Lounge Loves: A political board game, pancake mixes and more

Political games

During a recent game-night organised by Bengaluru-based board game collective Board Buddies, I was introduced to a fascinating game: Secret Hitler. You start by dividing 5-10 players into two groups, “fascists" and “liberals", and the outcome is about preventing a fascist takeover and unmasking “Hitler". The twist—while the fascists know who the liberals are, the liberals don’t know the identity of the fascists (as often in real life). Even more interestingly, the “Hitler" player doesn’t know who their supporters are. Gameplay involves taking turns to become “president" and “chancellor" and passing either liberal or fascist policies, and can become contentious and manipulative as fascists try to pretend to be liberals and do other shady stuff. There can’t be a more revealing way to spend an evening. — Shrabonti Bagchi

Sugar-me-not

Having to come up with healthy options for breakfast, which don’t involve spending heaps on avocados and blueberries or making dosa batter from scratch, has not been easy. So when I saw a new pancake mix that claimed to be healthy and made with “supergrains", I decided to give it a shot. Slurrp Farm’s instant pancake mixes have been a boon on days I want a quick breakfast. While I’m not sure exactly how healthy they are, they are certainly better than most other instant breakfast mixes that I have tried. They are gluten- and dairy-free, tasty and easy to make. Out in four flavours (banana choco-chip is my favourite), with a spoon of honey or peanut butter, and some fruit, the pancakes keep me filled for hours. — Dakshayani Kumaramangalam

Poster characters

My conversations these past few weeks have been dominated by gangster Ranga and flop actor Nithin Molly. In case you were wondering, the two are characters from the recent Malayalam movies, Aavesham and Varshangalkku Shesham, brought to life by some superlative acting by Fahadh Faasil and Nivin Pauly, respectively. I laughed my heart out watching Pauly deliver an in-your-face monologue about nepotism and body shaming, in a movie made by, and starring nepo kids. Last Sunday, amid whistles and claps in a packed hall, I watched as Faasil blithely danced, fought and delivered Eda Monae! in a Kannada-Malayalam accent that deserves its own award. — Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran

The Bengaluru-based Putting Scene group is run by finance professional Mannan.

Everyday event planner

An illustration workshop to paint croissants, a DJ performing Kannada mash-ups, or a live communal screening of the Chinese Grand Prix—that’s just a selection of what happened last Sunday in Bengaluru, and were listed on the WhatsApp group “Putting Scene". The two-year-old group is run by finance professional Mannan, and has never failed to amaze me with its eclectic curation of events in a city that is largely known for great food and drink. The message lands the evening before, giving you plenty of time to plan. From a demonstration of a laser cutter machine to an open-air screening of the romcom Notting Hill to running meet-ups, the activities range from eccentric to charming to boring. Putting Scene now has a beautiful new interface on its own website, and Mannan is promising an app as well. — Shalini Umachandran

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