what do you say to a celebrity?

Dear readers,

I've just returned from Kochi where I taught an art-writing workshop for the Biennale, then spent a week trying to cram in as much art, food, and coast as I could. I'll make up for the tardiness of February's dispatch with March's newsletter before the end of the month. After the neat box-square of February, March feels like a long month. Like the year has really kicked into its rhythm, and there's much to be done.

In Delhi the temperature is still bearable indoors thank god, but AC season looms. Kochi was humid, and reminded me a lot of Calcutta. Both are tropical, have similar vegetation with those tall palms, billboards on their flyovers, fish on every menu, and a wet listlessness after noon by this time of year. I enjoyed being there and I'm glad to be back home to my cats and routines and storage and gua sha and bathroom. Lately I've been feeling a lot of despair at how Delhi has become aggressively unlivable over the twelve years I've called it home, so it's nice to feel good about being back.

I wrote about Chobi Mela for the Equator newsletter, which I was really happy to do. Being edited by Samanth Subramanian on such a tight turnaround was also a cool experience for me. As any writer worth their salt knows, working with a good editor is a rare gift. The piece is unfortunately paywalled, but in keeping with what Mario D'Souza said¹ at his session during the [untitled] art writer's workshop in Kochi, I'm going to link the pdf here. (If you can, you should support Equator by subscribing though; it's the kind of global majority focused, non-West centric magazine we need urgently.)

FILM AND TV

I saw the film If I had Legs I'd Kick You. Rose Byrne's tight face that never relaxes, the extreme close-up of the camera that evokes a kind of claustrophic proximity in the viewer, the relentless sound of a child we never see -- all work together to create one of the most anxiety-inducing films I've ever seen. In retrospect, I'm glad to have seen it! Rose Byrne is exceptionally good, and ASAP Rocky and Conan O'Brien make compelling if odd foils to her frazzled mother role. Similarly unpleasant to watch but very different -- seriously do not watch this unless you want to feel visceral dread and depression -- was Bring Her Back. I'm not saying anything about this except it is a horror movie that actually terrifies. It involves a lot of body-horror in a way that makes The Substance look like Sesame Street. Watch at your own peril, and definitely do not watch alone (includes sections of a fake snuff-film). In a totally different register, let me join everybody in telling you to watch Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier. It's a wonderful, wonderful film with one of the most moving scenes about siblinghood I have ever witnessed. (Yes I did also love Worst Person in the World).

I watched season 10 of Love Is Blind Ohio and am eagerly waiting for the Reunion episode to drop on Wednesday. I relish this crap unfortunately, and I think this is one of the best (most entertaining) seasons we've had thus far. I was rooting for Amber and Jordan, and (spoiler) am bummed about rumours that they've apparently divorced since then.

READING

I have been reading and enjoying Shubhangi Swarup's novel, Latitudes of Longing. I wasn't really into it when it began, introducing a couple in the Andamans and colonial ghosts, in a kind of sweeping narrative tone. But I found myself surprisingly keen to read on, fully enjoying. We've left the endearing Girja Prasad and Chanda Devi behind now, and I'm dragging my feet again in the next section of the book, 'Faultine'. The novel was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature in 2018. I guess I'm having a bit of a return to reading more South Asian and diaspora fiction. I bought a copy of Kiran Desai's enormousThe Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny from Idiom bookstore in Kochi, and I'm quite excited to linger in it. I sort of unplannedly started reading her bibliography because O had a copy of her debut, Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard lying around. (Funny, kind of Malgudi Days-Rushdie-Ruskin-Bond-esque stylistically.) If you're into art and literature then I suspect Loneliness will be a fun read. Kind of like Rachel Cusk in Parade maybe. I do think the title is kind of odd and onerous sounding, but clearly it hasn't deterred me.

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