than water and vegetables as my mother played along", Tan adds that the series is a way of saying, 'food should be fun again." The series kicks off this weekend with a special pop-up by chef Seefah Ketchaiyo, co-founder of her eponymous South-east Asian restaurant in Mumbai, and one of India's best-loved Thai chefs. For Ketchaiyo, the phrase 'masak masak' is a warm and playful one that conjures up memories of 'being in the kitchen with my father — no measuring tools, just hands, eyes, and heart." And so, saying yes to an invitation from Tan and her team was instantaneous. 'I loved the idea the moment I heard it," she says over email, adding that the menu she's bringing to Bengaluru features signature dishes that each have a story. 'Either it's something I grew up eating, I learned from someone I respect deeply, or something that reflects who I am today as a chef." The menu, which includes small plates and main course, has dishes such as the Saan Grilled Pork, Chilli Cereal Prawns, Stir-Fried Tenderloin in Oyster Sauce, Fresh Crab Meat Fried Rice and Phad Thai among others. Ask Tan if she had any specific brief for Ketchaiyo and she says, 'We just told chef Seefah to cook whatever brings her joy. Whether it's something from her own menu or a dish she grew up with, we wanted her to feel completely at home in our kitchen. When chefs are comfortable and happy, that translates into the food." As women of Southeast Asian origin (Tan is from Malaysia, Ketchaiyo is from Thailand) who've married Indians and made India their home, the two restaurateurs share quite a few similarities that translate into an easy sisterhood. 'When Joonie and I talk, it's always from the heart. We're both very rooted in our cultures, but we also understand what it means to build a life and career in a new country. Our conversations are full of food stories, laughter, ideas and a lot of respect for each other's journey." For Tan, teaming up with Ketchaiyo for the anniversary celebrations felt natural owing to their similar childhood experiences. 'Chef Seefah and I share not just a regional background, but a deep respect for heritage cooking and flavour-first food. There's something about being raised in Southeast Asia that shapes your palate early — the balance of sweet, sour, spice, and umami is intuitive. So yes, it felt incredibly natural to collaborate," she admits. Ketchaiyo's expertise in Thai cuisine has made her a 'pop-up favourite" in the country, with invitations coming in from five-star hotels and stand-alone restaurants. 'Pop-ups for me are not just about food, they're about sharing energy, culture, and memories with new people," she says. 'I love the creative freedom they offer and I also love how they connect me with different cities and communities. Every pop-up has its own story and I always come away inspired and grateful." While Ketchaiyo sets the tone for Kopitiam Lah's celebrations that will last for a few more weekends, Tan lets on that 'Masak Masak' as a series will continue for longer, and will include chefs who work across different cuisines. 'The goal is to invite chefs who can bring a part of their own childhood or culture to the table — chefs who aren't afraid to play, to take risks, and to cook with heart. Each edition will be a little surprise," ends Tan. 'Masak Masak' with chef Seefah is at Kopitiam Lah, Indiranagar 12th Main Road, Bengaluru, on 21-22 June, for lunch and dinner.
Mint
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
World Music Day: Is streaming helping or harming indie music?
