Lounge Loves: NARS lipstick, ‘Meiyazhagan’

Gourds go gourmet 

Who would have thought that the humble ridge gourd, or turai, would be part of a luxury, fine-dining menu! While growing up, I held it synonymous with beemaro ka khana, or the food that one ate when one’s stomach was upset. With “local” and “seasonal” becoming a popular part of the contemporary culinary lexicon, the turai finds itself in modern interpretations of Indian dishes. For instance, at ITC Hotels’ Royal Vega in Mementos Ekaaya Udaipur, I sampled turiya muthiya nu shaak as part of the Karnavati thali, which was a mildly spiced gravy made with ridge gourd and fenugreek leaf dumplings. There was a lovely play of textures in this Gujarati-style dish, between the softness of the turai and the bite of the dumpling. Here’s rooting for more gourds on fine-dining menus. —Avantika Bhuyan

A warm hug of a movie 

At a time when action films and superhero multiverses are ruling the box-office, a film whose plot is essentially about two men having a heart-to-heart conversation one night seems outlandish. That’s what Tamil film Meiyazhagan by filmmaker C. Premkumar is: a two-and-a-half-hour-long warm hug of a movie. Starring Karthi and Arvind Swamy in the lead roles, the film that’s currently on Netflix, touches upon themes like kindness, generosity and family relations with sensitivity. The bromance between Karthi and Swamy is what drives the film and the scenes where they sing Ilaiyaraaja hits slightly off-key are among my favourites. I also loved the uncomplicated relationship portrayed between Swamy’s character and his wife (played by Devadarshini). Here’s an on-screen couple that gets each other, warts, moodiness and all. —Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran

Also read: Lounge Loves: Hot jam, ‘Colin From Accounts’

Monster gift 

“Sarcastic fringehead!” exclaimed a friend while we were browsing in a bookstore in Goa. It wasn’t a creative insult for someone with floppy hair and biting wit but the name of a deep-sea creature from the Pacific in Anita Ganeri and Jianan Liu’s Real-life Sea Monsters and Their Stories of Survival. This is a beautifully illustrated, easy-to-read, fun book about massive deep-sea creatures that appear in myths and legends and were once mistaken for mermaids, monsters or other horrors that led sailors into danger. Narwhals, goblin sharks, black swallowers and other leviathans that live in the last of earth’s unexplored places. All friends with children between the ages of 9 and 11 have been getting this book from me and it’s been a monster hit. — Shalini Umachandran

Sticking to a lipstick

I have over 50 lipsticks, all in liquid form as I find them less drying than the sticks. For some reason, applying the stick reminds me of the time a schoolteacher used to ask me to colour a tree or a house within the margins and lines of the sketchbook . I almost always crossed the margins and hated the messy look. A friend, who’s well aware of my liquid inclination, gave me a belated birthday gift in the form of a NARS “stick” lipstick from their new range, saying, “Give it a shot.” Maybe it’s the slight curve in the design or the lightness of the stick, but I’m able to apply the reddish-brown colour in one go, and stay within the lines. The biggest plus: it doesn’t spill or need a touch up, even after a meal. —Pooja Singh

Also read: Source: Your style guide on how to slay in statement browns