You are doing fine
Chicago, US-based illustrator Sophie Lucido Johnson’s posts on social media led me to You Are Doing A Good Enough Job, her weekly “newsletter for people who beat themselves up”. Starting off usually with a recollection of an event or memory, they subtly segue into a perspective-shifting tactic on a facet of life or productivity. One letter titled What You Want To Do, for example, was about habit formation (so that you don’t stress about not doing even that well enough). The latest, There Should Be Less, And There Should Be More, signs off by suggesting “a little giggle at the incredible silliness of the idea that you, a single human, should be able to fill a whole swimming pool with a single bottle of water”. The mailer has not changed my life but it reminds me that doing a few things well, and with joy, is enough.—Vangmayi Parakala
'Namkeen' nitpicking
I am not a fan of namkeen mixtures. Give me a dry fruit namkeen mixture and I have my routine: shake the packet rigorously so that the jewels rise to the top. Pick the nuts; the rest of the mixture is yours. For instance, in Laxminarayan Chiwda, I go for the paper-thin, dried coconut slivers first—they should definitely add a bit more of these to the mixture—followed by almonds and then cashew; chiwda remains untouched. But all mixtures are not the same; in some, you can go the whole hog, as I discovered recently when I had Budhani Bros Dryfruit Potato Mixture for the first time. After my usual shake and pick drill, I had the shoestring fries, and I couldn’t stop—the chewy, dried sweet raisins giving it an extra kick. My favourite part: topping a bowl of curd with the potato mixture. Yes, I have been converted.—Nipa Charagi
A stupendously inventive novel
Babel: An Arcane History, a fantasy novel by academic and translator-turned-novelist R.F. Kuang, is not your typical vacation read. At a hefty 544 pages, the novel, set in an alternate Victorian England that has developed a certain kind of magic, dwells on themes such as the power of language, imperialism, slavery and racism. As much a critique of colonialism as a story of adventure and revolution, Babel is, however, a page-turner. The central premise of the story—the connection between language and magic that I will let you discover for yourself—is stupendously inventive and engaging, and even if it fails to make you really care about its characters, it will still leave you buzzing with new ideas.—Shrabonti Bagchi
The art of snack hacking
We have all done it at some point. Adding an ingredient to a fairly simple dish to take it up a notch—a snack hack. UK-based stand-up comedian and cook George Egg has an entire series on such hacks, aptly named Snack Hacker. Egg, who goes by the same alias, takes everyday dishes and transforms them with items that are easy to get or you would least expect as substitutes. For example, how to make the equivalent of a McDonald’s milkshake using strawberry jam, mascarpone cheese, milk and rosewater. For vanilla, all you need is custard, milk and Horlicks! He has hacked cheeseburgers by adding foraged wild garlic and mayonnaise. All these hacks and more are on his Instagram handle (@georgeegg) and YouTube channel. —Nitin Sreedhar