We're constantly told that attention spans are shrinking and that with it, everything is getting shorter and faster. But there's one thing most of us have lots of time for and can't ignore—music. It's easy to make time for music because we don't have to be musical to enjoy it, and it's hard not to be affected by it. We tap fingers and hum bars, most people passing a piano will almost unconsciously trail their fingers across the keys, we feel infuriated by tunes on loop in elevators, we have favourite songs and memories of songs, we relax to it or boost our mood with it. Music can be exactly what we need in any situation. On World Music Day, we look at two different aspects of streaming and its impact on music discovery. On one hand, streaming has brought more music from a diversity of voices into the mainstream. OTT film and show makers often license pre-existing music from independent artists across the country, breaking the stranglehold of Bollywood composers and directors dictating what a 'hit' should sound like. As we wrote a few weeks ago, we hear a scrap of music on a show and then go search for the rest of the song, discovering new artists we love. It's all giving indie and semi-established musicians the chance to be discovered, sign deals and contracts, find new audiences, and make a living, as Bhanuj Kappal reports. On the other hand, music-streaming services have removed some of the serendipity of discovering new sounds. An algorithm tries to hold us in an echo chamber of music we like, playing us more of the same, writes Akhil Sood. An entire universe of music through the centuries is available on our phones, but are we really listening to anything new? Beyond the words, these are stories written by music lovers—and the sounds they reference can help you create a whole new playlist for some easy listening this weekend. And now on to other stories we did in the week gone by. The cover of Mint Lounge dated 21 June 2025. Everything seems to getting shorter with attention spans shrinking and we have a shorter format of rugby—like T20 cricket—with seven players to a side. A match is 14 minutes long—or 22 minutes, including breaks. It's the brevity that is the superpower of the Rugby Premier League (RPL), the latest in the assembly line of sports leagues in the country. The RPL, which run till 29 June, has six teams playing 12 matches over 15 days. Of the 48 international players participating, more than 20 are Olympians or world champions—but it's Rahul Bose who remains the face of Indian rugby, writes Arun Janardhan. Read more. India makes 95% of handwoven textiles in the world, and the country's rich textile heritage allows you to combine your love for fashion with a meaningful travel experience, writes Sujata Assomull as she tracks a new trend that marries travel with textile traditions. More people are signing up for craft and textile trails to visit dyeing hubs across the country, block printing centres in Rajasthan or weaving hubs in Madhya Pradesh and Kanchipuram. These curated craft trails and immersive offer travellers a deeper understanding of culture, heritage and slow luxury. Read more. British inventor and entrepreneur Sir James Dyson's engineering breakthroughs have reshaped consumer technology as we know it today. Best known for creating the world's first bagless vacuum cleaner, Dyson, 78, has built a global company that champions design-driven problem-solving, while his named foundation aims to support budding inventors and innovators working on physical products. His iconic vacuum cleaner was born from frustration with his own vacuum losing suction due to a clogged bag, and has become a cornerstone of the Dyson narrative, as he tells Abhishek Baxi. Read more. The obsession with getting a six-pack may never wane but people are changing track to achieve it. Gym trainers are no longer prescribing endless reps of crunches and sit-ups and are instead advocating weighted and resistance-based core exercises. These engage a wide range of abdominal muscles that help strengthen the core, making them much more effective than hundreds of crunches or sit-ups. The final result is still a trimmer waist and, if followed religiously, six-pack abs but it's a more sustainable route and builds muscles in a way that's more helpful for daily activities, writes Shrenik Avlani. The other advantage is that deep muscles like transverse abdominis and obliques are working too. Read more. The iPhone 16e was launched around 100 days ago, with specifications comparable to the latest iPhone though it's almost 25% less expensive—which is considerable going by Apple's usual prices. It's not just the pricing that makes it an interesting proposition, writes Shouvik Das. It offers an entry point to Apple's AI experience for as little as around ₹ 2,000 per month via financing schemes. The phone also offers everything that a first-time buyer of Apple's devices would want to experience, like the A18 Bionic chipset. Read more. We spend hours at the office every week and often find ourselves in situations that can be tricky to navigate. From interpersonal conflicts to coaching others for better outcomes, the everyday pain-points in the workplace can be many, and good guidance is often hard to come by. We pick five books worth reading from a recent glut of releases on productivity, cultivating happy work environments, the future of work, corporate training, leadership and decision making, and career progression. Most of these books are by authors who have spent years in India Inc with rich experience rooted in the Indian context and workplace, which is unlike offices elsewhere in the world. Read more.
