A SOUND PIERCES the still night. Half-asleep and with a racing heart buried in a soufflé of pillows, I try to match objects with the source. Obvious ones first: thief, dried plantain leaves, wind whooshing in with a ghost-like flamboyance. Latter ones, all an exercise in imagination—a lost beach ball looking for a five-year-old, a boat finding its way through land. In Kuttanad, it’s easy to play Proust and sleeplessly ponder about the fluidity of one’s existence.
Who are these people, I wonder, as I toss and turn in my Airbnb, who can feel at ease in strange hotel rooms under the unfamiliar weight of a new quilt? I give in and switch on the banana fibre lamp. It is then that the most comforting of sounds arrives: September rain, soft as a lullaby, taps on the clay roof tiles of the restored warehouse. Comfort and courage well up again.
The culprit eventually turns out to be a white puppy wrestling a wet umbrella that had been propped against my door. I fish a Sinarest tablet from my pouch. The glass stands half full on the bedside table. In our everyday life, I realise abruptly, water is a utility— tamed and quantified, predictably confined in glasses and measuring cups. Sometimes dripping from taps or tiles.
But here in Kuttanad, where the land is flanked by the Arabian Sea on one side and patrolled by the flowing rivers on the other, life adheres to the whims of water. Its ebb and flow shapes not just the landscape but also the portraits of its inhabitants. This year, the town had to wait for the monsoon. September brings much-needed relief, but ever since the 2018 floods they are not quick to rejoice. Very delicate, this dance with anticipation and anxiety.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November - December 2023 من VOGUE India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November - December 2023 من VOGUE India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
HEART AT WORK
London is a stomping ground for many South Asian creatives. AKANKSHA KAMATH meets an artist, an author-stylist and the duo behind a first-of-its-kind label on Savile Row to see what their work desks reveal about their unique expression
TSUNAINA
Otherworldly and bewitching are two words associated with the multi-hyphenate model. But who is the person behind the sculptured mask?
Viscountess of Hearts
She was catapulted into the stratosphere as Bridgerton's leading lady in 2022, but Simone Ashley is quite enjoying the descent as the spotlight shifts to a new couple this season. Speaking with Grammy Award nominee and fellow South Asian artiste Anoushka Shankar, she reflects on navigating fame, where she's headed next and if her path will lead her to India
Waning and waxing
The terror of inherited trauma always made SHYAMA LAXMAN keep her mother at arm's length. Now, with both of them older and wiser, there's a new dynamic to their relationship
Three's company
For as long as she can remember, SADAF SHAIKH has only ever hung out with her friends in groups, rarely one-on-one. Finally, she enlists help to excavate her passive pal origin story
Welcome to paradise
In the heart of the Mediterranean, a sisterhood gathers to pray, paint watercolours and pursue peace through spiritualism. MEDINA TREVATHAN reflects on the heaven to be found within The Women Sanctuary
The long game
Tamannaah Bhatia knows exactly what her skin needs-simple rituals, serums and stress-free days.
Current affairs
Can you plug into better skin with microcurrent therapy?
Ice me out
Torture method or genius life hack? NIDHI GUPTA investigates whether ice baths are really as cool as they're cracked up to be
She's got the look
Pop on a Punjabi song, fill a bowl with ice and get ready to immerse yourself in Kriti Sanon's skincare universe