Imagine if dreams can really happen/ Imagine you have a penguin in your pocket/ Can you Imagine? I can!” The song resounded across the amphitheatre at Delhi’s India Habitat Centre, as adults and children chimed in. Kurt Hunter, the puppeteer, turned Pied Piper of sorts as he led the audience on a journey through a tropical forest where a penguin—an intern scientist on a jetpack—crash-lands and is helped by an artistic monkey to find the way back to the South Pole. Penguin In My Pocket, a solo performance by US-based The Kurt Hunter Marionettes, is touring India as part of the Ishara International Puppet Festival, and combines concepts of science and art effortlessly. The show, which will be staged in Tripura on 26 February, is a must-watch for Hunter’s masterful skill as a puppeteer and musician, and for the way he interacts with the audience. —Avantika Bhuyan
Slices of thick buttered bread, eggs cooked with a bit of sugar and crisp lettuce come together for a Korean egg drop sandwich. I discovered it at a food stall by Sliders and Fries at a drinks festival in Mumbai. The chef, Amal Farooque, gave me extra napkins saying I’d need them. And, was I grateful! The cream from the egg can be a messy affair. Every bite is rich with flavours and textures. The downside: It’s part of the menu of their sister brand, Sage and Olio, which does only catering. I tried looking for it on the Instagram page, @slidersandfries, to no avail. It seems like I will have to seek them out at another festival in the city. Waiting makes the heart grow fonder. — Jahnabee Borah
A new teenager, Ren, is in town, and on his first day in school, he walks in wearing a tie, à la David Bowie. He’s unable to fathom why this town has banned dancing. It’s been 40 years of Footloose this month, and here I was, watching it for the first time, on a particularly dreary day. This was Kevin Bacon’s breakout film—and his energy, and that of the supporting cast, is infectious. There’s a young Sarah Jessica Parker too. The premise might seem silly—when was the last time someone changed the world, or a small town, with dancing?—but to watch Ren teach Willard (Chris Penn) how to dance on the soundtrack of Let’s hear it for the boy might perhaps be the most joyous thing I have seen in a long time. Some evenings, I need a hero to make things feel better. —Nipa Charagi
Recently, I came across a tiny, green blob singing and cooking away on my Instagram feed. I had discovered The Tiny Chef. He dances, raps, speaks in a charming language one can vaguely understand (comments call it “blenglish”), and most importantly, he cooks. He whips up plant-based dishes in his miniature kitchen, usually singing along to what might be one of your favourite tunes. Before I knew it, I’d been watching him for half an hour and had to stop, only because I was laughing so hard that I was weeping and couldn’t breathe. He has his own show on Nickleodeon, and is also on YouTube. Updates from Tiny Chef generally make my day now. Last week, he came up with his own lyrics to a Lizzo song (Balency-nighties, anyone?), but one of my favourites is him singing along to Freddie Mercury. —Dakshayani Kumaramangalam