Mint
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
250 years after her birth, Jane Austen's spirit lives on in India
Bored of reading about sewing, pianoforte sessions and perambulation, a friend and I tried rewriting Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Emma to fit into our high school-setting in Chennai about three decades ago. 'Fan fiction' wasn't a term we knew, Clueless was a hit but hadn't yet reached our corner of the world, and so, in our ignorance, we felt quite bold, creative and original. We weren't really fans, but the Bennet sisters held promise, we decreed. They were more interesting and independent-minded than the four Little Women and not as preachy as Thomas Hardy's characters—also in the syllabus—but they still seemed rather old, prim and hemmed-in for 15-year-olds who borrowed adventure stories from the library and were repelled by the idea of conformity and marriage. So I was convinced there'd be little to recommend Austen to the contemporary reader in India—an opinion that was greeted by horror from the team, which wanted to mark the 250th anniversary of her birth. And I'm really glad to have been proved wrong, as the stories we've done in the past week bear out. Somak Ghoshal reports that for discerning young women, Jane Austen represents freedom of expression and pursuing one's own goals despite the circumstances. Udita Jhunjhunwala finds that Indian cinema thrives on Austen's universal themes—of family and misunderstanding, tradition and independence, duty and love. And author Mahesh Rao discovered the spirit of Jane Austen alive in Delhi, instead of her hometown in the UK where she's reduced to quotes on cushion covers. We also have a Clueless moment in our Style section, when Pooja Singh decides to make AI her stylist for five days with less than exciting results. For more weekend activities, pick from our lists of what to watch, read, eat, and do. As for me, I'm going to finish Persuasion, which I bought when we started talking about Austen's 250th birth anniversary—and this time I am able to see its charm (and if you are invested in the fate of that early fanfic effort—it hasn't survived the years though the friendship remains much like one Austen might have written). There's plenty to read in the print issue of Mint Lounge dated 14 June 2025. In the 1970s and 80s, restaurants in Maharashtra had to segregate alcohol-serving areas and patrons needed a permit to drink here. These permit rooms are now making a return—but in an urbane, gentrified avatar for younger drinkers. From Goa, Bengaluru and Mumbai to New York and London, restaurateurs are now reinventing traditional toddy shops, permit rooms and tavernas, transforming these hyperlocal bars into trendy destinations. By modernising classic drinks and dishes, they're not just celebrating regional heritage, but also making communal experiences fun and relevant to a new generation, writes Sayoni Bhaduri. Read more. Known locally as Karlsbad/Carlsbad, Karlovy Vary (literally Charles' spring) was a European spa town for centuries before Czechia got swept behind the Iron Curtain. The picturesque town is home to over a dozen hot springs, all revered for their healing properties. Anita Rao Kashi walks around the tiny town—and takes a dip in the hot springs. Read more. Created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky, Hacks is a show about writing, the art of the joke and the commercialization of comedy—and yet it manages to be laugh-out-loud funny. The fourth season of 'Hacks' is a rousing return to form, with clever cameos and a new urgency, writes Raja Sen. Read more. Fitness and integrated health expert Luke Coutinho thinks 10-minute deliveries are great for many things—toothpaste, masalas, even tissues and veggies. But he's also concerned that the promotion of junk food through quick commerce is messing with people's health. He tells Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran that well-intended health and wellness initiatives are being launched in the country, but alongside apps and gadgets that encourage couch-potato behaviour are also gaining a following. Read more. Kazakh cuisine traces its roots to the country's nomadic herdsmen and their practices, and is shaped by necessity and easy availability—which means the diet is mostly meat (lamb, beef, horse) and dairy products. It is simple and yet interesting food, as Joanna Lobo discovers during a two-week trip. Read more. With summer holidays in full swing, most people are heading to the hills to unwind and escape the heat and bustle of the plains. Besides figuring out how to get there and where to stay, the other daunting task is what to wear, especially if you are going on a trek. Yes, clothes need to be practical, functional and light, but it isn't a bad idea to look stylish for those Instagram photos. Manish Mishra asked some experts for advice for practical yet stylish looks that are great on hiking and trekking trails as well as on Reels. Read more.
